CrossFireArabia
Israel has dropped more bombs on Gaza than those dropped on the entire duration of World War II between 1939 to 1945.
Israel has dropped 82,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip according to the Government Media Office in Gaza City.
It is an Israeli conflagration where the whole of Gaza society has been decimated reduced to rubble and wreckage not to say anything about the killings and the slaughter.
CrossFireArabia
A latest investigation by the Israeli Haaretz daily has revealed that the Israeli military systematically uses Palestinian civilians, including children and elderlies, as human shields, as first line of defense to protect themselves and “checkers” of booby-trapped buildings, tunnels and ambushes.
It stated this is a practice that violates international law and has long been condemned by human rights organizations. The probe confirms that the practice is being carried out with the knowledge of senior military officers, up to the Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi who has knowledge of this practice according to the Quds News Network.
This tactic that includes scanning tunnels and houses, has been used repeatedly in many military operations where soldiers wanted to shield themselves from Palestinian resistance fighters. This practice, known as “human shielding,” has become widely practiced as the Israeli army embroiled themselves over the past months in different cities and towns of Gaza.
It involves forcing ordinary civilians to accompany Israeli officers and soldiers as a first line of defense to shield them from harms way. If there are risks and dangers it is these civilians that would act as “shock absorbers” and be the first to be harmed.
The probe findings confirm numerous other reports including Palestinian eyewitnesses and human rights organizations about such practices.They have long documented the use of such tactics by the Israeli army.
These reports show many incidents where Palestinians, including children and elderly men, who were forced to stand near military vehicles, enter suspicious buildings and/or tunnels ahead of these soldiers during raids across the Gaza Strip in places like Gaza City, Khan Younis, Jabalia and elsewhere.
This systematic use of individuals as “human shields” not only exposes them to great dangers but also constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law, which explicitly prohibits the use of civilians in such a manner.
Despite the widespread condemnation, the Haaretz investigation shows that the vile and pernicious practice remains an integral part of the Israeli military’s operational procedures and soldiers have no qualms of picking ordinary people off the streets and using them to protect themselves.
Palestinian officials and advocacy groups had documented dozens of cases where Israel’s military used Palestinians as human shields and repeatedly called for immediate international intervention and accountability for the Israeli military’s actions but to no avail.
CrossFireArabia
Former War Cabinet member Benny Gantz, Tuesday, lashed out at Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme rightwing Cabinet. He said both, the prime minister and his ministers ,are unfit to perform their duties amidst the ongoing war in Gaza.
He was talking about the recent spat between Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to local radio FM103 as reported in Anadolu.
Gantz, head of the opposition National Unity party, said their differences over the conduct of the war in which Netanyahu continues to speak about “total victory” over Hamas in Gaza do not serve either of the extreme politicians from the Likud Party.
But it is clear Gantz is on the side of Gallant who represents the army’s view which at best wants a political solution to the war. Gantz says the Netanyahu government is not qualified or able to achieve its declared goals of “absolute victory” against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian resistance movement, nor is it able to secure the release of the 115-or Israeli captives held in different parts of Gaza.
For Gantz, the release of those in captivity are a top priority and wants the Israeli government to reach a deal to secure their freedom but many in Israel, including their relatives, feel Netanyahu is not interested in securing a political deal and continues to brush off any mediation efforts.
Animosity
On Monday, Netanyahu and Gallant traded words about the conduct of the war in Gaza Strip. Gallant accused the Prime Minister of obstructing a prisoner swap deal with the Palestinian group. This is while Netanyahu lashed out at the Defense Minister, accusing of following an anti-Israel stance.
Last week, Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators called on Israel and Hamas to finalize the details of a cease-fire where the hostages can go back to their homes and the guns and missiles can stop.
While Israel said it will send a delegation to the talks, Hamas demanded the mediators present a plan to implement the ceasefire proposal supported by US President Joe Biden that it had agreed to on 2 July.
But indirect talks mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt continue to be intractable after 10 months of bloody mayhem. Netanyahu continues to talk about a partial ceasefire where he would secure the release of the hostages and offer no commitment to ending the war, something which Hamas rejects. The group wants the about 1.5 million displaced refugees to return back to their homes including to north Gaza while Netanyahu says this is not possible.
The Israeli onslaught on the Strip has since 7 October 2023 killed roughly 39,900 people while the Gaza Media Office states the number of deaths have already topped the 40,000-mark. These are mostly women and children with the injured standing at over 92,000 people.
More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine reports the Turkish news agency.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
CrossFireArabia
Sometimes, it is said that a picture is worth more than a thousand words!
Look at this one!
On 9 of August, 2024 the US through the Joe Biden administration announces that it will provide $3.5 billion in military aid to Israel.
On 10 August, the following day Israeli warplanes strikes a school in Gaza’s Daraj neigbourhood killing over 100 people while performing the dawn prayers.
The school was hit by three 2000-pound missiles that were also provided by the USA.
CrossFireArabia
Head of the Higher Galilee Council Giora Zaltz stated, Saturday, Hezbollah’s military operations in the north of Israel are becoming more deadly and powerful and the level of security in these northern regions on the Lebanese border is deteriorating.
Zaltz mocked the government’s handling of the security situation in the north in an interview on the official Israeli channel, Kan, saying the Netanyahu government discovered in recent weeks there is an enemy on the northern border called Hezbollah, and is waiting for its response to the assassination of Commander Foad Shukr in the southern suburb of Beirut.
He pointed out the situation here is deteriorating from bad to worse, as sirens sound daily because of drones and missiles by Hezbollah on this area, adding there are dozens of destroyed homes, thousands of burned dunams, and there are dead and wounded among the soldiers and settlers, and the fact that more than 100,000 settlers who have been evacuated here:
“We are now without any vital services such as health, banks, educational systems, and others,” he stressed.
Losing parts of the north
Zaltz pointed out Israel is losing parts of the north whether it be settlements, paralyzed economy, and paralyzed education, calling for a changing in the rules and working on a clear strategy to return the Israeli settlers back to the Galilee.
An earlier report aired by the Israeli Channel 12 stated the Israeli settlers have no future horizon, are desperate for news that barely reaches them, and they do not know when they will return to their homes as many said.
Psychologically trauma
Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed in the past few days, there has been a significant increase in the number of calls to psychological treatment centers in the northern regions, following the drone attacks and rockets launching from Lebanon on the western Galilee region.
Director of the Social Development Dept Uri Charles Friedland said that there has been a significant increase in the number of recorded calls to psychological treatment centers as the escalation of security incidents continue
Friedland explained the Department “is working on three main pillars: Individual care, community support, and rehabilitating authorities in the field of mental health in emergency situations.”
The Israeli media previously revealed an increase in the number of psychological injuries among settlers, admitting they collapsing psychologically, and that a number of officers and soldiers committed suicide after the events of 7 October, 2023 according to Jo.24.
