Gaza Archives - Page 128 of 155

Israeli Soldiers Beg to Exit The Gaza Quagmire

CrossFireArabia
August 12, 2024

Major-General Fayez Al-Duwairi said the letter of dozens of reserve officers in the Israeli occupation army to their Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, is a sobering reality of what these soldiers are going through in the hard fields of Gaza.

The strategic expert explained – in his Gaza military analysis – the one fighting in battle is the most honest because he is directly on the ground, noting the words of Israeli politicians cannot be taken seriously because they are seeking to exploit the war for their political goals.

He said the concept of victory in asymmetric warfare is completely different from that of the traditional one “if the weak party can continue fighting and survive, it is victorious, while the strong party is considered a loser if it does not win.”

Zero distance

The Al-Qassam Brigades – the Hamas military wing – and the rest of the factions are still fighting. Videos of the resistance in various combat zones, prove that the occupation army remains fearful of fighting from zero distance he said in his daily analysis on Al Jazeera.

Al-Duwairi stressed the army has suffered great losses in the strategic context that will require years to compensate for. In this war it has lost its superiority, has not be able to win this “conservative war”, undermined its deterrence and failed in its ability to work on the home front.

The expert added the statements of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant in which he hoped the circle of war would not expand are a result of what the occupation officers soldiers about the tough time they have been having in Gaza whilst recalling statements by the Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari admitting that eliminating Hamas is like throwing dust in the eyes.

Al-Duwairi concluded the message of the officers is “stop swimming against the tide and recognize the reality, which is our inability to resolve the war with our weakest of regional enemies and end it, and talk of victory is not convincing and cannot be achieved.”

Out of reach

Dozens of reserve officers in the occupation army sent a message to Halevi in which they confirmed that achieving victory in Gaza is still out of reach. They stated: “We, who came from the battlefield know well that the situation is still far from achieving victory,” as reported by Israeli Channel 14.

The officers, who spent 200 days of reserve service in Gaza, stressed “the enemy still has cross-border capabilities, drones, explosive drones, mortar shells, a huge tunnel infrastructure and many living terrorists ready to continue fighting against us,” as they described it, according to Jo24.

Features

Stop The Horror: UN Condemns Israeli Attacks on Schools

CrossFireArabia
August 11, 2024

The UN Human Rights Office condemns the increasing frequency of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on schools where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, conducted with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities.

The UN Human Rights Office condemned “the increasing frequency of Israeli Defense Forces strikes on schools, where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, with the latest attacks killing dozens at a Gaza City school.” https://t.co/hKyIJMtY78
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 10, 2024

In the latest of such strikes, at around 0430 hours this morning during dawn prayer, a mosque inside Al Tabae’en School was struck by the IDF at least three times with an initial report of at least 93 Palestinians killed, including 11 children and 6 women. The majority of fatalities appear to have been inside the mosque performing their prayers. Additionally, dozens of others were reportedly seriously injured, with the majority being children, women, and older people.

This is at least the 21st strike on a school, each serving as a shelter, that the UN Human Rights Office has recorded since 4 July. These strikes have resulted in at least 274 fatalities, including women and children.

CNN says this is 5th school attacked by Israel since Sunday.

The UN Human Rights Office is "horrified" by the "escalating" pattern of attacks on schools by Israel.

There needs to be a cease fire that ends the violence, delivers aide, releases hostages.https://t.co/4e8C4oiD8x
— Salma Zahid (@SalmaZahid15) August 10, 2024

Despite IDF statements that all measures are taken to avoid civilian harm, the repeated strikes on IDP shelters in areas to which the populations have been forced to move, and the consistent and predictable impact on civilians, suggest a failure to strictly comply with obligations required by International Humanitarian Law (IHL), including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.

Furthermore, these systematic attacks on schools came in the context where more than 90 per cent of Gaza’s population has been displaced while the Israeli military continues detonating residential buildings and restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance. IDPs face indescribable horror after 10 months of hostilities, including multiple forced displacements, the rapid spread of diseases, and ongoing denial of access to the basic necessities of life. For many, schools are the last resort to find some shelter and possible access to food and water.

UNRWA: ‘Another day of horror’ in Gaza as Israel strikes school https://t.co/3jp2qq3nJR
— Kamal Mustafa ✪ (@MeKamalMustafa) August 10, 2024

In most of the incidents, the Israeli military asserts that the schools were used by Palestinian armed groups and that they took measures to reduce civilian harm. While the co-location by armed groups of military objectives with civilians or the use of the presence of civilians with the objective of shielding a military objective from attack constitute violations of IHL, it does not negate Israel’s obligation to comply strictly with IHL, including the principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution when carrying out military operations. Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged to provide the population it has forcibly displaced with basic humanitarian needs, including safe shelter.

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact:

UN Human Rights office at [email protected]

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Twitter @OHCHR_Palestine

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News

Complicity!

CrossFireArabia
August 11, 2024

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.

News

Al Tabi’een Massacre Aims to Force Palestinians to Leave Gaza

CrossFireArabia
August 10, 2024

Khalil Al-Hayya, Deputy Head of Hamas in Gaza, stated the Israeli massacre in Al-Tabi’een school is part of a deliberate campaign to exterminate the Palestinian people.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Al-Hayya emphasized the Israeli occupation is intent on forcing Palestinians out of Gaza through continuous, brutal assaults as reported in Al Quds News Network.

The sharp-barrel bomb that was used to bomb the Al-Tabi’een #School prayer hall#Children were among the ,,
It is a small-diameter bomb, or what is known in short as SDB or GBU-39, which is a precision-guided glide bomb, weighing 110 kilograms. #American GBU-39 bombs.@UNICEF pic.twitter.com/qzpChQZKPC
— ALI Yasser (@AaisackAli) August 10, 2024

Al-Hayya also highlighted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received the green light from the US during his recent visit to Washington, which has remained silent in the face of ongoing atrocities. He called on the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to stop the Zionist massacres against civilians.

🔴The sharp-edged Brad bomb that was used to bomb the Al-Tabi'een School prayer hall

🔴 It is a small diameter bomb, or what is known as SDB or GBU-39 for short, and it is a precision-guided glide bomb, weighing 110 kilograms. pic.twitter.com/NChbUAFvud
— shameen suleman (@shameensuleman) August 10, 2024

According to Al-Hayya, the majority of those killed in the Israeli attacks are women and children, and there is no justification for targeting innocent civilians. He called for decisive international, Arab, and Islamic action to compel Israel to cease its crimes, including measures such as closing embassies and withdrawing ambassadors.

#UPDATE

Khalil Al-Hayya, Deputy Head of Hamas in Gaza, has stated that the Israeli massacre in Al-Tabi’een school is part of a deliberate campaign to exterminate the Palestinian people. He added that Netanyahu received a green light from the US during his recent visit to… pic.twitter.com/XypzI2PRyR
— The World 🌍 Truth Eyes (@theworldtruthe) August 10, 2024

He reaffirmed Hamas’s commitment to resisting the occupation and defending the Palestinian people by all means available.

Opinion

Weaponizing food!

Saleem Ayoub Quna
August 10, 2024

By Saleem Ayoub Quna

Food is a major strategic weapon that can be used against one’s enemy. It can be applied in three cases: When consumed, boycotted or as a deprivation tool!*

Like other types of essential ammunition, soldiers need food to be able to keep on fighting and advancing. No better phrase can explain this idea than the famous quote attributed to Emperor Napoleon when he said: “Armies crawl on their bellies”!

But sometimes, when the other side, your opponent, is also smart and you have the capitalist system of franchising products working in every corner, unexpected things can happen!

This story can, one day, become a classical case study in politics, economics, sociology, psychology and warfare!

It all began in the first half of October 2023 when a franchised company in Israel, representing a famous world food chain, thought it would be a cool idea to photograph Israeli soldiers on the Gaza front, receiving nicely packed items of food produced by that company!

Its Israeli CEO, probably, wanted to demonstrate a symbolic gesture, rather than providing an irreplaceable type of food for the Israeli soldiers on that occasion. But he seemed to have forgotten or deliberately ignore that the same kind of food is available all over the world, including places, where his “enemies” and their allies, by the millions, live and regularly consume the same commodity!

Those millions on the other side of the front line were dismayed and felt offended by those carefully taken shots of the Israeli soldiers receiving their food packages.

The former did not know who was really behind this gesture. But they couldn’t not care less if the gesture originated from within Israel, or was inspired by the mother company in another faraway place.

So they, as a sign of protest of the war against Gaza, decided to boycott all products and services of this company in all of its branches.

They were also aware that the franchised branches play an important role in the local economy in each country. Thousands of young people are hired where unemployment rates are high; they also use subsidiary locally-produced items and so forth. But they had a choice to make. It was a hard one but less painful than acting as if they condone the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

The results of this world wide boycott movement, even in some European countries, proved catastrophic for all branches and especially for the Mother Company, since it’s the one who gets the lion’s share of the pie!

In addition to the symbolic meaning of this initiative which involves national dignity, exercising awareness, it was used as a last resort to fight back and defend their rights and beliefs.

Never take anything for granted, when you go to junk food eatery. Surprises can crawl out from the slices of bread!

*Deliberately depriving the enemy of food is tantamount to a flagrant war crime!

This opinion was especially written for Crossfire Arabia by Saleem Ayoub Quna who is a Jordanian author writing on local, regional and international affairs and has two books published. He has a BA in English Literature from Jordan University, a diploma from Paris and an MA from Johns Hopkins University in Washington. He also speaks French and German