Israeli Soldiers Say They Shot Pregnant Women as She ‘Got Out of The Vehicle’

Israeli soldiers admitted to Haaretz that they shot and killed 8-months-pregnant Sundus Shalabi in Nour Shams camp because she “got out of the vehicle and looked at the ground suspiciously.” Haaretz cited accounts from the soldiers involved, who stated that Shalabi exited a vehicle and looked at the ground in a manner they deemed unusual before opening fire.

Continue reading
Israeli Army Withdraws From Netzarim

Israel has withdrawn its forces from the Nitzarim axis in central Gaza as reported by different media sources. This is part of the ceasefire agreement and comes after over a year of Israeli occupation of the of the Gaza Strip and its three-month occupation of the axis.

Full Withdrawal…

Under the deal, Israel must evacuate its last military outposts along the axis, which has been a key Israeli military stronghold in Gaza. The withdrawal marks a significant shift, as settlers had hoped to establish a permanent presence in the area. Israeli forces will now remain only in the buffer zone and along the Philadelphi Corridor Quds News Network reported.

The area lies to the east of the Salah Al-Din Road. Once Israeli forces withdraw, no troops will remain in northern Gaza except for the 162nd Division, which has repositioned in the buffer zone near the border.

The Nitzarim axis has long been a symbol of Israeli assaults and settler ambitions in Gaza. Settlers held public rallies at its entrance, viewing it as a gateway for their colonization of the strip.

Two weeks ago, Israel partially withdrew from sections of Nitzarim to allow displaced Palestinians to return north under the ceasefire agreement. Over 500,000 have since made their way back to their wrecked homes in the north of the strip.

The withdrawal from Nitzarim highlights Israel’s failure to maintain long-term occupation of Gaza. The army had expanded the axis to 80 kilometers in length and up to 7 kilometers in depth through wiping out several neighbourhoods, establishing multiple fortified positions. However, intense resistance and political pressure forced an Israeli army retreat.

This marks Israel’s third withdrawal from Nitzarim in 20 years. In 2005, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pulled Israeli forces out of Gaza. In 2009, Israel withdrew again after a three-week invasion. Now, after months of military assaults and infrastructure development, another retreat is imminent.

Ceasefire Agreement at Risk

However, a senior Hamas official warned, Saturday, Israel’s failure to fully implement the ceasefire agreement threatens its collapse. Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said the deal remains fragile because of the Israeli foot-dragging in the negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.

“The delays and violations we are seeing could derail the agreement,” Naim said, adding that Hamas wants to avoid a return to war.

Saturday marked the exchange of a fifth group of prisoners, halfway through the first phase of the ceasefire deal. The agreement, brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the US, is divided into three phases, each lasting 42 days. Talks on the second phase maybe starting but at a snail’s pace..

Nitzarim ‘s ‘Line of Corpses’

Haaretz previously reported that Israeli officers stationed along the Nitzarim axis admitted to systematically shooting any Palestinian who approached the area. Soldiers targeted civilians, including children and unarmed people, leaving their bodies exposed.

An officer told Haaretz that the army treated every person as a potential threat. “Every woman is a scout, or a man in disguise,” he said, adding that soldiers killed cyclists under the pretext of them being collaborators.

The investigation revealed that Israeli forces enforced an unmarked boundary near Nitzarim with standing orders to shoot anyone who approached. “This line appears on no map and exists in no official military order, but in Gaza, it is brutally real,” the report stated.

Continue reading
Trump’s Plan: ‘Unrealistic’, ‘Imaginary’, ‘Political Tricks, ‘Unfeasible’

Israeli newspapers are frowning on statements made by US President Donald Trump about displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan. Articles are appearing criticizing the plan as unrealistic, stating the Palestinians will not leave their land, and the Trump statements are mere “political tricks” without any real plan of action.

Not Realistic

Political analyst Avi Issacharoff confirmed the Palestinians wholehearted rejection of the plan and the continued control of Hamas over Gaza make Trump’s statements inapplicable on the ground.

The writer in Yedioth Ahronoth wrote: “Trump’s statements about displacing Palestinians sparked the imagination of a large number of Israelis. After 7 October, many wanted to see Gaza disappear and its residents leave for it to turn into a prosperous American Riviera. But the only problem is that this is not realistic.”

He believed the ideas made by Trump may merely be a political maneuver or a negotiating step with Hamas, but he stressed it “is not a real plan of action, because there is no Arab entity willing to cooperate with it, including the moderate Arab countries that strongly oppose it.”

He explained Arab countries such as Egypt and Jordan, while receiving American aid, are more concerned about the influx of Palestinian refugees into their territories whilst Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also expressed their opposition to the idea.

Historical Wound

As for the Palestinian side, Issacharoff stressed no Palestinian party could agree to a displacement plan, noting the idea of ​​mass departure is linked in Palestinian memory to the 1948 Nakba, which remains a historical wound.

The political analyst also warned of the repercussions of the displacement plan, as it could strengthen extremism within Israel and hinder ongoing efforts to complete any deal. He said, “There is doubt Trump’s statements will lead to the release of prisoners, but…hasten the resumption of fighting, which will condemn Israel to more months of war in Gaza.”

He added: “As long as there is no alternative to Hamas, any military operations will only lead to more destruction and killing, without achieving the desired goal of its collapse Hamas. The result will be more Israeli casualties and the continuation of the war without a clear political horizon.”

No Deportation From Gaza

He concluded by stressing “flattening Gaza and deporting its residents is an unfeasible dream, and is merely a gimmick by an American president seeking to prove his superiority over others.” He added Hamas still controls the Gaza Strip, and no one threatens its existence.

For his part, Israeli analyst Uri Misgav told Haaretz: There will be no “deportation” from Gaza, and the Americans will not build a “Riviera” there. There is no plan, no preparatory work, no point, and no one will receive two million Palestinians on their land. We are not in the days of World War II. Trump is babbling meaninglessly, this is his style. He has suggested in the past building hotels in North Korea instead of nuclear missiles. Since his election, he has talked about invading Panama, seizing Greenland, and annexing Canada. We are old enough to remember how he once said during a meeting with Netanyahu about annexing the West Bank to Israel.

Experts Continuous Media Bombardment with Empty Speech

“It is insulting to intelligence to take Trump’s random statements seriously,” Misgav told Haaretz. “He is completely mentally unstable, and we live in an era of accelerating decline. It is true that Netanyahu is also a psychopath with no conscience, but he is not stupid. Even he froze in discomfort when Trump began raving about evacuating Gaza, while Netanyahu lavished embarrassing praise on him.”

“It is sad to see large parts of the Israeli media cooperating with this farce, and engaging in discussions at the level of a seventh-grade social studies lesson, about deportation – for or against. Even before the moral dimension, this basically reflects superficiality and intellectual laziness. They are very easy to manipulate. And here Trump and Netanyahu are already experts in “continuous media bombardment with empty talk about things that will never happen – tomorrow, Trump will not even remember what he was talking about.”

On the other hand, the Times of Israel newspaper ruled out the possibility of Trump’s plan being implemented in the near future, as the residents of Gaza, who survived 15 months of violent Israeli attacks, do not want to live in exile, and Trump will not send American forces to force some two million Palestinians to leave the Strip.

Egypt and Jordan will also not agree to the plan, despite Trump’s confidence that their dependence on American aid and military support gives him enough leverage to pressure them to accept large numbers of Gazan refugees. But this plan crosses the red lines of both countries.

Great Concern in Jordan

The newspaper indicated that Trump’s plan could raise great concerns in Jordan, as it already has a majority population of Palestinian origin, so the influx of hundreds of thousands of Gazan refugees could destabilize the country, which is already facing internal political challenges.

On the other hand, Egypt sees the influx of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip as an existential threat to its own national security.

The newspaper reported that there are many issues on which Trump and Netanyahu can cooperate, such as ending the Iranian nuclear program, strengthening Israel’s regional position, and confronting international institutions such as the International Court of Justice and some UN agencies. Therefore, wasting political efforts on Trump’s plan for Gaza may not be the best option.

In the same context, a report broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 stated that Trump’s plan to evacuate the residents of Gaza and place it under American control faces legal, security, and economic obstacles, and could lead to a long-term war in the Middle East.

War Crime

The report quoted international law experts warning that the mass displacement of Palestinians could constitute a “war crime” under the Geneva Conventions, sparking widespread international criticism.

The channel indicated that the cost of implementing the plan could reach tens of billions of dollars, which sparked objections even within the Republican Party, as some refuse to fund a project of this size. The plan also met with widespread opposition within the United States, as Democrats considered it a violation of international law.

As for the American Wall Street Journal, it said that Trump’s proposal regarding control of Gaza “stunned his allies and Middle East experts, and left many questions unanswered.”

The newspaper added that “any American military deployment of this kind would be long-term, something Trump has repeatedly condemned,” expressing its belief that the proposal “would be met with rejection in the Arab world.”

For its part, the American Time magazine said that Trump’s proposal “was met with sharp criticism,” noting that “some Democrats described the proposal as crazy and morally inappropriate.”

The magazine indicated that Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib condemned the plan and considered it a purge Ethnically, “while Netanyahu expressed interest in the idea and saw that it was worth studying.”

Finally, the American Foreign Policy said that what President Trump is planning for Gaza “will be a disaster for everyone, especially Jordan, which takes the president’s talk about the forced displacement of Gaza residents very seriously.”

The magazine concluded by saying that what Trump does not know “is the extent of the damage that will be inflicted on American interests if Jordan is exposed to any disturbances as a result of his plans,” as reported by the Shihab news agency.

Continue reading
Israel Hides True Soldier Deaths, Injuries

The discrepancy between the number of Israeli soldiers killed and wounded during the genocidal war on Gaza and the official casualty figures reported by the army shows that the Tel Aviv regime is concealing the true extent of its losses in the Strip.

Speaking at Work Programs Conference of the ministry of military affairs on Sunday, Israel’s newly appointed chief of staff Major General Eyal Zamir admitted that the number of Israeli soldiers killed and wounded in Gaza is significantly higher than what the army has officially reported.

The Israeli military asserts that 844 soldiers have lost their lives and 5,696 have sustained injuries since the onset of the bloody Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023.

In contrast, Zamir stated that there are a minimum of 5,942 officially recognized “bereaved families” – a designation used exclusively for the families of soldiers killed in action.

He also revealed that over 15,000 soldiers have been admitted to the rehabilitation system due to physical injuries and mental health problems, reinforcing assumptions that Israel has been deliberately underreporting its military losses as reported in PressTV.

This is not the first time that the actual casualties and damages sustained by the Israeli army far exceed the official figures.

Back in December last year, Haaretz reported that while the Israeli army claimed only 1,593 soldiers were wounded between October and December, hospital records showed the actual number was 10,548.

The newspaper had earlier exposed that about 1,000 wounded soldiers were being admitted to rehabilitation centers every month.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has led to the death of at least 47,583 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injury of 111,633 others since early October 2023.

A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement went into effect in Gaza on January 19, halting Israel’s aggressive campaign against the coastal region.

Since the beginning of Israel’s onslaught against Gaza in October 2023, at least 905 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied West Bank in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers.

Continue reading
Amos Harel: Israel Didn’t Defeat Hamas

Israeli military analyst Amos Harel has dismissed a “total victory” for Tel Aviv in the Gaza war, arguing that such assertions, promoted by supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are contrary to the ground reality.

Harel, a military affairs analyst for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in his write-up published on Friday, stated, “One has to be a blind follower who has shed all vestiges of doubt and criticism to believe that Israel actually defeated Hamas.”

“The organization sustained a tremendous military blow, but it certainly did not surrender,” he noted, adding that “that’s not consistent with Netanyahu’s declarations about the war’s goals, or with his promises in its course.”


US mediation efforts

Harel also touched on the role of the US in the region, highlighting that the administration of President Donald Trump is pushing for the full implementation of a multi-phase ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas. This contrasts with Netanyahu’s preference to focus solely on the initial phase.

The ceasefire, which began on Jan. 19, is set to last for 42 days in its first stage, with negotiations ongoing for subsequent phases under the mediation of Egypt, Qatar, and the US.

According to Harel, “The visit to the region by Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special Mideast Envoy, attested to the mood of the administration.

“Washington views the first phase of the deal as a necessary point of transition to the second phase, which in itself is preparation for the bigger deal.

“Washington views the first phase of the deal as a necessary point of transition to the second phase, which in itself is preparation for the bigger deal: huge US-Saudi contracts accompanied by normalization between Riyadh and Jerusalem.”

He added that “Witkoff was here to ensure that Israel continues on the track laid out by Trump,” with key details expected to be discussed next week in a meeting between Trump and Netanyahu in Washington. This meeting, Harel suggested, holds significant weight as reported in Anadolu.


Challenges to Gaza deportation plans

Harel also addressed Trump’s controversial suggestion of relocating Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, highlighting the practical difficulties in implementing such a proposal.

The idea is partly aimed at maintaining Netanyahu’s coalition with the far right. However, he noted that the chances of executing such a plan are slim.

“Washington’s bargaining power in the Middle East on emigration doesn’t resemble what it’s capable of achieving with its neighbors in Latin America,” said the analyst.

“Trump appears to be looking at Gaza like the real estate entrepreneur he used to be. To resettle the destroyed area, an evacuation-construction project is needed,” he explained.

Harel pointed out that while these proposals align with the long-standing aspirations of Israel’s right-wing to remove Palestinians from the equation, they are likely to face strong resistance.

“Such schemes will inevitably encounter Palestinian opposition, backed by Arab states. At this moment, it is difficult to imagine any Arab leader endorsing Trump’s relocation plan for Gaza,” he concluded.

On Jan. 25, Trump publicly proposed relocating Gaza’s Palestinian population to nearby countries like Egypt and Jordan. His suggestion has been widely rejected by several countries, including Jordan, Iraq, France, Germany, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the UN.

Continue reading