CrossFireArabia
In front of my destroyed home in Gaza
This bright morning, filled with hope, I stood before my ruined house and shouted with all my heart: I swear to you, we will rebuild it stronger than ever. I swear to you, our homeland will bloom again. I swear to you, the sun of freedom is on its way.
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CrossFireArabia
Breaking | QNN correspondent reports that the injured Al Jazeera journalist Fadi Al-Wahidi will leave the Gaza Strip for treatment abroad after months of being prevented from receiving treatment by the Israeli occupation.
Al-Wahidi, who was working as a cameraman, was shot and injured by Israeli occupation forces while covering Israeli attacks in the Jabalia refugee camp during the annihilation plan that lasted for more than three months.
He will be transferred via the Rafah crossing to an Egyptian hospital to begin his treatment journey.
Over 200 journalist have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli war machine and over 400 have been injured.
CrossFireArabia
Egypt refuses to accept displaced Palestinians from Gaza, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump, US officials told the White House in recent days, according to Middle East Eye (MEE). Cairo has made it clear that it will not bow to financial incentives or political coercion.
Trump has also claimed that Jordan would take in Palestinians ahead of King Abdullah II’s visit to Washington next week. His administration’s push for forced displacement has sparked tensions with US diplomats in the region, who warned that the plan could destabilize Egypt, a key American ally.
A senior US diplomat told MEE that the White House remains “tone-deaf” to regional assessments and continues to push for the mass expulsion of Palestinians. Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the issue with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, but Egypt remains firm in its refusal.
Trump reiterated his stance before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling Gaza a “pure demolition site.” He suggested relocating Palestinians to other countries, saying, “If we could find the right piece of land and build them some really nice places, that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”
Trump initially suggested that Egypt could take in refugees temporarily, but Witkoff later dismissed the idea, calling it “preposterous” to suggest that Palestinians could return after five years.
Israel has openly pushed for Egypt to accept Palestinian refugees since its genocide in Gaza began. Egyptian officials previously called this a “red line,” but the Trump administration’s support for the plan has emboldened Israeli leaders.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi condemned the proposal, calling it “an injustice that we cannot take part in.” Egyptian diplomats fear Trump may use military aid as leverage. Cairo receives $1.3 billion annually in US security assistance and is preparing for potential cuts.
Egypt’s security services organized rare protests at the Rafah border crossing last week, signaling strong opposition to Trump’s demands. An Egyptian official told MEE that the government may also allow protests outside the US embassy in Cairo.
Despite Sisi’s iron-fisted rule, he claimed last week that “if I were to ask this of the Egyptian people, all of them would take to the streets to say ‘no,’” according to the Quds News Network.
CrossFireArabia
The Qassam Brigades handed over to the Red Cross, Thursday, the captive soldier Agam Berger, from the rubble of Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of the third batch of prisoner exchange according to the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades handed over the two prisoners it is holding, Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses, to the Red Cross with their handover from in front of destroyed house of the late Yahya Sinwar’s in Khan Yunis.
The Qassam Brigades released the captive soldier Berger from Al-Razan Square in Jabalia camp, which witnessed major Israeli bombing and destruction as part of the bloody military operation launched by the occupation army, during which a large number of Israeli soldiers were killed and wounded.
The Israeli army announced it received soldier Agam Berger, saying she had arrived at the initial reception point in the so-called Gaza envelope and met with her family members.
The Al-Quds Brigades fighters were deployed in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, where the ceremony for the release of Yehud and Moses took place, while the Israeli occupation army radio said the Jihad movement was trying to “exploit the release of the two prisoners to show its strength in Khan Yunis.”
Hamas confirmed that “the large gathering of the masses of our Palestinian people in the two prisoner handover operations in the city of Khan Yunis and the Jabalia camp, amidst the rubble left by the Zionist fascism in the two areas, is a message of determination, strength and defiance that it raises in the face of this barbaric occupier, meaning that our people will remain on their land, and are determined to achieve their project of liberation, return and self-determination.”
The movement said in a press statement received by Quds Press, Thursday: “The Qassam Brigades and the Palestinian resistance prove once again their high ability to control the scene through organized handover operations that have dazzled the world, and after humiliating the criminal enemy army in the sands of Gaza.”
It pointed out “what happened today confirms the unity of the Qassam Brigades, the Al-Quds Brigades and the resistance forces in the field and in managing the exchange operation that took place in front of the house of the martyr leader Abu Ibrahim.”
It stressed “the diversity of the implementation of the release operations of Israeli prisoners from different areas of the Strip, in the steadfast Jabalia, in Khan Yunis and in front of the house of the martyr leader Yahya Sinwar, is a message to the world that our people will remain on their land, will continue the resistance, and are determined to liberate and return.”
CrossFireArabia
United States President Donald Trump announced his plan to expel the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from their homes there, and has called on neighbouring nations to accept the Palestinians into their countries. These remarks, which were made after Israel egregiously violated international law by committing genocide against the Palestinian people in the Strip for over 15 months—including by destroying all essential necessities for life in the enclave—are deeply concerning.
The Palestinians, who are already suffering from the devastating effects of Israel’s attempts to annihilate them, should not have to pay a further price for this genocide by being forcibly displaced outside of their homeland. Israel, as the occupying power, is the only entity that must take moral and legal responsibility for the crimes it has committed in the Gaza Strip, pay reparations to the Palestinians, and rebuild the Strip as quickly as possible.
Since the Fourth Geneva Convention expressly forbids the forced displacement of populations under occupation, any plans to do so would be a blatant violation of this agreement. The facilitation of these plans would also violate the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to stay on their land and in their homeland, a right which is protected by international law, and would be crimes against humanity and war crimes. In addition to being an international crime, the forced displacement of Palestinians is a component of a larger plan to strengthen the systematic expulsion and forced relocation crimes Israel has been committing against Palestinians for many years.
In addition to directly supporting Israel’s expansionist and colonial policies, which systematically aim to remove Palestinians from their lands in favour of its illegal colonial settlement projects, Trump’s statements call for the evacuation of Gaza’s population by forcing neighbouring countries to absorb refugees from the Strip. This runs counter to the strong historical and cultural ties that bind Palestinians to their land.
For months, Israel has been committing genocide by carrying out mass killings against civilians and methodically demolishing Gaza Strip cities, neighbourhoods, and infrastructure in an effort to drive Palestinians from their land and force them to flee. In order to weaken the Palestinians’ ability to survive on their land, and to establish a coercive environment that forces them to flee, these policies have gone beyond simply killing, destroying, and starving them. They have also included destroying the essentials of life, such as access to water, electricity, education, and health care.
Trump stated today (26 Sunday) that more Palestinians from the Gaza Strip should be sent to Jordan and Egypt, and that he is pleading with the leaders of the two nations to allow them to do so because the Strip is “in a state of chaos”.
Since the reopening of the Rafah land crossing with Egypt, which was closed last May, Israel has purposefully bombed cities, residential neighbourhoods, and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, including streets, schools, and essential facilities there. Israel’s deliberate attempt to either kill or drive Palestinians from their land is especially obvious given the dearth of basic necessities in the besieged enclave, such as homes and infrastructure like water, electricity, communications, Internet, and school networks. In addition, statements made by Israeli ministers and officials publicly promote voluntary migration.
Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, and the destruction of entire Palestinian cities and neighbourhoods by the Israeli army is a glaring example of this crime and a key instrument of its execution.
This crime has gone beyond simply killing 10s of thousands—or potentially hundreds of thousands—of Palestinians and progressively destroying the lives of over two million people by removing their basic necessities for survival. It has also included the total destruction of Palestinian cities and their architectural and cultural heritage; the erasure of the Palestinian people’s national and cultural identity; the forced relocation of Palestinian people from their lands, and the imposition of this permanent displacement; the dismantling of their communities; and the obliteration of their collective memory in an attempt to eradicate their physical and human existence as well as their past, present, and future.
A regional and global stance opposing Trump’s claims of deporting Gaza Strip residents is absolutely necessary. Mass displacement as a solution to the current conflict not only ignores the underlying causes of the issue but also exacerbates the injustices already experienced by the Palestinian people, and denies them their rightful self-determination and safe residence in their homeland. Trump’s claims, along with any actions that follow, are likely to exacerbate tensions and undermine regional stability.
The international community must fully uphold the principles of international law and adopt solutions that respect Palestinian rights. These solutions should include ending Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, holding Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes, and establishing a clear path to achieving justice for the Palestinian people. Additionally, the international community should ensure that all Palestinian refugees and displaced persons are able to return to their original areas in accordance with relevant international resolutions, rather than supporting any policies that would uproot Palestine’s indigenous population in favour of Israel’s colonial policies.
