Jabalia: A Home Targeted, a Family Wiped Out
CrossFireArabia- September 11, 2024
The genocide on Gaza continues. Israeli warplanes have targeted the home of the Al-Najjar family in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing the wife and children of Palestinian Hael Al-Najjar, who was killed in a previous attack.
The warplanes entirely wiped out this beautiful family from the Palestinian civil registry in Gaza.
Gaza: Toxic Air is a Death Sentence – Experts
- CrossFireArabia
- September 10, 2024
Experts are warning that millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are breathing toxic and polluted air that is nothing short of a “death sentence.”
Hundreds of thousands of people in the besieged and bombarded enclave are suffering breathing problems and respiratory issues, and doctors say the scale of the problem will continue to grow as Israeli bombs disperse more chemicals into the air, mixing with dust from the unending mounds of rubble throughout Gaza.
The extent of the crisis will also become clearer when Gaza’s health system is restored and hospitals get back the ability to conduct tests and offer other basic services destroyed in Israel’s ongoing assault.
Dr. Riyad Abu Shamala, a Palestinian ENT specialist in Gaza, fears an increase in birth defects in the near future, along with cases of lung cancer, particularly once “hospitals resume operations and departments such as radiology, MRI, CT scan and others … are restored.”
“I believe the general situation will worsen due to the deterioration of living conditions, increased pollution, lack of sanitation, and the contamination of water and air,” he told Anadolu.
Since 7 October 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 995,000 cases of acute respiratory infections in Gaza.
Yara Asi, an academic specializing in health management, believes these numbers are likely a significant undercount.
“It’s much worse than we know because there are countless people that are in homes or in shelters with no access to physicians or hospitals to tell them about their ailments,” said Asi, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida’s School of Global Health Management and Informatics.
Why are respiratory infections rising in Gaza?
The problem is rooted in “air pollution caused by dust, debris, chemicals from the destruction of buildings … and explosions,” said Abu Shamala.
Another major pollutant is vegetable oil that is being used as a substitute for diesel, he said.
The living conditions in Gaza are dire, with severe overcrowding in displacement camps, thousands of tents in close proximity, and piles of garbage everywhere, which are exacerbating the health crisis, said the doctor.
Along with that is the weakened immunity of people who are malnourished and relying on canned food as the main source of sustenance, he said.
Abu Shamala said the most common respiratory ailments among Gazans right now are acute and chronic bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, bronchitis, sarcoidosis, and lung cancer.
Most people have symptoms such as severe cough, difficulty in breathing, phlegm with cough, including bloody phlegm, rapid breathing and wheezing, he added.
Since last October, Israel has dropped more than 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, and there is more than 40 million tons of rubble across the enclave.
“There are thousands of tons of rubble and dust and people don’t have the tools to clear it. They don’t have the machinery, they don’t have appropriate masks, they’re just walking around in this environment,” said Asi.
Civil rescue workers are literally inside destroyed buildings, trying to dig through the rubble with no protective gear, she said.
“This, of course, will also exacerbate respiratory illnesses,” said Asi.
Normally, smoking is the biggest cause for COPD, but Gaza’s case is entirely different, she said.
“This isn’t a population that is smoking. This is a population that is living amid ruins … with dust, smoke and toxic chemicals that they cannot avoid,” said Asi.
Is prevention possible?
Another major unknown and exacerbating factor, according to Asi, is the kind of warfare being seen in Gaza.
There is indiscriminate bombing all around civilian areas and with bombs packing thousands of pounds of explosives, she said.
“We’ve seen glimpses of this in Syria, but in many cases there, aside from areas under siege, people were able to escape. Here, they are trapped,” said the researcher.
“It’s kind of an unprecedented health crisis in many ways.”
Health problems for the people of Gaza “will unfold over the years … (and) we will have to manage and deal with it,” she said.
Asi finds it particularly frustrating that many of the diseases that are threatening Palestinian lives are completely preventable or treatable.
“We have the treatments. We have vaccines for many of them … All of that is gone, or never was in Gaza, because of the (Israeli) blockade,” she said.
She feels at a loss as to what Gazans can do to protect themselves.
“The ultimate fix … would be to leave Gaza entirely right now, but they cannot even do that,” she said.
“The only thing that will stop this at this point is a cease-fire, and a rigorous and sustained humanitarian effort that includes, in some cases, getting the most vulnerable people out of Gaza to receive the medical care they need.”
Long-term consequences
Asi warned that respiratory illnesses can have long-term consequences, including for babies, children, elderly people, people with compromised immune systems, people with cancer, and pregnant women.
“It is especially dangerous for children whose bodies, immune systems, and lungs are still developing,” she said.
There are studies on the link between exposure to viral infections or toxins and developing asthma or other types of wheezing disorders later in life, she added.
After the US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were more cases of cancers and other genetic anomalies for decades, as was the case after the Iraq war, said Asi.
“We saw greater incidents of cancers and other ailments, especially in children that were born in those settings,” she said.
“Gaza is yet another setting of environmental disaster and destruction that children are growing up or being born in.”
She fears there will be a rise in “lung cancers, mouth cancers, chronic respiratory illnesses, and asthma.”
“This could be a death sentence for many in the near or short-term future,” she warned.
Thanks Holland From Gaza
- CrossFireArabia
- September 9, 2024
A symbolic gesture from Holland posted by blogger Mohammad Safa.
Thank you Holland the post states:
“16000 children’s shoes laid out in the memory of 16000 Palestinian children that Israel killed in 11 months. Thanks Holland.
Don’t stop talking about Gaza.”
French Nurse Who Spent Time In Gaza Arrested
- CrossFireArabia
- September 6, 2024
A French nurse who spent two weeks in Gaza in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza was arrested by police, Thursday, and later released for saying she supported the Palestinians of Gaza.
Lawyer Rafik Chekkat, founder of the Islamophobia platform, said Imane Maarifi was arrested in the morning after raiding her home and taken into custody in front of her husband and children.
He criticized the arrest and said it took place at a time when French soldiers who fought in Gaza “enjoy total impunity,” according to the Al Quds News Network.
Thomas Portes, a lawmaker from the La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed (LFI) party, wrote that Maarifi was released from custody on Thursday afternoon.
“Imane Maarifi has just been released. Her police custody is over, and no charges will be filed. The search of her home in front of her family leaves no doubt about the intent to intimidate those who speak out in support of the Palestinian people and call for an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote on X.
Maarifi, known as one of the first French nationals to enter Gaza after 7 October 2023 as part of a mission organized by the Palestinian Doctors Association in Europe (PalMed Europe), spent 15 days at the European Hospital in Khan Younis during the Israeli war.
According to the French daily newspaper l’Humanité, Maarifi was allegedly accused of making “insults in connection with a campaign against the Israeli investment and real estate fair taking place in Paris on September 8.”
Her supporters and friends believe this is “merely an attempt to intimidate her.”
Maarifi attended pro-Palestinian rallies in France to share her testimony about the devastating situation in Gaza.
She has expressed her demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a boycott of companies supporting Israel. Maarifi also testified at the French National Assembly about the situation in Gaza.
Louis Boyard, Deputy of the French National Assembly, said in a post on X, “Almost a year has passed since France has been covered in shame due to its inaction in the face of the genocide in Palestine. Today, a new milestone has been reached; the police have just arrested nurse Imane Maarfi at her home in France.”
“Her crime? Reporting to the National Assembly about her humanitarian mission at Khan Younes Hospital in Gaza. We must not lower our eyes in the face of these intimidations. Imane Maarfi must be released.”
In videos she filmed on her phone while in the Gaza hospital, she shows overcrowded corridors, minimal equipment for delicate operations, and the cries of children treated on the floor and without anesthesia due to lack of space.
“It’s inhumane, we wouldn’t even treat animals like that,” Maarifi told FRANCE 24 after returning from Gaza in February.
“I knew what was going on in Gaza before going, but to experience it in person with all my senses. All my senses are still in Gaza. All my senses,” Maarifi added, noting staff at the hospital struggled to treat a constant stream of people wounded in daily bombardments.
In April, a security guard confiscated a Palestinian flag from her during a football match attended by Emmanuel Macron. She wanted to give him a collective testimony written by several doctors on the horrors of Gaza and to communicate to him the urgency of a ceasefire, according to DayFR Euro.
Israel Holds 52 Palestinians Journalists in Jail
- CrossFireArabia
- September 3, 2024
Israel today is adopting a declared policy of imprisoning Palestinian journalists both in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to hide the evil truth.
Since 7 October, 2023, the Israeli army has detained at least 98 journalists for daring to report on Israeli atrocities whether in Gaza and/or the West Bank.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) stated, Monday, that 52 of these detainees remain in Israeli jails, a number that is being brandished in the social media.
The PPS, a non-governmental organization advocating for prisoners’ rights, said among the detained journalists, 15 are being held under administrative detention, including six female journalists, and at least 17 journalists from the Gaza Strip were detained reported Anadolu.
Israel has a routine policy of administrative detention where it can literally pick a Palestinian person off the street and detain him and/or her indefinitely and without charge or trial.
Among the detained journalists from Gaza are Nidal Al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdelwahid. Nobody knows about their wherabouts since they were forcibly taken by Israeli troops and with no information about their conditions, the statement noted.
Thousands of Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli army from areas across the Gaza Strip, but Israeli authorities have refused to give specific figures.
Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip has killed nearly 40,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 94,200 others, according to local health authorities.
An ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.
Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice according to the Turkish news agency.
USA Aids Israel With 50,000 Tons of Weapons
- CrossFireArabia
- August 26, 2024
The Israeli Defense Ministry stated, Monday, the United States has provided Israel 50,000 tons of military equipment and hardware since it launched its onslaught on the Gaza Strip after 7th October, 2023.
This piece of news is being carried not only by the social media but by many news websites in the region and worldwide.
The 50,000 tons figure has been delivered to Israel through 500 mega transport planes and 107 ships delivering hardware through sea.
“The equipment procured and transported includes armored vehicles, munitions, ammunition, personal protection gear, and medical equipment, which are crucial for sustaining the IDF (Israeli army)’s operational capabilities during the ongoing war,” the ministry added according to Anadolu.
One blogger writes “the history books will record the US as the principle enabler of the Gaza genocide, while international courts won’t dare to issue arrest warrants for Biden administration officials.
Everyday that the US can freely provide more weapon’s for Israel’s genocide is further proof that the ‘rules-based order’ is nothing more than a farce.”
US military aid to Israel, which is usually $3.8 billion per year, now stands at at least at $15 billion following a congressional aid package that passed in April, the New Arab stated.
On 13 August, the Biden Administration approved an arms sale of up to $20 billion which included the sale of 50 F-15IA jets, an Israeli variant of the new F-15EX Eagle II, and 25 upgrade packages to Israel’s existing F-15 fleet. They are expected to arrive in 2029 at the earliest.
As reported by military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi from the Hebrew newspaper Maariv, the F-15EX fighter jets included in this deal are among the most advanced offensive aircraft in the world, offering capabilities that will significantly bolster the Israeli Air Force’s dominance across the region. This comes even as Israel continues to bombard Gaza, as well as other countries in the region, risking an escalation of the situation in the region according to the Quds News Network.
Israel has killed over 40,000 Palestinians and wounded over 93,000 in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.
Tel Aviv Declares Emergency as 300 Hezbollah Rockets Land in Israel
- CrossFireArabia
- August 25, 2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant declared a 48-hour state of emergency across the country starting at 6 a.m. Sunday (03:00 GMT), after the military announced it was launching strikes in Lebanon to prevent a “major attack” by Hezbollah.
Galant’s office said in a statement that the declaration of a state of emergency allows the military to “issue instructions to the citizens of Israel, including limiting gatherings and closing sites where are relevant.”
Israel launched a series of intense airstrikes on southern Lebanon early on Sunday in what it said was a “preemptive” attack. Hezbollah said it has completed the “first phase” of the retaliatory attack on Israel with “a large number of missiles” in response to Israel’s killing of its commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut in July according to the Quds News Network.
ICC’s Karim Khan Tells Judges to ‘be Quick’ on Arrest Warrants
- CrossFireArabia
- August 24, 2024
Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court prosecutor asked the ICC committee of judges to make a decision urgently on issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
His statement, made on Friday, is being relayed on international news websites as well as the social media.
Khan called on the judges who are looking into the arrest warrant cases for Israeli officials and the Hamas leaders to make their decision quickly.
Khan said “any unjustified delay in these proceedings negatively affects the rights of victims.”
He stressed “the court has jurisdiction over Israelis who commit brutal crimes in the Palestinian territories,” and asked the judges of the ICC to reject the appeals submitted by dozens of governments and other parties in viewing the judgement to be made.
He added in his request to the court for prompt action “it is legally established that the court has jurisdiction in this situation,” rejecting the legal arguments based on provisions in the Oslo Accords and Israel’s claims that it is conducting investigations into alleged war crimes.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Galant bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the ICC prosecutor explained.
On May 20, Khan requested the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant.
He also requested an arrest warrant to be issued for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif.
Since 7 October, 2023, Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip, with American and European support, as its warplanes, tanks and army bombed the vicinity of hospitals, buildings, towers and homes of Palestinian civilians and destroyed them over the heads of their residents, and have prevented the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel into the enclave according to the Quds News Network.
The ongoing aggression by the occupation on Gaza has led to the killiong of 40,265 martyrs, the injury of 93,144 others, and the displacement of 90% of the population of the Strip, according to data from the United Nations.
