CrossFireArabia
The Civil Defense in Gaza reports losing 85% of its facilities and equipment during the Israeli genocide, calling on mediators to pressure the Israeli occupation to allow the entry of essential supplies.
CrossFireArabia
By Khaled Shaqran
Jordan’s posture on the Palestinian question has always been firm and clear: Jordan is not, and will never be, an alternative homeland for Palestinians.
This position is not merely a political statement but a historical commitment rooted in the principle of justice and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Jordan rejects any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause or deny the rights of Palestinians under whatsoever pretext.
In reality, Jordan, which has historically served as a safe haven for those fleeing wars and persecution, is already under immense pressure on its resources and infrastructure due to the accumulated influx of refugees from successive waves of migration. It cannot bear the burden of accommodating more refugees or the multifaceted challenges their presence would bring.
The Palestinian people cannot abandon their homeland, no matter the pressures or threats they face. For Palestinians, their land is not merely territory but identity, history, and shared destiny. They will continue to hold onto it until their legitimate rights are realized. Palestinians will not relinquish an inch of their land, neither through enticement nor intimidation, and will persist in their struggle to achieve their dream of freedom and justice.
No short-term solutions would resolve the issue and end the long-running conflict, as some believe.
While the United States, as a global power, can propose initiatives and exert political pressure, it can never erase an entire people and their just cause. Despite the systematic killing, repression, destruction, and unprecedented exclusionary practices supported by some influential international powers, the Palestinian people have never stopped and will never stop fighting for their legitimate rights, paramount of which is the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent state of their own.
It is also crucial for the international community to understand that the Palestinian issue is not merely a regional conflict that can be resolved through short-lived settlements. It is a human rights issue tied to the lives of an entire people and their ongoing struggle for freedom and independence. Therefore, any solution that does not rest on the foundation of comprehensive justice will fail and will not bring lasting peace. The only solution to this conflict is a just and comprehensive peace that guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The two-state solution is the only viable formula that enjoys international consensus and reflects the will of the region’s peoples for coexistence in peace and security. Palestine, as both land and cause, is not negotiable or to be ever terminated, and Palestinian rights are historical and legitimate, beyond the power of any force to erase or deny.
It is historically inevitable all occupations eventually end, and it is time for the international community to recognize that this conflict cannot be resolved through displacement, killing, or destruction, but by achieving justice for the Palestinian people. Any solution that does not rely on the two-state framework will remain unattainable. The Palestinian cause will persist as a struggle for rights and freedom, and the region will not enjoy security, stability, or peace until the Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights and establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Khaled Shaqran is a columnist in the Jordan Times
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.
CrossFireArabia
The Al-Qassam Brigades published a video clip, Saturday evening, showing 4 Israeli female soldiers released, expressing their gratitude in Arabic to the Palestinian factions for the good treatment they received during their captivity and for preserving their lives despite the violent Israeli bombardment.
The video, which was broadcast by Al-Qassam via its Telegram account, shows the female soldiers in a car while they were being transported to be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, as part of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel with international and regional mediation.
While they were inside the car before the handover, the female soldiers expressed their gratitude to the Al-Qassam Brigades for the good treatment they received.
One of them said: “Peace be upon you, thank you to the Al-Qassam Brigades for the good treatment.”
Another added: “Thank you for the food, drink and clothes.”
A third female soldier thanked the faction fighters who were “protecting us and protecting us from the bombardment.”
While the fourth expressed her wish that this day would be “a happy day for everyone.”
At the end of the clip, the female soldiers were seen chanting loudly the date “January 25,” which was the day of their release, near the Gaza beach, where the video was filmed before they were handed over to the Red Cross.
On Saturday afternoon, Hamas released 4 Israeli female soldiers and handed them over to the Red Cross, which in turn handed them over to the Israeli side, as part of the second batch of the first phase of the exchange deal and ceasefire in Gaza.
In exchange for each Israeli female soldier, 50 Palestinian prisoners will be exchanged, including 30 serving life sentences and 20 serving long sentences, according to what a Hamas source told Anadolu Agency, Saturday.
In total, Israel currently holds more than 10,300 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons, and it is estimated that there are about 96 Israeli prisoners in Gaza.
The Gaza ceasefire agreement, which went into effect on January 19, included a deal to release Israeli prisoners in Gaza in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
In the first phase of the agreement, which consists of three stages, each lasting 42 days, the terms stipulate the gradual release of 33 Israelis held in Gaza, whether alive or dead, in exchange for a number of Palestinian detainees estimated between 1,700 and 2,000.
Indeed, the first exchange, which took place on the first day of the agreement, saw the release of three female Israeli civilian prisoners in exchange for 90 male and female Palestinian child detainees, all from the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem according to the Anadolu news agency.
With American support, Israel committed genocide in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, leaving more than 158,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing, and one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
