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Category: War

I am Gaza City’s mayor. Our lives and culture are in rubble

I am Gaza City’s mayor. Our lives and culture are in rubble

Yahya R. Sarraj writes: As a teenager in the 1980s, I watched the construction of the intricately designed Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza City, named after one of Gaza’s greatest public figures, and its theater, grand hall, public library, printing press and cultural salon. Students and researchers, scholars and artists from across the Gaza Strip came to visit it, and so did President Bill Clinton in 1998. The center was the gem of Gaza City. Watching it being built…

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Israelis now fear catching the diseases that are spreading across Gaza

Israelis now fear catching the diseases that are spreading across Gaza

The Times of Israel reports: The death of a badly wounded IDF soldier in an Israeli hospital who was infected with a dangerous strain of fungus while fighting in the Gaza Strip has raised concerns about disease in Gaza affecting troops and possibly spreading to Israeli civilians. According to a Kan public broadcaster report, the soldier was brought to Assuta Ashdod Medical Center two weeks ago with severe limb injuries. Despite round-the-clock care, the fungus proved to be treatment-resistant and…

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Hostages’ families heckle Netanyahu as he warns Israel ‘expanding’ Gaza fight

Hostages’ families heckle Netanyahu as he warns Israel ‘expanding’ Gaza fight

The Guardian reports: Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said the offensive in Gaza “isn’t close to finished”, as he faces heavy domestic pressure to reach a deal to bring home the more than 100 Israeli hostages thought to remain in captivity in Gaza. “We are expanding the fight in the coming days and this will be a long battle,” Netanyahu said after visiting Gaza on Monday, according to a statement from his Likud party. As he vowed to continue…

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Ukraine says it has destroyed Russian warship in Crimean port

Ukraine says it has destroyed Russian warship in Crimean port

The Guardian reports: Ukraine’s military has said it has destroyed a Russian landing ship stationed in the Crimean port city of Feodosia, with video footage showing an extensive fire in the port area. The air force said it struck the Novocherkassk navy ship, which was stationed in Crimean waters controlled by Russia. “The fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks to the air force pilots and everyone involved for the filigree work!” the commander of Ukraine’s air force,…

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Why we need to talk about ‘state terrorism’ by Israel In Gaza

Why we need to talk about ‘state terrorism’ by Israel In Gaza

Richard Jackson and Mandy Turner write: Why is it that the violent attack by Hamas against Israel on 7 October 2023 is described as ‘terrorism’, but Israel’s violent assault on the Gaza Strip in response is not? Why is it that the killing and kidnapping of some people is almost universally described in the language of terrorism, but virtually identical actions by other actors are not? In this case, why is Hamas labelled a terrorist organisation, but Israel is not…

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Israeli airstrike in Damascus kills high-ranking Iranian general, says Iran

Israeli airstrike in Damascus kills high-ranking Iranian general, says Iran

The Associated Press reports: An Israeli airstrike in a Damascus neighbourhood on Monday killed a high-ranking Iranian general, Iranian state media has said. Iranian officials and allied militant groups in the region vowed revenge for the killing but did not immediately launch any retaliatory strike. The killing of Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a longtime adviser of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guards in Syria, comes amid ongoing fears of the Israel-Hamas war sparking a regional spillover. Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria…

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In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza’s ‘appalling harvest’ of civilian deaths

In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza’s ‘appalling harvest’ of civilian deaths

Reuters reports: Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the “little Jesuses of today” and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians. In his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) address, Francis also called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants “abominable” and again appealed for the release of around 100 hostages still being held in Gaza. Speaking…

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Zelenskiy hails downing of Russian jets in upbeat Christmas message

Zelenskiy hails downing of Russian jets in upbeat Christmas message

The Guardian reports: Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the shooting down of two Russian fighter jets on Christmas Eve and said “this Christmas sets the right mood for the entire year ahead”. In a Christmas message marking the first time Ukraine has officially observed the holiday on 25 December rather than 7 January, Zelenskiy also referred to Ukraine’s claim to have destroyed a further three Russian fighter planes on Friday. “The stronger our air defence, the fewer Russian devils will be in…

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Putin quietly signals he is open to a cease-fire in Ukraine

Putin quietly signals he is open to a cease-fire in Ukraine

The New York Times reports: President Vladimir V. Putin’s confidence seems to know no bounds. Buoyed by Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive and flagging Western support, Mr. Putin says that Russia’s war goals have not changed. Addressing his generals on Tuesday, he boasted that Ukraine was so beleaguered that Russia’s invading troops were doing “what we want.” “We won’t give up what’s ours,” he pledged, adding dismissively, “If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.” But in a recent push of back-channel…

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Message to the world from Bethlehem: ‘STOP this Genocide NOW’

Message to the world from Bethlehem: ‘STOP this Genocide NOW’

  Christ in the Rubble — A Liturgy of Lament Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church Bethlehem Saturday December 23rd, 2023 We are angry… We are broken… This should have been a time of joy; instead, we are mourning. We are fearful. More than 20,000 killed. Thousands are still under the rubble. Close to 9,000 children killed in the most brutal ways. Day after day. 1.9 million displaced! Hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed. Gaza as we know…

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Pope laments war in Holy Land on solemn Christmas Eve

Pope laments war in Holy Land on solemn Christmas Eve

Reuters reports: Pope Francis lamented war in the land of the birth of Jesus on Sunday, where Christmas Eve brought only fresh bloodshed and an intensification of fighting across the length of the Gaza Strip. Hours before midnight tolled for Christmas in the Holy Land, Palestinian health officials reported at least 70 dead in an Israeli airstrike on central Gaza. The Israeli military spokesperson’s office said it was looking into the report. Israel reported the highest two-day death toll for…

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Syrians cancel Christmas festivities in solidarity with war-battered Gaza

Syrians cancel Christmas festivities in solidarity with war-battered Gaza

The New Arab reports: Christmas cheer has deserted the streets of Syria’s cities, where the main churches have limited celebrations to prayers in solidarity with Palestinians suffering war in Gaza. “In Palestine, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, people are suffering,” the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo, Mor Dionysius Antoine Shahda, told AFP. The northern Syrian city’s central district of Azizia is usually home to a bustling festive market and a huge Christmas tree, while its streets are adorned with lights…

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Israel said to mull sparing Hamas chiefs, exiling them, to free hostages and end war

Israel said to mull sparing Hamas chiefs, exiling them, to free hostages and end war

The Times of Israel reports: Israel is reportedly weighing the option of not killing Hamas leaders in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, if and when the opportunity arises, and instead handing them immunity of sorts and deporting them to Qatar or another country, according to a Sunday report. The agreement would only be made as part of a solution that would secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza and end the war against the terror group, the…

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Biden continues to undermine UN efforts; he once defended ‘killing women or children’

Biden continues to undermine UN efforts; he once defended ‘killing women or children’

The Intercept reports: An estimated 570,000 people in the Gaza Strip are now starving. Three-quarters of the territory’s 36 hospitals are closed. The remaining nine, all in southern Gaza, are “partially functional.” The shuttered hospitals in the north are serving as impromptu shelters for some of the 85 percent of Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced, but did not trek south to escape the ravages of Israel’s ground invasion. Beyond an estimated death toll of 20,000, according to the…

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How Biden is enabling human rights violations by Israel and obstructing the application of U.S. law

How Biden is enabling human rights violations by Israel and obstructing the application of U.S. law

Vox reports: The recent high-profile killings of three Israeli hostages, two women in a Gaza church, and 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of their family members have raised new global alarm at Israel’s targeting of civilians amid its war in Gaza. The deaths came as part of its ground assault, and as it continues a bombing campaign that even staunch Israel ally President Joe Biden has called “indiscriminate.” Yet, he continues to push for additional, essentially unconditional aid to Israel — despite the fact that some foreign affairs experts…

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The cruelty and futility of Israel’s starvation blockade on Gaza

The cruelty and futility of Israel’s starvation blockade on Gaza

Alexander B. Downes writes: Immediately after Hamas’s terrorist attack of Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,200 Israelis, Israel imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed,” as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant put it. For weeks, supplies into Gaza were reduced to a trickle. Although the recent cease-fire increased the number of trucks carrying aid to about 150 per day, that is a drop in the bucket compared to…

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