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Category: War

‘Beyond catastrophic’: UN issues dire warning on Gaza as Israel hinders polio vaccination drive

‘Beyond catastrophic’: UN issues dire warning on Gaza as Israel hinders polio vaccination drive

  The United Nations is warning the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains “beyond catastrophic” as more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza did not receive any food rations in August amid Israel’s relentless assault. Israel’s 11-month campaign has killed more than 15,000 children and enabled the besieged territory’s first polio outbreak in a quarter-century. INARA founder Arwa Damon just got back from spending two weeks in Gaza, where the nonprofit currently provides medical and mental healthcare to Palestinian children. “Israel…

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Washington lobbyists battle over future of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine

Washington lobbyists battle over future of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine

The Washington Post reports: When JD Vance became the Republican nominee for vice president, a speech he gave in April condemning the Ukrainian government for what he claimed was an “assault on traditional Christian communities” became a rallying cry for lobbyists hired by a lawyer of an ally of the Russian Orthodox patriarch. “We commend Vance for taking a strong position on this issue and urge you to follow suit,” said a July 17 email sent to lawmakers on Capitol…

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Scientists are closing in on the true, horrifying scale of death and disease in Gaza

Scientists are closing in on the true, horrifying scale of death and disease in Gaza

Devi Sridhar writes: In August, a 10-month-old baby in Gaza was partly paralysed from polio, the first confirmed case there in 25 years. The paralysis is probably permanent, and there are no treatments for polio. We have a safe and effective vaccine to prevent serious disease, but the ongoing war in the region has meant vaccination campaigns have stopped. A polio outbreak seems inevitable given that the disease spreads through dirty water and rubbish, which surrounds those living in tents…

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Ukraine army chief reveals the strategy behind Kursk incursion

Ukraine army chief reveals the strategy behind Kursk incursion

  CNN reports: Russia had been planning to launch a new attack on Ukraine from the Kursk region before Kyiv’s surprise cross-border incursion, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi told CNN in an exclusive interview Thursday. In his first television interview since becoming military chief in February, the general told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he believed the Kursk operation had been a success. “It reduced the threat of an enemy offensive. We prevented them from acting. We moved the fighting to…

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Inside the brutal siege of Jenin

Inside the brutal siege of Jenin

Mariam Barghouti reports: On Aug. 28, Israel launched “Operation Summer Camps,” the largest military invasion witnessed in the northern West Bank in over two decades. In Jenin, Israeli forces first moved into the city before imposing a full-blown siege on the refugee camp within hours; the army simultaneously carried out operations in Tubas, Nablus, Ramallah, and Tulkarem. Since 2021, the Israeli military has repeatedly targeted Jenin refugee camp under the pretext of fighting armed resistance groups. Most of the victims…

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Israeli negotiator Gershon Baskin: ‘Let it be clear that Netanyahu has sentenced the hostages to death’

Israeli negotiator Gershon Baskin: ‘Let it be clear that Netanyahu has sentenced the hostages to death’

  As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects growing domestic and international calls to accept a Gaza ceasefire deal, we go to Jerusalem to speak to Gershon Baskin of the human rights advocacy group International Communities Organization. Baskin has spent years as a back-channel Israeli negotiator with Hamas in ceasefire deals, including throughout Israel’s current war on Gaza. “It’s very clear that Netanyahu doesn’t want to end the war,” says Baskin, who calls for all remaining stakeholders, including Hamas, the…

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Israel destroyed 70% of Jenin’s streets, infrastructure, says municipality

Israel destroyed 70% of Jenin’s streets, infrastructure, says municipality

Anadolu Agency reports: The Israeli army destroyed about 70% of the streets and infrastructure in Jenin city in the northern West Bank during its ongoing military offensive for the fourth consecutive day, the local municipality said on Saturday. “The occupying (Israeli) forces have demolished more than 70% of the city’s streets completely (…) to a depth of approximately one to one-and-half meters, which has led to the destruction of water and sewage networks, as well as communication and electricity cables,…

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Official says Netanyahu’s press briefing ‘torpedoed’ hostage deal efforts

Official says Netanyahu’s press briefing ‘torpedoed’ hostage deal efforts

CNN reports: Following the news of the killing of the six hostages in Gaza, officials involved in the mediation of the ceasefire talks have been on the phone discussing ways to push the ceasefire and hostage deal forward, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN. But then Netanyahu gave his press conference Monday evening, arguing that Israel will never leave the Philadelphi corridor, “and this guy torpedoed everything in one speech,” the source said in an initial reaction. Mossad…

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‘This is also America’s war’: Why the U.S. isn’t stopping Israel’s Gaza onslaught

‘This is also America’s war’: Why the U.S. isn’t stopping Israel’s Gaza onslaught

Meron Rapoport interviews Daniel Levy: In the wake of Hamas’ October 7 massacres, U.S. President Joe Biden traveled to Israel for a solidarity visit. But a few days before he arrived, as the war effort intensified, he issued a blunt warning: “I made it clear to the Israelis I think it’s a big mistake for them to think they’re going to occupy Gaza and maintain Gaza,” he told reporters. Since then, Biden has reiterated that Israel must prevent a humanitarian crisis…

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UK suspends 30 arms export licences to Israel after review

UK suspends 30 arms export licences to Israel after review

The Guardian reports: The UK has moved to immediately suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel after a review by the new Labour government found a “clear risk” that UK arms may be used in serious violation of humanitarian law relating to the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza. The suspension will cover components for military aircraft including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones. The Foreign Office said the two-month review had raised concerns about the…

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Hersh is gone, sacrificed on the altar of Israel’s ‘total victory’

Hersh is gone, sacrificed on the altar of Israel’s ‘total victory’

Orly Noy writes: It has been 11 months since death arrived on our doorstep — first as an unwanted guest and now, it seems, as a permanent squatter who refuses to leave. Its presence is so intimate yet ethereal. The number of Palestinians that Israel has killed in its Holocaust in Gaza makes it difficult to digest the depth of the horror. How many images of dead Palestinian children can a person see before they all morph into one intangible…

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For Netanyahu, keeping the IDF in Gaza is more important than getting the hostages out

For Netanyahu, keeping the IDF in Gaza is more important than getting the hostages out

David Horovitz writes: Israel will have to battle Hamas for a long, long time to come, the security chiefs have argued. But time is running out for the hostages. And while the IDF has heavily degraded Hamas’s capabilities, the fact is that only eight hostages have been extricated alive from Gaza during almost 11 months of war. The weeklong truce last November, by contrast, saw the release of 105. Bringing home the maximal number of living hostages — from captors…

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I’m still hoping to vote for Kamala Harris

I’m still hoping to vote for Kamala Harris

Benjamin Moser writes: You’ll often hear that foreign policy is not a priority of Americans. That may be true of some foreign policy issues, but what most people on every side of this issue understand is that Israel-Palestine is not really foreign policy. We all know that this war is made in America: On Monday, Israel received its 500th shipment of bombs from the United States. We know how many billions of dollars in aid we send Israel, without the slightest restriction. We have…

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‘Israelis are frustrated, but do they want to stop the war? Not exactly’

‘Israelis are frustrated, but do they want to stop the war? Not exactly’

+972 Magazine reports: Nearly a year on from the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, the Israeli army continues to wage a devastating war in the Gaza Strip with no apparent end in sight. There is now abundant evidence that senior political and security figures failed to heed warnings in the lead-up to the Hamas-led October 7 attack, and the army has acknowledged that it was too slow to respond. Investigations have confirmed that senior commanders employed the infamous “Hannibal directive,” permitting Israeli forces to endanger the…

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‘Sowing the seeds for more hatred’ – UN’s top Gaza official speaks to Mehdi Hasan

‘Sowing the seeds for more hatred’ – UN’s top Gaza official speaks to Mehdi Hasan

  In this episode of “Mehdi Unfiltered,” a discussion about the threats facing Palestinians in Gaza in an exclusive interview with the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Philippe Lazzarini. Mehdi also explores why U.S. news organizations can’t get their coverage of Donald Trump right in a conversation with author Wajahat Ali and James Fallows, former chief speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter. The episode also looks into the situation for women and minorities in Afghanistan with Ali…

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How U.S. universities are trying to muzzle pro-Palestine protests before they restart

How U.S. universities are trying to muzzle pro-Palestine protests before they restart

Middle East Eye reports: The academic semester has kicked off at many US universities this week, and schools are working in a myriad of ways to tamp out the pro-Palestinian and student-led demonstrations that roiled the country this past spring. As students make their way back to campus, familiarising themselves with class schedules and reconnecting with university life, administrations have been working – often in conjunction with the police – to weed out the possibility of a repeat of last…

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