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Category: War

UNRWA staff accused by Israel sacked without evidence, chief admits

UNRWA staff accused by Israel sacked without evidence, chief admits

The Guardian reports: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said he followed “reverse due process” in sacking nine staff members accused by Israel of being involved in Hamas’s 7 October attacks. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general, said he did not probe Israel’s claims against the employees before dismissing them and launching an investigation. At a press conference in Jerusalem, Lazzarini was asked if he had looked into whether there was any evidence against the employees and…

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Israel escalates Rafah bombardment as U.S. warns of a ‘disaster’

Israel escalates Rafah bombardment as U.S. warns of a ‘disaster’

Al Jazeera reports: Israeli forces bombed areas in the southern border city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s internally displaced population is sheltering, as the United States warned that a military push into the city could be a “disaster”. Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel follows through on its threat to enter Rafah, where people are desperate for shelter and one of the last remaining areas of the Gaza Strip into which its troops…

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UNRWA donors suspended funding without seeing any evidence supporting Israel’s claims

UNRWA donors suspended funding without seeing any evidence supporting Israel’s claims

CBC reports: The government of Canada did not see any evidence backing up Israel’s claim that staff employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) colluded with Hamas before suspending funding to the agency, CBC News has learned. Government sources tell CBC that Israel still has not shared evidence with Canada to substantiate its claim that 12 employees of UNRWA were involved in some capacity in the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the affiliated group…

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Israel’s cultural genocide is destroying Gaza’s very memory

Israel’s cultural genocide is destroying Gaza’s very memory

Ahmad Ibsais writes: Growing up in the diaspora, I clung to the stories of Palestine I heard from my parents and grandparents. They gave me the undying belief that Palestinians would one day be free because we are a people rooted in resilience, culture, language, and one another. Part of resisting the 76 years of brutal Israeli occupation is passing on these stories. Some were told by my mother when making dishes like maklouba, which was always served with “Sahtain!,”…

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Palestinian groups accuse UN adviser of failing to warn about potential genocide

Palestinian groups accuse UN adviser of failing to warn about potential genocide

The Guardian reports: Leading Palestinian human rights groups have accused the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide of failing to fulfil her mandate after she issued only one statement on the war in Gaza – largely supportive of Israel – that has claimed 26,000 Palestinian lives. In a statement issued in October, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, a Kenyan, omitted any criticism of Israel. In a letter sent to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Wednesday, 16 Palestinian groups,…

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To live in peace, Israel will have to finally come to terms with the Palestinians

To live in peace, Israel will have to finally come to terms with the Palestinians

Aluf Benn writes: History suggests there is a chance that progressivism might come back and conservatives might lose influence. After prior major attacks, Israeli public opinion initially shifted to the right but then changed course and accepted territorial compromises in exchange for peace. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 eventually led to peace with Egypt; the first intifada, beginning in 1987, led to the Oslo accords and peace with Jordan; and the second intifada, erupting in 2000, ended with the…

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Saudis to Israel: No ties without recognition of Palestinian state

Saudis to Israel: No ties without recognition of Palestinian state

Reuters reports: Saudi Arabia has told the United States it will not open diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Riyadh reiterated its call for permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that have not recognised a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital to do so, a ministry statement said. It was referring to a…

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How likely is China to start a war?

How likely is China to start a war?

Michael Beckley and Hal Brands write: In 1995, more Taiwanese citizens considered themselves exclusively Chinese than Taiwanese, and more favored moving toward unification with China than toward independence. Today, nearly two-thirds of the population considers itself exclusively Taiwanese, versus only 4 percent that identifies as exclusively Chinese. While most Taiwanese support maintaining the status quo for now, 49 percent of the population prefers eventual independence over an indefinite continuation of the status quo (27 percent) or unification (12 percent). Meanwhile,…

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‘Everything beautiful has been destroyed’: Palestinians mourn a city in tatters

‘Everything beautiful has been destroyed’: Palestinians mourn a city in tatters

The Observer reports: Its walls collapsed and its minaret cut short, Gaza’s Omari mosque remains standing but vastly diminished. Around it, the historic old city is also in tatters. The 7th-century mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Gaza, was Gaza’s most famous and its surroundings a focal point of the Palestinian enclave’s history and culture, but the damage done to its heritage over more than 100 days of Israeli bombardment spreads across the city. For the few Palestinians…

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Red Sea attacks: How Yemen’s Houthis have defied Western stereotypes

Red Sea attacks: How Yemen’s Houthis have defied Western stereotypes

Andrew Hammond writes: Demonisation is a familiar play when organisations and governments challenge western policy. One of the arguments now making the rounds about the Houthi movement in Yemen is that its actions against Red Sea shipping have nothing to do with Gaza at all – and that even if Israel stopped the war, the Houthis wouldn’t stop. Underlying this is not just demonisation, but also racism. British officials have repeatedly made such claims in recent days, aiming to justify…

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Through controlled demolitions, Israel is systematically destroying Gaza

Through controlled demolitions, Israel is systematically destroying Gaza

The New York Times reports: A resort hotel overlooking the Mediterranean. A multistory courthouse built in 2018. Dozens of homes, obliterated in seconds, with the pull of a trigger. The damage caused by Israel’s aerial offensive in Gaza has been well documented. But Israeli ground forces have also carried out a wave of controlled explosions that has drastically changed the landscape in recent months. At least 33 controlled demolitions have destroyed hundreds of buildings — including mosques, schools and entire…

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Humanitarian aid agencies appeal for restoration of funding for UNRWA

Humanitarian aid agencies appeal for restoration of funding for UNRWA

In a joint statement, CARE, Interaction, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Refugees International, and Save the Children, said: The U.S. decision to temporarily pause funding for UNRWA will dramatically weaken the backbone of the humanitarian response for 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza. It is important to ensure a thorough investigation into the grave allegations by the Israeli government that 12 UNRWA employees directly participated in the heinous attacks on October 7, and to ensure full transparency…

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What South Africa really won at the ICJ

What South Africa really won at the ICJ

Sasha Polakow-Suransky writes: For those with long memories, the seed of South Africa’s case against Israel—accusing it of genocidal acts in the Gaza Strip—might be traced to a spring day nearly 50 years ago. On Apr. 9, 1976, South Africa’s white supremacist prime minister, Balthazar Johannes Vorster, was welcomed with full red-carpet treatment to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. The moment, for those who knew the prime minister’s past, was incongruous. A former Nazi sympathizer who had proudly…

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No justification or excuse could ever cover up this horror of 11,500 children killed in Gaza

No justification or excuse could ever cover up this horror of 11,500 children killed in Gaza

Gideon Levy writes: Two hundred and sixty names of babies whose age was 0; names of babies who didn’t get to celebrate their first birthday, nor will they ever celebrate anything else. Here are some of their names: Abdul Jawad Hussu, Abdul Khaleq Baba, Abdul Rahim Awad, Abdul Rauf al-Fara, Murad Abu Saifan, Nabil al-Eidi, Najwa Radwan, Nisreen al-Najar, Oday al-Sultan, Zayd al-Bahbani, Zeyn al-Jarusha, Zayne Shatat. What dreams did their parents have for them? Then there are hundreds of…

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CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’

CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’

The Guardian reports: CNN is facing a backlash from its own staff over editorial policies they say have led to a regurgitation of Israeli propaganda and the censoring of Palestinians perspectives in the network’s coverage of the war in Gaza. Journalists in CNN newsrooms in the US and overseas say broadcasts have been skewed by management edicts and a story-approval process that has resulted in highly partial coverage of the Hamas massacre on 7 October and Israel’s retaliatory attack on…

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Hamas returns to reestablish order in parts of northern Gaza

Hamas returns to reestablish order in parts of northern Gaza

The Associated Press reports: In a sign of Hamas’ resilience despite Israel’s deadly air and ground campaign in the past four months, four residents and a senior official in the militant group said it has begun to resurface in areas where Israel withdrew the bulk of its forces a month ago, deploying police officers and making salary payments to some of its civil servants in Gaza City. Four Gaza City residents told The Associated Press that in recent days, police…

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