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Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz. [SEBASTIAN SCHEINER/AFP via Getty Images]
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed on Wednesday to continue military offensives in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and Yemen despite regional and international efforts to de-escalate and restore regional stability, Anadolu reports.
Israel “will continue its operations in Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and Yemen,” Maariv daily quoted Katz as saying during a training course for Israeli Air Force pilots, attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.
“In Lebanon, we will continue to apply maximum force against Hezbollah; in Syria, Israel will not withdraw from Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Sheikh) and the security zone; and in the Gaza Strip, Israel remains committed to dismantling Hamas and disarming the territory,” he added.
“As for Yemen, Israel will continue its operations to prevent the Houthis from strengthening their capabilities,” he said.
Addressing its conflict with Tehran, Katz claimed that Israel had inflicted “significant damage on Iran’s nuclear and strategic capabilities.”
“I am following reports regarding Iran, which we struck strongly in cooperation with our American partners, and the security establishment is closely monitoring developments. Naturally, I cannot provide further details,” he added.
The Israeli army has launched a brutal offensive in Gaza, killing more than 71,000 people, mostly women and children, and injuring over 171,000 others since October 2023. The assault fueled regional tensions and sparked an exchange of attacks with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthis. The Israeli army also launched a 12-day war on Iran in June, which was halted under a US-sponsored ceasefire.
Tel Aviv also staged repeated cross-border raids into Syrian territory and launched airstrikes, killing civilians and destroying Syrian military sites, vehicles, weapons, and ammunition.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during the meeting with Provincial Heads at AK Party Congress Center in Ankara, Turkiye on December 24, 2025. [TUR Presidency / Murat Kula – Anadolu Agency]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Israel has failed to honor its commitments and deliberately obstructed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, pledging that Turkiye would increase its support for Palestinians in the coming period, Anadolu reports.
“Israel is not keeping its word and is constantly creating difficulties and obstacles to the entry of humanitarian aid with fabricated excuses,” Erdogan said, addressing the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s extended provincial heads meeting in Ankara.
Erdogan said: “Even though a ceasefire has been established in Gaza since Oct. 11, hardships continue in residential areas that Israel has turned into rubble.”
He stressed that Turkiye would step up its assistance to Palestinians.
“During the blessed three months, we will increase our aid to Palestine. As Turkiye, we will not back down, we will not remain silent, we will not forget, and we will never leave Gaza alone,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan said the suffering of Gaza’s population has deepened further with colder weather and the onset of rainfall.
He said images of tents submerged by heavy rain and babies and children suffering from hypothermia due to extreme cold were being watched with heartbreak across Turkiye.
“According to the agreement, 600 aid trucks were supposed to enter Gaza daily. However, Israel does not keep its word even on such a humanitarian issue,” Erdogan said.
Despite these obstacles, he added: “We are nevertheless trying to stand by our oppressed brothers and sisters in Gaza.”
Erdogan said the 19th Turkish aid ship, carrying 1,300 tons of humanitarian supplies, reached Egypt’s El-Arish Port last week, noting that the total amount of aid Turkiye has sent to Gaza over the past two years has approached 105,000 tons.
Highlighting urgent needs in Gaza, Erdogan said residents require medicine, food, clothing, and fuel for heating. “Above all, Gaza needs hope, solidarity, and moral support. That is why we will pray a great deal,” he said.
Turkiye’s broader humanitarian stance
Positioning Turkiye’s Gaza policy within a broader humanitarian framework, Erdogan said the country has consistently come to the aid of those in distress.
“From the Caucasus to the Balkans, from Africa to Asia, whoever has been in distress, we have rushed to their aid. This was the case yesterday, it is the case today, and it will never change tomorrow,” he said.
He emphasized that Turkiye supports peace, and will not tolerate injustice.
“Everyone should know that, as in the past, we are in favor of peace and calm today as well. But this does not mean that we consent to injustice or remain silent in the face of oppression. Never,” he said.
“Throughout our history, we have always been a land of refuge for the oppressed. Without looking at religion, language, or origin, we opened our doors to those who were crushed, humiliated, subjected to oppression and massacres,” Erdogan stressed.
“Whether in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean, or anywhere else, we neither infringe on anyone’s rights nor allow our own rights to be violated,” Erdogan said.
He also stressed that Turkiye would not allow the rights of Turkish Cypriots to be usurped, adding that agreements, signatures, or political messaging would not alter Ankara’s stance.
Turning to domestic security, Erdogan said Turkiye’s push for a “terror-free Turkiye” has begun to ease pessimism beyond its borders, adding that Arab, Kurdish, Turkmen, Sunni, and Shia communities are looking to the future with renewed hope.
“Turkiye has finally embarked on a path of peace, security, development, and prosperity,” he said.
Concluding his remarks, Erdogan underlined the country’s resolve: “As Turkiye, we will continue to act with dignity, wisdom, common sense and calm, in line with international law, our bilateral agreements, and our deep-rooted tradition.”
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Original article by republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Healthcare workers and allies rally to demand the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian healthcare workers held in Israeli jails, in New York City, on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“We won’t forget him nor the 360+ health workers Israel has abducted from Gaza since October 2023,” said CodePink.
Ahead of Saturday’s one-year anniversary of Israel abducting Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from the Gaza hospital he ran, advocates demanded the release the scores of health workers still imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces.
“One year ago, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was abducted by the Israeli military along with dozens of other medical staff during a horrific raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza,” Dr. Yipeng Ge, a member of Doctors Against Genocide, said Friday on social media. “Free Hussam Abu Safiya. Free them all.”
Activist Petra Schurenhofer said on X: “It’s been a year since Israel abducted and illegally detained Dr Hussam Abu Safiya. And since then he has been languishing in an Israeli jail, being subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment. Don’t forget him. And don’t stop calling for his release.”
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was abducted by the IOF from Kamal Adwan Hospital one year ago this week.Israel has detained & tortured Dr. Abu Safiya for one whole year.We won't forget him nor the 360+ health workers Israel has abducted from Gaza since October 2023.
Abu Safiya, the 52-year-old director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was seized on December 27, 2024 as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops continued their yearlong siege and raids on the facility in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. The IDF claimed without evidence that Kamal Adwan—the last major functioning hospital in northern Gaza at the time—was a Hamas command center.
During a previous Israeli attack on Kamal Adwan, Abu Safiya’s 15-year-old son was killed in a drone strike. Abu Safiya was seriously wounded in a separate drone attack that left six pieces of shrapnel in his leg.
After his capture, Abu Safiya was first jailed at the notorious Sde Teiman prison in Israel’s Negev Desert—where dozens of detainees have died and where torture, rape, and other abuses have been reported—and then Ofer Prison in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Abu Safiya said he has endured torture by his captors—including beatings with batons and electric shocks—and suffered severe weight loss, broken ribs, and other injuries, for which he was allegedly denied adequate medical care.
A year has passed since the detention of my father, In this white coat, he walked alone amidst death, destruction, and in front of tanks—not because he was fearless, but because his oath and his humanity were greater than any fear. He refused to abandon the children and the… pic.twitter.com/8NtuIGBeYf
— Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya د.حسام أبو صفية (@HussamAbuSafiya) December 26, 2025
Israeli authorities deny these accusations. However, there have been many documented and otherwise credible reports of health and medical workers being tortured by Israeli forces—sometimes fatally, as in the case of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, who headed the orthopedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Abu Safiya remains in Israeli custody, despite having not been charged with any crimes. Israeli courts have extended his detention multiple times under so-called “unlawful combatant” legal provisions.
In January, Abu Safiya’s mother died of a heart attack that MedGlobal, the Illinois-based nonprofit for which Abu Safiya worked as lead Gaza physician, attributed to “severe sadness” over her son’s plight.
According to United Nations agencies and other experts, Israeli forces have destroyed or damaged nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals in hundreds of attacks since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. More than 1,500 Palestinian health workers have been killed.
Last year, an independent United Nations commission found that “Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities.”
Albina Abu Safiya, the imprisoned doctor’s wife, pleaded last week: “Save my husband before it is too late. His only ‘crime’ was saving the wounded and tending to the wounds of children.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he departs from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump’s latest threat came shortly after he once against lashed out at late-night host Stephen Colbert.
President Donald Trump sent out a cheery Christmas greeting early Wednesday morning just three minutes after threatening to shut down US broadcasters if their programs did not provide him with more positive coverage.
In a Truth Social post sent out at 12:36 am, Trump renewed his threat to once again strip broadcast licenses from networks that cover or portray him and his administration in a negative light.
“If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated?” Trump wrote. “I say, YES!”
Just three minutes afterward, at 12:39 am, Trump posted an all-caps message that read, “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!”
It is unclear what sparked Trump’s latest threat, although shortly before it was posted he lashed out at comedian Stephen Colbert, whose time hosting CBS’ “The Late Show” is set to end in May 2026.
“Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success,” he wrote. “Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes. A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do!”
While Trump frequently delivered angry rants about media coverage throughout his first term, his words appear to be carrying significantly more weight during his second term.
For example, the announcement of Colbert’s cancellation raised eyebrows earlier this year because it came shortly before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) signed off on an $8 billion deal for CBS parent company Paramount to be bought by Skydance Media, the company founded by David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.
Weeks after this, Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to rescind broadcast licenses for Disney-owned ABC unless it took late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a frequent Trump critic, off the air. Hours after Carr’s threat, Kimmel’s show was suspended before being put back on the air days later amid a public outcry.
Over the weekend, CBS News boss Bari Weiss spiked a segment on the network’s flagship news program “60 Minutes” that cast a critical eye on the Trump administration for sending hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious El Salvadoran prison where they were allegedly subjected to abuse and torture.
Weiss’ decision to at least temporarily quash the story came as Larry Ellison is making a hostile bid to buy Warner Brothers Discovery that will once again need FCC approval in the future in order to succeed.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
President Donald Trump makes phone calls to US troops on Christmas Eve, from the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 24, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump—who calls himself “the most anti-war president in history”—has now bombed more countries than any president in history.
President Donald Trump—the self-described “most anti-war president in history”—has now ordered the bombing of more countries than any president in history as US forces carried out Christmas day strikes on what the White House claimed were Islamic State militants killing Christians in Nigeria.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump said Thursday in a post on his Truth Social network.
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” the president continued. “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”
“Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper,” Trump added. “May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
.@POTUS “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and… pic.twitter.com/ct7rUW128t
A US Department of Defense official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that the United States worked with Nigeria to conduct the bombing, and that the government of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu—who is a Muslim—approved the attacks.
It was not immediately known how many people were killed or wounded in the strikes, or whether there are any civilian casualties.
The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “terrorist violence in any form, whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities, remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security.”
The US bombings followed a threat last month by Trump to attack Nigeria with “guns-a-blazing” if the country’s government did not curb attacks on Christians.
Northwestern Nigeria—including Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, and parts of Kaduna State—is suffering a complex security crisis, plagued by armed criminal groups, herder-farmer disputes, and Islamist militants including Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP/ISIS) and Boko Haram. Both Christians and Muslims have been attacked.
Since emerging in Borno State in 2009, Boko Haram has waged war on the Nigerian state—which it regards as apostate—not against any particular religious group. In fact, the majority of its victims have been Muslims.
“According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, more Muslims than Christians have been targeted in recent years,” Chloe Atkinson recently wrote for Common Dreams. “Boko Haram has massacred worshipers in mosques, torched markets in Muslim-majority areas, and threatened their own coreligionists.”
“The crisis in Nigeria is not a holy war against Christianity.”
“It is true that Christian communities in the north-central regions have suffered unimaginable horrors as raids have left villages in ashes, children murdered in their beds, and churches reduced to rubble,” she said. “The April massacre in Zike and the June bloodbath in Yelwata are prime examples of the atrocities taking place in Nigeria.”
“The crisis in Nigeria is not a holy war against Christianity,” Atkinson continued. “Instead, it’s a devastating cocktail of poverty, climate-driven land disputes, and radical ideologies that prey on everyone and not just any distinct group.”
“By framing Nigeria’s conflict as an existential threat to Christians alone, Trump is not shining a spotlight on the victims,” she added. “Instead, he is weaponizing right-wing conspiracy theories to stoke Islamophobia, the same toxic playbook he used to fuel his ban on Muslims, and which left refugee families shattered at America’s borders.”
Former libertarian US Congressman Justin Amash (R-Mich.) noted on X that “there’s no authority for strikes on terrorists in Nigeria or anywhere on Earth,” adding that the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)—which was approved by every member of Congress except then-Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)—“is only for the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.”
“The War Powers Resolution doesn’t grant any authority beyond the Constitution,” Amash added. “Offensive military actions need congressional approval. The Framers of the Constitution divided war powers to protect the American people from war-eager executives. Whether the United States should engage in conflicts across the globe is a decision for the people’s representatives in Congress, not the president.”
What constitutional authority supports these strikes without a Congressinal declaration of war?
In addition to Nigeria, Trump—who says he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize—since 2017 has also ordered the bombing of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, as well as boats allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Trump has also deployed warships and thousands of US troops near Venezuela, which could become the next country attacked by a president who campaigned on a platform of “peace through strength.”
That’s more than the at least five countries attacked during the tenure of former President George W. Bush or the at least seven nations attacked on orders of then-President Barack Obama during the so-called War on Terror, which killed more than 940,000 people—including at least 432,000 civilians, according to the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
Trump continued the war on ISIS in Iraq and Syria started by Obama in 2014. Promising to “bomb the shit out of” ISIS fighters and “take out their families,” Trump intensified the US campaign from a war of “attrition” to one of “annihilation,” according to his former defense secretary, Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis. Thousand of civilians were killed as cities such as Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria were flattened.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
