Hundreds of demonstrators, holding Israeli flags and photos of prisoners, gather at the streets and march from Jaffa Street in Jerusalem towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, to demand a ceasefire and prisoner swap deal in Gaza in Jerusalem on December 14, 2024. [Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, said Saturday that the Israeli army bombed a location in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli hostages were held, confirming that the bombing was repeated to ensure their death, Anadolu reports.
Abu Obaida, the spokesperson for the group, said on Telegram: “The occupation army recently bombed a location where some enemy prisoners were present and repeated the bombing to ensure their death.”
“We have intelligence confirming that the enemy deliberately bombed the location with the aim of killing the prisoners and their guards,” Obaida noted.
He added: “Our fighters attempted to rescue the enemy prisoners and succeeded in retrieving one of them, whose fate remains unknown.”
Obaida held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his government, and the Israeli army “fully responsible for this event and the lives of their prisoners.”
A video released by al-Qassam Brigades showed the bombed location and a person without clarifying whether they were killed or injured, with no facial features shown.
The video included a statement: “Netanyahu and [Chief of General Staff Herzi] Halevi seek to get rid of their prisoners in Gaza by all means.”
Israel estimates that there are currently 101 Israeli prisoners held in Gaza.
Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed due to Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the ongoing conflict.
Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 44,800 victims, mostly women and children, since an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on 7 October 2023.
The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and the blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last month for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 10, 2024 [Chaim Goldberg/Flash90/Pool/Anadolu Agency]
Despite overseeing what is widely considered to be a genocide in Gaza and facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes, as well as ongoing corruption charges, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strengthened his political position, according to a new poll which shows that his Likud party would increase its parliamentary representation in an election held today.
A Channel 13 News poll published yesterday reveals that Netanyahu’s coalition would win 57 seats in the 120-member Knesset, up from 55 in October, with Likud emerging as the largest party at 26 seats. The results suggest that far from weakening Netanyahu’s position, the devastating military onslaught in Gaza has consolidated his support base.
The polling data, reported by Haaretz, appears to challenge the prevalent Western narrative that Netanyahu is the primary obstacle to peace. Instead, it indicates broad Israeli public support for the military offensive in Gaza, which has killed at least 45,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 106,000 others.
The survey shows Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition gaining strength while the opposition would slip to 58 seats, down from 60 in October. Key findings include:
The poll, conducted by the Maagar Mochot research institute in collaboration with Sample Project Panel and Stat-Net, surveyed 676 Israelis with a margin of error of 3.8 per cent. While Netanyahu’s coalition would still fall short of a majority, the strengthening of his position amid international condemnation of the genocide in Gaza suggests deep-rooted support within Israeli society for the current military campaign.
The results indicate that rather than facing political consequences for the unprecedented civilian casualties in Gaza and Israel becoming an international pariah under Likud, Netanyahu has instead seen his position solidify. This raises questions about the broader societal attitudes within Israel towards the ongoing assault on Gaza and the underlying motivations for what is often described as a war of annihilation against the Palestinians.
The Israeli military launched an airstrike on the al-Qassam Mosque and its surroundings in Gaza City’s Nuseirat refugee camp on November 27, 2024. (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The Biden administration seems to be ready and willing to keep piling more and more, despite Gaza descending into what President Biden just yesterday described as ‘hell,'” said Amnesty International USA.
Just hours after a cease-fire between the Israeli government and Lebanese group Hezbollah took effect, the Financial Times revealed that “U.S. President Joe Biden has provisionally approved a $680 million weapons sale to Israel,” which has also spent the past nearly 14 months decimating the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the British newspaper reported that “U.S. officials recently briefed Congress on the plan to provide thousands of additional joint direct attack munition kits to Israel, known as JDAMS, as well as hundreds of small-diameter bombs.”
The Biden administration’s decision to advance the sale was subsequently confirmed by Reuters, which reported that “the package has been in the works for several months. It was first brought to the congressional committees in September then submitted for review in October.”
Human rights advocates critical of Israel’s assaults on Lebanon and Gaza—which has led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—responded with alarm to the new reporting.
“If these reports are true, it’s heartbreakingly devastating news,” saidAmnesty International USA. “These are the weapons that our research has shown were used to wipe out entire families, without any discernable military objective.”
Amnesty highlighted a trio of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have halted some arms sales to Israel. Although they failed to pass the Senate last week, the group was among several that noted over the course of three votes, 17, 18, and 19 senators supported halting weapons sales, “sending a clear signal that U.S. policy must change.”
“Yet, the Biden administration seems to be ready and willing to keep piling more and more, despite Gaza descending into what President Biden just yesterday described as ‘hell,'” Amnesty added Wednesday. “Sending more weapons that have been used to maim and kill with impunity doesn’t just put in jeopardy Palestinian lives and the elusive cease-fire the president is seeking, but also President Biden’s own legacy.”
The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project declared Wednesday that “President Biden is spending the final days of his presidency going against the will of most Americans, U.S. law, and international law.”
“The weapons included in this package have been used by Israel in numerous apparent war crimes,” the organization noted. “On July 13, 2024, Israel attacked a so-called ‘safe zone’ in al-Mawasi, in which internally displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing at least 90 people and injuring hundreds more. A CNN investigation found that Israel carried out this attack with at least one JDAM.”
John Ramming Chappell, an adviser on legal and policy issues at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, similarly stressed that “these are the very same weapons that for months Israeli forces have used to kill Palestinian civilians and violate international humanitarian law.”
“Continuing arms transfers risks making the United States and US officials complicit in war crimes,” he said. “These arms sales are unlawful as a matter of both U.S. and international law. They are immoral. The congressional committees of jurisdiction can and must place a hold on the sales.”
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, pointed out that “aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity is itself a crime for which U.S. officials may (and should) face prosecution at the ICC.”
Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, though Palestine is. Both the Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser have attacked the warrants for Israeli leaders.
In a speech to Israelis on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that one of the reasons for the cease-fire in Lebanon “is to give our forces a breather and replenish stocks. And I say it openly, it is no secret that there have been big delays in weapons and munitions deliveries. These delays will be resolved soon. We will receive supplies of advanced weaponry that will keep our soldiers safe and give us more strike force to complete our mission.”
According to the Financial Times:
U.S. officials have denied there is any explicit link between the cease-fire deal and approval for the latest weapons delivery. While the cease-fire deal includes a so-called side letter from the U.S. to Israel, setting out Washington’s support for a certain freedom of Israeli action, people familiar with the text said it included no guarantees of weapon sales.
U.S. officials also deny that there have been deliberate delays to weapons shipments, aside from shipments of 2,000-pound bombs, which Biden paused earlier this year over concerns about their use in densely populated areas of Gaza.
The Times of Israelreported that Biden’s State Department declined to confirm the advancement of the package but said that U.S. support for Israel in the face of Iran-backed threats is “unwavering” and all weapon transfers are carried out in line with federal law.
“We have made clear that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law, has a moral obligation and strategic imperative to protect civilians, investigate allegations of any wrongdoing, and ensure accountability for any abuses or violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law,” the State Department said.
As of Wednesday, officials in Gaza said the death toll had hit at least 44,282 Palestinians with another 104,880 people injured.
At large: Benjamin Netanyahu. (Ohad Zwigenberg / Alamy)
International Criminal Court’s stance on Gaza should trigger an end to British military ties with Israel, critics say.
Britain’s ongoing involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza “opens the UK up to charges of complicity in war crimes”, an opposition politician has told Declassified.
Liz Saville Roberts MP spoke out after seeing UK spy flights continue to surveil Gaza despite Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu now being wanted for war crimes.
Flight tracking data shows Royal Air Force surveillance planes over the besieged enclave have not been interrupted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants.
Although ministers claim the flights, which began last year, are solely looking for hostages, Saville Roberts said “there is a clear risk that the information shared with Israel from these flights may have been used in attacks on civilians.”
Labour has also refused to implement a complete arms embargo on Israel. Spare parts for Israel’s most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, can still be shipped to Tel Aviv if they go via the US.
Human rights lawyers say this loophole is “unconscionable”. General Herzi Halevi, the Israeli army’s chief of staff, was even allowed to visit the UK on Monday for talks with military officials.
Sharing intel with war criminals?
UK contact with Israel’s military has come under increasing scrutiny since the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant last week.
Both men are accused by the ICC of “the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population” and using “starvation as a method of warfare”.
Britain is sending surveillance flights over Gaza almost every day to gather intelligence for Israel, claiming it could find hostages held by Hamas.
dizzy: Israel’s genocides should be regarded as a joint pursuit involving the United States, the United Kingdom and 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/O74hZCKKdpAGenocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Hussam Abu Safiyeh, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, is treated by colleagues for his injuries following an Israeli strike that hit the medical compound in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 23, 2024. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)
“These people, they target everyone, but I swear, this will not stop us from continuing our humanitarian work,” said a Gaza hospital director injured in an Israeli strike.
More than 1,000 doctors and nurses are among at least 44,211 people killed in Israel’s 13-month assault on the Gaza Strip, officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave said Sunday.
“Over 310 other medical personnel were arrested, tortured, and executed in prisons,” Gaza’s Government Media Office also said in a statement, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. “The Israeli army also prevented the entry of medical supplies, health delegations, and hundreds of surgeons into Gaza.”
“Hospitals have been a declared target for the Israeli army, which bombed, besieged, and stormed them, killing doctors and nurses, injuring others after directly targeting them,” the office said. The statement came after the director of the main partially functioning hospital in northern Gaza was injured in an Israeli strike.
Hussam Abu Safiyeh is the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital—which, according to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked, damaging “the facility’s generators, fuel tanks, and main oxygen station.”
The wounded director said: “These people, they target everyone, but I swear, this will not stop us from continuing our humanitarian work. We will keep on providing this service no matter what it costs us.”
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in addition to killing tens of thousands of Palestinians, Israeli forces have injured at least 104,567 others. Along with attacking hospitals, they have destroyed many homes, schools, and religious sites, and displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people.
Israel—which has been armed by the Biden administration and bipartisan U.S. Congress—faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its conduct in Gaza. Additionally, the International Criminal Court earlier this week issued arrest warrants for Israel’s current prime minister and former defense minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
Last month, 99 U.S. healthcare providers who have volunteered in Gaza since last fall sent U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a letter detailing “the massive human toll from Israel’s attack” and urging them to “end this madness now!”
“It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population,” the Americans wrote. “With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer, and probably every Israeli hostage: every man, woman, and child.”
“We quickly learned that our Palestinian healthcare colleagues were among the most traumatized people in Gaza, and perhaps in the entire world,” they continued. “All were acutely aware that their work as healthcare providers had marked them as targets for Israel. This makes a mockery of the protected status hospitals and healthcare providers are granted under the oldest and most widely accepted provisions of international humanitarian law.”
They added that “we wish to be absolutely clear: Not once did any of us see any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza’s hospitals or other healthcare facilities. We urge you to see that Israel has systematically and deliberately devastated Gaza’s entire healthcare system, and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder.”
Despite such appeals and accounts, the outgoing Biden-Harris administration has declined to cut off weapons to the Israeli government and earlier this week most U.S. senators from both major parties rejected a trio of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have blocked some American arms sales to Israel.
