Israel’s Controlled Demolitions Are Razing Neighborhoods in Gaza
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- Written by Leanne Abraham, Bora Erden, Nader Ibrahim, Elena Shao and Haley Willis Leanne Abraham, Bora Erden, Nader Ibrahim, Elena Shao and Haley Willis
- Published: 01 February 2024 01 February 2024
This article by the NY Times shows how Israel is systematically destroying what remains of Gaza's civilian infrastructure.
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 sections of residential neighborhoods — since November, a New York Times analysis of Israeli military footage, social media videos and satellite imagery shows.
In response to questions about the demolitions, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said that soldiers are “locating and destroying terror infrastructures embedded, among other things, inside buildings” in civilian areas — adding that sometimes entire neighborhoods act as “combat complexes” for Hamas fighters.
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“Israel’s plan is to destroy Gaza and make it unliveable and lifeless,” said Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to Britain. “Israel’s goal has always been to make it impossible for our people to return to their land.”
Two days after the 21 Israeli soldiers were killed in central Gaza, another demolition video was filmed. In it, a soldier says that, in their memory, 21 homes would be destroyed.
Read more on the NY Times
‘My children are crying from hunger. This is a war of starvation’
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- Written by Ruwaida Kamal Amer Ruwaida Kamal Amer
- Published: 01 February 2024 01 February 2024
International aid organizations are warning of catastrophic levels of hunger. A report by The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) placed Gaza’s entire population in a situation of acute food insecurity, which it defines as “crisis or worse.” According to the UN, 80 percent of all the people around the world facing famine or catastrophic hunger are in Gaza. Palestinians in the north of the Strip have told CNN they are eating grass and drinking polluted water, because no aid is reaching them.
Read more at 972Magazine.com
US government employees plan to fast for Gaza in protest against Biden policy
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- Written by Jonathan Guyer Jonathan Guyer
- Published: 30 January 2024 30 January 2024
Feds United for Peace, group of workers from more than two dozen agencies, to stage one-day hunger strike on Thursday
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/29/government-employees-hunger-strike-gaza-crisis-biden
US government employees are planning a “day of fasting for Gaza” this week to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in the territory and to denounce Joe Biden’s policy toward Israel.
Representatives for Feds United for Peace, a group of several dozen government employees frustrated with the Gaza crisis who organized an office walkout earlier in the month, told the Guardian that on Thursday its members will stage a one-day hunger strike. Participating federal employees are expected to show up to their offices dressed in black or wearing keffiyeh scarves or other symbols of Palestinian solidarity.
A federal employee speaking on behalf of the group said the Day of Fasting is a response to Israel’s use of “starvation as a weapon of war by intentionally withholding food from entering Gaza”, citing UN reporting that up 2 million people in the territory are at risk of famine.
The group says its members represent more than two dozen agencies, among them the departments of defense, homeland security and state, and include career public servants and political appointees. They expect hundreds of government employees to participate.
Read more on The Guardian because you just might not read find it in U.S. mainstream news . . .
The US must act to end the Gaza disaster | Bernie Sanders
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- Written by Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders
- Published: 27 January 2024 27 January 2024
The United States must make it clear to Netanyahu that the we will not provide another dollar to support his inhumane, illegal war ....
Many of us are watching with horror the severe humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues in the House of Representatives and US Senate are choosing to ignore this reality and evade their congressional responsibilities.
Let’s be clear: what’s happening in Gaza is not just some unfortunate tragedy taking place thousands of miles from our shores. The United States provides Israel with $3.8bn in military aid every year, and the bombs and military equipment that are destroying Gaza are made in America. In other words, we are complicit in what is happening.
And what’s happening is unspeakable.
My staff and I have spoken in recent days with the United Nations, the World Food Programme and other humanitarian organizations struggling to deal with the disaster in Gaza.
The bottom line is this: the coming weeks could mean the difference between life and death for tens of thousands of people. If we do not see a dramatic improvement in humanitarian access very soon, countless innocent people – including thousands of children – could die of dehydration, diarrhea, preventable diseases and starvation.
The World Health Organization predicts that the number of deaths from sickness and starvation could exceed the very high number killed in the war thus far.
And let’s be clear: this is not a natural disaster. It is a human-made crisis. This is the direct result of choices made by political leaders, none more than Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel’s extreme rightwing government.
Read more on The Guardian
US should ‘reset relationship of unconditional support’ for Israel, progressives say
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- Written by Ramon Antonio Vargas Ramon Antonio Vargas
- Published: 19 January 2024 19 January 2024
Leading progressive and Jewish members of Congress have criticized the US’s “unconditional support” for Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu declared bluntly that he was opposed to a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza and directly rejected American policy.
The Israeli prime minister declared on Thursday that Israel would forever maintain control over all land west of the River Jordan, making an independent Palestinian state there impossible. “This is a necessary condition, and it conflicts with the idea of [Palestinian] sovereignty,” Netanyahu said. “What to do? I tell this truth to our American friends, and I also stopped the attempt to impose a reality on us that would harm Israel’s security.”
Pramila Jayapal, the US representative who heads the influential Congressional Progressive caucus, on Friday issued one of the sharper responses to Netanyahu, saying in a video that the Israeli prime minister’s stance “should cause us to reset our relationship of unconditional support to [his] government”.
“These are policies that are diametrically opposed to the US’s stated goals,” Jayapal said about Netanyahu’s calls for the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.
Read more on The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/19/unconditional-support-israel-netanyahu-jayal-democrats