Tag: Israel

  • ‘Worse than Nazis’: Israeli TikTokers slammed for mocking Palestinian deaths

    ‘Worse than Nazis’: Israeli TikTokers slammed for mocking Palestinian deaths

    As videos and pictures show the awful impact of Israeli airstrikes over Gaza, where the death toll is set to cross 7000, an awful trend of Israeli TikTok users mocking these war crimes has emerged online.

    An Israeli TikTok user danarazmakeup is going viral on social media after her recent video showed her mocking the Palestinians for lack of access to clean water, electricity and air conditioning. In the video, she is running around using the applicants in her home while looking at the audience in a mocking manner.

    Twitter user Hadi Nasrullah shared this clip with the caption: “Disgusting. More and more Israeli influencers and content creators are participating in trends mocking Palestinians in Gaza for not having water or electricity. And you want us to feel sorry for them.”

    Several X (formerly Twitter) users criticised the Israeli TikToker by calling her “worse than Nazi’s”.

    Other videos included parents along with their children, mocking Palestinians by applauding their lack of electricity, and even comparing them to dogs.

    An Arab TikTok user Yeganeh shared a series of clips posted by Israeli users who were mocking Palestinians trauma. .

    In the comments section, several users urged everyone to public the names of these TikTok accounts so they could be reported.

  • Israel picks fight with United Nations: What do we know about day 19

    Israel picks fight with United Nations: What do we know about day 19

    Israel versus the United Nations

    Israel has refused to issue visas to United Nations officials after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres obliquely condemned Israeli orders to evacuate Gazans from the north to the south. Above all, he also said Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 did not happen “in a vacuum” as the Palestinians have been “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”.

    According to Al Jazeera’s reporter Gabriel Elizondo, Israel was “furious” and its officials called on the UN chief to resign.

    Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was at the debate, “was so upset”, said Elizondo, “that he cancelled a meeting with the secretary-general that was supposed to happen Tuesday afternoon”.

    Additionally, the UN had been raising concerns over the lack of fuel in Gaza and the potential pause in its operations. In response to one of the UN’s posts on Tuesday, the Israeli military suggested the UN should approach Hamas for fuel supplies.

    The Israeli military claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that Hamas has more than 500,000 litres of fuel in tanks inside Gaza.

    “Ask Hamas if you can have some,” the military wrote.

    103 killed in occupied West Bank

    Increasing Israeli raids since October 7 in the occupied West Bank have resulted in 103 deaths.

    Syrian army attacked by Israel

    The Israeli military claims to have targeted Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launches, asserting that it was a response to Syrian aims at Israel.

    “Lebanon was never an aggressor”: Ambassador

    During the UN Security Council meeting, Lebanon’s ambassador, Hadi Hachem, stated that his country “is exerting every effort to disassociate” from this “bloody conflict”.

    He added that Lebanon was never an aggressor.

    “It has always been a victim of aggression by Israel since the [1960s].”

    Referring to Gazans, he said “There is no law or doctrine that justifies the systematic killing of a population that lives in an open-air prison for more than a half a century.”

    Hachem also shed light on the killings of 13 journalists in Gaza (including the killing of Lebanese journalist Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon) because of Israeli attacks, “proof” of Israel’s “policy to suppress freedoms”.

    Earlier in the debate, the US accused Iran and its proxies of destabilising the region, claims the Iranian ambassador categorically rejected.

    600,000 Palestinians displaced

    The UN is reportedly sheltering nearly 600,000 Palestinians who have been internally displaced in 150 facilities whereas at least 40 UNRWA installations have been affected following Israeli attacks.

    “Our shelters are four times over their capacities. Many people are sleeping on the streets as current facilities are overwhelmed,” the agency said in a post shared on X.

  • More than 2,000 children have been killed in Israeli air strikes since Oct 7: What do we know about day 18

    More than 2,000 children have been killed in Israeli air strikes since Oct 7: What do we know about day 18

    704 Palestinians killed in last 24 hours

    The health ministry in the besieged enclave reports that Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours have killed 704 in Gaza.

    More than 19,000 displaced in Lebanon after border clashes

    The Israel-Palestine escalation has spread beyond borders. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported the displacement of 19,646 people while the United Nations has also estimated that more than 19,000 have been internally displaced in Lebanon after October 7 amid cross-border attacks.

    Friction between Hezbollah and the Israeli military is also feared to escalate.

    Killing of children

    Among the 5,087 people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, more than 2,000 of them are children, the health ministry in the besieged enclave states.

    Between Sunday and Monday alone, 182 children were killed among the total of 436 Palestinians.

    Six more UN staff killed in Israeli bombing

    The UN Relief and Works Agency has lost six more staff members in Israeli bombing of Gaza, taking the death toll to 35.

    Occupied West Bank

    96 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces since October 7 and settlers while at least 1,800 have been wounded.

    Israel claims to have detained 500 Palestinians, allegedly linked to Hamas.

    Similarly, almost 1,500 people are trapped under the rubble in Gaza and rescue teams are unable to rescue all as Israel continues to target medical teams while authorities lack necessary equipment.

    Gaza not receiving enough relief supplies

    According to the UN, only 54 trucks with relief supplies have been allowed into Gaza since Saturday.

    Tamara al-Rifai, communications chief of the United Nations Palestine refugee relief agency UNRWA, deemed it as a drop in the ocean.

    He also highlights that fuel for generators has not been sent in the shipments whereas rice and lentils delivered cannot be cooked without the water and gas which are needed for cooking.

    Obama on Israel

    Former President Obama issued a new statement on Israel-Palestine escalation.

    In his statement, Obama condemns the October 7 attacks launched by Hamas, calling it an “unspeakable brutality” and supports Israel’s right to defend itself but under “international law.”

    “But even as we support Israel, we should also be clear that how Israel prosecutes this fight against Hamas matters. In particular, it matters — as President Biden has repeatedly emphasized — that Israel’s military strategy abides by international law, including those laws that seek to avoid, to every extent possible, the death or suffering of civilian populations,” Obama wrote.

    Obama also warns that blocking supplies into Gaza can put support for Israel at risk.

    “The Israeli government’s decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a captive civilian population threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis; it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel’s enemies, and undermine long term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region,” he wrote.

    Obama further stresses on dismissing antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian narratives. And while he believes that Israel has “every right to exist,” he also notes that Palestinians have “also lived in disputed territories for generations.”

    “But if we care about keeping open the possibility of peace, security and dignity for future generations of Israeli and Palestinian children — as well as for our own children — then it falls upon all of us to at least make the effort to model, in our own words and actions, the kind of world we want them to inherit,” he concluded.

    Macron arrives in Israel on ‘solidarity’ visit

    The French president Emmaneul Macron also paid a visit to Tel Aviv to “express” France’s “solidarity” with Israel.

    Referring to October 7 attacks by Hamas, the President stated that “what happened will never be forgotten.”

    On the other hand, Israeli President Isaac Herzog asserts that his country is committed to “destroying” its adversaries, adding that, “We demand the immediate release of all our citizens,”

    Shedding light on Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah, he stated that “We are following very closely the situation,”, adding that Lebanon was “playing with fire”.

    “If Hezbollah drags us into a war it should be clear that Lebanon will pay the price”.

    Credits: Al Jazeera

  • COAS Gen Asim Munir meets Ambassador of Palestine

    COAS Gen Asim Munir meets Ambassador of Palestine

    Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir met the Ambassador of Palestine to Pakistan, Ahmad Jawad Rabei, at General Headquarters today.

    COAS offered his condolences on the loss of Palestinian lives in the ongoing war Israel has declared on Gaza.

    According to the official statement, “COAS expressed grave concern over unabated violence and willful, indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians by the Israeli Defence Forces in the war. Incessant attacks on civilian population, schools, universities, aid workers, hospitals and the forced exodus of Palestinians from Gaza are manifest crimes against humanity.”

    He also reasserted the need to call for immediate cessation of hostilities, open a humanitarian corridor to Gaza, protect civilians and adhere to the International Humanitarian Law.

    COAS also highlighted Pakistan’s “principled support for an independent, viable and contiguous state of Palestine established on the basis of pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital”.

    “Pakistan believes that the fresh spate of violence in Gaza is the result of unabated repression, continued human rights violations and state-sponsored sacrilege of Al Aqsa mosque. Conflating this war with terrorism would be naïve; taking a narrow and self-serving view of the issue as an isolated attack, obscures brutal oppression spanning decades that has led to this outcome” he said.

    “At this critical juncture, it is imperative that the international community mobilizes to put an early end to unfolding human tragedy due to disproportionate and unlawful use of force by Israeli Defence Forces and desist from encouraging them to continue perpetrating atrocities in manifest violation of all norms of civility and humane conduct”.

  • Palestinian death toll crosses 5,000: What do we know about day 17

    Palestinian death toll crosses 5,000: What do we know about day 17

    The number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli onslaught has reached at least 5,087, the Health Ministry has confirmed, whereas 15,273 have been wounded.

    In the past 24 hours alone, at least 436 people, including 182 children, were killed.

    Israeli airstrikes hit areas around Gaza’s Al-Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals. WAFA reports that a number of missiles hit the area surrounding Al-Shifa Medical Complex where currently the largest number of wounded are being treated as well as the largest number of medical staff working in the Gaza strip.

    The vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital, on the other hand, has been attacked for the second time.

    Al Jazeera reports that as per Palestinian officials, Israel has been directly threatening hospitals with evacuation, bombings, or bombing nearby areas, and creating uncertainty in the healthcare system.

    China’s call for ceasefire

    China’s Middle East special representative has asserted to do “whatever is conducive” to encourage a dialogue to lead to ceasefire and peace in the Middle East.

    China’s state media reported that Zhai Jun deemed the situation in Gaza as “very serious” and raised concerns over a potential escalation of conflict into the neighbouring countries, calling it “worrisome”.

    China attended the Cairo peace committee and has been in communication with foreign ministers including from Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Norway, as well as representatives from the UN and EU.

    Zhai also mentioned that China has been helping with emergency humanitarian assistance to Palestinians through the UN and via bilateral channels to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

    Two Hezbollah cells in Lebanon attacksTwo alleged Hezbollah cells in Lebanon were targeted by Israeli forces on Monday.

    123 Palestinians detained in occupied West Bank

    Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank have detained 123 Palestininas in the ongoing Israeli raids.40 people are said to be workers from the Gaza Strip.Israel, on the other hand, claims that 37 of the arrested are “Hamas members”.

  • 23 journalists killed in Israeli airstrikes since October 7

    23 journalists killed in Israeli airstrikes since October 7

    The Israel-Gaza escalation has resulted in the killings of more than 4,700 people in Gaza —mainly Palestinians — as increasingly heavy Israeli air raids continue following October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

    Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been keeping a track of journalists who have been killed, injured, detained, or missing in the Israeli-declared war.

    Amidst Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, and extensive power outages, journalists are at risk at all times as they cover the situation in Gaza.

    As of yesterday, 23 journalists have reportedly been killed, including 19 Palestinians, three Israelis, and one Lebanese.

    The victims are identified as Khalil Abu Aathra, Sameeh Al-Nady, Mohammad Balousha, Issam Bhar, Abdulhadi Habib, Yousef Maher Dawas, Salam Mema, Husam Mubarak, Issam Abdallah, Ahmed Shehab, Mohamed Fayez Abu Matar, Saeed al-Taweel, Mohammed Sobh, Hisham Alnwajha, Assaad Shamlakh, Shai Regev, Ayelet Arnin, Yaniv Zohar, Mohammad Al-Salhi, Mohammad Jarghoun, and Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi.

    Additionally, eight journalists are reported injured and three are missing or detained.

    CPJ has also claimed to have been investigating a number of unconfirmed reports of other journalists being “killed, missing, detained, hurt or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists’ home.”

    According to CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Sherif Mansour, “CPJ emphasises that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,

    “Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heartbreaking conflict. All parties must take steps to ensure their safety.”

  • 120 premature babies are at risk: What do we know about day 16

    120 premature babies are at risk: What do we know about day 16

    Here is an update on day 16:

    • Israeli military claims to have attacked dozens of Hamas targets throughout last night, killing two Hamas fighters.

    “Throughout the day, dozens of tunnel shafts, munitions warehouses, headquarters and operational military bases were destroyed,” the army said, adding that mosques were also targeted as they were used by Hamas’s operatives.

    • Israeli forces have killed five more Palestinians in occupied West Bank, increasing the death toll to 90 since October 7, says Palestinian Ministry of Health.
    • The United Nations have reported that at least 120 premature babies in incubators are at risk after Israel cut fuel access into Gaza. “We have currently 120 neonates who are in incubators, out of which we have 70 neonates with mechanical ventilation, and of course this is where we are extremely concerned,” said UNICEF spokesperson Jonathan Crickx.

    Similarly, Palestinian Health Ministry has confirmed thay more than 1,700 children have been killed by Israeli attacks so far.

    • Israeli attacks in Gaza have also destroyed 31 mosques, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Endowments.
    • Wafa news agency has reported that the Israeli forces have arrested at least 58 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this morning. Since October 7, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been arrested.
  • 80 per cent of Gaza burns victims are children: What do we know about day 15

    80 per cent of Gaza burns victims are children: What do we know about day 15

    13 Palestinians killed in occupied West Bank

    At least 13 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank.

    The Israeli raid led to clashes in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

    Among the killed Palestinians are seven children whereas one Israeli officer also died.

    Israel-Lebanon border

    Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah alongside Palestinian armed groups are still at odds as cross-border attacks continue.

    Al Jazeera reports that the attacks are limited to areas only a few kilometres on each side of the border, adding that Hezbollah is trying to stop Israeli potential operation into Gaza.

    ‘Fuel will not enter Gaza’: Israeli army spokesperson

    Daniel Hagari says the 20 trucks carrying aid into Gaza from Egypt will go to the southern part of the besieged enclave.

    But he stated that “fuel will not enter Gaza”.

    At a news conference after the opening of the Rafah crossing earlier, Hagari told reporters that only food, water and medical aid will be allowed to enter the enclave.

    Israeli air raids kill 46 in Gaza

    Air raids through the night have reportedly killed at least 46 people.

    Preparations for ‘next phase of war’

    Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has disclosed that the war will be carried through three phases and that preparations are underway “for the next phase of the war” which is said to be a ground operation.

    The first phase is under way which, as he explained, aims to destroy the military infrastructure of Hamas military. The second phase will be “lower intensity” operations to “destroy pockets of resistance”.

    “The third phase will require the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel,” as highlighted in his statement.

    800 EU officials condemn chief’s support of Israeli attacks on Gaza

    In the light of the recent incessant Israeli attacks on Gaza, more than 800 EU officials have written to European Union’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen, condemning her “uncontrolled” support of Israel.

    Al Jazeera has reported seing the letter whereas the signatories of the letter say they “hardly recognise the values of the EU” and that there has been a “seeming indifference demonstrated over the past few days by our institution towards the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip, in disregard for human rights and international humanitarian law”.

    The signatories are also upset by the Commission’s “double standards” as on one hand, the Russian blockade of Ukraine is deemed as an act of terror, while Israel’s blockade of Gaza is “completely ignored”.

    “If Israel does not stop immediately, the whole Gaza Strip and its inhabitants will be erased from the planet,” the letter read.

    “We urge you [von der Leyen] to call, together with the leaders of the whole Union, for a ceasefire and for the protection of civilian life. This is at the core of the EU existence,” they said, warning “the EU risks losing all credibility”.

    The letter brings to light the conflict within the EU on the Israel-Gaza war.

    The letter also read that the European Commission’s “recent unfortunate actions or positions seem to give a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip”.

    “We would have been proud if the European Union … had called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and indiscriminate violence against civilians,” the letter read.

    UN update on casualties in Gaza, West Bank
    Death toll in the Palestinian enclave has risen up to 4,137 which includes 70 percent of children and women.

    Additionally, more than 1,000 people are said to be missing and are presumably under the buildings attacked by Israel.

    1.4 million people are internally displaced in Gaza while at least 30 percent of residency has been destroyed or damaged in Gaza.

    80 per cent of Gaza burns victims are children

    Ghassan Abu Sitta has said that medical workers no longer have dressings for burns victims.

    “We have more than 70 wounded with burns covering more than 40 per cent of their body surface. 80 per cent are children,” Abu Sitta said on X (formerly Twitter).

    10,000 Palestinians imprisoned in two weeks

    There were already about 5,200 Palestinians in Israeli prisons before the attacks of October 7. Following the incident, 4,000 Gazan labourers in Israel have reportedly been arrested while other 1,070 have been taken in in army raids in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

    Cairo Peace Summit to address war on Gaza

    More than a dozen countries participated in a conference in Cairo, Egypt to discuss ways to “de-escalate” the Israel-Palestine escalation while there is also a fear of the conflict rippling throughout the Middle East.

    The Cairo Summit for Peace was attended by Jordan, France, Germany, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Qatar, South Africa and other countries alongside the United Nations and European Union.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi urged all the leaders to collectively carve out a way to end the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip and establish peace between the two sides.

    He also asserted the need to deliver aid to Gaza and call for a ceasefire as well as attainment of the two-state solution.

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also attended the summit and appealed for the opening of the humanitarian corridors.

    “We will remain on our land.”, he added, saying that Palestinians will not leave.

  • Colombia to open embassy in Palestine

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been very vocal in his condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza. In one of his recent statements, after a meeting with both the ambassadors of Palestine and Israel, he showed his solidarity with the children from both sides and pledged to open an Embassy in Ramallah, Palestine.

    “I have expressed my position to achieve an international peace conference that opens the way for two independent and free states. I reiterated my solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian children, who must and have the right to live in peace,” he said in a post on X (former Twitter).

    The Colombian president further pledged, “We will send a plane with humanitarian aid to the outskirts of Gaza waiting for a humanitarian corridor to open. Colombia will open its embassy in Ramallah, Palestine.”

    It is crucial in the context of the ongoing conflict as Petro has refused to condemn Hamas’ attack on Israel and compared Israel’s actions to those of Nazi Germany. In response to this, the country bore the cost in the form of suspension of defence imports from Israel — their biggest supplier of warplanes, surveillance equipment, and assault rifles since the 1990s.

  • Only 20 trucks of aid allowed into Gaza

    Only 20 trucks of aid allowed into Gaza

    The Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza has finally been opened for aid trucks into Gaza on Saturday.

    Al Jazeera reports that Hamas’s media office confirmed that “The relief aid convoy that is supposed to enter today includes 20 trucks that carry medicine, medical supplies, and a limited amount of food supplies [canned goods],”

    The World Health Organization took to X to highlight that its trucks consists of trauma supplies for 1,200 people, portable trauma bags for on-the-spot stabilisation for 235 people, medication for chronic diseases for 1,500 people, essential health supplies for 300,000 people for three months.

    It is, however, important to note that the besieged Gaza Strip has a population of 2.3 million people.

    Humanitarian workers have been saying that 20 trucks are not enough for the catastrophe caused by Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip. So far, more than 4,000 people have been killed while more than 12,000 are injured.

    The UN reported that there is a severe dearth of food and drinking water while sanitation facilities, water wells, reservoirs, and pumping stations have been destroyed due to air raids.

    Hamas’s media office has also stated that this aid “will not change the catastrophic medical conditions in Gaza”.

    Previously, US President Joe Biden visited Israel and announced the agreement to allow 20 trucks in Gaza through Egypt.