Tag: war on gaza

  • Rotten food and cat hunting as famine hits Gaza

    Rotten food and cat hunting as famine hits Gaza

    As the war on Gaza extends into its 90th day, impending famine and starvation are haunting the besieged strip.

    According to an assessment of the integrated food security phase classification initiative, a UN-backed body that sets the international standard that determines the severity of the food crisis, food shortage in Gaza is solely a consequence of war. Before it began, about 150 to 180 food lorries entered Gaza every day. Since, the end of the “humanitarian pause” a month ago, only about 30 do so. They are blocked by Israeli bombardment, fighting on the ground, and by restrictions and inspections on the border with Egypt, imposed by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities, cites The Times.

    More than a million people are displaced in Gaza but none is safe from hunger. It is rampant in Gaza, it is in the wasteland of al-Mawasi encampment in Gaza where handfuls of dirty flour are kneaded by mothers to make bread for their children. It is in the fires, stoked with plastic bottles, which produce nothing but choking black smoke. Children in Gaza no longer play but lie around, exhausted by hunger. It is in food that is rotten and makes you sick but is eaten just the same.

    Camellia Subeh talked to The Times who stated that her breasts no longer produce milk for her baby son.⁠ “My other sons keep saying, ‘Mum, I’m dizzy, I have a headache,” said the mother of five, sitting outside a shelter she built on the mud from scraps of plastic and wood. Subeh and her children left their home in northern Gaza weeks ago on the instructions of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). They said this is a safe area. Perhaps it is safe from the bombs that have destroyed Gaza’s cities and towns but not from hunger, diseases, or thirst that will kill just the same as a bullet will. “This place is like a desert, all sand,” Subeh said. “We are so tired.” The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip after nearly three months of war stands at 21,672, with more than 55,000 wounded, the territory’s health ministry said on Saturday.

    A 13-year-old, Muhammad al-Yaziji, told The Times, “I feel that this burden is very heavy for us. We became like beggars. We were not like that.”

    In an interview with the New Yorker, Arif Hussain, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program explains that according to a consensus-based analysis by Integrated Phase Classification, the entire population of 2.2 million people is in a food-security crisis or a worse situation implying a famine is coming because the conditions are “catastrophic”.

    Human Rights Watch drew from Israeli officials’ statements, interviews with people in the territory about the lack of food, and evidence of bombardment that has destroyed infrastructure and resources to accuse Israel in a December report of starvation as a war crime.

  • Harvard’s first female black president resigns for not taking action against pro-Palestine students

    Harvard’s first female black president resigns for not taking action against pro-Palestine students

    The first black woman president of America’s Harvard University, Claudine Gay, has finally resigned in the face of pressure by the university administration over accusations of plagiarism and her refusal to stop pro-Palestine protests on campus.

    Her resignation marks the end of the presidency of the first Black president and second woman in Harvard’s nearly 400-year history.

    Claudine, under intense pressure to resign since the Israeli attacks on Gaza, said in her resignation that it was in the best interest of Harvard University because of her commitment to combating hate speech and upholding academic standards.
    Gay did not say when she plans to formally step down but she described the decision as “difficult beyond words.”

    It is important to note that in December 2023, Harvard University decided to retain Dr. Claudine in her position after the American University Board ruled in favor of the head of the institution on the issue of not taking action against pro-Palestinian students.

    After Harvard’s president was accused of not taking a strong stance on what was being called anti-Semitism but was anti-Zionism, in an appearance before the Congress Committee, Harvard University was under pressure to demand the resignation.

    Many at Twitter are attributing the exit of Dr. Claudine to the outrageous questioning in the Congressional hearing where she was brutally cornered leading to the withdrawal of donors and adding pressure to the administration to ask the president to resign.

    Her resignation has divided the internet largely into three debates. One group sees it as another manifestation of racism in America. The other is celebrating her exit for believing her to be a plagiarist and anti-semitic. The last viewpoint is seeing the whole scenario as a depiction of how America treats voices that are not aligned with the state’s pro-zionist and fake-liberal policy using anti-semitism and plagiarism as an excuse.

    Editor and Analyst Mara Gay called the move blatant racism, “This is really an attack on academic freedom … This is an attack on diversity. This is an attack on multiculturalism, & … I don’t have to say that they’re racist, because you can hear and see the racism in the attacks.”

    Fox News anchor CJ Pearson asserted that “Claudine Gay wasn’t fired for being black. She was fired for being an anti-Semitism-enabling plagiarist. I’m so tired of the black community using the color of our skin to shield people from accountability.”

    Mo Torres called out the duplicity in the resignation of Dr Caludine by saying, Gay should not have been forced to resign but it’s unfortunate to see that she still misses an obvious point: students on her campus never called for genocide against Jewish people. “Liberals seem strangely addicted to assuming good faith from their detractors on the right.”

    Professor of sociology Heba Gowayed, commented, “Do not cower just to be beaten away”. She added, “And with that Claudine Gay ends her tenure disliked on both the right and the left. Whew.”

    Pro-zionist voice Ben Shapiro outrightly called her a grifter, “Claudine Gay’s defenders are calling her a martyr for one reason and one reason only: if they admit she’s an unqualified grifter who became powerful thanks to DEI, their own grift is endangered.”

    Journalist Mehdi Hassan shared the Guardian’s article about how the hedge-fun manager, Zionist and billionaire Bill Ackman is behind the forced exit of Professor Gay.

  • Our people of the year 2023: Motaz and Mahrang

    Our people of the year 2023: Motaz and Mahrang

    2023 saw the world witnessing war and injustices on a global scale, and the rise of indigenous leadership. It is said that leaders are not born, they are made. The war on Gaza and some indigenous movements have caused a paradigm shift in the collective consciousness of people by changing the way pop culture approaches celebrity culture. This time the choice was not hard. Heroes of 2023 are neither politicians nor actors, they are people who have not deliberately made their way to the limelight. Circumstances made them stand up for the cause they stood for.

    Motaz Azaiza

    Motaz, the photojournalist famously known as “The Eye of Gaza”, has emerged as the world’s window into Gaza. His Instagram and Twitter accounts provided a very real and horrifying peek into the oppression carried out by the Israeli forces.

    The world saw his transformation over a short time, as the war lingered on for more than 80 days. From grey hair at 24 to his struggle to have access to the internet, the world him document the horrors unfolding in Gaza’s genocide. His followers increased from thousands to millions and he became that one person who people prayed for when seen offline for a long time.

    This young man graduated from the University of Gaza in English Language Literature, pursued his passion for photography, and struggled as a freelancer in the limited options available in Gaza but his efforts got recognized post-October 7. His valour and commitment got appreciated in the form of him being declared the “Man of the Year” by GQ Middle East and the pictures taken by him making it to Times Top 100 Photos of 2023.

    “No one is safe, nowhere is safe, and fear is everywhere. Either I stay at home or I go outside. Why should I stay at home? I have to stand up and show the world the truth through the camera lens,” Motaz told The New Arab in an interview and this encapsulates the motive behind his work.

    Mahrang Baloch

    Mahrang, a student leader from Balochistan, is again a leader crafted by circumstances. At 30, she is leading a movement against the extra-judicial killings and missing persons in the country.

    Mahrang was just a young girl when her father was forcibly abducted and later found dead with signs of torture back in 2009. According to her, this incident changed her life completely. Unfazed, she became vocal about the inhumane acts. Her brother faced the same persecution in 2017 but that made her even more resolute to speak against this injustice. She actively led different movements in her student years. Mahrang was a student leader in 2020 when the removal of the quota system at Bolan Medical College emerged and she led the campaign to oppose the suggestion successfully as she believed that this quota system preserve opportunities for students from remote areas.

    The human rights activist describes herself as a political worker and an advocate of #endenforceddisappearences.

    She is currently leading the sit-in by Balcoh protestors in Islamabad, becoming the voice of tens of thousands of Baloch suffering the loss of their beloved in the province through the platform of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. The death of Balach Baloch instigated a new wave of awareness about the issue and this time Mahrang is determined to not let the phenomenon of the “Baloch Genocide” go unnoticed.

    Both causes are close to our hearts, inspiring us with their bravery and determination.

  • ‘They believe women are queens’, Israeli hostage on Hamas

    ‘They believe women are queens’, Israeli hostage on Hamas

    A mother-daughter duo held hostage by Hamas for 52 days have opened up about their experience in captivity, detailing the “queen-like” treatment they received.

    Hin and Ajam, mother and daughter respectively, detail their experience during the time of their captivity in an interview. From keeping them together and not separating them, to the smallest details of daily life, they explain how Hamas militants were respectful to them as women and took every precaution to make them comfortable.

    Ajam recounts how she arm-wrestled with the fighters, stressing that they maintained distance and avoided physical contact by wrapping a towel around their arms.

    Upon asking why was that, they instantly replied it was forbidden for them to touch women.
    “For them women are sacred. Women are like queens,” she asserted.

    Moreover, Ajam shared how they sweetly named her “Salsabeel” which means “water” in Arabic and it is mentioned in the Quran. It was synonymous to her original name Ajam which means “lake” in Hebrew.

    The two of them were kept in an apartment along with two children and were given best possible facilities.

  • Gaza authorities accuse Israel of stealing organs from 80 Palestinian bodies

    Gaza authorities accuse Israel of stealing organs from 80 Palestinian bodies

    Israel has been accused of stealing organs from 80 Palestinian bodies by Gaza’s authorities.

    “The media office denounces in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation army’s disdain for the dignity of the bodies of our 80 martyrs that Israel had stolen during its genocidal war because it delivered them mutilated,” read a statement.⁠

    “After examining the bodies, it is clear that the features of those killed had changed greatly in a clear indication that the Israeli occupation had stolen vital organs from them,” the statement added.

    Earlier, the bodies of about 80 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army during its ground invasion, were returned to Gaza and buried in a mass grave at Tel al-Sultan Cemetery.

    The Ministry of Health in Gaza received the bodies on Tuesday through the Israeli-controlled Karem Abu Salem fence crossing in southern Gaza, according to AFP. 

    Health workers in plastic robes removed the bodies, which were covered in blue plastic sealed with zip ties from the truck. The bodies were then brought by a bulldozer for burial in a mass grave.

    ”The UN had informed us in advance of the arrival of several martyrs to the Gaza Strip, estimated to be around 80 bodies,” Marwan al Hams, the director of Mohammed Yousef El-Najar Hospital in Rafah city.

    “The bodies arrived inside a container, some intact, while others were in pieces, and some others had decomposed,” he added. Al Hams noted that the bodies were “transferred to the cemetery for burying” and the health and justice ministries would investigate the bodies for possible “war crimes.”

  • Palestinians feel ‘no joy’ as Israel bombs Gaza on Christmas

    Palestinians feel ‘no joy’ as Israel bombs Gaza on Christmas

    Palestinians said they felt “no joy” this Christmas as Israel bombed Gaza on Monday, with no end in sight to the war that Hamas says has claimed more than 20,000 lives.

    Festivities were effectively scrapped in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, with few worshippers or tourists on the usually packed streets.

    In the besieged Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run ministry of health said early Monday Israeli strikes had killed at least 18 people in the southern city of Khan Yunis, the centre of recent fighting.

    At a hospital in the city, Fadi Sayegh — whose family has previously received permits to travel to Bethlehem for celebrations — said he would not be celebrating Christmas this year.

    “There is no joy. No Christmas tree, no decorations, no family dinner, no celebrations,” he said while undergoing dialysis. “I pray for this war to be over soon.”

    Sister Nabila Salah from the Catholic Holy Church in Gaza — where two Christian women were killed by an Israeli sniper earlier this month according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem — struck a sombre tone.

    “All Christmas celebrations have been cancelled,” she told AFP. “How do we celebrate when we are… hearing the sound of tanks and bombardment instead of the ringing of bells?”

    The war broke out when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and seized 250 hostages, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

    Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and its military campaign, which has included massive aerial bombardment. The campaign has killed 20,424 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

    Pope Francis kicked off global Christmas celebrations on Sunday with a call for peace.

    “Our heart goes to Gaza, to all people in Gaza but a special attention to our Christian community in Gaza who is suffering,” the Catholic leader said.

    Christmas eve strike

    Just ahead of Christmas, the Hamas-run health ministry said at least 70 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on Sunday at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

    Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the “toll is likely to rise” as many families were thought to be in the area at the time of the strike.

    In a separate incident, the ministry said 10 members of one family were killed in an Israeli strike on their house in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza.

    AFP was unable to independently verify either toll.

    Vast areas of Gaza lie in ruins and its 2.4 million people have endured dire shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine due to an Israeli siege, alleviated only by the limited arrival of aid trucks.

    Eighty percent of Gazans have been displaced, according to the UN, many fleeing south and now shielding against the winter cold in makeshift tents.

    The head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, called for an end to the suffering.

    “A humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza is the only way forward,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “War defies logic and humanity, and prepares a future of more hatred and less peace.”

    World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also renewed calls for a ceasefire, saying: “The decimation of the Gaza health system is a tragedy.”

    ‘No choice’

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the war was exacting a “very heavy price”, as the death toll of soldiers killed in the conflict continued to mount.

    “But we have no choice but to keep fighting,” he said, adding: “This will be a long war.”

    The army said Monday two more soldiers had been killed, taking to 17 the number of troops killed since Friday and 156 since Israel’s ground assault began on October 27.

    Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus indicated that forces were close to gaining control in northern Gaza and that now “we focus our efforts against Hamas in southern Gaza”.

    Two freed detainees and a medic said Sunday that Palestinians held by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip had suffered torture, a charged denied by the military.

    The two men were among hundreds detained by Israeli forces over alleged links with Hamas during Israel’s ground offensive.

    About 20 men released from Israeli custody “have bruises and marks of blows on their bodies”, Marwan al-Hams, hospital director in the southern city of Rafah, told AFP.

  • Shaun King suspended, Motaz asked to remove content by Instagram

    Shaun King suspended, Motaz asked to remove content by Instagram

    American writer and activist Shaun King, famous for pro-Palestine advocacy on social media, has been suspended from Instagram.

    The news of the suspension was reported by Khalid Beydoun, another important voice on social media, speaking for the distressed in Palestine. “I felt it was a violation of my principles to not tell the truth about Gaza out of fear of getting banned,” Shaun reportedly told Beydoun.

    Earlier, Motaz Azaiza, photo-journalist from Gaza with a large following, also posted that he was receiving notifications from Instagram of either deleting or editing his content with the objection that they go against the guidelines on nudity or sexual activity of Instagram. The videos showed injured children crying out in pain after being hit by Israeli strikes.

    Motaz protested, “Am I shooting Nudes or what ? A lot of naked girls keep posting on Instagram which is (normal for them) and I don’t see them removing any of their content! But showing what kids of Palestine are facing in Gaza is nudity and sexual activity? Tell me if I’m right or wrong?”

    Another Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary also posted about her account being shadowbanned by Instagram. This implies that her posts are not visible or are losing engagement because they are against the narrative Meta wants to propagate.

  • Turkish member of parliament suffers heart attack during speech

    Turkish member of parliament suffers heart attack during speech

    Turkish member of parliament Hasan Bitmez suffered a heart attack while delivering a passionate speech against the government’s policy towards Israel, reports Al-Jazeera.

    Hasan, 54, collapsed in the parliament while addressing the House. He was taken to a hospital in Ankara where he died two days later, on Thursday. He was a member of the Islamist Saadet Partisi or Felicity Party.

    In his speech, Hasan called out President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government for the duplicity of its policies, “You allow ships to go to Israel, and you shamelessly call it trade. … You are Israel’s accomplice.” He criticised Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in his speech on Tuesday and raised a poster on the podium that said, “Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP.”

    Hasan delivered a 20-minute-long speech before collapsing where he warned the President by saying, “Even if you escape the torment of history, you will not be able to escape the wrath of God.” He was immediately given first-aid after the coronary episode.

    Hasan, a prominent figure of the opposition, graduated from Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, worked for Islamic nongovernmental groups and was chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research.

    His speech accused the government of continuing friendly economic relations with Israel during its assault on Gaza, which has killed nearly 19,000 Gazans.

    As he delivered the speech, he was mocked by AK Party members.

  • Can the US Veto in UN be bypassed to end Gaza genocide? Here’s how you can help

    Can the US Veto in UN be bypassed to end Gaza genocide? Here’s how you can help

    The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution on Friday, December 8, backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. In this emergency meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99, a rare move to force a vote on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, where two million people are displaced and more than 18,000 people have been killed.

    The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining.

    The US is facing criticism from all over the world and domestic backlash, but there is a way to sign a petition to appeal to the respective ambassador to the UN asking them to invoke article 377 A to get around the US Veto and call for a permanent ceasefire.

    What is Article 377 A?

    The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 377 A is known as the ‘Uniting for Peace Resolution’ states that in any case where the Security Council, because of a lack of unanimity among its five permanent members (P5) fails to act as required to maintain international security and peace, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately and may issue appropriate recommendations to the UN members for collective measures, including the use of armed forces when necessary, to maintain or restore international security and peace.

    How is this done?

    Using social media is effective but there are other concrete ways to invoke Article 377 A.

    This can be done by writing to the UN Ambassador to demand they invoke UNGA’s resolution 377A.

    A copy of the email needs to be sent to the undesa@un.org and inquiries2@un.org

    The petition has to be signed and available on the @call2actionnow page.

    Here’s the link to the petition for Pakistan: https://chng.it/qdb9VVqtwt

  • White House approves ’emergency’ sale of tanks to Israel amidst war on Gaza

    White House approves ’emergency’ sale of tanks to Israel amidst war on Gaza

    The US State Department has approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition, it said Saturday.

    The department said it had notified Congress on Friday of a sale of 13,981 high-explosive 120mm tank cartridges and related equipment worth $106.5 million.

    That sale, while relatively small, comes amid heated political debate over the Gaza war, with Republicans slowing a far larger Biden administration request for new military spending for Israel and Ukraine, and Democrats divided over the use of US weaponry against Palestinian civilians.

    The State Department said the secretary of state had determined that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel” of the weaponry, thereby waiving the normal requirement of Congressional review.

    The statement said the sale, from US Army inventory, would be used by Israel “as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense” and would “not alter the basic military balance in the region.”

    On Wednesday, Republican senators blocked a White House request for $106 billion in emergency aid primarily for Ukraine and Israel as conservatives balked at the exclusion of immigration reforms they had demanded.

    The package would include roughly $60 billion to help Ukraine in its war with Russia and $10 billion for Israel in its conflict with Hamas, as well as aid for Taiwan.

    With the death toll in Gaza steadily mounting, meantime, some Democrats have strongly urged Israel to carry out a more targeted offensive against Hamas targets and limit civilian casualties.