Daily Sabah – December 31, 2023

Israeli bombs mark new year for Gazans stuck in 2023 nightmare

With no end in sight to Israel's deadliest military offensive on Gaza, killing nearly 22,000 people, the Palestinians will leave behind a dark year on Sunday.

There has been no respite from Israel's air raids, artillery fire or ground fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to the despair of Palestinians surviving the onslaught.

"We were hoping that 2024 would arrive under better auspices and that we would be able to celebrate the new year at home with our families," said Mahmoud Abou Shahma in a camp for displaced people in Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

"We hope that the war will end and that we will be able to return to our homes and live in peace," said the 33-year-old from Khan Younis, an epicenter of the conflict in the south of Gaza.

Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry says the Israeli military campaign has killed at least 21,800 people, mostly women and children – by far the heaviest death toll of any Israeli operation.

On Sunday the ministry reported numerous deaths in overnight strikes on central Gaza's Zawayda and the nearby al-Maghazi refugee camp.

The war began with the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which killed around 1,140 people, according to official figures.

Militants also took about 250 people hostage, and Israel says 129 of them remain in captivity.

The Israeli army says 170 soldiers have been killed in ground operations inside Gaza.

An Israeli siege imposed after Oct. 7, following years of crippling blockade, has led to dire shortages of food, safe water, fuel and medicine in Gaza, with aid convoys able to offer only sporadic relief.

The U.N. says more than 85% of Gaza's 2.4 million people have fled their homes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the growing threat of infectious diseases and the U.N. says Gaza is "just weeks away" from famine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel's war against Hamas will last for "many months" – until the Palestinian militant group has been eliminated.

"We will guarantee that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," he told a news conference.

'Every shred of hope'

As Netanyahu spoke, more than a thousand relatives and supporters of the hostages demonstrated in Tel Aviv to maintain pressure on his government to bring their loved ones home.

"I hope there's going to be another deal, even a partial deal or some will be released. I'm trying to hold on to every shred of hope," said Nir Shafran, 45.

Gal Gilboa-Dalal has been traumatised since the rave he attended with his brother Guy was stormed by Hamas members on Oct. 7.

"I was there with him and he was taken away the minute I wasn't with him. So I went with him and I came back without him and it's like time has stopped ever since," he said.

In Khan Younis, medics at Nasser hospital described severe shortages.

"The hospital is receiving a lot more (patients) than its capacity," doctor Ahmad Abu Mustafa said in footage shared by the WHO.

"The beds are full ... and we are basically short on all sorts of medicine supplies."

The fighting has put 23 hospitals and 53 health centers out of service, while 104 ambulances have been destroyed, the Health Ministry said.

In Zawayda, Palestinians pulled the body of a child from under the rubble on Saturday after an Israeli strike.

"We pulled (out) nine martyrs, who were members of a very peaceful family. Two adjacent houses were targeted," said the area's civil defence director, Rami al-Aidi.

Mediation efforts

International mediators – who last month brokered a one-week truce that saw more than 100 hostages released and some aid enter Gaza – continue in their efforts to secure a new pause in fighting.

U.S. news outlet Axios and Israeli website Ynet, both citing unnamed Israeli officials, reported that Qatari mediators had told Israel that Hamas was prepared to resume talks on new hostage releases in exchange for a cease-fire.

A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Friday to discuss an Egyptian plan proposing renewable cease-fires, a staggered release of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and ultimately an end to the war, sources close to Hamas said.

Islamic Jihad, another armed group fighting alongside Hamas, said on Saturday that Palestinian factions were "in the process" of evaluating the Egyptian proposal.

A response will come "within days", the group's chief negotiator, Muhammad al-Hindi, said.

Asked about the negotiations Saturday, Netanyahu said Hamas had been "giving all kinds of ultimatums that we didn't accept."

"We are seeing a certain shift (but) I don't want to create an expectation."

Multiplying fronts

The Gaza war has intensified tensions across the region.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

On Saturday, the U.S. military said one of its destroyers shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from territory controlled by the rebels.

The U.S. Central Command described it as the "23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping" since Nov. 19.

CENTCOM said the destroyer had also responded to a call for help from a Danish container ship that was hit in a separate strike.

Israel has also traded frequent cross-border fire with Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

"If Hezbollah wants to extend the war, it will be dealt blows like never before, and so will Iran," Netanyahu warned Saturday.

In Syria, at least 23 pro-Iran fighters – five Syrians, four Hezbollah members, six Iraqis and eight Iranians – were killed on Saturday in raids "likely" carried out by Israel, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/israeli-bombs-mark-new-year-for-gazans-stuck-in-2023-nightmare

Anadolu Agency – December 31. 2023

Fresh Israeli airstrikes kill 68 Palestinians in Gaza City

GAZA CITY, Palestine

At least 68 Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Sunday, according to the official Wafa news agency.

Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on the al-Zaitoun neighborhood, leaving 48 dead and scores injured, Wafa said, citing local sources.

Another 20 people were killed in airstrikes in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa University, the broadcaster said.

Palestinian health authorities have yet to confirm the fatalities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip from the air and ground since the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, killing at least 21,822 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 56,451 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/fresh-israeli-airstrikes-kill-68-palestinians-in-gaza-city/3096994

Middle East Monitorᅠ- December 31, 2023

The future looks bleak if Israel’s war on Hamas continues unabated

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted: “The war is exacting a very heavy price, but we have no choice but to continue fighting.”

This woeful statement underscores Netanyahu’s blinkered determination to exact maximum carnage and an unwillingness to engage in diplomacy.

Foremost, this war has forced the most exorbitant price on civilians in Gaza. The death toll, mainly comprising women and children, has exceeded 20,000. According to Middle East Monitor, there are more than 23,000 orphans in Gaza. These astounding figures merely scrape the surface of human suffering. The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) has warned of a looming famine as starvation permeates the Gaza Strip.

There have been reports of civilians massacred after being rounded up in fields, as well as point-blank shootings of women and children seeking shelter in UN schools. The iniquitous objectives of this war clearly extend beyond eliminating Hamas.

The premise that fighting must continue to ensure Israel’s security is deceptive and counterintuitive. Seeds are being planted today in future generations who will likely seek vengeance. Netanyahu is sacrificing the lives of young, highly impressionable Israeli soldiers and hostages whose plight has become secondary at best, as well as prospects of a peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians.

It is lamentable that not even the UN Security Council has been able to demand a ceasefire. Those directly responsible for the carnage, as well as those who intercepted calls for a ceasefire, will not be forgotten. Future election results will reverberate opinions formed from this war. The clock is ticking for those on the wrong side of history. Israel’s Military Chief of Staff HerziᅠHaleviᅠfurther echoed Netanyahu’s stance that Israel’s war on Hamas will continue “for many months”.

To envisage Gaza in three months, if Israeli aggression persists unperturbed, is unfathomable. The death toll would exceed 50,000 from air and ground strikes, disease and starvation. The Gaza Strip would need to be rebuilt from scratch, and it is extremely doubtful that Israel would foot the bill. Rebuilding would take years, especially as construction materials are blocked from entering the Strip, but would instead fall in the hands of the European Union to fund. Aid agencies would invariably provide band-aid solutions until the next flare-up whilst the UN appeases Israel against a hostile backdrop from the Israeli government, who feel unfairly criticised.

At least 40 per cent of the population in Gaza comprises children under 18 years of age. Prior to 7 October, unemployment was already extremely high, linked to restrictions imposed by the siege. Disenfranchisement was pervasive. How will children in Gaza recover physically and psychologically to restore hope?

Israel argues it must dismantle tunnels and demolish the ordnance of Hamas. Meanwhile, the Israeli government is handing out guns to its own civilian population, like lollies to children. It should be noted that tunnels served as a lifeline for Gazans under siege during peaceful stretches between hostilities. They enabled a passageway for construction and goods otherwise prevented from crossing into Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would have to knock on every door in Gaza to locate all Hamas affiliates. It is an insurmountable task to identify the political persuasion and ideology of more than two million individuals at a glance. The IDF tragically mistook the identity of three of its own hostages for Hamas fighters, which resulted in their untimely demise. Additionally, Hamas is not confined to Gaza – will Israel seek to assassinate all Hamas leaders abroad? Already, this war has trickled over to Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, drawing in international players to the Red Sea.

It has stirred global outrage. How much longer will unequivocal support be granted to Israel in favour of averting a broader regional conflict or even World War III?

Netanyahu and his cabinet are fuelled by vengeance; it is like watching inconsolable toddlers throwing tantrums, but in this case, the consequences are irreversible and far-reaching. No voice of reason is capable of harnessing Israel as it unleashes its deadly rampage. Indigenous Palestinians are being nudged into the desert. Israel is attempting to rip the land from under the feet of Gazans or bury them beneath the soil.

When US President Joe Biden warned Netanyahu against making the same mistakes as the US in Iraq prior to the ground incursion, an opportunity existed to take heed. This fell on deaf ears and Biden cow-towed by supplying endless weapons. As war rages, with no foreseeable end in sight, 2024 and the future look bleak.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231230-the-future-looks-bleak-if-israels-war-on-hamas-continues-unabated/

Anadolu Agency – December 31, 2023

Israel’s attacks on Gaza documented ‘minute by minute’ by int’l media outlets

Hatim Bazian says journalists documenting this unfolding genocide 'are the heroes'

CHICAGO

Thanks to international media outlets including Anadolu, it is the "first time in history" that we have a "a minute by minute" coverage of a "genocide," US-based scholar of Palestinian origin Hatim Bazian said, referring to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip which have killed more than 21,000 people in 12 weeks.

“This is the first time in the history where we actually have a minute by minute documentation of a genocide unfolding,” Prof. Hatim Bazian, who lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, told Anadolu in an exclusive interview.

“... Journalist are literally the eyes and the witnesses to the genocide, because they are documenting it. We are going to have millions and millions, if not billions, of data, minute by minute, second by second, of this unfolding genocide. We're going to have minute by minute the destruction of these apartment buildings, with civilians living in their midst and collapsing them."

Bazian said evidence presented by organizations and journalists reporting from Gaza, despite censorship and restrictions on pro-Palestinian content on social media, successfully countered biased and one-sided coverage in Western media.

Leading the American Muslims for Palestine, one of the prominent Muslim civil society groups in the US, Bazian said mainstream media in the US, relying on the Israeli narrative and stories, tends to be pro-Israel due to its dependence on the Israeli army as a news source, resulting in the spread of the Israeli narrative and overshadowing the stories of Palestinians.

“This was completely different in the social media space where actually the Palestine narrative as a result of many people joining and writing and amplifying what they were seeing coming to them directly, almost on a daily basis. So, we could see a difference between mainstream versus the social media,” he added.

Bazian highlighted that this impact on social media has also exerted pressure on the US government, forcing politicians to make changes in policies and rhetoric.

Risk of pro-Palestinian posts being considered as endorsing terrorism in the US

Speaking at the largest Muslim NGO congress in the US, organized twice a year by the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Bazian stressed the importance of social media in making the voice of Palestinians heard globally.

Highlighting the risk of legal repercussions under terrorism laws for posts made on social media accounts of organizations and entities classified as terrorist in the US, the academic recommended sharing content from reliable news sources instead.

Emphasizing the importance of verifying emotionally impactful content from two or three sources, Bazian said sharing misinformation should not cast a shadow over the just cause of Palestine.

Journalists documenting this unfolding genocide, are heroes

Recalling the killing of journalists, including Anadolu’s cameraman Montaser-Al Sawaf, in the ongoing Israeli onslaught, which began after the Oct. 7 Hamas offensive, Bazian said: "The journalists in essence, being witnesses to history, but in this case, not only they are witnesses to history, but history is being made over their bodies, in a literal sense ... the journalists in Gaza, the journalists who are documenting this unfolding genocide, for me they are the heroes of this whole period.”

*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-s-attacks-on-gaza-documented-minute-by-minute-by-int-l-media-outlets-including-anadolu-us-scholar/3096472#
 

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