Daily Sabah – October 24, 2023
110 more Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli attacks on Gaza
At least 110 more Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in Israeli attacks overnight on various parts of the Gaza Strip, marking the 18th day of an offensive on Gaza.
Israeli warplanes continued to strike various areas across the Gaza Strip throughout the night, the Al-Aqsa satellite channel said on Telegram.
"Israeli attacks tonight in various areas of the Gaza Strip resulted in 110 martyrs, including children and women," it said in a brief statement.
The statement said 57 people were killed and dozens were injured in attacks on residential buildings in Rafah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Deaths and injuries were also reported after Israeli strikes on houses next to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and apartments in the "Prisoners Towers" west of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.
They were also reported after Israeli aircraft launched a series of attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes crossed the grim mark of 5,000 earlier Monday. The number stood at 5,087, including 2,055 children and over 1,000 women, Gaza's Health Ministry said.
Daily Sabah – October 23, 2023
Gaza death toll in Israeli airstrikes crosses grim 5,000 mark
Palestinian death toll in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes crossed the grim mark of 5,000 on Monday, according to the coastal strip's Health Ministry.
The number now stands at 5,087, including 2,055 children and over 1,000 women, the ministry added.
The Health Ministry said an additional 15,273 people were injured in the attacks by Israel, which carried to daily bombardments of the city since the Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas.
Israel killed at least 70 more Palestinians overnight and early Monday as Gaza saw the death of nearly 400 people in the blockaded territory's deadliest 24 hours since the attacks began.
The Hamas-controlled government media office said in a statement that "more than 60 were martyred in the (Israeli) raids" during the night, including 17 who were killed in a single strike that hit a house in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza.
At least 10 other people were killed in new strikes Monday morning, the media office said in a separate statement, bringing the overall toll since Sunday night to at least 70 deaths.
The Israeli military said Monday it had hit "over 320 military targets in the Gaza Strip" over the past 24 hours.
Between 200 and 300 people have been killed each day in the besieged territory, according to government tolls but that number climbed to nearly 400 on Sunday.
Most of those killed were women and children, medical sources told the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The attacks were concentrated in Jabalya and Beit Lahiya in the north, the al-Gusta and al-Rimal neighborhoods and al-Shati refugee camp in the west and Khan Younis and Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The number of women, children and elderly killed Sunday accounted for 70% of the death toll, according to the sources.
They said 44 Palestinians were killed in Khan Younis governorate, 57 in Rafah, 168 in al-Wusta, 66 in Gaza and 44 in the north.
Six were killed and 11 others injured in the bombing of a house in Rafah, it continued.
In the bombing of the house of the Abu Habis family in al-Sarara, five were killed. Some were injured in a strike on a house of the al-Zitani family in the al-Amal neighborhood.
Calls for blood donations
Rafah resident Mohammed Abu Sabalah said he had returned home from the local mosque after dawn prayers Monday and that "a quarter of an hour later there was a bombing."
"We couldn't see anything because of the thick smoke," he said, adding that "we thank God that we've emerged safe and sound" with "only a few windows and doors destroyed."
Israeli forces are massed near the Gaza border, and smaller units have already carried out limited incursions, targeting Hamas and hoping to rescue hostages, whose number Israel now puts at 222.
In one such operation, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier was killed and three others wounded, the army said.
Tensions have been inflamed in the occupied West Bank, where 95 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces, according to the Ramallah-based Health Ministry.
In Gaza, where thousands have been wounded, the health ministry issued a statement saying "citizens are called upon to immediately go to hospitals and blood bank branches to donate blood."
Alarm has grown about the dire needs of the 2.4 million civilians trapped inside the 40-kilometer (25-mile) long coastal strip that was already blockaded and impoverished before the war.
Children killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Khan Yunis were Monday laid to rest in a makeshift grave, while in Rafah men were filling plastic jerrycans from containers with now scare safe drinking water.
U.S. President Joe Biden brokered the passage of aid convoys with Egyptian and Israeli leaders in talks last week – but the United Nations estimates Gaza needs about 100 trucks of relief goods every day.
Aid trickles in
U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said Sunday's delivery of food, water and medical supplies was "another small glimmer of hope for the millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid.
"But they need more, much more."
Israel has rejected the entry of fuel into Gaza, fearing Hamas could use it for weapons and explosives.
This has sparked warnings that soon Gaza's ambulances, hospital incubators for infants and water desalination plants will soon stop functioning.
Thousands of buildings have been destroyed and more than one million people displaced in the territory that has been under siege and largely deprived of water, food and other basic supplies.
About a dozen trucks carrying desperately needed aid – the third convoy in three days – arrived inside Gaza from Egypt on Monday through Rafah, Gaza's only crossing not controlled by Israel.
The United States, which has brokered the entry of the aid convoys, has vowed a "continued flow" of relief goods into Gaza, even as U.N. aid agencies have said far more is needed.
Around the world, Israel's friends and foes alike have warned against the Gaza war spilling over into a full-scale regional conflagration.
Israel's archenemy Iran has repeatedly warned of an escalation and so has Lebanon's Hezbollah, which has traded cross-border fire with Israel.
Netanyahu warned Sunday that if Hezbollah were to get more deeply involved, it would be "the mistake of its life."
"We will strike it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the significance for it and the state of Lebanon will be devastating," he said.
Netanyahu on Monday hosted Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the latest Western leader to pay a solidarity visit.
Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, in the meanwhile, charged that Israel's planned Gaza invasion would mean "new crimes, atrocities, forced displacement and killing for the sake of killing and revenge."
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/gaza-death-toll-in-israeli-airstrikes-crosses-grim-5000-mark
Daily Sabah – October 21, 2023
No bread, no water, no security, only massacre in Palestine
BY IHSAN AKTAŞ
Over the past 70 years, Israel's actions echo a dark historical parallel where, like Adolf Hitler's sinister pursuit, they systematically target Palestinians, relentlessly taking the lives of children
Presently, the global community's gaze is firmly affixed on the tragic loss of innocent lives in Gaza, an outcome of actions by Israeli terror.
The voices from the Western world, including Americans and Europeans, have framed the situation as a conflict between defenders of Western values and their adversaries. There were remarkable similarities between the Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef, who drew comparisons of the Israeli leadership with a narcissistic psychopath, and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in terms of what these Western values are, exposing Israel's controversial narrative that victimizes Israel in the face of Hamas' surprise attack.
Youssef and Fidan have articulated a similar perspective on Israel's purported fight against Hamas. They pointed out the Israeli occupation of two distinct regions, the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas holds administrative authority and is recognized as a political party in Gaza. Simultaneously, the Al-Qassam Brigades are fighting for freedom to defend their homeland.
In the West Bank, there is a fictitious Palestinian state. People there live within Israel under a supposed jurisdiction framework while Israel seeks to eliminate Hamas. Well, even though there is no Hamas presence in the West Bank, each day, hopes of West Bank Palestinians are shattered. People are dying, even children are dying and the region's inhabitants endure immense suffering.
Over the past 70 years, it has become evident that Israel has been trying to kill Palestinians one by one. In an ironic twist of fate, Adolf Hitler also pursued a similar path although he could not succeed in exterminating Jews through gas chambers or mass killings in the end. Today, Israel's actions bear a resemblance to a group of murderers, akin to a terrorist organization, relentlessly taking the lives of children.
A poignant message sent to Israel by Recai Kutan during his tenure as the chairperson of the Virtue Party (FP) echoes in this context: "You are taking the lives of all these children. Are you not afraid that one child will be left behind?"
As history tells us, the Pharaoh, too, ordered the killing of all children, but the Prophet Moses survived and eventually defeated the Pharaoh by fighting. I think the same script is being repeated in the world today.
Long-standing conflict
During the 1970s, the Palestinian cause gained prominence. However, over time, it has endured diminishing importance and increasing intractability. Regrettably, Israel's actions have been perceived as gradually eroding the Palestinian population. The recent tragic events, marked by a significant loss of innocent lives, have not only reignited global attention on the Palestinian issue but have also elevated it to a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented gravity in the annals of human history.
Palestinians have demonstrated remarkable levels of literacy and expertise, with their intellectual contributions resonating globally. Simultaneously, they have garnered substantial empathy within the Islamic world and among diverse nations worldwide.
Given the geopolitical complexities of the Islamic world, where many states are perceived as influenced by imperial powers, the people of these nations have grown increasingly sensitive to the Palestinian issue. Individuals in Arab countries often view their governments' responses as indifferent, which heightened the significance of the Palestinian cause.
Furthermore, China's involvement in mediating between Iran and Saudi Arabia has shaken the United States' regional influence, a shift with potentially far-reaching consequences. The growing influence of Iran has raised concerns among Western powers, which have effectively demonized Iran. The Islamic Republic also holds an advantage in communication with China and Russia, stemming from its historical ties to the communist era.
West losing ground
Western nations are grappling with the dynamics of China, Russia and Iran, and monitoring the ascendance of Trkiye, which has evolved into a regional power, leveraging hard power, soft power, trade and global education.
The rise of certain powers in human history usually coincides with the decline of their adversaries. No matter how much they struggle or how many massacres they commit, it does not change: Western values have fallen and have been completely devalued. As they go on stage and say that Western values and the opposing ones are in conflict, they surround a community with walls like a prison. They starve and dehydrate them. They release bombs on their heads whenever they want. They breach international agreements by violating the inviolability of the patients, the hospitals and places of worship. In calls for justice, they often side with the oppressor rather than the oppressed, permitting the use of phosphorus bombs and violating an ancient war law that soldiers die and civilians are protected.
While 500 children have been killed in the nearly two-year war in Ukraine, some 2,000 children were killed by the 10th day of the Gaza conflict. Shamelessly and devilishly, the Israeli administration and Western circles claim that this attack did not come from Israel, meaning their values are entirely rotten and destroyed.
Maybe many Palestinians will lose their lives in this war, but Israel, the U.S. and the other Western states that support them will no longer be able to speak a decent sentence about human rights, justice and law. The more they utter these words, the more they will be spat upon by their people and humanity.
It is imperative to acknowledge that moral principles, virtue and the rule of law consistently exert more influence and resilience than mere military might. As Western states appear to have increasingly drifted away from these ethical foundations, there is a growing perception of their actions resembling self-serving plots akin to a "mafia." It is worth remembering that such morally deficient entities seldom endure in the long run.
İhsan Aktaş is Chairman of the Board of GENAR Research Company. He is an academic at the Department of Communication at Istanbul Medipol University.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/no-bread-no-water-no-security-only-massacre-in-palestine
What must Muslims do in the face of Jewish terrorism?
By İhsan Aktaş
During the Syrian civil war, we woke up one day to find ourselves facing an organization called Daesh. This group had a structure that contradicted every value of the Islamic faith. Over time, it became clear that this organization was, in fact, a product of the CIA.
You can think of Israel and the Zionists as the "Jews' Daesh." There's a viral video on social media showing Netanyahu visiting a rabbi, discussing his skills. The extremist rabbi says, "But the Messiah has not come yet; there are a few hours left in the day. Make his arrival easier."
From World War I to the present day, relentless smear campaigns against Islam have made it easy to associate Islam with "terrorism." This narrative was widely propagated by the global Zionist media. When it comes to Zionists who adhere to a perverted religious ideology far more dangerous than Daesh, using terms like "religious terrorism" or "Jewish religious terrorism" raises suspicion, even among many educated Muslims.
Look at what's happening in Palestine: it's not a war; it's a clear case of genocide. Whether you're Muslim, Christian, atheist, or any regular human being, anyone with a shred of conscience would be disturbed by the sight of a child being torn apart by bombs, hospitals being bombed, and indiscriminate killing of women and children. Those without a conscience may follow the laws of war, but eventually, they'll have to answer for their actions, even in this world.
We've clearly witnessed that the elements of British civilization have been taken over by a perverted Jewish religious organization. Shortly after Biden said, "Do not conduct a ground operation," a hospital founded by Christians was bombed, followed by a church. Biden rushed to Tel Aviv. All EU countries sided with Israel.
Global public opinion: People who realize that states are under the influence of this perverted religious terrorism took to the streets worldwide. Conscientious individuals who see that states lack justice and conscience are supporting the Palestinian cause on the streets of Latin America, the United States, all of Europe, and Muslim countries. It's not just Israel; even the United States will struggle to bear the cost of this anger. Even the crows are starting to laugh at the theatrics of the global media. This immorality and unscrupulousness cannot be sustainable because we live in the age of social media.
We're living in the days before the Cold War, witnessing the end of a uni-polar world. For a long time, the United States has not directly confronted China and Russia regarding any conflict. Putin spoke of hypersonic missiles reaching the Mediterranean. China sent aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean.
What can Muslim countries do: After World War I, the design of Muslim lands was done with today in mind. The fragmented geography allows them to fight each other if possible, be enemies to each other, and the colonial empire continues to exploit Muslims skillfully.
The desire of young people, who make up the Arab street during the Arab Spring, for a better life and a free state led to the destabilization of Syria and Libya through the hands of the global gang. Türkiye's support for the Libyan government has prevented Libya from disintegrating.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC): In 2017, Türkiye held the rotating chairmanship of the organization. On December 6, Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. On December 13, the OIC convened and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, vetoed by the US in the UN Security Council. With Erdogan's intensive diplomatic efforts, the resolution was presented to the UN General Assembly for a vote and passed against the US and Israel, despite 128 yes votes and 9 no votes in the General Assembly. This diplomatic effort sentenced the US and Israel to oblivion.
First and foremost, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation should initiate a discussion to resolve disputes among Muslim countries through their arbitration.
Especially major countries such as Türkiye, Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia should sign a non-aggression pact among themselves. China's involvement has brought Saudi Arabia and Iran closer. Imagine the peace between these two countries; it means the little doomsday for the United States.
After the Karabakh war, the Turkic Council gained meaning and identity.
The genocide of the perverted Zionist religious terrorism has shown that Muslim states are in grave danger. Wars are either won or lost with allies.
An extraordinary global public opinion in favor of Palestine has emerged worldwide. In contrast, it is evident that Western states have surrendered to Jewish religious terrorism as a whole. Türkiye, with an imperial past, and major powers need to instill identity and spirit into the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Establishing a security organization and army is not an impossible task.
Because the United Nations has effectively declared its own bankruptcy.
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
