Tag: Gaza

Analysis: Israel resumed bombing Gaza, what has happened since? | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Fighting in Gaza resumed almost on cue on Friday when the last extension of the truce expired and hopes in attempts to renew it again faded.

Back in action first were Israeli F-16 bombers, pounding more than 400 targets in Gaza, including some in the very south near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. However, the focus appeared to be in the north and there is little doubt that the Israeli army will try to advance deeper towards the centre of Gaza City just as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced: tanks, artillery, armoured bulldozers, then infantry.

Meanwhile, contradictory news from Qatar, where intermediaries from the host country, Egypt and the United States were still trying to convince the warring sides to reach another pause. The first announcement on Saturday said the talks were continuing.

Then at mid-afternoon, the Israeli prime minister’s office issued a statement: “Following the impasse … David Barnea, head of the Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel.”

Writing official statements is an art: One should never lie but there is no need to tell the whole truth. While the “official” Israeli secret service delegation may indeed be on its way home, I have no doubt that at least a small team remains in Doha. They may not be Mossad, but it would be foolish not to leave qualified liaison officers who can keep talking.

Another reason for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to maintain at least a core team of officials in Qatar would be to avoid straining relations with traditional ally the United States, which has supported Israel greatly in the post-October 7 crisis.

US President Joe Biden visited Israel offering Bibi a photo op the cunning veteran of Israeli politics jumped on, splattering the media with their embraces and carefully selected soundbites. Washington followed with massive supplies of military goods, some commercial sales, and others loans. The biggest may be the $14.3bn aid package “for Israel’s defence”.

Weapons and armaments have been pouring into Israel by US C-17 aircraft and commercial airlifters practically from October 8. The Washington Post reported that 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells (155mm) came by air, a figure consistent with the estimated amount of ordnance expended in the eight-week campaign and the carrying capacity of the aircraft.

Less urgent supplies will be arriving on less glamourous, higher-capacity ships.

As the bombing campaign resumed, the media revealed the types of bombs shipped to Israel, focusing mostly on the specialised heavy “bunker busters”. The report claims that 100 BLU-109 bombs were shipped. Some media speculated that this delivery may signify a change in tactics against the Hamas, but there is nothing to be excited about.

a child wearing pink holds a pink pot over their hold
Palestinian children wait for food aid amid food shortages, as Israel resumes bombing Gaza, in Rafah southern Gaza Strip, December 2, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

The 900kg (2,000lb) BLU-109 is nothing more than a “dumb bomb” with thicker outer walls than general-purpose bombs, that help it penetrate deeper into the earth or through thicker layers of reinforcing concrete before exploding. The corresponding weight class general-purpose MK84 bomb carries 430kg (950lb) of explosives to the “bunker-busters” 240kg (530lb).

But the BLU-109, which costs US taxpayers $65,000 apiece versus $16,000 for the MK84, is of little use to Israel as a dumb bomb. To be effective and able to hit targets with precision, it needs to be upgraded with a far costlier laser guidance head unit and a control tail unit. According to the same reports, the US delivered 3,000 such JDAM kits that convert dumb bombs into smart weapons.

Apart from 100 bunker busters, US deliveries reportedly included two sizes of general-purpose dumb bombs: 5,400 MK84s – 900kg (2,000lb) – and 5,000 MK82s – 450kg (1,000lb) – and 1,000 precision-guided GBU-39 “small diameter bombs” – 150kg (300lb).

Worried about the indiscriminate aerial bombardment of Palestinian targets that could be compared to carpet bombing, the US warned Israel on several occasions to reduce the number of civilian casualties.

After the resumption of bombing on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel that “the massive levels of loss of civilian life and displacement scale we saw in the north must not be repeated in the south”.

Explosions in Gaza after Israeli air raids shown in a long-exposure photo taken from southern Israel, on December 2, 2023 [John MacDougall/AFP]

He allegedly received Israeli assurances that they would try to kill fewer civilians, but the casualty toll in the first 24 hours of renewed fighting, with nearly 200 reportedly killed in the bombardment, leaves little room for optimism.

Can anything about the intentions of the next stage of aerial bombardment be determined from the numbers and types of bombs delivered to the Israeli army?

First, there is no reason to put too much importance on the delivery of 100 bunker busters. Israel already had those in its arsenal and used some, so this may be a simple replenishment or a modest build-up. While long and sometimes deep, Hamas tunnels are mostly not covered in thick layers of concrete, so Israel would need just a handful of bunker busters.

Second, one could compare the number of conventional bombs delivered, 10,400 of two different weight classes, with the number of JDAM kits, 3,000. Along with the transfer of 1,000 small but precise “small-diameter bombs”, these figures may suggest that one in every three or four bombs dropped in future might be “smart” and that Israel would be making an effort to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza, as it allegedly promised the US.

Such a conclusion would be premature. Without knowing the number of dumb bombs and smart kits that were in Israeli warehouses and bases before October 7, a top military secret, the ratio of precision-guided bombs versus dumb ones that indiscriminately destroy civilian infrastructure and kill non-combatants, cannot be made and it will take several more days to establish whether there is any change in the way targets on the ground are attacked.

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Photos: More deaths and destruction as Israel targets southern Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israel has carried out deadly bombardments in Gaza for a second day after a weeklong truce with Hamas collapsed despite international calls for an extension.

Clouds of grey smoke from the strikes hung on Saturday over Gaza, where the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said nearly 200 people had been killed since the pause in hostilities expired early on Friday.

Residents feared the latest bombings presage an Israeli ground operation in the south of the Palestinian territory that would pin them into a shrinking area and possibly try to push them into Egypt.

The southern part of Gaza, including Khan Younis and Rafah, was pounded by Israeli war planes and artillery on Saturday. Thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering there because of fighting in the north.

Residents said houses had been hit and three mosques destroyed in Khan Younis.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks had taken up positions near the road between Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah.

“A night of horror,” said Samira, a mother of four. “It was one of the worst nights we spent in Khan Younis in the past six weeks since we arrived here. … We are so afraid they will enter Khan Younis.”

Officials said the overall death toll in Gaza since the October 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 15,200 while more than 40,000 people have been wounded in the Israeli attacks.

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Israel, Palestine and Canada’s ‘schizophrenic foreign policy’ | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Montreal, Canada – More than a month into its bombardment of Gaza, the Israeli military issued a warning: Ground troops had surrounded the largest hospital in the Palestinian enclave, al-Shifa. A raid would be launched “in minutes”.

The impending siege of the Gaza City health complex sparked panic among the thousands of injured patients, medical staff and displaced Palestinians sheltering there.

But amid urgent international pleas to protect Gaza’s hospitals, much of the focus in Canada was on the tougher tone of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I have been clear: The price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. Even wars have rules,” Trudeau said in a news conference on November 14, around the time the al-Shifa raid began.

“I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint,” he continued, offering his toughest comments since the war began. For weeks, Trudeau had been ignoring calls – and some of Canada’s largest protests in recent memory – demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“The world is watching. On TV, on social media, we’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who’ve lost their parents. The world is witnessing this. The killing of women and children – of babies; this has to stop.”

Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes sit on beds at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 25 [Abed Sabah/Reuters]

The response from Tel Aviv was swift. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted publicly to Trudeau’s speech, arguing on social media that the Palestinian group Hamas, not Israel, was responsible for any civilian casualties. Netanyahu pointed to Hamas’s attacks in southern Israel on October 7, one of the events that precipitated the war.

Pro-Israel lobby groups in Canada echoed that argument, saying “the blood of dead babies – Israeli and Palestinian – is on Hamas” and accusing Trudeau of fuelling anti-Semitism.

In the days that followed, Canadian ministers sought to temper Trudeau’s comments.

“The prime minister, quite understandably, is concerned about innocent lives on both sides of that border,” Defence Minister Bill Blair told the Canadian network CTV. “We’ve also been crystal clear: Israel has the right to defend itself.”

The episode is one of many examples in recent weeks of what observers have described as Canada’s “schizophrenic” foreign policy when it comes to Israel and Palestine.

“Whenever [Trudeau] does show any mettle with respect to this, he invariably then steps back from what he said after any sort of criticism coming from either the Israel lobby in Canada or Israeli leaders,” Michael Lynk, a former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera.

Unlike its powerful neighbour and Israel’s foremost backer, the United States, Canada says it aims to tread the middle ground in its policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It supports a two-state solution, opposes illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and says international law must be respected by all parties.

But experts say Canada has two policies when it comes to the conflict: one on paper and one in practice.

They note that Canada has cast UN votes against its own stated positions and opposed Palestinian efforts to seek redress at the International Criminal Court, and argue that it has backed hardline, Israeli policies and failed to hold the country accountable for rights abuses.

“This government, as well as previous Canadian governments, have unfortunately had a blind spot with respect to Israel,” said Farida Deif, Canada director at Human Rights Watch.

She added that Canada’s stance has not changed despite the nearly two-month-long military campaign in Gaza, where bombs have struck hospitals, refugee camps and schools serving as shelters. More than 15,200 Palestinians have been killed.

“What we’ve seen with respect to Canada’s policy on Israel-Palestine is really a lack of coherence, confusion, and essentially not really engaging with the reality on the ground,” she told Al Jazeera. “And the reality on the ground that we’ve seen – that Palestinian organisations, Israeli organisations, international organisations have documented – is the reality of apartheid and persecution.”

So what drives Canada’s position?

Al Jazeera spoke to nearly a dozen human rights advocates, politicians, former officials and other experts about how foreign and domestic calculations influence Ottawa’s stance – and whether public outrage could shift its strategy.



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How Democrats are alienating their base by blasting a Gaza war ceasefire | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Washington, DC – Inexplicable. That is how advocates are describing the actions of some Democratic officials who seem to be not only alienating but actively antagonising members of their own party over differing views on the war in Gaza.

Many prominent Democrats, including United States President Joe Biden, have voiced “unwavering” support for Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian enclave. But that stance has fractured the Democratic base, with polls showing that a majority of Americans support a ceasefire.

That schism was prominently on display in November, when activists held a ceasefire protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC. Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman responded by calling the demonstrators “pro-terrorist”.

“Apparently, these pro-#Hamas demonstrators want #Republicans to prevail in the next Congressional election,” he wrote in a social media post.

He also accused the activists of attempting to break into the building — an allegation refuted by the protest organisers and journalists who were at the scene. The protesters had sought to block an entrance to the headquarters where a reception was unfolding, and police responded by evacuating lawmakers and forcibly dispersing the activists.

But advocates say Sherman’s reaction was one of many instances where Democratic politicians have smeared their constituents over the Gaza war, signalling a disconnect with the party’s base.

‘Major political error’

Beth Miller, the political director at Jewish Voice for Peace Action, an advocacy group, called Democrats’ attacks on ceasefire activists “pathetic” and “shocking”.

“It’s also a major political error,” Miller told Al Jazeera.

She noted that public opinion polls show most Americans — and an overwhelming majority of Democrats — back an end to hostilities in Gaza.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey released last month indicated 68 percent of respondents believed Israel should call a ceasefire and negotiate an end to the war. That number rose to 77 percent among Democrats alone.

“For these members of Congress to not only dismiss it, but to actively attack those people, I think it means that they’re also not reading the political winds of how people will be voting and what they will be demanding in the coming cycle,” Miller said.

The rift between Democratic policy and public opinion has translated into dwindling approval ratings. In October, the Arab American Institute, a think tank, found Arab American support for Biden had dropped 42 percent, reaching an all-time low.

That downward trend was reflected in the wider public as well. A recent NBC poll showed that 70 percent of voters under 34 disapproved of President Joe Biden’s handling of the war.

Usamah Andrabi, communications director at Justice Democrats, a progressive group, said the Democratic Party is showing itself to be “out of step” with its base as well as the broader electorate.

“It is a baffling calculation to see the president and the White House side far closer with Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government in Israel than a majority of his own Democratic voters at home,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera.

Congressional leaders attend a pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC, on November 14 [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]

Criticising calls for a ceasefire

From the outset of the war, several Democrats, including Biden, have drawn ire for appearing to vilify activists calling for a ceasefire.

Days after the conflict broke out, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a strongly worded response to a question about legislators allegedly “equating the Hamas terror attack” with Israeli actions.

Jean-Pierre first asked for clarity about which Congress members had done so. When the reporter identified them as members who “called for a ceasefire”, she said their statements were “wrong”, “repugnant” and “disgraceful”.

It was unclear which statements she was referring to, but many activists understood her words to be a condemnation of the progressive lawmakers pushing for an end to the war.

Meanwhile, Democratic Senator John Fetterman earned the praise of the far-right publication Breitbart last month for waving an Israeli flag at ceasefire protesters on Capitol Hill.

Then came the large pro-Israel protest on November 14, during which top congressional Democrats held hands with their Republican counterparts, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led chants of “I stand with Israel”. The crowd regularly called out, “No ceasefire!”

The Biden administration was represented by Deborah Lipstadt, the US envoy to combating anti-Semitism, who delivered a speech. The pro-Israel rally was also attended by far-right figures, including Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee, who has been accused of stoking both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

A day after the rally, two White House communications officials Andrew Bates and Herbie Ziskend shared approvingly a Fox News story titled, “Biden allies condemn far-left calls for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war”.

In the article, Democratic lawmakers — including Fetterman and Congressman Ritchie Torres — praised Biden for his support for Israel and admonished those demanding an end to the war as “fringe”.

An anonymous Biden administration official quoted in the story criticised the mainstream media for not being critical enough of Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress.

The criticism of Palestinian rights supporters continued this week when Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider gave an interview to Fox News.

He called for revoking the tax-exempt status of groups that he claimed are diverting money “into terrorist organisations”, citing — without evidence — the advocacy organisation American Muslims for Palestine. He added that “groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and others should not be getting these tax benefits”.

‘Core voting bases’

Andrabi, from Justice Democrats, understands this kind of rhetoric as corrosive to the relationship Democratic politicians have with their supporters.

“What we are seeing is the Biden administration attempting to gaslight the American people into believing that their majority that supports a ceasefire is somehow radical and fringe when the only people who are radical and fringe is the coalition between Netanyahu’s far-right government and the Biden White House,” Andrabi said.

He dismissed arguments that the war will not shake Biden’s standing with voters as he seeks reelection in 2024.

Foreign policy is seldom a top priority for voters. But advocates say the scale of the violence in Gaza has made it a decisive issue for many constituents. Some United Nations experts have gone so far as to warn of “a grave risk of genocide“.

“I don’t think anybody will forget that a year from now. And what Democrats are doing is trying to will it into existence that this is not going to matter,” Andrabi explained. But, he added, “it matters so much to so many of their core voting bases”.

Delaware State Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton, who was part of a hunger strike outside the White House this week calling for a ceasefire, expressed bewilderment at the mainstream Democrats’ position.

“I’m trying to figure out what the rationale is,” she told Al Jazeera, voicing disappointment in Biden.

“People feel betrayed. People feel like they were led to believe he was this moral leader that was going to restore the soul of America.”

New York State Representative Zohran Mamdani said Americans are desperate for a government that represents them and their demands. He expressed surprise that calls for a ceasefire have been deemed controversial.

“I don’t know how this demand is characterised as something that is far-left. This is the most mainstream demand in America today on foreign policy,” he said.

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Israel-Gaza War: Can Hamas be defeated? | Israel-Palestine conflict

Marc Lamont Hill discusses Gaza’s future and whether Israel’s stated objective of eradicating Hamas is possible.

Following the October 7 Hamas attack that left 1,200 dead, Israel repeatedly promised to eradicate the group, launching a devastating counteroffensive against the Palestinians.

Nearly eight weeks since the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, at least 15,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Gaza City is now in ruins, with almost half of the buildings in northern Gaza damaged. But is Israel any closer to toppling Hamas? And if Hamas is destroyed, who could actually fill the power vacuum?

On UpFront, former spokesperson of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Diana Buttu, and senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, Khaled Elgindy, speak with Marc Lamont Hill about the future of Gaza.

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The Israel-Hamas truce has ended: What we know so far | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israel has resumed air raids in Gaza after a seven-day pause in fighting. Here is what we know so far:

How did the Israel-Hamas truce end?

The Israel-Hamas truce began on November 24 and was renewed twice before ending on Friday. Under the truce, fighting was paused and humanitarian aid was allowed to enter Gaza as Hamas released captives in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners.

The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, reported that despite the pause in fighting, Israeli forces shot at Palestinians in Gaza on November 29, killing two people. They also shelled people on November 30.

Earlier on Friday, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Khan Younis in Southern Gaza that Palestinians were anxiously hoping that the truce would be extended to allow for more humanitarian aid into the enclave.

An hour before the truce was supposed to end, at 7am (05:00 GMT), the Israeli military announced that its Iron Dome missile defence system had detected incoming rockets. After that, they “intercepted a launch from Gaza”.

“We have seen rockets being fired from Gaza before that have been intercepted by the Iron Dome that Hamas later said were simply a misfire,” reported Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan from East Jerusalem. “Or it could be a message to try and put some pressure on the Israelis to try and extend this ceasefire”.

Hamas did not immediately respond or claim responsibility for the launches.

Did Israel resume air raids in Gaza?

The deadline for the extended truce passed with no announcement of an extension from either side. Minutes after, Israeli air raids and artillery fighting resumed in Gaza and witnesses in the enclave reported heavy clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighting groups.

The Israeli military announced on X, that the fighting is now resuming because “Hamas violated the operational pause” and “fired towards Israeli territory”.

Where in Gaza has fighting resumed?

On-ground clashes between Israel and Hamas have resumed in separate areas across the territory, reported Azzoum. At least 54 people have been killed since Israel’s army resumed its attacks, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Two people have been killed in Beit Lahia in the north of the Gaza Strip.

There is heavy shelling in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Israel dropped leaflets asking people in Khan Younis to move further south towards Rafah on the border with Egypt.

One casualty has been reported in Khan Younis city while two have been killed in Hamad town, south of Khan Younis.

On Friday, a building in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp was completely destroyed. There are reports that a house has also been destroyed in Rafah in the south of Gaza.

Israel is also shelling near Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. Also in central Gaza, 10 people have been killed and a number of civilians have been wounded in the Maghazi area.

Due to Israeli bombardment and clashes that began after the October 7 Hamas attack, about 60 percent of homes in Gaza have been destroyed, reported Gaza’s government media office. At least 50,000 families and their extended families are now homeless and about 250,000 housing units have been partially destroyed. More than 15,000 people in Gaza, including at least 6,150 children, have died, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Could the US have stopped the resumption of fighting?

During his third visit to Israel since the escalation of violence, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that Israel cannot repeat in southern Gaza the massive civilian casualties and displacement of residents it has inflicted in the north.

Yet, there is no evidence that Israel is limiting the war.

Spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ninistry, Nasser Kanaani, posted on X that “the political and legal responsibility for the continuation of the aggression and massacre” rests with Israel, the United States and “a few governments that support this apartheid regime”.

Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that the US has enough leverage to stop the fighting and influence other countries to change the course of the war.

Vice chairman of the executive council of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, Ali Damoush, says that Israel resumed its aggression on Gaza by a US decision. He called the US a decision-maker in this war, adding, “This war from the beginning has been America’s war against the Palestinian people,” on Telegram.

Where has Hamas attacked?

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, announced on Telegram that it attacked the cities of Ashkelon, Sderot and Beersheba in southern Israel with rocket barrages. The group said the attacks were “in response to the targeting of civilians”.

What about captives and Palestinian prisoners ?

Nearly 240 captives were taken by Hamas following the attack on October 7. Of them, 127 captives remain in Gaza, with 110 freed as part of the truce.

Israel initially released a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners eligible for release during the pause in fighting. A list of 50 more names of prisoners eligible was released later. Of the 350 prisoners, 240 have been released and 110 remain. However, at the same time, Israel has arrested about the same number of  Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

What next?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that with the resumption of fighting, Israel was committed to achieving its targets in the war.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar released a statement on Friday, expressing “deep regret at the resumption of the Israeli aggression against Gaza”. The statement added that negotiations between Hamas and Israel are continuing “with the aim of returning to a state of the pause”. Qatar has been central to mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas.

 

Israel’s participation in the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) which started on Thursday in Dubai amid the continuing war, was also criticised by some.



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Palestinians flee homes, dig in rubble as Israel resumes strikes on Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Palestinians in Gaza were fleeing their homes and rushing their dead and wounded to hospitals as Israel resumed its bombardment of the besieged enclave.

Combat between Israel and Hamas was renewed on Friday following the expiry of a weeklong truce. An agreement on extending the pause in fighting was not reached before the 7am (05:00 GMT) deadline.

The deal, which started on November 24 and was twice extended, had produced a pause in the fighting and allowed an increase in aid flows into Gaza, while scores of Israelis taken prisoner on October 7 were exchanged for hundreds of jailed Palestinians.

However, hostilities resumed immediately as the latest deadline passed.

Smoke billowed over the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis following Israeli strikes, with deaths recorded in both places.

In Khan Younis, a group of men chanted “God is greatest” as they rushed through the streets carrying a body wrapped in a white shroud.

‘War on children’

At the hospital reception, 10-year-old Lina Hamdan said: “We were getting ready to sleep when I heard a bomb. My brothers started screaming.”

In Rafah, a young man rushed a badly wounded child out of a refugee camp hit by an explosion, while others could be seen pulling a motionless person from the rubble.

Marwan al-Hams, the director of al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, where many Palestinians fled after being told by Israel to leave the north of the territory, said strikes had killed at least nine people in the city, including four children.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, the fireball from a large explosion could be seen from across the border in the Israeli city of Sderot.

Speaking from a hospital in Gaza, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said on Friday that a bomb had landed “literally 50 metres away”.

“I cannot overstate how much the capacity of hospitals has been reduced,” he said. “We cannot see more children with the wounds of war, with the burns, with the shrapnel littering their body, with the broken bones.”

“This is a war on children,” he added.

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Palestine advocates decry MSNBC’s cancellation of Mehdi Hasan news show | Media News

Channel president says change aims to put network in ‘better position’ for the 2024 US elections, The Hill reports.

Washington, DC – MSNBC has cancelled Mehdi Hasan’s weekend TV programme, sparking anger from many Palestinian rights supporters who consider the progressive host a rare critic of Israeli policies on United States cable news.

The decision, first reported by the news website Semafor on Thursday, came amid what advocates describe as a crackdown on criticism against Israel in the media, at universities and in the arts. The country is currently conducting a military offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, prompting human rights concerns.

Left-wing Congressman Ro Khanna said cancelling the show during the conflict is “bad optics” for the network.

“As a strong supporter of free speech, MSNBC owes the public an explanation for this decision,” Khanna wrote in a social media post. “Why would they choose to do this now?”

Semafor reported that Hasan’s show will be replaced by extending news anchor Ayman Mohyeldin’s self-titled programme to two hours. Mohyeldin, who is Arab American, is also a critic of the Israeli government.

Hasan will be retained by the network as an on-screen analyst, US media outlets indicated.

In a note to staff quoted by the publication The Hill, MSNBC President Rashida Jones said the reshuffle aims to “better position” the network as it heads into the 2024 US elections. MSNBC did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Palestinian American human rights lawyer Noura Erakat called the programme “more needed than ever”.

“He should be amplified, not shut down,” Erakat wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

A persistent interviewer known for confronting guests about false claims and past statements, Hasan previously worked as an Al Jazeera host. He also was a senior columnist at The Intercept, a news website.

This month on his programme, he deployed his trademark interviewing style to question Israeli government adviser Mark Regev about false claims promoted by Israeli officials. In one example, Hasan pointed to an instance in which a calendar in a Gaza hospital was presented as a list of Hamas operatives.

“We shouldn’t blindly believe anything Hamas says. But why should we believe what your government says, either?” Hasan asked.

After a lengthy back-and-forth, Regev acknowledged that Israel may have committed “mistakes” in putting out such information.

Author Sarah Kendzior pointed to that segment as she questioned MSNBC’s decision to nix Hasan’s show.

“They canceled Mehdi Hasan for interviews like this — evidence-based and willing to challenge power — and it is doubtful he will be the only journalist pushed out for daring to practice journalism,” she wrote in a social media post.

On Thursday, US journalist David Sirota noted that Hasan has reported critically on both Republicans and Democrats.

“Canceling him is another step in the deliberate homogenization of news content into pure red-vs-blue infotainment,” Sirota wrote on X.

There is a history of US journalists being penalised for their criticism of Israel. In 2018, CNN sacked Marc Lamont Hill as a contributor over a speech at a United Nations meeting in support of Palestinian rights. Hill now hosts the programme UpFront on Al Jazeera.

In 2021, The Associated Press news agency also fired a young reporter over social media posts in support of Palestinian rights.



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Call to prayer amidst the ruins | Gaza News

NewsFeed

A call to prayer is made from a destroyed mosque as a drone shot shows the ruins of the building and surroundings in Khan Younis. The video shows the scale of destruction caused by Israeli bombardment in response to the Oct 7 Hamas attack.

Published On 30 Nov 2023

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‘We’re not here to beg’: Gaza residents’ anger over steep rise in prices | Gaza News

Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip – As the sounds of war quietened with the advent of the first truce between Israel and Hamas since October 7, the markets in the Gaza Strip have been flooded with shoppers, desperate to buy food supplies and winter clothes.

But the cost of these products has skyrocketed, particularly for basic foodstuffs, sparking anger and resentment among shoppers who blame shopkeepers and stallholders for high prices.

Imm Abdullah, who was displaced from her home in the Nassr neighbourhood in Gaza City a month ago after Israel ordered people in northern Gaza to move south, has been staying at one of the United Nations-run schools in Deir el-Balah with her 12 children and grandchildren. She said conditions in the school have become desperate, with no water and barely any provisions.

“When the Israelis threw leaflets down at us, I left with my family wearing just my prayer clothes,” she said. “At the school, we barely get food assistance. The other day we got a can of tuna. How am I supposed to sustain my family with that?”

Prices of basic food products in Gaza have soared since the start of the war [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Imm Abdullah had come to the town’s market to try to buy food and some warmer clothes for herself and her grandchildren, as the weather had turned cold. But after visiting different stalls to look for basic food products, her exasperation bubbled over.

“I don’t believe the merchants when they say the prices are out of their control,” she said. “They can regulate prices and be considerate of the fact that we are going through exceptional times, which is not something they should take advantage of.”

She rattled off a list of products that are now unaffordable: Bottled water, which used to be 2 shekels ($0.50), is now 4 or 5 shekels ($0.80-$1). A carton of eggs is 45 shekels ($12). A kilo of salt, which used to be 1 shekel is now 12 ($3.20), while sugar is 25 shekels ($6.70).

“It’s so unfair,” Imm Abdullah said. “I can’t take it any more and some days I go sit by the sea and weep because I don’t know how to feed or sustain my family. Sometimes I wish we had stayed in our home and got bombed instead of going through this.”

Billions lost due to blockade

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the poverty rate in the Gaza Strip has reached 53 percent, with one-third (33.7 percent) of Gaza residents living in extreme poverty.

Approximately 64 percent of households in Gaza are without enough food, and unemployment is at 47 percent – one of the highest rates in the world.

According to Elhasan Bakr, an economic analyst based in Gaza, the price distortion has led to inflation of between 300 and 2,000 percent for various products.

Even before October 7, a 17-year Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave had resulted in the loss of $35bn to the Palestinian economy.

“The latest Israeli aggression has been another nail in the coffin of Gaza’s economy,” Bakr told Al Jazeera. “The direct loss to the private sector has surpassed $3bn, while the indirect losses are more than $1.5bn.”

Elhasan Bakr, an economic analyst from the Gaza Strip [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

The agricultural sector, he added, has suffered a direct loss of $300m.

“This includes the uprooting and bulldozing of fruitful trees in the agricultural lands in the north and east near the Israeli fence, which means that it will be another few years before farmers can reap what they sow,” he explained.

“We are talking about a total paralysis of economic activity in Gaza. There are 65,000 economic facilities – ranging from the agricultural to the service industries – in the private sector which have been either destroyed or stopped working because of the war. This has resulted in a huge loss of jobs, which in turn leads to a complete lack of food security.”

Furthermore, the small amount of aid that has been allowed by Israel to enter Gaza is insufficient to cover the needs of the almost one million displaced people staying at UN schools for even one day.

“From October 22 to November 12 – in those 20 days – fewer than 1,100 trucks entered the Gaza Strip,” Bakr said. “Fewer than 400 of these trucks carried food products. Barely 10 percent of Gaza’s food sector needs are met. This is nowhere near enough, especially when you consider the fact that, before October 7, at least 500 trucks used to enter the Strip on a daily basis.”

The Gaza Strip, he added, would need 1,000 to 1,500 trucks a day to deliver the needs of the population of 2.3 million.

Mohammed Yasser Abu Amra (left) receives money from a shopper in the Deir el-Balah market [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

‘We had to walk past dead bodies to shop’

In the Deir el-Balah market, Mohammed Yasser Abu Amra stands over the bags of spices and grains that he sells each day that the truce lasts.

“The war has affected everything, from delivery costs to supplies,” the 28-year-old said. “Whatever I have now, once that is finished I won’t have the money to buy the same products because it’ll be more expensive, so that leaves me no choice but to raise prices to break even.”

The main reason for the price rises, he said, is the closure of the border crossings, which has led to wholesale merchants selling products to shopkeepers at much higher prices.

“Lentils used to be 2 shekels ($0.50) per kilo and we would sell it for 3 ($0.80),” Abu Amra said. “Now we buy it for 8 shekels ($2) and sell it for 10 ($2.60).”

A bag of fava beans used to be 70 shekels ($18) and is now priced at 150 shekels ($40), he added, while previously a bag of cornflour would be 90 shekels ($19) but is now 120 shekels ($32). Abu Amra’s neighbour, also a shopkeeper, lost his home and warehouse in an Israeli attack, resulting in the loss of $8,000 worth of produce.

Another shopper, Imm Watan Muheisan, said loudly – to the chagrin of nearby shopkeepers – that the current prices are “insane”.

“If you have 1,000 shekels ($270), you can only buy a handful of food items,” she snapped. “One kilo of potatoes is now 25 shekels ($6.70), it used to be three kilos for 5 shekels ($1.70).”

The mother of seven, who fled her home in the Shati (Beach) refugee camp east of Gaza City four weeks ago, is sheltering at the Deir el-Balah UN school for girls where, she said, she and her family are barely surviving.

“We walked here and had to pass by the dead bodies on the street,” she said. “We used to wear our best clothes to market… we’re not here to beg.”

Imm Watan Muheisan called the current prices of food products ‘insane’ [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Black market prices take over

Ahmad Abulnaja, an 18-year-old shopkeeper, began selling clothes with his older cousin Ali at the beginning of the war. He agreed that wholesale merchants are behind the increase in prices.

“A tracksuit used to sell for 20 to 25 shekels ($5.30 – $6.70) but now it’s 45 ($12),” he said. “That is, the merchant I get my supplies from has raised the price because the supply is dwindling.”

Price hikes are more pronounced on food products rather than clothes, but the demand for clothes is also high as displaced people try to buy warm clothes with winter setting in.  were forced to flee their homes in northern Gaza without bringing their possessions.

Abulnaja’s cousin, Ali, said he believed the informal prices will be around for a long time because the scale of destruction in Gaza is so immense and the demand for products shows no sign of abating.

“It’ll be a while before we have a solution,” he said. “Even if more products enter the Gaza Strip, there’s nothing to stop one merchant from selling a product at the price he sets, especially since northern Gaza is cut off from the rest of the Strip.”

There is also the issue of the lack of compensation for businesses, the economic analyst, Elhasan Bakr, said. He pointed to the fact that in the aftermath of previous Israeli wars on the enclave, donor aid has centred on rebuilding housing units, rather than supporting the economy.

According to UN estimates, the last four Israeli offensives on the Strip between 2009 and 2021 caused damage estimated at $5bn, but none of the damage in the 2014 and 2021 wars had been repaired.

Ali Abulnaja sells clothes in a stall in the Deir el-Balah marketplace [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

“We are talking about the devastation of the basic infrastructure which would need months to rebuild, from roads to communications towers to electricity installations and sanitary extensions,” Bakr said.

But until then, the Palestinian economy will not recover unless there is a huge international effort in aid, and poverty and unemployment levels will reach new record highs.

“Gaza at its present stage is unliveable,” Bakr said, adding that more than 300,000 people have lost their homes.

“We need a minimum of five years just to go back to where we were before the war started.”

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