Israel's War Against Hamas - Updates

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Palestinians have a legal right to armed resistance against Israeli colonialism​

Not against civilians. Every Hamas fighter in Gaza will die in the next two weeks. Those who escape out of Gaza will be hunted down wherever they are, including in Iran.

 

[P F Tinmore]

The first thing he does is deflect.

 

[Ringo]

A week ago, Wikipedia reported that the population of the Gaza Strip was 3.0 million.
Today it says 2.2 million, and the Western media are already saying 2.0 million, 1.7 million, 1.1 million.
It seems that preparations are underway to say that when millions of people are killed there, they were never there.

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in an October 8, 2023 interview that aired on Russia Today TV that Hamas had been secretly planning the invasion of southern Israel for two years, even as it was making it seem like it was busy governing the Gaza Strip. He explained that this is the reason Hamas did not join the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in its previous round of fighting against Israel. He said that Hamas notified its allies in other Palestinian factions, in Hizbullah, in Iran, in Turkey, and in Russia only after the invasion started, and he stated that any prisoner exchange deal should involve Hamas prisoners held in the United States. Later in the interview, Baraka said that Hamas has a license from Russia to locally produce bullets for Kalashnikovs, that Russia sympathizes with Hamas, and that it is pleased with the war because it is easing American pressure on it with regard to the war in Ukraine.


(full article online)

Senior Hamas Official Ali Baraka: We Have Been Secretly Planning The Invasion For Two Years; Russia Sympathizes With Us, Benefits From U.S. Embroilment In This War; Any Swap Deal Should Include Hamas Prisoners In Europe And The U.S.

Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in an October 8, 2023 interview that aired on Russia Today TV that Hamas had been secretly planning the invasion of southern Israel for two years, even as it was making it seem like it was busy governing the Gaza Strip. He explained that this is the reason...

www.memri.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

Using civilians as human shields, Hamas has called on Gazans not to leave their homes when Israel warns about bombings.

While the Israeli army has been notifying Gazan civilians to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere before Israel attacks terrorists or terror infrastructure in their apartment buildings, Hamas’ Interior Ministry is calling on Palestinians to remain in their homes to serve as human shields:

Headline: "The Interior Ministry calls on citizens not to cooperate with the recorded messages the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random”
“Important notice:
We again call on [Gazan] citizens not to cooperate with the recorded phone messages that the occupation (i.e., Israel) is sending at random, asking people to leave their homes. Their goal is to arouse panic and fear as part of the psychological warfare accompanying the occupation's aggression against our people.
Media Office, Ministry of Interior and National Security
Tuesday, October 10, 2023”

[Website of Hamas' Ministry of Interior and National Security,
Oct. 10,2023]​

It has always been Hamas' policy to use the civilian population in Gaza as human shields. Palestinian Media Watch documented that in the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas also demanded that Palestinians “return to their homes”.



Even Fatah has mocked Hamas for its use of civilians as human shields and criticized them for storing explosives among the civilian population.

Hamas calls on Gazans to be human shields | PMW Analysis

Hamas use Gazan people as human shields

palwatch.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

The relationship between Iran and Hamas began in the early 1990s, three years after Hamas was founded. Over the years, Hamas enjoyed Iranian financial support for its smuggled weapons, which intensified when Hamas came to power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. After Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, Iran and even Hezbollah began aiding Hamas to develop its own weapons. Khaled Mashal, former leader of Hamas’ political bureau, stated in 2007 that “Hamas is the spiritual son of Khomeini (the founder of the Islamic Revolution in Iran). Despite the “honeymoon” described above, Hamas supported the rebel camp when the Syrian civil war broke out. Hamas chose to support the side that acted against the radical Shiite axis headed by Iran. In response, the Assad regime closed all Hamas offices in Syria in 2012.


(full article online)

The history of relations between Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas

Ultimately, Hamas’s objective is to create an additional front against Israel, which will allow it flexibility and other attack options besides its stronghold in the Gaza Strip.

israel-alma.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

Around the globe, representatives of approximately a hundred countries have reacted to the war in varying ways. At least forty-four nations have publicly expressed their unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and explicitly decried its tactics as terrorism. Others, including regional players such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, and Iraq, have placed responsibility on Israel for the attacks. Approximately twenty countries have explicitly stated that Israel has the right to defend itself, while others have called for an immediate de-escalation of violence.

Over the weekend, several countries altered their initial statements as details of the attack unfolded. The UAE, Bahrain, and China all modified their primary statements to include explicit condemnation of the killing and kidnapping of Israeli civilians. The UAE and Bahrain also revised their initial statements to specifically condemn Hamas.

(full article online)

International Reactions to the Hamas Attack on Israel

At least forty-four nations have condemned Hamas and decried its tactics as terrorism, but regional players such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, and Iraq have pinned responsibility on Israel.

www.washingtoninstitute.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[sparky]

I saw one dead combatant @2:48

~S~

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ Fatah, making it clear that it is a religious war against the Jews. And International leaders, some, insist that the PA is a partner for peace, that it is possible without Hamas to achieve peace and a solution to the Palestinians war against Israel. They dream. ]

Fatah leader:

• Hamas terrorist murderers are “fighters of our people” who “defend freedom” and “the Arab and Islamic nation’s honor”
  
• It is Israel who is not following “the divine and international laws”

“[Their] crimes… have surpassed the Nazis’ crimes during World War II. They ascribe no importance to… the international laws and are destroying everything…”

The above was said two days after the Hamas terror organization massacred and murdered over 1,300 Israelis – including beheading babies, executing young men with their hands tied, raping young women, murdering mothers and fathers in front of their children, and dragging elderly people out of bed to shoot them and post the pictures on social media. Hamas terrorists also wounded over 3,300 and kidnapped at least 126 hostages whose fate is unknown.

But the Nazi comparison was not made about Hamas but about Israel and by a senior Fatah official!

Referring to Israel’s self-defense and retaliation against Hamas, and bombing Hamas’ terror infrastructure after the massacre on Israeli civilians, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki said it was Israel who was worse than the Nazis. In addition, he referred to Hamas terrorist murderers as “fighters of our people” who “defend freedom” and “the Arab and Islamic nation’s honor,” while accusing Israel of not heeding “divine and international law”:

Text by Zaki: “In a direct live broadcast on the Arab and global TV screens and for this the fourth consecutive day, Israel is committing the most despicable crimes against the Palestinian civilians… in an attempt to rehabilitate its image over its bitter defeat against the fighters of our people who have been defending their freedom and the justice of their cause for more than a century, and are sacrificing their lives in defense of the Arab and Islamic nation’s honor…
The Zionist entity’s crimes against our people have surpassed the Nazis’ crimes during World War II.They ascribe no importance to the divine and international laws and are destroying everything in the Gaza Strip…
Be completely certain that our fighting Palestinian people will never surrender, will not wave a white flag, and will continue to wave the flag of freedom until achieving victory for our people and our Arab and Islamic nation.”

[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page,
Oct. 10, 2023]​

The following are additional reports on Zaki’s response to Hamas’ terror war on Israel:



Posted text: “[Fatah Central Committee member] Abbas Zaki directs an urgent call to all the brothers, members, secretary-generals, party heads, and national and progressive forces in the Arab homeland regarding the despicable crimes that the Israeli occupation is committing against our people in the Gaza Strip(refers to the Hamas terror war; see note below -Ed.)”

The images show an official statement from Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki.

Text: “In a direct live broadcast on the Arab and global TV screens and for this the fourth consecutive day, Israel is committing the most despicable crimes against the Palestinian civilians… in an attempt to rehabilitate its image over its bitter defeat against the fighters of our people (i.e., Hamas terrorist murderers) who have been defending their freedom and the justice of their cause for more than a century, and are sacrificing their lives in defense of the Arab and Islamic nation’s honor…
The Zionist entity’s crimes against our people have surpassed the Nazis’ crimes during World War II.They ascribe no importance to the divine and international laws and are destroying everything in the Gaza Strip…
Be completely certain that our fighting Palestinian people will never surrender, will not wave a white flag, and will continue to wave the flag of freedom until achieving victory for our people and our Arab and Islamic nation.”

[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, Oct. 10, 2023]​

Abbas Zaki also serves as Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations and also conveyed this false narrative to Chinese ministers:

The images show an official statement from Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki.

Posted text: “[Fatah Central Committee member] Abbas Zaki directs an urgent call to Minister of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Foreign Affairs Department (sic. Deputy Director of the Boundary and Ocean Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Zhao Lijian regarding the despicable crimes that the Israeli occupation is committing against our people in the Gaza Strip (refers to the Hamas terror war; see note below -Ed.)”

Text: “In a direct live broadcast on the Arab and global TV screens and for this the fourth consecutive day, Israel is committing the most despicable crimes against the Palestinian civilians… in an attempt to rehabilitate its image over its bitter defeat against the fighters of our people who have been defending their freedom and the justice of their cause for more than a century, and are sacrificing their lives in defense of the Arab and Islamic nation’s honor…
The Zionist entity’s crimes against our people have surpassed the Nazis’ crimes during World War II. They ascribe no importance to the divine and international laws and are destroying everything in the Gaza Strip…
Be completely certain that our fighting Palestinian people will never surrender, will not wave a white flag, and will continue to wave the flag of freedom until achieving victory for our people and our Arab and Islamic nation.”

[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, Oct. 10, 2023​

Ignoring Hamas atrocities, Fatah official says Israel is worse than Nazis | PMW Analysis

Fatah official says Israel is worse than Nazis

palwatch.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

I volunteer with The Road to Recovery, an Israeli NGO that transports sick Palestinian children from checkpoints around the country to hospitals in Israel. When possible, I drive from my home in the Ella Valley of Israel to the Tarkumia checkpoint, close to Hebron, a mere 15-minute journey, to pick up children. I have always felt that small acts of empathy go a long way towards healing the decades-long hatred, that person-to-person contact helps bridge the gap between the two nations. Additionally, I have also always believed that Israelis and Palestinians can make peace, that we all want the same thing at the end of the day — to live quietly, to break bread with our families each evening around the kitchen table.

I was not born here. I arrived in Israel at the age of 16, because my parents wanted to live here. I knew nothing about Judaism, let alone Zionism. I learned about World War II in school. I had heard about Anne Frank but had very little idea what the Holocaust was. I knew nothing about the history of the Jews, or even the history of my own family.

As an adult, I worked with Newsweek in its Middle East bureau, and considered myself privileged to be able to speak to people on both sides of the conflict. When I say people, I am referring to those of us who are trying to go about our lives peacefully and respectfully, people like me and you who raise children, who care for our families. I spoke to Palestinians in Hebron, I spoke to Jews in Gush Etzion, I spoke to grieving parents on both sides. I once interviewed a woman in Nablus who had just been released from prison for assisting in a suicide bombing, and a teenager patrolling the barren hills of the West Bank with a gun in a holster. I thought I understood.


I don’t attend demonstrations, nor am I affiliated with any political groups, but I did participate in an intensive three-month workshop organized by The Bereaved Parents Forum, an NGO that promotes understanding between the Israeli and Palestinians. The idea of the workshop was to both learn about and acknowledge each other’s narrative, but I ultimately came out of those three months with a sense of gnawing pessimism. It was not enough. I met people from Jenin who had spent hours crossing through checkpoints to get to our joint weekends, I met three young women from the West Bank who spent a lot of time giggling together and sending text messages. In one activity, we switched identities and the Palestinians praised me for being a good Arab, and everyone laughed.

I admit, it was probably easier for me to open my heart to those contesting this troubled land. Unlike my husband, Raz, who remembers selling his own toys and teddy bears to raise money to buy fighter planes for Israel after the Six Day War in 1967, I lived an uncomplicated life. My home was never contested, I never had to sit in a bomb shelter .

Perhaps this is why I naively stuck to the idea that I could make a difference, even a small one; The Road to Recovery seemed like the perfect way for me to make that difference. I have driven babies and children, accompanied by their mothers, fathers or grandparents to Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv, often early in the morning when it’s pitch dark outside. On these journeys we have conversed in broken Arabic and broken Hebrew and it was enough. Some journeys have been totally silent, the parents exhausted, or worried.

A few months ago, during an early evening emergency pickup, the exhausted mother of a toddler had a panic attack as we turned onto Highway 6. I stopped the car by the side of the road and put my arms around her. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she mumbled. An hour later, I dropped her off at the entrance to the Pediatric ER of Sheba Hospital and I will never forget the little boy, in his mother’s arms, turning his head to me and waving goodbye weakly. That same evening, I gave a five-year old boy and his parents a lift back to Tarkumia. It was late, and I didn’t want my passengers to make the long walk through the checkpoint to the parking lot, carrying their son and numerous bags filled with clothes. I drove through the checkpoint and stopped by the parking lot. They knew not to leave me alone there, so the father stood by my car while the mother went to get a taxi. I was grateful, and so were they.

But when I was asked this week to drive to the Tarkumia checkpoint to pick up a sick child who needed urgent treatment, I said no. I felt sick to my stomach with fear. Two days earlier, on October 7, I was awoken at 6:35 in the morning by loud explosions as Hamas missiles began falling. Soon after, the sirens began. I watched online as the horrific events began unfolding and as the hours went by, the world as I knew it fell apart.

Returning to anything remotely resembling hope suddenly seems impossible. I can no longer see the horizon of reconciliation. Last night my entire village stood in silence, heads bowed, at the entrance to our normally quiet community, as the funeral procession of a young man who grew up here traveled out to the local cemetery. Meanwhile, the foundations of my house shudder and shake as Gaza is pounded again and again by Israeli forces, and Hamas missiles continue to fall.

Unbelievably, a number of volunteers with The Road to Recovery have been kidnapped into Gaza: Haim Perry, Vivian Silver, Oded and Yochke Lipshitz, Tammy Sohman. The daughter and grandchild of Moshe Lotem, another volunteer, are among those kidnapped, according to the letter. I am devastated, I no longer feel safe.

“We are praying hard,” says the newsletter sent out this afternoon to volunteers, “together with the families of our volunteers who were kidnapped on Shabbat by the savage terrorists of Hamas.”

As another hard, sad day draws to a close, I wonder if the road to any kind of coexistence can be rebuilt.

I volunteered, transporting sick Palestinian children to hospitals — it hardly seems possible anymore

A volunteer for The Road to Recovery hoped someday there might be peace. Now she wonders if her dream of coexistence has been lost forever.

forward.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

The International Committee of the Red Cross is speaking directly with senior Hamas officials to demand access to Israelis hostages, the ICRC told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

“We are speaking with Hamas at the highest levels, face-to-face,” said Sarah Davies of ICRC Israel and the Occupied Territories. “The plight of loved ones being held hostage is one of our top priorities. We are making demands to see them. We are asking that they be able to contact family members.”

“We are calling for immediate access to those taken hostage, so we can check on their well-being and contact their panicked families who are desperate for news,” she said.

“And we have made it clear that we are ready to facilitate any eventual release.”

Davies said that the ICRC immediately offered its support to Israeli officials on October 7, the day of the attack, and is in regular communication with them.


(full article online)

Red Cross demands Hamas grant immediate access to hostages held in Gaza

Organization says it has been in touch with Israeli officials since the day of the attack, is ready to facilitate release of the kidnapped, estimated at over 150

www.timesofisrael.com