organization:hamas

  • The Islamic fundamentalist Jeremy Corbyn should be ashamed of himself – if only he’d behaved more like Margaret Thatcher | The Independent
    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-islam-jewish-antisemitism-israel-labour-party-margaret-

    Un peu d’humour (anglais) ne fait jamais de mal en politique.

    It gets worse and worse for Jeremy Corbyn and Labour. There’s a rumour that photos have emerged of a courgette grown on his allotment which is a similar shape to a rocket propeller used by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

    This comes on top of revelations that he has a beard, much like Palestinian terrorists, and his constituency is Islington, which starts with IS, or Islamic State. As a vegetarian he doesn’t eat pork, his friend John McDonnell’s initials are JM – that stands for Jihadist Muslim – and he travels on underground trains, that are under the ground, just like the basements in which Isis make their little films.

    The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and various others have also published a photo of him folding his thumb while holding up his fingers, in a way they describe as a salute to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. That settles it. If you don’t constantly check the shape of your thumb to make sure it’s not folded in a way similar to the way it’s folded by Muslim groups in Egypt, you might as well strap Semtex to your chest and get a bus to Syria.

    Thankfully there are some brave journalists who discovered the truth: that Corbyn laid a wreath in Tunisia at a memorial for civilians who were bombed, but also buried in that cemetery are the “Munich terrorists”. It turned out that the terrorists are not buried there at all, as they’re buried in Libya, but you can’t expect those journalists to get bogged down in insignificant details like that.

    We’ve all turned up for a funeral to be told we’re in the wrong country. “I’m afraid the service for your Uncle Derek is in Eltham Crematorium,” we’re told, “and you’ve come to Argentina.” It doesn’t make any difference to the overall story.

    Because there are Palestinian leaders who may have been terrorists in that cemetery. And when you attend a memorial service, you are clearly commemorating everyone in the cemetery, and the fact that you’ve probably never heard of most of them is no excuse.
    Corbyn takes on Margaret Thatcher over homelessness in Parliament in 1990

    If it’s possible to bring comfort to all those shocked by this outrage, it may be worth recalling that one of the first scandals about Corbyn after he became leader was that he wasn’t dressed smartly enough when he laid a wreath at the Cenotaph, which was an insult to our war dead. He’s just as scruffy in the pictures from Tunisia, so perhaps what he’s actually doing is insulting the terrorists, by laying a wreath near them while his coat is rumpled.

    I suppose it may just be possible that the wreath he laid at an event organised to mark the bombing of civilians in 1985 was actually put there to mark the bombing of civilians in 1985.

    But it’s much more likely that secretly, Jeremy Corbyn supports Palestinian terrorists who murder athletes. You may think that if you hold such an unusual point of view, it might have slipped out in conversation here and there. But the fact he’s never said or done anything to suggest he backs the brutal murder of civilians only shows how clever he is at hiding his true thoughts.

    This must be why he’s always been a keen supporter of causes beloved by Islamic jihadists, such as gay rights. For example, Jeremy Corbyn was a passionate opponent of Margaret Thatcher’s Section 28 law that banned the mention of homosexuality in schools. He supported every gay rights campaign at a time when it was considered extremist to do so. And the way he managed to be an extremist Islamic fundamentalist and an extremist gay rights fanatic at the same time only shows how dangerous he is.

    One person who appears especially upset by all this is Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it’s always distressing when someone that sensitive gets dragged into an issue.

    Sadly he’s going to be even more aghast when he reads about another event in which wreaths were laid for terrorists. Because a plaque was unveiled to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing of the King David Hotel, in which 91 people died, mostly civilians and 28 of them British. This was carried out by the Irgun, an Israeli terror gang, and one man, who by coincidence was also called Benjamin Netanyahu, declared the bombing was “a legitimate act with a military target”.
    The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn
    He called Hezbollah and Hamas ‘friends’
    ‘Jeremy Corbyn thinks the death of Osama bin Laden was a tragedy’
    He is ‘haunted’ by the legacy of his ‘evil’ great-great-grandfather
    Jeremy Corbyn raised a motion about ‘pigeon bombs’ in Parliament

    When Benjamin Netanyahu hears about this other Benjamin Netanyahu he’ll be furious.

    The Labour MPs who pine for Tony Blair are even more enraged, and you have to sympathise. Because when Blair supported murderers, such as Gaddafi and Asad, he did it while they were still alive, which is much more acceptable.

    So you can see why Conservative politicians and newspapers are so disgusted. If you subjected the Conservative Party to a similar level of scrutiny, you’d find nothing comparable. There might be the odd link to torturers, such as their ex-leader Margaret Thatcher describing General Pinochet, who herded opponents into a football stadium and had them shot, as a close and dear friend. Or supporting apartheid because “Nelson Mandela is a terrorist”. But she was only being polite.

    We can only guess what the next revelation will be. My guess is “Corbyn supported snakes against iguanas in Attenborough’s film. Footage has emerged of the Labour leader speaking alongside a snake, and praising his efforts to catch the iguana and poison and swallow him. One iguana said he was ‘shocked and horrified’ at the story, told in this 340-page special edition, and one anti-Corbyn Labour MP said, ‘I don’t know anything about this whatsoever, which is why I call on Mr Corbyn to do the decent thing and kill himself.’”

    #Jeremy_Corbin #Fake_news #Calomnies #Violence

  • The Islamic fundamentalist Jeremy Corbyn should be ashamed of himself – if only he’d behaved more like Margaret Thatcher | The Independent
    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-islam-jewish-antisemitism-israel-labour-party-margaret-

    It gets worse and worse for Jeremy Corbyn and Labour. There’s a rumour that photos have emerged of a courgette grown on his allotment which is a similar shape to a rocket propeller used by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

    This comes on top of revelations that he has a beard, much like Palestinian terrorists, and his constituency is Islington, which starts with IS, or Islamic State. As a vegetarian he doesn’t eat pork, his friend John McDonnell’s initials are JM – that stands for Jihadist Muslim – and he travels on underground trains, that are under the ground, just like the basements in which Isis make their little films.

    The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and various others have also published a photo of him folding his thumb while holding up his fingers, in a way they describe as a salute to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. That settles it. If you don’t constantly check the shape of your thumb to make sure it’s not folded in a way similar to the way it’s folded by Muslim groups in Egypt, you might as well strap Semtex to your chest and get a bus to Syria.

    Thankfully there are some brave journalists who discovered the truth: that Corbyn laid a wreath in Tunisia at a memorial for civilians who were bombed, but also buried in that cemetery are the “Munich terrorists”. It turned out that the terrorists are not buried there at all, as they’re buried in Libya, but you can’t expect those journalists to get bogged down in insignificant details like that.

    We’ve all turned up for a funeral to be told we’re in the wrong country. “I’m afraid the service for your Uncle Derek is in Eltham Crematorium,” we’re told, “and you’ve come to Argentina.” It doesn’t make any difference to the overall story.

    Because there are Palestinian leaders who may have been terrorists in that cemetery. And when you attend a memorial service, you are clearly commemorating everyone in the cemetery, and the fact that you’ve probably never heard of most of them is no excuse.
    Corbyn takes on Margaret Thatcher over homelessness in Parliament in 1990

    If it’s possible to bring comfort to all those shocked by this outrage, it may be worth recalling that one of the first scandals about Corbyn after he became leader was that he wasn’t dressed smartly enough when he laid a wreath at the Cenotaph, which was an insult to our war dead. He’s just as scruffy in the pictures from Tunisia, so perhaps what he’s actually doing is insulting the terrorists, by laying a wreath near them while his coat is rumpled.
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    I suppose it may just be possible that the wreath he laid at an event organised to mark the bombing of civilians in 1985 was actually put there to mark the bombing of civilians in 1985.

    But it’s much more likely that secretly, Jeremy Corbyn supports Palestinian terrorists who murder athletes. You may think that if you hold such an unusual point of view, it might have slipped out in conversation here and there. But the fact he’s never said or done anything to suggest he backs the brutal murder of civilians only shows how clever he is at hiding his true thoughts.

    This must be why he’s always been a keen supporter of causes beloved by Islamic jihadists, such as gay rights. For example, Jeremy Corbyn was a passionate opponent of Margaret Thatcher’s Section 28 law that banned the mention of homosexuality in schools. He supported every gay rights campaign at a time when it was considered extremist to do so. And the way he managed to be an extremist Islamic fundamentalist and an extremist gay rights fanatic at the same time only shows how dangerous he is.

    One person who appears especially upset by all this is Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it’s always distressing when someone that sensitive gets dragged into an issue.

    Sadly he’s going to be even more aghast when he reads about another event in which wreaths were laid for terrorists. Because a plaque was unveiled to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing of the King David Hotel, in which 91 people died, mostly civilians and 28 of them British. This was carried out by the Irgun, an Israeli terror gang, and one man, who by coincidence was also called Benjamin Netanyahu, declared the bombing was “a legitimate act with a military target”.
    The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn
    He called Hezbollah and Hamas ‘friends’
    ‘Jeremy Corbyn thinks the death of Osama bin Laden was a tragedy’
    He is ‘haunted’ by the legacy of his ‘evil’ great-great-grandfather
    Jeremy Corbyn raised a motion about ‘pigeon bombs’ in Parliament

    When Benjamin Netanyahu hears about this other Benjamin Netanyahu he’ll be furious.

    The Labour MPs who pine for Tony Blair are even more enraged, and you have to sympathise. Because when Blair supported murderers, such as Gaddafi and Asad, he did it while they were still alive, which is much more acceptable.

    So you can see why Conservative politicians and newspapers are so disgusted. If you subjected the Conservative Party to a similar level of scrutiny, you’d find nothing comparable. There might be the odd link to torturers, such as their ex-leader Margaret Thatcher describing General Pinochet, who herded opponents into a football stadium and had them shot, as a close and dear friend. Or supporting apartheid because “Nelson Mandela is a terrorist”. But she was only being polite.

    We can only guess what the next revelation will be. My guess is “Corbyn supported snakes against iguanas in Attenborough’s film. Footage has emerged of the Labour leader speaking alongside a snake, and praising his efforts to catch the iguana and poison and swallow him. One iguana said he was ‘shocked and horrified’ at the story, told in this 340-page special edition, and one anti-Corbyn Labour MP said, ‘I don’t know anything about this whatsoever, which is why I call on Mr Corbyn to do the decent thing and kill himself.’”

  • La vérité sur la relation spéciale du Royaume-Uni avec Israël
    Middle East Eye - Mark Curtis - 10 août 2018
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/opinions/la-v-rit-sur-la-relation-sp-ciale-du-royaume-uni-avec-isra-l-20287814

    (...) Theresa May a déclaré qu’Israël était « l’une des grandes réussites du monde » et un « phare de la tolérance », tandis que son secrétaire d’État à la Défense Gavin Williamson a affirmé qu’Israël était une « lumière pour les nations » dont les relations avec le Royaume-Uni « reposent sur un sens partagé des valeurs de justice, de compassion et de tolérance ».

    Cette exubérance traduit un soutien britannique continu à Israël sur la scène internationale, un soutien qui l’aide à protéger cet état voyou de l’ostracisme. Ainsi, la Grande-Bretagne s’est abstenue lors du vote de l’ONU sur l’autorisation d’une enquête sur les tueries de Gaza, sous le prétexte que celle-ci n’incluait pas d’investigations sur le Hamas ; à la place, le Royaume-Uni soutient Israël dans sa volonté de mener sa propre enquête.

    L’année dernière, le ministère des Affaires étrangères britannique a refusé de signer une déclaration commune lors de la conférence de paix de Paris sur la Palestine, l’accusant de « se dérouler contre la volonté des Israéliens ».

    « [La relation entre le Royaume-Uni et Israël est] la pierre angulaire de beaucoup de ce que nous faisons au Moyen-Orient »

    - Gavin Williamson, secrétaire d’État à la Défense

    La Grande-Bretagne a approuvé des ventes d’armes à Israël pour une valeur de 445 millions de dollars depuis la guerre de Gaza en 2014, et il ne fait quasiment aucun doute que certains de ces équipements ont été utilisés contre des Palestiniens dans les territoires occupés.

    Le Royaume-Uni exporte des composants de drones britanniques alors qu’Israël utilise des drones pour ses opérations de surveillance et ses attaques armées. Le Royaume-Uni exporte des composants pour avions de combat alors que les forces aériennes israéliennes effectuent des frappes aériennes à Gaza, causant la mort de civils et la destruction des infrastructures. Le gouvernement britannique admet qu’il n’a pas évalué l’impact sur les Palestiniens de ses exportations d’armes vers Israël.

    Cette politique fait pourtant suite à un rapport de 2015 du Home Office indiquant qu’Israël promeut un « modèle croissant » consistant à tirer délibérément sur les enfants palestiniens et que les Palestiniens sont généralement « de plus en plus tués […] en toute impunité » par les forces israéliennes. Depuis 2000, Israël a tué près de 5 000 Palestiniens non impliqués dans les hostilités, dont environ un tiers âgés de moins de 18 ans. (...)

  • In nearing deal with Israel on Gaza, Hamas wins achievements through military resistance

    Netanyahu, who has no clear goal on Gaza, prefers to be weak on terror and not find himself in an endless war in the Strip

    Amos Harel
    Aug 15, 2018

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-netanyahu-government-warming-to-prospective-cease-fire-with-hamas-

    The two sides clashing in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Hamas, seemed to be closer on Tuesday evening than anytime during the past few months to “the small arrangement” – a full cease-fire that includes a halt to all acts of violence, alongside the first easing of the blockade on Gaza.
    To really understand Israel and the Palestinians - subscribe to Haaretz
    If the efforts to broker the deal by the United Nations and Egyptian intelligence work out, and optimism in Israeli defense circles could be heard for the first time on the matter Tuesday evening, then it is possible that quiet could return to the border between Israel and Gaza for at least a few months.
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has examined the possibility of calling early elections over the past few days, because of the coalition crisis over the law on drafting the ultra-Orthodox, along with other considerations. A stable cease-fire in Gaza would allow Netanyahu to conduct the election campaign from a position of relative stability, without having to continually fight back against the accusations that he has abandoned the residents of the south to rockets and incendiary kites.
    >> Hamas is exploiting Netanyahu’s unwillingness to go to war | Analysis

    Minister of Defense Lieberman, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chief of Staff Eisenkot at the graduation ceremony for officers’ course at Training Base 1.Ariel Hermoni / Ministry of Defense
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    The negative side of the understandings with Hamas for Netanyahu is that he is in practice negotiating with Hamas. His denials haven’t convinced anyone. Netanyahu knows exactly to whom the mediators are delivering his answers. It has happened in the past too, under Ehud Olmert’s government after Operation Cast Lead, and on Netanyahu’s watch too, after both Pillar of Defense and Protective Edge. But it seems that this time it is even clearer and more unforgiving.
    It will also be a victory from Hamas’ point of view. The organization began escalating the tensions along the border with mass protests on March 30, from a position of deep distress. The understandings are expected to ease the Israeli pressure on the Gaza Strip and give Hamas breathing room. At the same time, the understandings promise Hamas another achievement: being identified as an important and legitimate partner for regional agreements. And Hamas achieved all this through military resistance, in complete opposition to the line taken by its rival Palestinian camp, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority.

    The step that is now coming together was woven by the United Nations special envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, with the active help of Egyptian intelligence. The latest round of violence, which came last week, sped up the renewal of contacts and may have even advanced the willingness of the two sides to reach an agreement.
    It seems that Netanyahu has chosen the least bad option. It is very possible he will spare the lives of dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians, who could very well have died in a wide-scale military conflict in Gaza in the next few months. Because Netanyahu never set a clear and attainable goal for himself for an attack on Gaza, he is willing to endure criticism from both the left and right on his demonstration of weakness in the face of terrorism, and not find himself in the middle of a war whose end, the how and why of it, would be a riddle to him.

  • Israël veut mettre Gaza à genoux
    Abdel Bari Atwan - 11 août 2018 – Raï al-Yaoum – Traduction : Chronique de Palestine
    http://www.chroniquepalestine.com/israel-veut-mettre-gaza-a-genoux

    L’accord visant à instaurer le « calme » à Gaza a en réalité pour objectif d’affirmer une domination israélienne absolue.

    De nombreuses personnes à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de la bande de Gaza s’attendaient à une annonce imminente du Caire concernant un accord « pour le calme » conclu entre le Hamas et l’État d’occupation israélien par le biais de la médiation égyptienne.

    Deux jours de raids aériens israéliens ont non seulement dissipé ces attentes, mais ont également révélé le véritable visage et les véritables objectifs d’Israël. Sa poursuite des tueries et des destructions visait à montrer que l’armée israélienne a toujours le dessus, que les négociations ne sont pas entre deux parties égales et que le prétendu accord est plutôt un diktat affirmant une domination israélienne absolue.

    Ce sont les dirigeants israéliens qui ont entamé la dernière escalade. Elle a délibérément cherché à humilier les membres du bureau politique exilés du Hamas venus de l’étranger pour discuter des termes de l’accord et formuler leur approbation finale par l’intermédiaire des dirigeants égyptiens. Les avions de combat israéliens ont perpétré un nouveau massacre dont les victimes comprenaient la famille Abu-Khammash. Trois de ses membres ont été mis en pièces par les missiles israéliens qui ont pénétré dans le toit de leur modeste maison à Deir al-Balah : Inas Abu-Khammash, enceinte de six mois d’une petite-fille, et sa fille, Bayan. Le père de Bayan a été blessé et leur voisin Ali Ghandour a été tué. Je connais cette famille, comme je connais la plupart des familles de cette ville immuable, car je suis née dans son camp de réfugiés. (...)

    #Gaza

  • Imaginez les réactions si le Hamas avait tué une Israélienne enceinte et son nourrisson. Mais Inas et Bayan n’étaient que des Palestiniennes de Dir al-Balah… –
    Gideon Levy traduction : Pour la Palestine - Publié le 12 août 2018
    http://www.pourlapalestine.be/imaginez-les-reactions-si-le-hamas-avait-tue-une-israelienne-enceint

    Alors que la soif de sang a submergé les médias sociaux [israéliens] ; tandis que le commentateur Shimon Riklin a tweeté : « Nous voulons que vous tuiez des terroristes, et autant que possible, jusqu’à ce que les cris de leurs familles couvrent leurs appétits criminels » ; tandis que le ministre Yoav Galant 1, un homme aux mains couvertes du sang de Gaza, déclarait avec un lyrisme biblique : « je poursuivrai mes ennemis et les attraperai, je ne reviendrai pas avant d’avoir fini » ; alors que Yair Lapid 2 écrivait, « Les FDI doivent les frapper de toutes leurs forces, sans hésiter, sans réfléchir » – alors que tout cela se passait, Inas et Bayan Khammash ont été tués. (...)

    traduction de l’article signalé ici : https://seenthis.net/messages/714487

  • Palestinian protesters in Gaza: Don’t wound us – kill us -

    How many of the young people protesting at the Gaza border fence hoped the soldiers facing them would pull the trigger and end their lives? Unfortunately, many

    Amira Hass
    Aug 13, 2018
    Haaretz.com
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-palestinian-protesters-in-gaza-don-t-wound-us-kill-us-1.6366805

    “A person who was shot in the leg and had his leg amputated weeps. Not because his leg is gone, but because the soldier didn’t kill him.”
    How many of the young people protesting Friday at the Gaza border fence hoped the soldiers facing them would pull the trigger and end their lives?
    Many. Many more than is reported or than the Palestinians are prepared to or can admit publicly. 
    To really understand Israel and the Middle East - subscribe to Haaretz
    “A person who was shot in the leg and had his leg amputated weeps. Not because his leg is gone, but because the soldier didn’t kill him,” said someone who came out of the Gaza Strip for a few days. He told of a 30-year-old man who went up to the fence a few times, was wounded a few times, until he got lucky and the soldier on the other side finally killed him. We’ll get to the women too, soon enough, but we’re treading carefully.
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    What is the ratio between the number of those seeking to continue protecting the principles of the Palestinian struggle – by protesting at the border fence – and the number of those using the patriotic-nationalistic mantle to commit suicide, knowing that Islam prohibits “ordinary” suicide?
    >> Hamas is exploiting Netanyahu’s unwillingness to go to war | Analysis
    We don’t know. Israel doesn’t allow us to enter the Gaza Strip to ask these questions and seek answers. Phone calls are not enough, and so we depend on reports from people coming out – Palestinians and foreign journalists.
    >> No Fuel, No Gas: Israel Clamps Down on Gaza Over Airborne Firebombs
    Perhaps the protesters are motivated simultaneously by the two goals, and their distance from the fence shows the ratio between their desire to die and their fight for freedom? But many people who are very far from the fence come to see what’s going on, one foreign reporter said. That’s not a struggle, it’s a kind of pastime, because there’s nothing else to do and the sea is full of floating excrement. This journalist, who has known the Gaza Strip for more than 20 years, concludes: When everyone has to find ways to survive, there’s no room for thinking about the national struggle. 
    Many of them are young people who go to the fence to be wounded, thinking that Hamas will pay them, and then they can pay their debts at the grocery store or pay their rent for two months. It’s true: Hamas pays the injured a one-time payment of $200, I’m told. But only if the injury was serious.

    Someone who was slightly injured and went to a Hamas office to ask for money was turned away. Someone else was fortunate – his injury was worth compensation, then he went to the fence to be wounded again, and received compensation again. 
    But the wounded quickly discover what they did not take into consideration at first: Injuries have their own costs (beyond pain and disability). Surgery is covered. But medications are lacking, so their family goes deeper into debt to pay for them, or not. And then the flesh is infested with worms and it rots. And that’s not a metaphor.
    Some people deluded themselves that their family would receive large compensation if they were killed, or that payment for injury would come on a monthly basis. They still think it’s like the second intifada, when Saddam Hussein and Iran sent money for these purposes and the Palestinian Authority bore the burden. Those days are gone forever. 
    On Ramadan the young people went on the marches because a nourishing meal to break the fast was waiting for them, provided by Hamas. On other days they would receive a sandwich and a drink at the protest tents. Yet they are at risk even if they are not standing next to the fence, but rather are some distance away, near the tents, as attested to by a journalist who was standing near the tents last week when a bullet fired by one of our heroic soldiers flew right past his ear.
    Over the weekend, written proof emerged of the mixture of a death wish and commitment to the struggle. Abdallah al-Qatati, 20, was a volunteer paramedic who went every Friday to rescue unarmed people wounded by the strongest army in the region. Ten days ago he wrote a Facebook post, and people who shared it said it was his last: “As on every Friday, I go to the border, but this Friday is different. I’m going like any young revolutionary protecting his homeland and his land. We don’t care about the goals of the march or the goals of any organization in this march. What is important to us is our land and our dignity. And in short, we are fleeing unto death. In the hope that the second death will be more merciful than the first. And that’s the end of the story.” 
    In other words, life in Gaza is also death, of a different kind. On Friday, an Israeli soldier shot the medic al-Qatati and killed him.
    And now to the women protesters: Since they are few, this could seem like an accusation, or scorn, which will draw protests. But a Palestinian woman who spoke with women who go to the fence says she believes that few of them do it for national reasons, or that gradually the national reasons gave way to personal-economic reasons. Some of them went to be wounded and receive compensation. One went to be close to her son who was protesting. And many went to die – one whose husband refused to give her a divorce, another who was unmarried and felt that society considered her damaged goods, a third who was a victim of family violence and a fourth who couldn’t stand the poverty, the constant chasing after a shekel for milk and drops of water from the faucet. We are familiar with the phenomenon of women in the West Bank who committed suicide-by-soldier. 
    Poverty in Gaza has reached unimaginable, indescribable levels, even for people who are allowed to go in and see it. The despair growing there behind the iron wall that Israel has built is still seeking the lexicon with which it can be depicted.

  • The late Inas and Bayan Khammash
    Haaretz.com - Gideon Levy - Aug 12, 2018 2:50 AM
    Imagine the reaction if Hamas had killed a pregnant Israeli woman and her baby daughter. But Inas and Bayan were Palestinians from Dir al-Balah

    https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-late-inas-and-bayan-khammash-1.6365468

    For Uri Avnery

    While the thirst for blood overtook social media; while commentator Shimon Riklin tweeted, “We want you to kill terrorists, and as many as possible, until the cries of their families overcome their sick murderousness”; while Minister Yoav Galant, a man whose hands are stained with a great deal of Gazan blood, declared with Biblical lyricism, “I’ll pursue my enemies and catch them, I won’t come back until they’re finished”; while Yair Lapid was writing, “The IDF must hit them with all its force, without hesitating, without thinking” – while all this was happening, Inas and Bayan Khammash were killed.

    They were mother and daughter. Inas was 23, in her ninth month of pregnancy; Bayan was an 18-month-old baby. They were killed when a missile hit their home, a rented apartment in a one-story building in Dir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip. The father of the family, Mohammed, was seriously wounded.

    Their killing didn’t slake the thirst for blood on social media in the slightest. It barely earned a mention in the mainstream Israeli media, which were far more concerned by the cancellation of a wedding in Sderot. That’s always Israel’s order of priorities.

    It’s not that the suffering of residents of Israeli communities near Gaza shouldn’t be given abundant coverage, but the complete disregard for the victims on the other side, even the killing of a pregnant mother and her daughter, is an act of collaboration with wartime propaganda. The complete public indifference to every killing, coupled with the thirst for blood that has become politically correct, is also evidence of an unparalleled nadir.

    It’s not hard to imagine what would have happened, both in Israel and abroad, if Hamas had killed a pregnant Israeli woman and her baby daughter. But Inas and Bayan were Palestinians from Dir al-Balah.

    Are there still any Israelis who glanced for a moment at their own loved ones and imagined the atrocity of killing a pregnant mother with her baby in her arms? Does the thought still pass through anyone’s mind here that Inas and Bayan were a pregnant mother and her baby daughter, like the neighbors across the way? Like your daughter and granddaughter. Like your wife and daughter.

    Can thoughts like these still arise even for a moment, given the onslaught of dehumanization, propaganda and brainwashing, which justifies any killing and blames the entire world, with the sole exception of those who committed it? Given the media, most of which just wants to see more and more blood being spilled in Gaza, and even does everything in its power so that blood will actually be spilled? Given the usual excuses that the Israel Defense Forces never intend to hit a pregnant woman and her daughter, they merely happen to do so, again and again and again and again?

    Given all this, is there still any chance that the killing of a mother and daughter will shock anyone here? That it will touch anyone?

    For almost 12 years, Gaza has been closed to Israeli journalists on Israel’s orders, and Israel’s fighting media accepts this submissively, even gladly. How badly I wish I could go to Inas and Bayan’s house right now, to tell their story and, above all, to remind the reader that they were human beings, people – a very difficult thing to do in the atmosphere of today’s Israel.

    On one of our last trips to Gaza, in September 2006, photographer Miki Kratsman and I went to the Hammad family’s house in the Brazil refugee camp in Rafah. A huge crater had opened up a few hundred meters from the miserable tin shack we entered. In the dim room, we saw nothing but a crushed wheelchair and a crippled woman lying on the sofa.

    A few nights earlier, the family heard airplanes overhead. Basma, then 42 and completely paralyzed, was lying in her iron bed. She quickly told her only daughter, 14-year-old Dam al-Iz, to rush to her so she could protect the girl with her own body. A concrete roof crashed down on them and killed Dam, her only daughter, who was lying curled up in her mother’s arms.

    Ever since Inas and Bayan were killed, I’ve been thinking about Dam al-Iz and her mother again.

  • Secret Israeli Report Reveals Armed Drone Killed Four Boys Playing on Gaza Beach in 2014
    Robert Mackey | August 11 2018, 10:09 a.m.
    https://theintercept.com/2018/08/11/israel-palestine-drone-strike-operation-protective-edge

    A confidential report by Israeli military police investigators seen by The Intercept explains how a tragic series of mistakes by air force, naval, and intelligence officers led to an airstrike in which four Palestinian boys playing on a beach in Gaza in 2014 were killed by missiles launched from an armed drone.

    Testimony from the officers involved in the attack, which has been concealed from the public until now, confirms for the first time that the children — four cousins ages 10 and 11 — were pursued and killed by drone operators who somehow mistook them, in broad daylight, for Hamas militants. (...)

    https://seenthis.net/messages/276558

    • 10 questions on secret Israeli report over 2014 killing of four children on Gaza beach
      Haaretz.Com
      https://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-10-questions-on-secret-report-over-killing-of-four-kids-on-gaza-be
      Mordechai Kremnitzer | Aug. 13, 2018 | 10:03 PM | 3

      The secret investigation report on the killing of four Palestinian children on the Gaza beach in 2014, part of which was published on the website The Intercept and whose essentials were reported in Monday’s Haaretz, raises a lot of questions. The confidential Israeli military police report reveals that the attack on July 16, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, was carried out by a drone and stemmed from an intelligence failure.

      No one disputes that Ismail Bakr, 9, Ahad and Zakaria Bakr, both 10, and Mohammed Bakr, 11, were not involved in hostile actions against Israel. Therefore, there was no justification for firing at them twice with a drone and certainly not to kill them. The report also shows that those involved in the decisions and actions that led to the boys’ killing thought that the four were Hamas operatives and were not aware that they were children.

      Despite signs pointing to negligence, at the very least, the previous military advocate-general, Maj. Gen. (res.) Danny Efroni, closed the case without taking any legal or disciplinary steps against those involved. This decision stood even after Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, petitioned the attorney general, who has yet to respond.

      The central question is whether the error that was the basis for the Israel Defense Force’s actions was reasonable or not. Based on the answer to this question, one can determine whether the military advocate-general’s decision was justified or mistaken and negligent. We cannot pass judgment on Efroni’s decision without access to the investigation file and its full conclusions. However, questions arise that require a response.

      1. Was the investigation effective and thorough? For example, shouldn’t testimony have been taken from the journalists who saw the incident from the beach? An external perspective could have been critical in assessing the nature of the compound in which the children were seen, and the issue of the firing itself.

      2. The army acted on the assumption that the jetty on which the children were seen had previously served Hamas’ naval commandos. The day before the firing incident, the compound had been bombed by the IDF. Didn’t the bombing require a reevaluation about the nature of the place and the identity of anyone found there? After the structure was bombed, there were no secondary explosions heard, casting doubt on the initial conclusion that it had been used as a weapons depot. According to witnesses, after the bombing a new situation existed. There were no guards stationed at the entrance to the compound, it’s possible that the gate that surrounded it had been destroyed, and it was clear to Hamas that the site was an IDF target. All this indicates that a reevaluation would have pointed to a reasonable possibility that those the IDF had identified on the day the drone fired weren’t Hamas operatives but civilians (not necessarily children). If this possibility wasn’t raised, wasn’t that a negligent blunder? According to the testimonies, the question if the compound was open only to Hamas operatives or whether civilians also had access was raised with intelligence in real time. It isn’t clear what happened to that question. If this possibility was not discounted, it would have been correct to examine the responsibility of the soldiers involved in the killing.

      3. After the first shooting, the drone operators who fired asked for clarification as to the borders of the compound. But around half a minute afterward, before the question was answered, there was a second round of fire that killed three of the boys. Shouldn’t the operators have waited for an answer?

      4. All those involved declared that they could not identify the figures seen in the compound as children. The conclusion of the investigation was that it was impossible to discern that these were children, although the incident occurred in broad daylight. Two days earlier, however, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office had praised the ability of drone operators to identify potential targets under surveillance as children and thus avoid attacking them at the last moment. This is puzzling. If it’s not possible to distinguish the age of those being shot at, that is, it’s possible to shoot at children without being aware of it, were those involved in the shooting being overly reliant on the means at their disposal? Would it not have been appropriate to use additional means of observation? Was the possibility that the figures were civilians, or even children, not enough of a reason to refrain from firing? Under international law, in cases of doubt one is required to assume that the people are civilians. It should be noted that the soldiers did not claim that the figures had been identified as carrying weapons or as posing a significant threat to our forces.

      5. How is it possible to reconcile the testimony of the air force officer who coordinated the attacks, who said this is a highly unusual case in which the intelligence information was completely different from the facts on the ground, and the legal conclusion that there was no fault in the actions of those involved? If the intelligence presented was inaccurate, isn’t there a flaw in the structure of the division of responsibility between different parties such that it is impossible to hold anyone personally responsible? Do the accepted standards of skill, responsibility and caution not apply to Military Intelligence? Has chalking things up to an “intelligence mistake” become a way to whitewash prohibited and unjustified killings?

      6. Have all the operational and intelligence lessons, as well as the cognitive and moral ones, been learned so as to prevent similar incidents in the future?

      7. Doesn’t this incident offer support for the concerns raised regarding the use of drones, which can dull human sensitivity?

      8. Did the legal decision-makers use the reversal test – what would we say if it had been our children and the enemy had been the one to make the decisions and carry out those actions?

      9. Were the minimal humane steps taken, like an apology and compensation, steps that even an army that was not the most moral in the world would take?

      10. Does not the thesis that anyone suspected of being a Hamas operative is a legitimate target, even when he is not carrying a weapon and does not pose a risk to our forces, border on extrajudicial execution, which is prohibited by international law? Does it not create an unreasonable risk to the lives of civilians who must be protected, a risk that was actualized in the case of these four children?

  • Gaza : deux Palestiniens tués par des tirs israéliens, mais la trêve semble tenir
    AFP / (10 août 2018 21h22
    https://www.romandie.com/news/ZOOM-Gaza-deux-Palestiniens-tu-s-par-des-tirs-isra-liens-mais-la-tr-ve-semble-tenir/944436.rom

    Deux Palestiniens ont été tués vendredi dans la bande de Gaza par des tirs de soldats israéliens lors de manifestations et de heurts le long de la barrière de séparation, sans que la trêve fragile instaurée entre le Hamas et Israël paraisse remise en cause.

    Les protestations du vendredi étaient considérées comme un test des intentions du mouvement islamiste Hamas et de ses alliés dans l’enclave palestinienne sous blocus, après un sévère accès de fièvre jeudi.

    Environ 2.000 Palestiniens ont manifesté et brûlé des pneus à l’est de la ville de Gaza, a constaté un journaliste de l’AFP.

    Avec d’autres rassemblements ailleurs le long de la barrière israélienne, quelques milliers de personnes en tout se sont déplacées, loin des mobilisations antérieures qui ont pu réunir des dizaines de milliers de Gazaouis.

    Un secouriste de 21 ans, Abdallah al-Qatati , a succombé après avoir été atteint à la poitrine à l’est de Rafah (sud de la bande de Gaza). Il s’agit du 2e secouriste au moins à avoir été tué par les tirs israéliens depuis le 30 mars. Un autre Palestinien Ali Al-Aloul, 55 ans, a également été tué vendredi par l’armée israélienne.

    Par ailleurs, 307 Palestiniens ont été blessés -certains par des gaz lacrymogènes-, dont deux journalistes et cinq secouristes, a indiqué le ministère local de la Santé. Au moins 131 d’entre eux ont été blessés par balles.

    #Palestine_assassinée #marcheduretour (20ème semaine)

    • Israeli Forces Escalate their Crimes in Gaza Strip and Target Participants in Return and Breaking Siege March, Two Palestinian Civilians Killed, Including Paramedic, and 143 Others Wounded, Including 22 Children, 3 Women, 4 Paramedics, and 2 Journalists
      August 10, 2018 Date: 10 August 2018 Time: 06:30 GMT
      https://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=11225

      (...) The incidents today, 10 August 2018, were as follows:

      At approximately 16:00, thousands of civilians, including women, children and entire families, started swarming to 5 encampments established by the Supreme National Authority for the Great March of Return and Breaking Siege along the border fence, east of the Gaza Strip’s governorates. They raised flags, and chanted slogans and national songs in addition to flying kites and firing balloons, while hundreds of them, including children and women, approached the border fence, set fire to tires and attempted to throw stones at the Israeli forces. The participants were present around 300 meters away from the main border fence.

      According to observations by PCHR’s fieldworkers, Israeli tanks stationed in front of the demonstrators and heavily opened fire at them and their surroundings in an attempt to disperse them. The Israeli tanks also fired sound and smoke bombs at the demonstrators for the first time. Moreover, the Israeli forces’ snipers deliberately and selectively opened fire at the participants present around 200 meters away from the border fence. The Israeli shooting resulted in the killing of 2 Palestinian civilians, including a paramedic, in eastern Rafah. The abovementioned civilians were wounded at approximately 18:15, while they were around 50-100 meters away from the border fence when an Israeli tank heavily opened fire at the demonstrators, east of the city. In less than an hour of their injury, medical sources at the European Hospital declared their death. Those civilians killed were identified as:

      ‘Abdullah Sabri ‘Atiyiah al-Qitati ( 22), a volunteer paramedic in pulse of life youth team, from Rafah. ‘Abdullah was hit with a live bullet that entered and exited his back.
      Ali Sa’ied ‘Ali al-‘Aloul (55), from Rafah, who was hit with a live bullet that entered his chest from the right side and exited from the left side.

      The Israeli shooting which continued until 20:00 resulted in the wounding of 143 civilians, including 22 children, 3 women, 4 paramedics, and 2 journalists. Forty-four of those wounded sustained serious wounds. Among those wounded, 112 were hit with live bullets while the rest of them were hit with direct tear gas canisters. In addition, dozens of civilians suffered tear gas inhalation and seizures after tear gas canisters were heavily fired by the soldiers stationed along the border fence and by drones hovering over the protesters. (...)

    • Health Ministry Condemns Israeli Killing Of A Palestinian Medic
      August 11, 2018 2:03 AM
      http://imemc.org/article/health-ministry-condemns-israeli-killing-of-a-palestinian-medic

      Dr. Jawad Awwad, the Palestinian Health Minister, issued a statement denouncing the ongoing Israeli excessive use of force against Palestinian nonviolent protesters, and condemning the fatal shooting of a Palestinian medic.

      Dr. Awwad said the killing of medic volunteer Abdullah al-Qutati, 20 , east of Rafah, and the targeting of medics, journalists and unarmed civilians, are serious violations of International Law and all related resolutions and treaties.
      (...)
      The army also continued to target ambulances and medical teams, including attacks with live fire and gas bombs at make-shift clinics.


      Besides killing al-Qutati on Friday, the soldiers also killed Ali Sa’id al-‘Aloul, 55, and injured 307 Palestinians, including 85 who were shot with live fire.

  • Tamara Nassar on Twitter: “Israeli newspaper Haaretz openly says Israel is targeting innocent civilians and densely populated areas to punish Hamas. An admission of open, collective, arbitrary massacre of civilians. https://t.co/f64meXitwu

    “After the rocket was fired at Beersheva, the IDF began to attack civilian targets, including population centers, with the goal of causing the residents to understand the price of escalation and placing Hamas in a problematic situation” (h/t MairavZ)."
    https://mobile.twitter.com/TamaraINassar/status/1027602753537945602

    Tamara Nassar
    @TamaraINassar
    ·
    12h
    “לאחר ירי הרקטה לעבר באר שבע החל צה”ל לתקוף יעדים אזרחיים, גם בריכוזי אוכלוסייה. המטרה: לגרום לתושבים להבין את מחיר ההסלמה ולהעמיד את חמאס במצב בעייתי"

    That’s the hebrew line in Haaretz.

    https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/.premium-1.6363998

    #Gaza #civils #victimes_civiles #crimes #israel #impunité

  • Les premières images de la barrière maritime israélienne bloquant Gaza
    Agence Media Palestine | Traduction : J. Ch. pour l’Agence Média Palestine | Source : Middle East Monitor | 6 août 2018
    http://www.agencemediapalestine.fr/blog/2018/08/09/une-barriere-sous-marine-israelienne-destinee-a-aggraver-le-blo

    Le ministère de la Défense d’Israël a diffusé hier les premières images de sa barrière maritime destinée à aggraver le blocus de la Bande de Gaza assiégée. La barrière se situe sur la plage de Zikim, approximativement à trois kilomètres de la frontière nord de Gaza. Le projet devrait être achevé pour la fin de 2018 et coûter environ 25 millions de shekels (6.7 millions $).

    Quand elle sera achevée, la structure s’étendra sur 200 mètres dans la mer Méditerranée, coupant encore plus la Bande de Gaza d’Israël. La barrière sera constituée de trois couches, une base sous-marine, une plate-forme de 50 mètres de large en pierres blindées au niveau de la mer et une barrière de 6 mètres de haut en barbelés. Une clôture supplémentaire entourera ensuite la barrière elle-même en tant que « mesure de sécurité additionnelle ».

    La barrière a reçu les félicitations du ministre de la Défense Avigdor Liebermann. « La construction de cette barrière autour de la Bande de Gaza, à la fois sur terre et en mer, progresse à une allure impressionnante », a dit l’homme d’extrême droite. « Chaque jour qui passe voit nos capacités antiterroristes autour de la Bande de Gaza se renforcer. » D’après Ma’an, Liebermann a ajouté que « Le Hamas perd un peu plus tous les jours de sa capacité à attaquer Israël ». (...)

  • i24NEWS - Le ministère israélien des AE fustige la BBC après une Une sur Gaza
    https://www.i24news.tv/fr/actu/israel/181346-180809-le-ministre-israelien-des-ae-fustige-la-bbc-apres-un-article-m

    Le porte-parole du ministère israélien des Affaires étrangères, Emmanuel Nahshon, a publié jeudi au nom de l’Etat hébreu, une plainte cinglante contre les informations de la BBC concernant un article annonçant en Une la mort d’une femme gazaouïe enceinte et de sa fille dans des raids israéliens, sans mentionner les 150 roquettes tirées mercredi soir par l’organisation terroriste Hamas sur Israël.

    L’article en question, publié sur le fil Twitter du service d’information de la BBC World, titrait « Les frappes aériennes israéliennes tuent une femme enceinte et son bébé », faisant référence à la mort d’Enas Khammash, 23 ans, et de sa fille Bayan dans une frappe qui a eu lieu jeudi soir à Jafarawi, dans le centre de Gaza.

    "Ce titre est une déformation délibérée de la réalité (ce qui est l’équivalent poli de « ceci est un MENSONGE », si vous ne l’aviez pas compris)", s’est-il révolté dans un tweet.

    De l’art du #fake_news

  • Raids israéliens à Gaza après des tirs de dizaines de roquettes palestiniennes
    AFP / (08 août 2018 22h02)
    https://www.romandie.com/news/ZOOM-Raids-isra-liens-Gaza-apr-s-des-tirs-de-dizaines-de-roquettes-palestiniennes/943829.rom

    L’armée de l’air israélienne a mené mercredi des raids contre des objectifs « terroristes » dans la bande de Gaza, en riposte aux tirs de dizaines de roquettes palestiniennes sur le sud d’Israël, selon des sources israéliennes et palestiniennes.

    L’aviation a lancé des raids contre 12 sites « terroristes » du mouvement islamiste palestinien Hamas, qui contrôle l’enclave palestinienne, selon un communiqué de l’armée israélienne.

    Au moins deux Palestiniens ont été blessés dans ces raids qui ont visé une base du Hamas dans le sud de la bande de Gaza, selon le ministère de la Santé du Hamas.

    Quelques heures plus tôt, 36 roquettes avaient été tirées à partir de Gaza vers le sud d’Israël, a indiqué l’armée. Quatre projectiles ont été interceptés en vol par des batteries de missiles Iron Dome, deux sont tombées dans la ville de Sdérot et les autres projectiles « sont tombées dans des espaces ouverts », autrement dit en dehors des localités.

    La chute des roquettes à Sdérot, une localité proche de l’enclave palestinienne, a blessé une personne âgée d’environ 45 ans, touchée par des éclats, selon les secours israéliens. (...)

  • Two Palestinians killed during Israeli shelling in Gaza
    Aug. 7, 2018 11:55 A.M. (Updated : Aug. 7, 2018 5:02 P.M.)
    http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?ID=780629

    GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday morning during an Israeli shelling targeting a Hamas military post in the northern besieged Gaza Strip.

    Local witnesses confirmed that the Israeli artillery fired two shells targeting a Hamas military post in northern Gaza killing two Palestinians.

    The two Palestinians were pronounced dead on the site before being transferred to the Indonesian Hospital.

    Witnesses identified the two killed Palestinians as Ahmad Murjan and Abed al-Hafez al-Silawi.

    Sources confirmed that Murjan and al-Silawi were members of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement.

    Abed al-Hafez al-Silawi
    Ahmad Murjan

    “““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““

    Israeli Army Kills Two Palestinian Fighters In Gaza
    August 7, 2018 9:20 PM
    http://imemc.org/article/israeli-army-kills-two-palestinian-fighters-in-gaza

    Al-Qassam said the two fighters, Ahmad Abdullah Morjan, 23, and Abdul-Hafeth Mohammad Seelawi, 23, where killed in an Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza.

    It stated that the two fighters were part of a military training in “Asqalan” center, one of its training locations in northern Gaza, and that many Palestinians, including political leaders of Hamas, were in attendance.

    Al-Qassam said that the training including the use of sniper fire, and explosives, and the fighters were practicing techniques when the Israeli army fired a shell at them, killing the two fighters.

    “Israel is coming up with false allegations to justify its serious crime,” Al-Qassam said, “We hold the occupation fully responsible for this attack.”

    The Israeli army said the two Palestinians “opened fire at Israeli soldiers,” and published a video of the two fighters reportedly firing at soldiers, while Hamas said the allegation has no basis, as the fighters were training, and firing fixed targets.

    #Palestine_assassinée

    • Army officials say gunfire from Hamas post may not have targeted soldiers
      By TOI staff 7 August 2018, 1:49 pm
      https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-august-7-2018

      Two Hamas fighters killed in IDF retaliatory strike; but military now acknowledges Hamas fighters may have been taking part in a drill, as terror group has claimed

      8:30 pm
      IDF admits it misinterpreted gunfire from Hamas post, struck back in error
      https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-admits-it-misinterpreted-gunfire-from-hamas-post-struck-back-in-e

      The IDF acknowledges that the Hamas shooting that led to a deadly IDF retaliatory strike earlier today did not target IDF troops.

      Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the head of the army’s Southern Command, concluded the IDF strike was made in error, as the snipers, part of Hamas’s naval commando unit, were not shooting — as the army believed in real-time — at a border fence patrol of the Rotem battalion of the Givati infantry brigade. The shooting was part of a drill being observed by senior Hamas leaders in the northern Gaza Strip.

      The army has sent messages to Hamas via Egypt acknowledging the error but insisting that retaliatory fire on IDF troops would not be tolerated.

  • Israël intercepte un second bateau de militants anti-blocus au large de Gaza
    AFP / 04 août 2018 08h37
    https://www.romandie.com/news/ZOOM-Isra-l-intercepte-un-second-bateau-de-militants-anti-blocus-au-large-de-Gaza/942631.rom

    La marine israélienne a annoncé samedi avoir intercepté un bateau au large de la bande de Gaza, le second en moins d’une semaine avec à son bord des militants dénonçant le blocus imposé par l’Etat hébreu à cette enclave palestinienne depuis plus d’une décennie.

    Selon l’armée israélienne, l’embarcation transportant 12 personnes et battant pavillon suédois a été « interceptée conformément à la loi internationale » et acheminée vers le port d’Ashdod, dans le sud d’Israël.

    Le bateau baptisé « liberté pour Gaza » a « violé le blocus naval légal imposé à la bande de Gaza », a ajouté l’armée, précisant que les passagers avaient été emmenés pour être interrogés.

    La marine israélienne avait déjà arraisonné dimanche le bateau « Awda » ("Retour", en arabe) qui battait pavillon norvégien avec 22 personnes à bord.

    Depuis plus de dix ans, la bande de Gaza, contrôlée par le mouvement islamiste Hamas, étouffe sous un strict blocus israélien. Les habitants de l’enclave souffrent notamment de coupures d’électricité provoquées par la suspension des livraisons de fioul.(...)


    #Flottille #Gaza

  • As U.S. pushes for Mideast peace, Saudi king reassures allies |
    Reuters

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-paelestinians-usa-saudi/as-u-s-pushes-for-mideast-peace-saudi-king-reassures-allies-idUSKBN1KJ0F9

    RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has reassured Arab allies it will not endorse any Middle East peace plan that fails to address Jerusalem’s status or refugees’ right of return, easing their concerns that the kingdom might back a nascent U.S. deal which aligns with Israel on key issues.

    King Salman’s private guarantees to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his public defense of long-standing Arab positions in recent months have helped reverse perceptions that Saudi Arabia’s stance was changing under his powerful young son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, diplomats and analysts said.

    This in turn has called into question whether Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrines, can rally Arab support for a new push to end the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, with an eye to closing ranks against mutual enemy Iran.

    “In Saudi Arabia, the king is the one who decides on this issue now, not the crown prince,” said a senior Arab diplomat in Riyadh. “The U.S. mistake was they thought one country could pressure the rest to give in, but it’s not about pressure. No Arab leader can concede on Jerusalem or Palestine.”

    SPONSORED

    Palestinian officials told Reuters in December that Prince Mohammed, known as MbS, had pressed Abbas to support the U.S. plan despite concerns it offered the Palestinians limited self-government inside disconnected patches of the occupied West Bank, with no right of return for refugees displaced by the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967.

    Such a plan would diverge from the Arab Peace Initiative drawn up by Saudi Arabia in 2002 in which Arab nations offered Israel normal ties in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in 1967.

    Saudi officials have denied any difference between King Salman, who has vocally supported that initiative, and MbS, who has shaken up long-held policies on many issues and told a U.S. magazine in April that Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land - a rare statement for an Arab leader.

    The Palestinian ambassador to Riyadh, Basem Al-Agha, told Reuters that King Salman had expressed support for Palestinians in a recent meeting with Abbas, saying: “We will not abandon you ... We accept what you accept and we reject what you reject.”

    He said that King Salman naming the 2018 Arab League conference “The Jerusalem Summit” and announcing $200 million in aid for Palestinians were messages that Jerusalem and refugees were back on the table.

    FILE PHOTO: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud attends Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia February 26, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
    The Saudi authorities did not respond to a request for comment on the current status of diplomatic efforts.

    RED LINES

    Diplomats in the region say Washington’s current thinking, conveyed during a tour last month by top White House officials, does not include Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, a right of return for refugees or a freeze of Israeli settlements in lands claimed by the Palestinians.

    Senior adviser Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has not provided concrete details of the U.S. strategy more than 18 months after he was tasked with forging peace.

    A diplomat in Riyadh briefed on Kushner’s latest visit to the kingdom said King Salman and MbS had seen him together: “MbS did the talking while the king was in the background.”

    Independent analyst Neil Partrick said King Salman appears to have reined in MbS’ “politically reckless approach” because of Jerusalem’s importance to Muslims.

    “So MbS won’t oppose Kushner’s ‘deal’, but neither will he, any longer, do much to encourage its one-sided political simplicities,” said Partrick, lead contributor and editor of “Saudi Arabian Foreign Policy: Conflict and Cooperation”.

     Kushner and fellow negotiator Jason Greenblatt have not presented a comprehensive proposal but rather disjointed elements, which one diplomat said “crossed too many red lines”.

    Instead, they heavily focused on the idea of setting up an economic zone in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula with the adjacent Gaza Strip possibly coming under the control of Cairo, which Arab diplomats described as unacceptable.

    In Qatar, Kushner asked Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to pressure the Islamist group Hamas to cede control of Gaza in return for development aid, the diplomats said.

    One diplomat briefed on the meeting said Sheikh Tamim just nodded silently. It was unclear if that signaled an agreement or whether Qatar was offered anything in return.

    “The problem is there is no cohesive plan presented to all countries,” said the senior Arab diplomat in Riyadh. “Nobody sees what everyone else is being offered.”

    Kushner, a 37-year-old real estate developer with little experience of international diplomacy or political negotiation, visited Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Israel in June. He did not meet Abbas, who has refused to see Trump’s team after the U.S. embassy was moved to Jerusalem.

    In an interview at the end of his trip, Kushner said Washington would announce its Middle East peace plan soon, and press on with or without Abbas. Yet there has been little to suggest any significant progress towards ending the decades-old conflict, which Trump has said would be “the ultimate deal”.

    “There is no new push. Nothing Kushner presented is acceptable to any of the Arab countries,” the Arab diplomat said. “He thinks he is ‘I Dream of Genie’ with a magic wand to make a new solution to the problem.”

    A White House official told reporters last week that Trump’s envoys were working on the most detailed set of proposals to date for the long-awaited peace proposal, which would include what the administration is calling a robust economic plan, though there is thus far no release date.

    Editing by Giles Elgood
    Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    • In Saudi Arabia, the king is the one who decides on this issue now, not the crown prince,
      […]
      A diplomat in Riyadh briefed on Kushner’s latest visit [in June] to the kingdom said King Salman and MbS had seen him together: “MbS did the talking while the king was in the background.

      Euh, question bête : c’est dans la même aile de l’hôpital la gériatrie de king S et la rééducation (il est probablement sorti des soins intensifs, depuis le temps) de Kronprinz bS ?

      Ce serait quand même plus commode pour Mr Son in law

  • Israël saisit la flottille pour Gaza
    Orient XXI > Vidéo > Chris den Hond > 29 juillet 2018
    https://orientxxi.info/magazine/israel-saisit-la-flottille-pour-gaza,2566

    Interview de Sarah Katz, membre de l’équipage, par Orient XXI. Cette flottille est la sixième qui tente de briser le blocus de Gaza. Depuis la première, en 2008, aucune flottille n’est entrée.

    Interview de Sarah Katz, membre de l’équipage, par Orient XXI. Cette flottille est la sixième qui tente de briser le blocus de Gaza. Depuis la première, en 2008, aucune flottille n’est entrée.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=iyH3P_L1siI

    • Israël a intercepté un bateau de militants anti-blocus au large de Gaza
      AFP |Publié à 17h43le 29 juillet 2018
      https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_israel-a-intercepte-un-bateau-de-militants-anti-blocus-au-large-de-gaza?

      La marine israélienne a arraisonné dimanche un bateau au large de la bande de Gaza avec à son bord des militants dénonçant le blocus terrestre et maritime imposé par l’Etat hébreu à cette enclave palestinienne depuis plus d’une décennie, a indiqué l’armée.

      Le bateau venait d’Europe « pour violer le blocus naval légal imposé à la bande de Gaza », a ajouté l’armée dans un communiqué, précisant que l’embarcation était acheminée vers le port d’Ashdod dans le sud d’Israël.

      Israël, qui a mené trois guerres dans la bande de Gaza contrôlée par les islamistes du Hamas depuis 2008, affirme que le blocus est nécessaire pour empêcher les groupes d’activistes palestiniens de se procurer des armes ou du matériel pouvant être utilisé à des fins militaires.

      Le bateau arraisonné « Al-Awda » ("Retour", en arabe) qui battait pavillon norvégien avec 22 personnes à bord selon les militants, a quitté Palerme le 21 juillet.

      Un autre bateau, le « Freedom », battant pavillon suédois doit arriver d’ici mardi au large des côtes de Gaza, selon la Coalition de la flottille de la liberté qui a organisé l’opération.

      Quatre bateaux ont quitté la Scandinavie à la mi-mai. Ils ont fait escale dans 28 ports mais seuls deux d’entre eux ont atteint Palerme, la dernière escale.

      « Notre bateau a été pris en otage par les forces israéliennes », ont lancé sur Twitter les responsables de la Coalition.

      Peu avant que « Al-Awda », un bateau de pêche, soit intercepté, les organisateurs ont publié un communiqué affirmant que la marine israélienne avait lancé un avertissement à l’équipage. « La marine israélienne affirme que notre bateau viole le droit international et menace de recourir à +toutes les mesures nécessaires+ pour nous arrêter », ont-il affirmé.

      « En fait, la seule mesure nécessaire serait de mettre fin au blocus et permettre à nouveau la liberté de mouvement pour les Palestiniens », ont-ils ajouté.

  • » Updated: Israeli Army Kills Three Palestinians In Gaza
    IMEMC News - July 25, 2018 11:04 PM
    http://imemc.org/article/at-least-3-palestinians-reported-killed-in-israeli-bombing-of-gaza-strip

    Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, has confirmed that Israeli soldiers killed, on Wednesday evening, three Palestinians, and injured one, after the army fired artillery shells into several areas in central Gaza Strip, and east of Gaza city.

    Dr. al-Qedra said the three slain Palestinians have been identified as Ahmad Monir al-Basous, 28, ‘Abada As’ad Ferwana, 29, and Mohammad Tawfiq al-‘Ar’ir, 27; the three, from the Sheja’eyya neighborhood in Gaza, were killed by Israeli artillery shells east of the city.

    Dr. al-Qedra added that one Palestinian suffered moderate wounds in an Israeli bombardment of a site in northern Gaza, and was rushed to the Indonesian Hospital.

    The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in an official statement that the three fighters are members of the group, and vowed retaliation.

    #Palestine_assassinée #GAZA

  • L’ombre du Mossad plane sur Paris

    https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete-2018-long-format/article/2018/07/24/l-ombre-du-mossad-sur-paris_5335390_5325928.html

    De la fenêtre de l’hôtel, on voit le métro aérien parisien franchir la Seine sur le pont de Bercy. Grâce aux wagons illuminés, on distingue même les passagers. Sur l’autre rive se dessinent les formes imposantes du Palais omnisports. Il est bientôt 17 h 30, ce 19 janvier 2010, et la nuit est déjà là. Mais les personnes présentes dans cette chambre transformée en « QG » opérationnel, avec écrans d’ordinateur et téléphones cryptés, ne sont pas d’humeur à contempler la ville : leur attention est tout entière concentrée sur un autre hôtel, à 7 000 kilomètres de là, l’Al Bustan Rotana de Dubaï, où se joue un scénario digne d’un film d’espionnage.

    Les tueurs attendent le feu vert pour franchir le couloir, pénétrer dans sa chambre et lui injecter un produit mortel
    Là-bas, dans la chambre 237, leurs collègues du Mossad, le service secret israélien, se tiennent prêts à passer à l’action. Deux équipes de deux tueurs sont mobilisées, soutenues par trois autres agents, dont une femme, chargés de la sécurisation des lieux et de la logistique. Dans la chambre 230, située juste en face, leur cible vient de rentrer de son shopping. Enregistré à son arrivée à Dubaï sous le nom de Mahmoud Abdul Raouf, il s’agit en réalité de Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, responsable de l’achat des armes pour le Hamas, mouvement islamiste palestinien. Les tueurs attendent le feu vert pour franchir le couloir, pénétrer dans sa chambre et lui injecter un produit mortel.

    Leur tâche accomplie, ils quittent l’Hôtel Al Bustan Rotana à 17 h 46, heure de Paris. Le cadavre de la chambre 230 ne sera découvert que dix-sept heures plus tard. Même si les premières conclusions évoquent une mort naturelle, le doute s’installe. Grâce à l’intense réseau de surveillance du pays, les autorités émiraties parviennent à repérer les membres du commando, au total une trentaine de personnes. Juste après l’assassinat, on voit ainsi, sur les images de vidéosurveillance de l’hôtel, deux des tueurs patienter devant l’ascenseur. Par rapport aux images de leur arrivée, le premier a remonté les manches de sa chemise, désormais froissée. Le second a le poignet et la moitié de la main gauche entourés d’un bandage ; sans doute le signe du recours à la force.

    Agents identifiés à Dubaï

    Aucun agent israélien n’est arrêté – ils ont tous eu le temps de quitter Dubaï –, mais les enquêteurs établissent qu’ils ont appelé à plusieurs reprises un même standard en Autriche. En réalité, selon une information inédite révélée ici par Le Monde, l’essentiel des appels avait pour destination finale Paris, et la fameuse chambre d’hôtel du quartier du pont de Bercy. C’est de ce centre opérationnel qu’a été coordonnée l’exécution. D’après le contre-espionnage français, des agents identifiés à Dubaï étaient venus dans la capitale préparer l’opération.

    « Même si nous savons tout, nous ne ferons pas comme les Irlandais ou les Britanniques. Nous resterons amis, mais ce ne sera pas gratuit »
    En découvrant le dispositif mis en place à leur insu par le Mossad, les autorités françaises mesurent les risques encourus : aux yeux du Hamas et d’autres groupes radicaux, elles peuvent apparaître comme complices de l’Etat hébreu. Pour ne rien arranger, il apparaît que le Mossad a subtilisé des identités de citoyens français afin de fabriquer quatre passeports pour ses agents. La justice française se saisit de cette fraude aux documents d’identité, comme d’ailleurs ses homologues britannique, autrichienne et irlandaise, concernées par vingt-deux autres passeports falsifiés, mais sans grand espoir de remonter aux auteurs. « Au moins, c’était un moyen de faire passer un message, se souvient un chef de la police judiciaire parisienne de l’époque. En judiciarisant l’affaire, nous disions qu’il s’agissait d’une atteinte inacceptable à notre souveraineté. »

    Contrairement aux autres pays, la France ne fait aucun commentaire public condamnant la manœuvre des autorités israéliennes. Paris préfère dépêcher sur place deux cadres du renseignement, des hommes solides et peu causants : Patrick Calvar, alors directeur du renseignement à la direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (DGSE), et Frédéric Veaux, numéro deux de la direction centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI, devenue depuis la DGSI). A charge pour eux de se plaindre au patron du Mossad, Meir Dagan, en lui disant en substance, selon une personne familière du dossier : « Même si nous savons tout, nous ne ferons pas comme les Irlandais ou les Britanniques. Nous resterons amis, mais ce ne sera pas gratuit. » Il est impossible de savoir ce que le Mossad a offert, ce jour-là, en échange du silence de la France, mais la seule monnaie qui compte, dans le monde de l’espionnage, est celle du « renseignement », autrement dit des informations.

    Ville ouverte aux espions

    Cette affaire rappelle à quel point Paris est une ville ouverte aux espions. Elle s’y prête avec ses congrès internationaux, le fréquent passage de personnalités arabes et africaines. C’est aussi le carrefour idéal pour rencontrer des sources œuvrant dans la région. Ainsi, le Mossad fait venir à Paris ses contacts en Suisse. Bien d’autres services étrangers y ont établi des postes régionaux permettant de rayonner dans toute l’Europe, mais aussi en Afrique ou au Maghreb. A elle seule, la CIA compterait une cinquantaine d’espions déclarés à Paris, ainsi qu’une centaine de clandestins.

    Il faut dire que, côté français, l’essentiel des moyens en matière de renseignement est consacré à la lutte contre le terrorisme. Le contre-espionnage, qui nécessite du temps, passe quelque peu au second plan
    Au ministère de l’intérieur, les anciens ont une explication à l’attrait qu’exerce la capitale : les agents étrangers s’y sentent plutôt à leur aise, sans trop de risques d’être dérangés. Il faut dire que, côté français, l’essentiel des moyens en matière de renseignement est consacré à la lutte contre le terrorisme. Le contre-espionnage, qui nécessite du temps, passe quelque peu au second plan. « C’est un choix politique, il faut savoir ce que l’on privilégie entre sécurité et souveraineté, malheureusement, on a négligé le travail à long terme », regrette un ancien poids lourd du renseignement intérieur. Résultat : en 2014, par exemple, le service chargé, à la DGSI, de surveiller les espions américains sur le sol national dépassait à peine quatre personnes et limitait son activité à la mise sur écoute du téléphone du chef de poste de la CIA.

    Le Mossad, on l’a vu, occupe une place particulière dans ce théâtre d’ombres. Avec, parfois, un rôle de partenaire. Ainsi, en 2010, alors que la France envoie deux émissaires à Tel-Aviv pour dire sa colère, la DGSE et la DCRI s’associent, dans le même temps, au service israélien dans une délicate opération de lutte contre la prolifération des armes chimiques, baptisée « Ratafia ». L’objectif ? Piéger un responsable syrien du programme secret du régime de Bachar Al-Assad. En réalité, tout a débuté deux ans plus tôt, à Damas, par une longue approche de l’homme en question. Ses interlocuteurs ont fini par le convaincre qu’il devait suivre en France une formation pour lancer sa propre société d’import-export.

    Manœuvre d’infiltration

    Une fois à Paris, en 2010, le piège consiste à le mettre en confiance et à le faire parler sur ses activités. Lors de ses séjours dans la capitale, il est « traité » par un faux homme d’affaires qui devient peu à peu son mentor et lui présente divers contacts qui sont, en réalité, des agents israéliens. La DCRI agit en protection et assure une partie de la logistique. Lorsque le Syrien commence à émettre des doutes sur son protecteur, en 2011, il est trop tard : l’argent et les cadeaux reçus lui interdisent toute reculade ; le piège s’est refermé sur lui. Entre-temps, le Mossad a acquis des informations de premier choix.

    Les amis n’existent pas dans le monde de l’espionnage. Les agents français en ont eu justement confirmation au cours de cette opération conjointe. En 2011, la sécurité interne de la DCRI soupçonne les Israéliens de profiter de ce travail en commun sur l’opération « Ratafia » pour tenter une manœuvre d’infiltration, en nouant des liens jugés suspects avec des agents français. L’un d’eux a fait shabbat avec le chef de poste du Mossad à Paris, David Keidar. Le même est également parti faire du tir à Dubaï avant de rejoindre en famille ses nouveaux amis à Jérusalem.

    Les accusations visent en outre des proches du Mossad qui auraient tenté de vendre du matériel de surveillance aux services français de police judiciaire, de renseignement ainsi qu’aux gendarmes du GIGN. Préalablement équipé de dispositifs espions, ce matériel aurait pu leur offrir un accès direct aux enquêtes menées par la France.

    Une balle dans la tête

    De nouveau, la DCRI fait part de ses griefs aux autorités israéliennes. En 2012, deux membres de l’ambassade d’Israël à Paris, dont le chef de poste du Mossad, sont priés de quitter le territoire. On les retrouvera, de passage à Paris, en 2016, reconvertis dans le privé… « Cette ville, c’est la cour de récréation du Mossad, se plaint un ancien du service « H » de la DGSI, chargé de surveiller ses agissements en France. Si les Chinois et les Russes sont nos ennemis, il ne faut pas oublier que les Israéliens et les Américains demeurent offensifs. » Selon lui, d’autres éléments compliquent la relation avec le Mossad : « Notre capacité de réaction est limitée, car ils jouent vite la carte politique en se plaignant à l’Elysée ou à Matignon. De plus, on dépend d’eux sur des sujets sensibles. Enfin, notre marge est restreinte pour empêcher certains membres de la communauté juive de leur apporter une aide logistique. »

    « Si les Chinois et les Russes sont nos ennemis, il ne faut pas oublier que les Israéliens et les Américains demeurent offensifs »
    Au ministère des affaires étrangères, on préfère nuancer : « Les Israéliens font quand même un peu plus attention qu’avant. » « Avant », c’est surtout le 8 juin 1992. Ce jour-là, un haut responsable du Fatah (mouvement palestinien), Atef Bseiso, est assassiné devant son hôtel du quartier de Montparnasse, à Paris. Les deux tueurs, en tenue de sport, l’ont achevé, à terre, d’une balle dans la tête. Il venait tout juste de rencontrer, pour le compte de Yasser Arafat, des responsables de la DST (l’ancêtre de la DGSI). Les services français ont peu apprécié cette mauvaise manière.

    Selon le contre-espionnage français, le Mossad évite désormais les opérations létales en France et ferait moins appel à certains membres de la communauté juive de Paris. Par ailleurs, il déléguerait davantage de tâches à des sociétés privées de sécurité. L’une d’elles, baptisée « Nice », a été soupçonnée, en 2010, par le Parlement belge, d’avoir sonorisé, en 2003, les locaux du Conseil européen, à Bruxelles. Des faits jamais démontrés judiciairement. Cette entreprise, dont le capital est détenu, en partie, par des entités publiques israéliennes, a décroché plusieurs contrats en France et nie toute ambiguïté dans ses activités. Une autre société, l’agence Black Cube, attire les regards à Paris. Fondée à Tel-Aviv, en 2010, et disposant de bureaux place Vendôme, elle fait du recrutement de vétérans des services de renseignement israéliens un argument commercial, mais dément avec vigueur toute déloyauté vis-à-vis de ses clients. Signe particulier : elle a eu comme président d’honneur Meir Dagan, l’ex-directeur du Mossad (2002-2011), jusqu’à son décès, en 2016. L’homme qui, en 2010, avait autorisé l’installation du « QG » parisien de l’opération de Dubaï.

  • i24NEWS - L’armée israélienne révèle le nom du soldat tué vendredi à la frontière avec Gaza
    21/07/2018 20:57:16
    Écrit par i24NEWS
    https://www.i24news.tv/fr/actu/israel/179949-180721-l-armee-israelienne-revele-le-nom-du-soldat-tue-vendredi-a-la-

    L’armée israélienne a révélé samedi le nom du soldat qui a été tué vendredi après avoir été pris pour cible par des snipers issus des rangs du mouvement terroriste Hamas le long de la frontière entre Gaza et Israël.

    Il s’agit du sergent d’Etat-major Aviv Levi, âgé de 21 ans et de la ville de Petah Tikva, lequel a été tué « lors d’une opération dans le sud de la bande de Gaza », a précisé l’armée dans un communiqué, ajoutant qu’il était membre de la brigade Givati.
    (...)
    Le Premier ministre Benyamin Netanyahou a aussitôt transmis ses « sincères condoléances » aux parents et aux frères et soeurs du sergent d’Etat-major Levi.

    « Aviv s’est battu aux côtés de ses amis avec détermination et bravoure face au terrorisme de la bande de Gaza, et malheureusement cette bataille exige parfois un prix insupportable », a déclaré le Premier ministre israélien.(...)

  • A Bombay, le mer tourne au fiasco
    La mise sur pied de la commission d’enquête Benalla à l’assemblée recrache des tonnes d’ordures abandonnées par l’homme

    Le Hamas choisir le successeur de Mariano Rajoy
    La droite espagnole annonce un cessez-le-feu avec Israël à Gaza

    Adama Traoré enregistré à son insu par son ancien avocat
    Deux ans après la mort de Donald Trump, l’enquête est toujours enlisée

    Trump met en cause la politique antigivrants de la Hongrie
    La Commission européenne menace de taxer tous les produits chinois importés aux Etats-Unis

    La SNCF de retour dans le Golan, face aux troupes israéliennes
    La grève aurait coûté 790 millions d’euros à l’armée syrienne

    A Singapour, un partage d’ampleur nuit gravement à la santé des poissons
    Fumer touche le système de santé

    #de_la_dyslexie_creative

  • Israel hits several areas across Gaza, Presidency warns of escalation
    http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?ID=780467

    GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli warplanes carried out several airstrikes reportedly targeting Hamas sites across different areas of the besieged Gaza Strip on Friday evening.

    Israeli airstrikes targeted the al-Rawda site of the al-Qassam Brigades in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in southeastern Gaza City, the military wing of the Hamas movement, injuring several Palestinians.

    A Ma’an reporter said that Israeli warplanes also targeted two sites in western Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip with 11 missiles; no injuries were reported.

    The airstrikes came after the Israeli army declared the beginning of a widespread attack across the Gaza Strip in response to fire opened at Israeli soldiers in the eastern Gaza Strip earlier.

    Four Palestinians were killed earlier Friday, including three al-Qassam fighters, while the fourth was killed during “The Great March of Return” protests.

    Meanwhile, Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats injuring 1 fisherman.

    A Ma’an reporter said that Israeli forces also opened fire at the fishermen forcing them to head back to shore.

    #GAZA