Daily Sabah – August 22, 2024
Israeli forces dig deeper into Gaza as truce talks hit brick wall
Israeli forces advanced further into the central and southern Gaza Strip as they continue their relentless pounding of Palestinians in the enclave.
Palestinian health officials reported Thursday that Israeli airstrikes had claimed the lives of at least 22 people across the region.
This latest escalation follows U.S. President Joe Biden’s urgent call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a swift resolution to secure a truce in Gaza and facilitate the release of hostages, according to the White House.
Despite months of intermittent negotiations on a ceasefire, both Israel and Hamas remain steadfast in their demands, leading to repeated deadlock.
In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, a strike on a house killed 11 people, while another strike killed six, including a local journalist, in a house in al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
Five others were killed in separate strikes in the south.
The Israeli military said its forces had intensified their operations in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, and Khan Younis, in the south, dismantling dozens of Hamas structures.
It said forces killed 50 Hamas members in the area of Rafah, in the far south of the enclave, over the past day.
A phone call between Biden and Netanyahu late Wednesday followed a whirlwind trip to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that ended Tuesday without producing a breakthrough in the 10-month-old war.
Hamas wants a deal that ends the war in Gaza and releases Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza in return for the freedom of many Palestinians jailed by Israel.
It blames Israel and the U.S. for the failure to conclude a deal.
Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is defeated and that a ceasefire to allow the exchange of hostages and prisoners would be only a temporary pause.
Tanks and drones
In the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, which houses around 1 million residents and displaced Palestinians, according to the municipal council, residents said tanks advanced further from the east and blocked some roads connecting the city with the nearby Khan Younis in the south.
Israeli tanks have also advanced to the west, in al-Karara and Hamad areas of Khan Younis, pushing more families out of their shelters and tents, sometimes under heavy fire from tanks and drones, residents said.
Some families slept on the roads, others on the beach after failing to find space or shelter.
"Last night, drones began firing toward the tents. We ducked down for maybe hours, then the noise of tanks got louder as they advanced closer, so we decided to run," Imad al-Ghalayeeni, 48, told Reuters by phone from Khan Younis.
"We are five families, 48 people. We ran to the beach; some slept on the road, others slept on the sand with no tents, no blankets or mattresses. You can imagine how terrified the children and women were," he added.
Ghalayeeni said there was growing disillusionment among Palestinians in Gaza about the cease-fire talks.
"These talks are time-wasting, and they aim to give Netanyahu the time he needs to continue what he is doing. There is no place the tanks haven't entered or bombed, and there is nowhere safe anymore," he said.
Most of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced multiple times since the start of the war.
Even in areas designated as safe zones, there have been regular reports of casualties from Israeli strikes.
Israel's military campaign has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza since October, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The latest conflict began on Oct. 7 following Hamas' incursion on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages.
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/israeli-forces-dig-deeper-into-gaza-as-truce-talks-hit-brick-wall
Day 321 of genocide in Gaza: 40,265 martyrs, 93,144 injuries
The Israeli occupation continues its live-streamed genocidal war against the Gaza Strip, with over 40,200 people now dead and more than 93,100 others injured according to the newest toll.
On day 321 of the genocide in Gaza, the total number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, Palestine, has risen as "Israel" continues to commit massacres amid global inaction.
Over the past 24 hours, the Israeli occupation forces have committed four massacres against families in Gaza, resulting in 42 martyrs and 163 injuries, all of whom have been transported to hospitals.
Despite these efforts, many victims remain trapped under the rubble with rescue and civil defense teams unable to access these areas, largely due to Israeli threats and bombardment.
The total number of martyrs since the onset of the genocide on October 7th has now reached 40,265, while injuries have climbed to 93,144.
The Ministry of Health is calling on families of martyrs and missing persons to complete their registration to ensure their information is properly recorded.
'Israel' heavily bombards Gaza Strip overnight
Palestinian news sources in the Gaza Strip reported that 11 Palestinians, including children, have been killed, while several others were injured following an airstrike by the Israeli occupation forces on a residential house in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip.
The attack was part of a series of airstrikes on various areas of the Strip which resulted in further casualties.
In Jabalia's Tal al-Zaatar, several Palestinians, including women and children, were also either killed or injured in an Israeli occupation airstrike on an apartment.
In the central region of the Strip, Israeli occupation warplanes conducted four airstrikes on various locations east of Deir al-Balah, near Salah al-Din Street. Injuries were also reported following an airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat camp.
Moreover, three Palestinians were martyred and four others were injured in an Israeli occupation airstrike on a house in Maghazi camp in the central region of the Strip.
Even in Khan Younis, in the South, a mother and child were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/day-321--40-265-martyrs-and-93-144-injuries
Day 320 of Israeli genocide in Gaza: 40,223 killed, 92,981 injured
Israeli forces are continuing their relentless assault on Gaza, massacring dozens of civilians.
On day 320 of the genocide in Gaza, the total number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip started on October 7 has risen to 40,223, in addition to 92,981 injuries, according to the daily report published by the Health Ministry in Gaza on Wednesday.
"Israel" committed four massacres in 24 hours, killing 50 Palestinians and injuring 124 others.
While some were transported to partially functioning hospitals, many victims remain trapped beneath the rubble with rescue crews unable to reach them.
'Israel' issues new evacuation orders
The Israeli army has ordered additional evacuations from areas in central Gaza, specifically from Deir el-Balah near Khan Younis.
These orders extend to large portions of what has been referred to as a "humanitarian zone", an area heavily crowded with forcibly displaced families.
Commenting on this issue, Hamas condemned the forced displacement of residents in northern Khan Younis and eastern Deir al-Balah, labeling it as "collective punishment" and a "continuation of genocide."
The movement accused the Israeli military of using displacement as a weapon against defenseless civilians, aiming to break their will and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Indonesian Hospital facing imminent shutdown
In a related development, the Indonesian Hospital is facing an imminent shutdown due to a critical shortage of diesel fuel. The hospital is expected to run out of diesel within hours, sounding the alarm for a potential humanitarian disaster. Essential services, including surgical operations and the intensive care unit, are at risk of coming to a complete halt.
The Israeli occupation army continues to commit heinous crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip, including the crime of forced displacement of more than 1,700,000 Palestinian civilians.
The occupation has forcibly displaced them from their homes and neighborhoods under the threat of death, bombing, and the use of internationally prohibited weapons.
This act constitutes a crime against humanity and clearly demonstrates that the Israeli occupation is deliberately and systematically suffocating civilians and the Palestinian society in Gaza, confining them to a very narrow area that does not exceed one-tenth of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli genocide is ongoing
Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted a house in the al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, resulting in several injuries.
An Israeli airstrike on the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, has led to multiple casualties, with both martyrs and wounded, as per our correspondent.
In another development, an Israeli airstrike targeted land near Abu Nuweira School in the town of New Abasan, east of Khan Younis.
At dawn, dozens of civilians were killed and injured in the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, as per Palestinian media. Medical sources reported that the bodies of four individuals were reserved following continuous airstrikes northwest of Rafah city in southern Gaza.
In addition, dozens were injured when Israeli occupation forces fired on tents housing displaced people in the al-Mawasi area, west of Rafah.
IOF also targeted land in the al-Satar al-Gharbi area of Khan Younis, while artillery and missile attacks continued to hit residential areas in the town of al-Qarara, north of Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, one civilian was killed and others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house belonging to the al-Khatib family in the Tal al-Zaatar area of the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza.
In Gaza City, Israeli artillery fired shells at the neighborhoods of al-Zaytoun, al-Sabra, and Tal al-Hawa, alongside live ammunition fired by Israeli military vehicles into the same areas.
An airstrike also targeted the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City. Additionally, dozens of civilians were injured when Israeli forces bombed the al-Salhi family home in the al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while airstrikes hit the vicinity of the al-Qastal Towers area, east of Deir al-Balah.
The Conversation – August 20, 2024
Gaza is in Rubble now; But it was a great Intellectual Hub of the Roman Empire
By Christopher Mallan
The years 2023 and 2024 will certainly be remembered as some of the darkest in the long and often violent history of Gaza.
The recent destruction of schools and universities in the Gaza strip has attracted the attention of the media and concern from the United Nations, which has raised the question of whether the damage may be considered “scholasticide”.
Such reports are cause for reflection on the intellectual history of the city – something rarely discussed outside academic circles. This is a shame, as there was a period in the late Roman Empire (5th and 6th centuries CE) when Gaza was one of the great intellectual centres of the Mediterranean world.
Gaza and the Roman Empire
This history of Gaza under the Roman Empire dates from the re-foundation of the city in the 60s BCE, after it had been destroyed decades earlier by Alexander Jannaeus (the ruler of the neighbouring Kingdom of Judaea), as narrated by the Jewish historian Josephus.
Under the relative peace of the Roman Empire, the city was no longer prey to the imperial attentions of its more powerful neighbours, be they Egyptian, Greek, Judaean, or indeed Roman. Gazans were able to capitalise on their position on one of the great geographical crossroads.
Gaza was positioned on the major route from Egypt to the historic cities of the Levant, which correspond to modern-day Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Syria. It also provided access to the Mediterranean Sea at the end of one of the major trade routes from Arabia, via the city of Petra.
Gaza seems to have primarily been a commercial centre until sometime in the 5th century, at which point it became noteworthy for its schools as well as its trade.
Between pagan and Christian
The Late Roman Middle East was a hotbed of intellectual activity.
During this time the schools of Alexandria (in Egypt), Constantinople (Istanbul), Antioch (Antakya) and Gaza can be thought of as the Ivy League of their day.
Although there were no formal universities as we think of them today, these ancient intellectual centres hosted famous teachers who would attract the best and brightest of the Roman elite.
If you wanted to make it in the Late Roman World (and if you didn’t command an army of Goths), your entry into the civil administration of the newly powerful Christian Church was largely determined by your education.
We know quite a bit about the educational syllabus of the Gazan schools. At the heart of this elite ancient education was the study of literature and rhetoric.
The curriculum focused on Classical Greek texts (as opposed to Latin or Syriac ones). Young men would be taught how to compose speeches on various topics.
In some instances these speeches would address the emperor. But these speeches were not only exercises in flattery; we know of one school teacher, Timothy of Gaza (or grammatikos, to use his Greek title), who wrote a speech addressed to the Emperor Anastasius (who reigned between 491–518 CE) petitioning him to abolish the tax on merchants.
Other examples of Gazan eloquence were less obviously political. The bulk of the curriculum involved writing on themes suggested by ancient Greek literature, mythology or history.
The retention of pagan (in this case non-Christian) elements in the syllabus is important. As a rule, the Later Roman Empire was not noted for its religious tolerance, whether between Christians and non-Christians, or between Christians of differing theological persuasions.
We know from an ancient biography of a 5th-century bishop named Porphyry that this bishop participated in the demolition of the remaining pagan temples in Gaza. Yet, as a whole, Gazan intellectuals were able to balance their Christian beliefs with their love of Classical (pagan) culture.
At least two Christian Gazan intellectuals, whose works survive, explore Biblical accounts of creation written in the style of Platoﾒs dialogues from the 4th century BCE. These works incorporate predominantly pagan neo-Platonic philosophy with Christian interpretations.
Procopius and the wondrous clock
The greatest, or at any rate the most influential, of the Gazan intelligentsia was Procopius of Gaza. Procopius was a prolific writer and teacher. He is thought to have invented a type of biblical commentary, known as a catena, which linked passages of earlier scholars in a sort of precursor to today’s Bible commentaries.
However, if there is one work that sums up the educational endeavours of the schools of Gaza while also presenting a picture of the city, it is Procopius’ description of Gaza’s clock.
One of the important exercises in Roman education was learning how to describe an object, something called ekphrasis. Procopius’ ekphrasis of the clock became something of a textbook example of this and caught the attention of ancient readers.
The clock itself was a mechanical marvel. Situated in Gaza’s main marketplace, it seems to have been a monumental version of a cuckoo clock with a figure of Hercules appearing on the hour.
Hercules’ appearance at each hour corresponded to one of his mythical labours, whether that be the slaying of the Nemean lion or the clearing of the Augean stables.
Procopius likens the (otherwise unknown) inventor of this clock to a latter-day Hephaestus – the Greek god of craft. The clock’s mechanism was driven by water power.
This clock, like the famous schools of Late Roman Gaza, eventually disappeared. We don’t know when this occurred, but the centuries after Gaza’s intellectual golden age saw a return of conflict.
Almost 1,500 years have passed since the days of Procopius, his students and the engineer who designed the clock. Yet Gaza remains a living city, with poets and teachers.
One may hope that in the near future the modern schools of Gaza will reopen and intellectual life will once more be allowed to flourish.
Christopher Mallan, Associate Professor in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia
https://theconversation.com/a-city-at-the-crossroads-how-gaza-became-one-of-the-great-intellectual-hubs-of-the-roman-empire-236414
Countercurrent – August 21, 2024
Israel, Gaza, and the “Merchants of Death”
by Ramin Mirfakhraie
On July 24, 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to a joint session of the United States Congress, where nearly half of the House and Senate Democrats were not present. In his address, which was presented in terms of a binary opposition between barbarism (“Iran’s axis of terror”) and civilization (“America, Israel, and our Arab friends”), and riddled with false and unsubstantiated claims, he tried to defend his government’s horrific war on Gaza, as a result of which tens of thousands of Gazans, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, nearly 2 million have been displaced, and the entire civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. His address to Congress was later followed by separate meetings with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, who did not preside over Netanyahu’s address to Congress, and former President Donald Trump.
Shortly after returning to Israel, fired up by all the private meetings, warm handshakes, and standing ovations in Congress, Netanyahu managed to wreak even more havoc in the region by ordering the killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Shukr’s assassination was soon followed by the killing of Hamas’s political bureau chairman Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, an act that has been widely blamed on Israel, which had pledged to kill him for his alleged role in Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel. Haniyeh was also the target of an Israeli assassination attempt in 2003.
Holding Israel responsible for the July 31 operation that killed Haniyeh, Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel, albeit at a proportional level, in the days or weeks to come. Consequently, the United States and some other countries in and outside the Middle East have urged Iran to forego such retaliation for fear of a broader conflict engulfing the region. Whether or not Iran heeds their call for restraint remains to be seen.
For now, Israeli officials continue to count on what seems to be the unconditional backing of the United States, no matter what crimes they commit. And this, without a doubt, is the main source of not just the protracted nature of the current conflict, but also much of the instability that exists in the Middle East. Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza, establishment of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, extrajudicial assassinations in the region, and lack of regard for international law are good cases in point here, none of which would be possible without the full support of the United States.
US support for Israel has also allowed it to ignore the rulings of the United Nations’ top court, the International Court of Justice, whose nonbinding July 19 Advisory Opinion ordered Israel to end its “unlawful” presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible and pay reparations to “all the natural and legal persons concerned” in the Territory for damages caused by the decades-long occupation. The Court’s advisory opinion further concluded: “all States are under an obligation . . . not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
And yet the United States continues to provide Israel with all kinds of assistance, prompting the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch to state: “The [July 19 ICJ] ruling should be yet another wake up call for the United States to end its egregious policy of defending Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and prompt a thorough reassessment in other countries as well.”
But by supporting Israel’s war on Gaza militarily, financially, and diplomatically, despite the ICJ’s January 2024 ruling that it is “plausible” that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention, the United States, under the Biden administration, has already shown that it is not going to stop backing Israel anytime soon, which raises the question: why is the United States so willing to be a party to Israel’s daily massacres of Gazans and other war crimes in the Palestinian territories?
International relations scholars John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard University have been arguing for a long time that US support for Israel is, in major part, due to the influence of the “Israel Lobby” in Washington, and that this influence has often worked against US interests and security in the Middle East and beyond. In a recent interview with Diwan, for example, Walt stated:
“The lobby . . . has considerable leverage over politicians and policymakers, largely due to its ability to steer huge amounts of money toward its preferred candidates in U.S. elections. To take but one example, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and others spent a record amount—roughly $14 million—to defeat Representative Jamal Bowman in a recent primary election, solely because Bowman had criticized Israel’s conduct in Gaza.”
Mearsheimer and Walt are also of the view that, from a strategic as well as a moral point of view, Israel has been more of a liability to the United States than an asset in the region. Thus, they advise US politicians and policymakers to distance themselves from the Lobby and instead focus on protecting US interests in the region, when such interests are not identical to those of Israel.
To their analysis of the Israel Lobby’s influence in Washington, one might add, however, the lucrative nature of wars that the United States is often a party to as an arms supplier in the region and beyond, which may explain further why the United States is so willing to support Israel in its war on Gaza. Quite revealing in this regard is the New York Times article headlined “Middle East War Adds to Surge in International Arms Sales,” in which the author explains: “The conflict between Israel and Hamas is just the latest impetus behind a boom in international arms sales that is bolstering profits and weapons-making capacity among American suppliers.”
The Biden administration’s decision to sell $20 billion worth of additional weapons to Israel is the latest driver of this surge, which includes 50 F-15 fighter jets, tank ammunition, mortar rounds, tactical vehicles, and advanced air-to-air missiles, all being sold under the banner of a commitment to Israel’s security and the United States’ own vital national interests.
But the lucrative nature of Israel’s war on Gaza is not merely limited to the value of such contracts, as the war has also sent through the roof the stocks of US weapons manufacturers. In a Newsweek article published on October 16, 2023, and headlined “Military Contractor Stocks Have Skyrocketed Since Israel War Started,” the author explains how “Shares of some of the U.S. biggest military contractors have soared since the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas, with companies such as Lockheed Martin reporting a 10 percent increase in their stock values.”
In the case of Lockheed Martin alone, the article goes on to explain that “On October 10, Barron’s investment magazine reported that the company had added $23 billion to its market capitalization after Hamas’ attack.” Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman are the other beneficiaries of the war mentioned in the article.
Clearly, then, war is big business, where “merchants of death” (known as “defense contractors” today) and Wall Street are involved. And it is also true that investors of all kinds in and outside Israel and the United States are reaping massive financial gains from Israel’s war on Gaza, in spite of the horrific fact that Israel has already killed, injured, and displaced tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians in the occupied territories.
It is, thus, incumbent on the international community to do all it can to put an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and occupation of the Palestinian territories. Extremely helpful in this regard would be more protests around the world calling for a permanent ceasefire, as well as more pressure on the Biden administration to stop the flow of aid or assistance to Israel in line with the ICJ’s July 19 advisory opinion. Netanyahu and company must also be forced to relinquish their wicked plan to drag the United States into some sort of military confrontation with Iran, as this would undoubtedly engulf the whole region and might even start World War III.
Ramin Mirfakhraie is a sociologist based in the US. His research interests include capitalist globalization and international politics. He holds a PhD from the University of Warwick in the UK.
https://countercurrents.org/2024/08/israel-gaza-and-the-merchants-of-death/
Nightmare at Sde Teiman: the untold story of Ibrahim Salem
Ibrahim Salem was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza and held for 8 months, including 52 days at the now infamous Sde Teiman torture facility. Salem recounts the torture he endured, including physical abuse, starvation, and electrocution.
BY YOUSEF M. ALJAMAL 
Israeli forces arrested Ibrahim Salem, age 35, in December 2023 from the Kamal Edwan Hospital in Jabalia in the Gaza Strip. He was with his children who were in the intensive care unit after an Israeli airstrike targeted his family home, killing some of his siblings, nephews, and nieces. After his arrest, he was stripped naked for two days, put in an underground hole in an unknown location, and transferred to the Negev prison. After complaining to his interrogators about why he was arrested, he was moved to the Sde Teiman detention center, where he lived through “a nightmare” for 52 days that included being subjected to torture, electrocution, beating, humiliation, and rape.
A viral photo of him was leaked to CNN, in which he appears to be standing with his hands on his head as a punishment, which happened after he argued with an Israeli soldier about why he allowed an elderly man to urinate in his clothes rather than allowing him to use the toilet.
Ibrahim Salem now lives in a tent in Khan Younis. He suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and avoids being close to fences. His body is thin. He lived through a nightmare that was photographed and leaked, leaving his surviving family members to wake up one day to a photo of him being tortured at Sde Teiman. Ibrahim wants to learn about his medical condition and know what operation the Israeli doctors performed on him. Ibrahim’s dream is to be united with his children in northern Gaza.
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