Israel's Paranoia
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Rights groups sue Netherlands again over F-35 parts to Israel
A trio of rights groups took the Dutch government back to court, arguing that a ban on supplying F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel is not being respected in practice.
In a landmark verdict in February, an appeals court ordered the Netherlands to stop delivering parts for fighter jets used by Israel in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The court said at the time there was a “clear risk” the planes would be involved in breaking international humanitarian law.
But the rights groups are returning to court, saying that the ban has not prevented the parts ending up in Israeli planes.
“Unfortunately, everything indicates that these parts end up in Israel from the Netherlands via other routes,” said Oxfam Novib, one of the groups involved in the case.
The Dutch government “has continued delivering (parts) to other countries, including the United States. And that contravenes the order of the court,” Liesbeth Zegveld, a lawyer representing the rights groups, told the court.
‘Lack of real vision’ in ending the conflict for both Democrats and Republicans in US
Tamer Qarmout, a professor at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, says the US presidential debate highlights how both Democrats and Republicans have lost their will to end Israel’s war on Gaza and to support the creation of a Palestinian state.
“The focus of the discussion was not on a Palestinian state per se – it was one supporting Israel and the best way to support Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.
“For both candidates, there’s a lack of real vision to end this conflict. It’s a very shallow discussion that does not have ending the conflict in the centre of it.”
He added that the US’s policies are so aligned to Israel’s interests that Palestinians should turn to the “great global momentum” of solidarity and the increasing wave of [state] recognitions for support instead of waiting for the US to embrace a new position.
At least 11 killed in past few hours: Medical official
The coordinator of field hospitals in Gaza, Marwan al-Hams, has confirmed that at least 11 Palestinians have been killed and dozens have been injured in the past few hours due to Israeli bombing.
He said medical teams are providing services with difficulty due to the continued closure of the Rafah border crossing since May 7.
Far-right Israelis celebrate claim that illegal outposts will be legalised
Far-right Israeli politicians are celebrating Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s claim that Israel’s security cabinet has approved his proposed legalisation of five illegal “outposts” on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier, we reported that Smotrich said in a Thursday statement that the government will support the formalisation of the illegal West Bank settlements, as well as punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in response to its diplomacy on the international stage critical of Israel.
“I congratulate my friend Smotrich for leading the move, which I had the honour of co-initiating and taking part in preparing,” Orit Strock, settlements and national projects minister with Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, posted on X.
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, also said that the move was a “Zionist decision and a strong message of victory”. The head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Israel Gantz, also hailed the decision as a measure “that strengthens the State of Israel”.
There has been no official confirmation of Smotrich’s claims from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
US invites Israeli, Arab foreign ministers to NATO summit: Report
The US has invited foreign ministers from several Arab countries and Israel to the NATO 75th anniversary summit in Washington next month, the Financial Times reports.
Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among the Arab invitees.
The US has also invited foreign ministers from more than 30 countries, including Japan, Australia and South Korea, partly in an effort to head off possible tensions over its invitation to Israel, according to the FT.
“Secretary-General Stoltenberg has invited heads of state and government of all 32 allies, plus the leaders of our Indo-Pacific partners,” the FT said, citing an unnamed NATO official.
Survey captures snapshot of suffering in Gaza: Norwegian refugee agency
In a survey of more than 1,000 Palestinian families displaced from Rafah as Israel launched its ground invasion of the southern Gaza city last month, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has found:
83 percent reported having no access to food.
57 percent had no access to clean water.
Almost none had access to a latrine.
52 percent reported having no access to dignified shelter.
Nine people on average were sharing a single temporary shelter.
“Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine like conditions,” NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland said in a post on social media.
Egeland said families are without food, children are wasting away, and people have resorted to preparing meals using “tree leaves or animal fodder”.
“NRC staff in Gaza are seeing the appalling impact of hunger across the besieged and devastated densely populated area,” he said.
US military’s Gaza air pier looks set for removal again: Report
The problem-prone $230m aid pier, built off Gaza’s coast by the US military, could be removed as soon as today due to rough sea conditions, The Associated Press news agency (AP) reports.
Two US officials told the AP that the pier will be removed again and Washington is looking at alternative ways to get aid into Gaza.
If the pier is moved later today, it would be the third time weather has disrupted its short-lived operations.
The floating pier was anchored back on Gaza’s shoreline on June 19 after heavy seas and high winds led the military to disconnect it from the beach. In May, similar conditions forced a two-week pause in operations.
The UN and its agencies halted humanitarian aid distribution from the pier pending the release of a security review following claims it may have played a role in a bloody Israeli operation on June 8 to free captives that left hundreds of civilians dead in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Trump says Biden has ‘become like a Palestinian’ in presidential debate
Republican candidate Donald Trump has said that US President Joe Biden has “become like a Palestinian” in a presidential debate being held in Atlanta, Georgia.
“[Biden] said the only one who wants to keep [fighting the war] is Hamas, actually Israel is the one. And you should let them go and finish the job,” Trump said.
“[Biden] doesn’t want to do it, he’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one,” he added.
Israel must give international observers access to ‘the Gaza ghetto’: UN expert
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, said Israel must give international observers access to Gaza to assess the situation in what she called “the Gaza ghetto”.
In a post on social media, Albanese questioned what Israel was so “afraid of” that it has cut the war-torn enclave off from international observers. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has already called on Israel to provide access to Gaza, Albanese said.
“This is what the [ICJ] has requested and should have happened already,” she said.
Several countries have joined South Africa’s case at the ICJ accusing Israeli forces of perpetrating genocide in Gaza.
Smotrich claims cabinet approved legalisation for occupied West Bank ‘outposts’: Report
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has claimed that the security cabinet has approved his proposal to legalise five Israeli “outposts” in the occupied West Bank, The Times of Israel reports, citing Hebrew-language media reports.
The outposts – meaning illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian land built without official permission – that are reportedly set to be legalised are:
Evyatar in the north of the occupied West Bank
Sde Efraim and Givat Asaf in the centre of the occupied West Bank
Heletz and Adorayim in the south of the occupied West Bank
Earlier, we reported that Smotrich said in a Thursday statement that the government will support illegal West Bank settlements as well as punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in response to Palestinian diplomacy on the international stage critical of Israel.
There has been no official confirmation of Smotrich’s claims from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Israeli forces arrest 28 Palestinians in night of raids across the occupied West Bank
Soldiers meted out “severe beatings” to Palestinian detainees during arrest operations across the occupied West Bank that saw 28 Palestinians dragged away by Israeli military forces, a rights group said.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said the overnight and early morning raids on Thursday – part of Israel’s now daily and increasingly violent assault on Palestinian communities in the occupied territories – targeted the governorates of Jenin, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and el-Bireh, Nablus and Jerusalem.
UNICEF says Israel agreed to restore power at a key desalination plant in southern Khan Younis, which could meet minimum needs of nearly one million people desperate for potable water.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is “fighting us from seven fronts” using regional armed groups, warning “whoever does such a thing to us simply won’t be here“.
Israel storms Gaza City neighbourhood, orders Palestinians to go south
CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel stormed a neighbourhood in Gaza City on Thursday (Jun 27), ordering Palestinians to move south as the tanks rolled in and bombed the southern city of Rafah in what it says are the final stages of an operation against Hamas there.
Residents of the Shejaia neighbourhood in Gaza City said they were taken by surprise by the sound of tanks approaching and firing in the early afternoon, with drones also attacking after overnight bombing of the city, which Israel had combed early in the war.
