Crisis in Gaza
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At least 18 Palestinians arrested in West Bank
At least 18 Palestinians were arrested overnight in the occupied West Bank, including two women from Jericho, Al Jazeera reports.
The media outlet also quoted the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs as saying the detentions also took place in Hebron, Qalqilya, Nablus, East Jerusalem and Ramallah.
The total number of arrests after October 7 is 7,020. Arrests are “one of the most prominent tools of collective punishment”, the groups said in a statement on Telegram.
Spain, Ireland seek probe into Israel's human rights violation
Ireland and Spain have requested an EU investigation into whether or not Israel is “complying with its obligations to respect human rights in Gaza,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced today.
According to CNN, Sanchez and Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar wrote a letter to the President of the European Commission, asking the Commission to “undertake an urgent review of whether Israel is complying with its obligations, including under the EU/Israel Association Agreement, which makes respect for human rights and democratic principles an essential element of the relationship.”
The leaders told EU chief Ursula von der Leyen that they are “deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation in Israel and Gaza,” especially with the impact the conflict is having on “innocent Palestinians, especially children and women.”
Turkiye’s Erdogan on first Egypt visit in decade with Gaza in focus
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has made his first visit to Egypt since 2012 to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, taking a big step toward rebuilding ties between the regional powers, Reuters reports.
Erdogan has said discussions will focus on Israel’s Gaza offensive. The leaders, whose relations frayed over Egypt’s 2013 military coup and its fallout for the Muslim Brotherhood, are set to hold a press conference later.
WATCH: Israeli airstrikes target town in southern Lebanon
Footage from Lebanon shows a series of Israeli air raids on many towns in the south of the country, including areas in the Nabatieh governorate, Al Jazeera reports.
The strikes on southern villages, including Adchit, Sawwaneh and Shihabiyeh, occurred deeper inside the country than most previous strikes, raising fears of a new escalation.
— ??????? ?????? (@AJA_Palestine) February 14, 2024
People in Gaza pushed ‘further into the abyss’: UN
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has posted photos of the displaced being forced to move again to central parts of the Gaza Strip.
In a post on X, it said the exodus continued as people move from Rafah to middle parts of the Gaza Strip, in search of safety where there was none.
Assault on Rafah to be ‘huge catastrophe’: WHO
The World Health Organisation has warned that an Israeli military offensive against Rafah in southern Gaza would cause an “unfathomable catastrophe” and push the enclave’s health system closer to the brink of collapse, Reuters reports.
“Military activities in this area, this densely populated area, would be, of course, an unfathomable catastrophe… and would even further expand the humanitarian disaster beyond imagination,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank.
“It will also increase the burden on a completely overburdened… health system on its knees and increase the trauma burden and it would push the health system closer to the brink of collapse,” Peeperkorn said.
He said that only 40 per cent of WHO’s missions to northern Gaza had been authorised from November, and that this figure had dropped significantly since January.
“All of these missions have been denied, impeded, or postponed,” he said, adding it was “absurd” that only 45 per cent of WHO’s mission requests for southern Gaza had been granted.
Palestinian activist’s house demolished to pave way for ‘biblical theme park’
We were first inside the house then the Israeli police came in fully armed and threw us all out forcefully and moved us as far away as they could. The demolition is happening as we speak, a jackhammer on the end of a digger.
That is the house of Fakhri Abu Diab. He is an activist who campaigns to stop exactly the same thing that is happening to his house right now.
The Israelis say many of the homes in this neighbourhood – it’s called al-Bustan, part of occupied East Jerusalem – are illegal. Palestinians don’t have the right permit since anything built after 1976 shouldn’t have been built and, therefore, is eligible for demolition.
There are about 116 houses in this neighbourhood in the crosshairs and could have the same fate. There’s no compensation, Abu Diab is now homeless. This is something that happens very regularly.
This home isn’t being demolished for settlers, it’s because the Israelis want to build a biblical theme park in this neighbourhood.
Israeli army storms home of Silwan spokesperson ahead of demolition
The Israeli army has stormed the house of Fakhri Abu Diab, an activist and spokesman for the people of Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, ahead of a planned demolition.
The neighbourhood has been under increased pressure as the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem Municipality pursues its policy of encroachment on the occupied eastern part of the city to make way for Israeli settlers, a policy illegal under international law.
Israeli killed, 7 others wounded in rocket attacks from Lebanon
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports one Israeli has been killed and seven wounded in Safed by a “rocket barrage” from southern Lebanon.
Citing the Israeli emergency and rescue services, Haaretz said three of the wounded were in moderate condition and four others lightly wounded.
Rockets fired from Lebanon targeted an Israeli military base in the north. The army’s spokesperson says forces returned fire.
Nasser Hospital siege intensifies as Israeli forces seal it off
The situation in the hospital is becoming more and more risky for the medical staff and for the hundreds of displaced people sheltering there with no safe place to go.
The Israeli military issued sharp evacuation orders. It has already destroyed the northern gate of the hospital and blocked it with a pile of debris and sand. The hospital area has turned into a battle zone with the vast majority of buildings and roads in the vicinity destroyed.
Soldiers are shooting at everything in sight – including a doctor and a nurse. There are bodies in the courtyard. Those people were killed after being told to evacuate. This situation is extremely overwhelming for people inside the facility right now.
There’s no fuel, no medical supplies, no oxygen and, therefore, no surgeries. There’s also a sewage flood as the facility is without electricity.
The cases related to Israel’s war on Gaza at the ICC and ICJ
Families of Israeli captives are on their way to The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Netherlands to lodge a case against Hamas.
Previously, there have been requests by South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Mexico and Chile for an ICC investigation into the war on Gaza.
The ICC and the International Courts of Justice (ICJ) are sometimes mistaken for one another, and some media outlets reported the Israeli delegation travelled to the ICJ, also located in The Hague.
The ICJ aims to resolve conflicts between states and the ICC prosecutes individuals for committing crimes. South Africa filed a lawsuit at the ICJ in December accusing Israel of genocide in its war on Gaza.
Israel is a member of the ICJ but not the ICC and doesn’t recognise its jurisdiction.
CPJ releases list of media casualties during Israel’s war on Gaza
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a list of preliminary investigations that show at least 85 journalists and media workers have been killed since Israel launched its war on Gaza.
“Our database will not include all of these casualties until we have completed further investigations into the circumstances surrounding them,” it said. Gaza’s media office says at least 126 journalists have been killed in the war.
“CPJ emphasises that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,” said the group’s MENA coordinator Sherif Mansour.
Journalists in Gaza “face particularly?high?risks”, the CPJ said, during “the Israeli ground assault, including devastating Israeli air strikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and extensive power outages”.
The committee said it confirmed the death of 78 Palestinian journalists in the war, as well as four Israelis and three Lebanese. It has also received reports of 25 journalists arrested, 16 injured and four missing.
German FM makes fifth trip to Israel to help broker ceasefire
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visits Israel to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza.
The minister laid blame for the suffering of civilians in Gaza on Hamas, saying before her departure: “If Hamas terrorists had even an ounce of compassion for the Palestinian women, men and children suffering from the fighting in Gaza, they would immediately lay down their weapons. Instead, the terrorists continue to entrench themselves behind the civilian population.”
Baerbock will meet Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The visit will be Baerbock’s fifth visit to Tel Aviv since October 7. Germany has tried for decades to make amends for its Nazi past and role in the Holocaust during WWII, long backing Israel’s “security”.
Hamas officials in Egypt for truce talks
Negotiations to halt Israel’s attack on Gaza and free captives head into a second day in Cairo.
A Hamas source told AFP news agency a delegation is in the Egyptian capital to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with them on Tuesday.
CIA Director William Burns and David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, attended those discussions, which Egyptian media said had been mostly “positive”. US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby described the negotiations as “constructive and moving in the right direction”.
Mediators are racing to secure a stop to the fighting before Israel proceeds with a full-scale ground incursion into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are trapped.
Family members of Israeli captives travel to The Hague to file case
Relatives of Israeli captives will file a complaint against Hamas leaders at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Mexico and Chile previously referred Israel to the ICC.
South Africa filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December, accusing Israel of genocide in its war on Gaza and seeking to halt its deadly assault.
Israeli military says ‘military activity’ at Nasser hospital must ‘cease immediately’
The Israeli military has claimed that “Hamas continues to conduct military activities” within Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and “moreover that the place was used to hold hostages”.
“We demand the immediate cessation of all military activity in the area of the hospital and the immediate departure of military operatives from it,” the Israeli military said in a statement published on X.
“We have earlier conveyed that if Hamas does not stop this terrorist activity, the [Israeli military] reserves its right to act against these actions according to international law.”
The Nasser Hospital, the largest health facility in southern Gaza, has been under siege for several days. The bodies of several people killed by Israeli sniper fire in the hospital compound have been lying on the ground for several days as it is too unsafe to reach them, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported yesterday.
Israeli official says UNRWA has ‘absolutely zero say’ in how it responds
David Saranga, the director of the digital diplomacy bureau at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has scolded the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) for expressing concern over looming Israeli ground operations in Rafah in southern Gaza.
“After Hamas terrorists break into our homes and slaughter our children, you have absolutely ZERO say in how we respond. After years of aiding and abetting Hamas terrorists, you have absolutely ZERO say in how we respond,” he wrote on X.
International actors have warned that a humanitarian catastrophe will unfold in Rafah if Israel launches expanded military operations in the city, where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.
.@UNRWA,
— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) February 14, 2024
After Hamas terrorists break into our homes and slaughter our children, you have absolutely ZERO say in how we respond.
After years of aiding and abetting Hamas terrorists, you have absolutely ZERO say in how we respond.
After standing by as 12 of your employees… pic.twitter.com/LKG2gGfTai
Australian senator questions defence department on F-35 parts
Australian Senator David Shoebridge questioned a Defence Department official about Australian-made parts being used in Israeli warplanes in Gaza.
“So the 50-plus contractors who contribute parts to the F-35 fighter jets that are currently being used to drop bombs on the Palestinian people in Gaza, none of their exports you count as weapons?” Shoebridge asked in a Senate hearing.
“Senator, there’s a lot in your question, I don’t know if the F-35s are being used in the conflict in Gaza,” responded Hugh Jeffrey, deputy secretary of defence strategy, policy, and industry group in the Australian government.
Earlier this week, a Dutch court ordered the Netherlands government to stop exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.
But in Australia, Shoebridge and other advocates have been focused on trying to find out more about Australian weapons exports because of a relative lack of publicly available information in comparison to other countries, including the United States.
German frigate sets sail for Red Sea to intercept Houthi attacks
Germany’s chief of naval operations, Jan Christian Kaack, says the frigate Hessen is ideally equipped to take part in the EU military mission to secure merchant shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks.
The mission, called Operation Aspides, involves deploying European warships and airborne early warning systems to protect cargo ships in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and surrounding waters.
Kaack told the German press agency dpa in Berlin that additional weapons systems, specifically designed for such missions, were brought on board.
The Iran-backed rebels, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been targeting what they say are vessels linked to Israel in response to the war on Gaza.
The US, UK and other Western allies have launched air strikes on several Houthi positions in Yemen, escalating already high tensions in the Middle East and raising the spectre of a wider regional conflict.
Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupt Suozzi congressional victory speech
Protesters waving Palestinian flags attempted to crash the stage as Democrat Tom Suozzi started his victory speech on Tuesday night after winning the New York congressional seat vacated by disgraced former Republican lawmaker George Santos.
“You can’t hide!” one protestor shouted at him. “You’re supporting genocide! Stop supporting genocide!” Suozzi has been a vocal supporter of Israel’s response to the October 7 massacre.
Once his victory speech was underway, Suozzi said: “The people of Queens and Long Island are sick and tired of political bickering”.
Israeli forces arrest three Palestinians in Qalqilya
The Israeli military has arrested three men during raids on the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. A man has also been arrested in the town of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, according to local media.
Israeli forces have raided the city of Ramallah and stationed their vehicles in the vicinity of the Palestine Medical Complex, Wafa also reports.
We will bring you further updates on the situation in the occupied West Bank when we have them.
Intense fighting near Khan Younis hospitals, Rafah hospitals ‘overwhelmed’: UN
The UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) reports that continued intense fighting near the Nasser and Al Amal hospitals in Khan Younis is putting medical staff, wounded and sick patients and internally displaced people at risk.
“Al Amal Hospital continues to contend with acute shortages of fuel and medical supplies and currently has only one functional operating room,” OCHA also reported.
As we reported earlier, OCHA also shared a Ministry of Health in Gaza report that Nasser Hospital has sustained damage to its ceilings due to nearby explosions and sewage leaking into the emergency department.
Meanwhile, OCHA says that hospitals in neighbouring Rafah have been “overwhelmed” by the influx of Palestinians seeking refuge there.
Israel holds female Palestinian rights lawyer without trial or charge
Two days before her arrest by the Israeli army, 28-year-old Palestinian human rights lawyer Diala Ayesh had been visiting Palestinian detainees in Israel’s Ofer Prison.
Little did she know that the next day, she would become one of the people she has spent her life’s work defending – a prisoner.
On January 17, Israeli forces arrested Ayesh at a checkpoint near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank at about 2pm. One week later, Israeli authorities issued an “administrative detention” order against her, meaning she will be held without trial or charge for four months.
COGAT releases video of Yayha Sinwar’s abandoned underground shelter
Israel’s coordination office for its activities in Palestine (COGAT) has released footage showing a “luxurious tunnel” in which Hamas’s leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar was living with his family until recently.
“Sinwar hid underground in a luxurious tunnel, stocked with food and humanitarian aid meant for civilians, weapons, and piles of MILLIONS in cash. He hid in comfort, not caring what Gazans above ground are going through,” COGAT wrote on X.
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari also confirmed earlier that they had reached the compound, where Sinwar was staying in “good conditions”.
“They have food and bathrooms, alongside safes with personal fortunes amounting to millions of NIS [Israeli New Shekels] and dollars,” he said.
Sinwar hid underground in a luxurious tunnel, stocked with food and humanitarian aid meant for civilians, weapons, and piles of MILLIONS in cash.
— COGAT (@cogatonline) February 13, 2024
He hid in comfort, not caring what Gazans above ground are going through. pic.twitter.com/fN4cx2ODVB
UNRWA funding freezes risk 'aiding' deaths in Gaza: Saudi official
RIYADH (AFP) – Freezing funds to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees risks "aiding" the deaths of civilians in Gaza, the head of Saudi Arabia's humanitarian agency told AFP on Tuesday.
Several countries -- including the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan -- have suspended funding to the UNRWA agency in response to Israeli allegations that some of its staff members participated in the October 7 attack by Hamas militants.
Last week, as its war against Hamas entered a fifth month, Israel's military also said troops had uncovered a Hamas tunnel under UNRWA's evacuated Gaza City headquarters.
Hezbollah: foreign efforts to end Lebanon border clashes 'serve Israel'
BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah's chief said on Tuesday foreign efforts to end the Lebanon-Israel cross-border violence served Israeli interests, and that ending the Gaza war was key to halting hostilities on the frontier.
Hassan Nasrallah spoke in a televised address a day after French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said he had put forward "proposals" during a recent visit to Lebanon.
Recent weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity in Beirut, with foreign ministers including from Germany, France and Britain visiting in efforts to dial down tensions.
UN warns Israel: Rafah invasion could 'lead to slaughter'
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Tuesday (Feb 13) warned against an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, saying an offensive could "lead to a slaughter" in the southern region of the Palestinian enclave where more than 1 million people are sheltering.
Israel says it wants to flush out Hamas militants from hideouts in Rafah and free Israeli hostages being held there, and is making plans to evacuate trapped Palestinian civilians.
Gaza truce talks end inconclusively as Rafah braces for Israeli assault
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Talks involving the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar on a Gaza truce ended without a breakthrough on Tuesday (Feb 13) as calls grew for Israel to hold back on a planned assault on the southern end of the enclave, crammed with over a million displaced people.
The city of Rafah, whose pre-war population was about 300,000, teems with homeless people living in tent camps and makeshift shelters who fled there from Israeli bombardments in areas of Gaza further north during more than four months of war.
