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ਹਮਾਸ-ਇਜ਼ਰਾਈਲ ਯੁੱਧ, 2023: ਇੱਕ ਵਿਸ਼ਲੇਸ਼ਣ

dalvinder45

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Jul 22, 2023
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Heavy fighting continues in Jabalia, where Israeli forces have targeted residential buildings and an ambulance. Battles rage in Gaza’s north with Palestinian groups targeting invading Israeli troops in small-arms ambushes and with rocket fire and IEDs.
The International Rescue Committee says the “scale of the crisis defies imagination” in southern Gaza as Israeli ground forces invade Rafah and mass displacement leaves people in need of food and water.
A major fissure in Israel’s war cabinet is exposed with Defence Minister Gallant challenging PM Netanyahu’s unspecified plans for post-war Gaza.
At least 35,272 people have been killed and 79,205 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens still held captive.
ICJ is hearing South Africa's new appeal on Gaza
 

dalvinder45

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Jul 22, 2023
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Spain, Norway and Ireland on Wednesday, said, that they would recognise an independent Palestinian state, a rebuke to Israel over its war in Gaza and its decades of occupation of Palestinian territories, The New York Times reported.
Over 140 countries and the Holy See have recognised a Palestinian state.
Meanwhile, Israel has strongly condemned international attempts to recognise a Palestinian state and emphasised that Israel needs to negotiate directly with Palestinian leaders on a permanent solution.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said that establishing a Palestinian state would be an 'existential danger' to Israel, The New York Times reported.
Most Western European countries and the US have not as according to them, the recognition should be achieved through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and while they support a two-state solution, unilateral measures by third parties will not advance that goal.
Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel Katz sent a clear and unequivocal message to Ireland and Norway stressing, "Israel will not remain silent."
Israel's foreign minister instructed the immediate recall of Israel's ambassadors to Ireland and Norway for consultations in light of this development.
I have instructed the immediate recall of Israel's ambassadors to Ireland and Norway for consultations in light of these countries' decisions to recognise a Palestinian state. I'm sending a clear and unequivocal message to Ireland and Norway: Israel will not remain silent in the face of those undermining its sovereignty and endangering its security,' he said in a post shared on X.
Foreign Minister Katz emphasised that the decision sends a message to them that 'Terrorism pays'.
"Today's decision sends a message to the Palestinians and the world: Terrorism pays," he said.
The Israeli foreign minister highlighted that these countries are choosing to reward Hamas and Iran by recognising a Palestinian state.
'After the Hamas terror organisation carried out the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, after committing heinous sexual crimes witnessed by the world, these countries chose to reward Hamas and Iran by recognizing a Palestinian state,' he said in his post on X.
Calling it a 'distorted step', Katz said that this would be an injustice to the memory of the victims of the October 7 attack, adding that it undermines the chance for peace.
"This distorted step by these countries is an injustice to the memory of the victims of 7/10, a blow to efforts to return the 128 hostages, and a boost to Hamas and Iran's jihadists, which undermines the chance for peace and questions Israel's right to self-defence," he said.
"Israel will not remain silent -- there will be further severe consequences," Katz stressed, adding that if Spain follows through on its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, a similar step will be taken against it.
"The Irish-Norwegian folly does not deter us; we are determined to achieve our goals: restoring security to our citizens, dismantling Hamas, and bringing the hostages home. There are no more just causes than these," he said.
 

dalvinder45

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Jul 22, 2023
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The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' top judicial body, has ordered Israel to pause all operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces say they have recovered the bodies of three more hostages killed in the initial Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

Diminished but not deterred, Hamas is still putting up a fight after seven brutal months of war with Israel, regrouping in some of the hardest-hit areas in northern Gaza and resuming rocket attacks into nearby Israeli communities.

Israel initially made tactical advances against Hamas after a devastating aerial bombardment paved the way for its ground troops. But those early gains have given way to a grinding struggle against an adaptable insurgency — and a growing feeling among many Israelis that their military faces only bad options, drawing comparisons with U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This was the subtext of a rebellion in recent days by two members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s three-man War Cabinet — Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main political rival — who demanded that he come up with detailed postwar plans.
They supported Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, including one of the heaviest bombing campaigns in recent history, ground operations that obliterated entire neighborhoods and border restrictions that the U.N.'s World Food Program says pushed parts of the territory into famine.

FILE - Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. An order by the top United Nations court for Israel to halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah deepens its disconnect with the United States. (AP Photo/Ramez Habboub, File)
UN court order demanding Israel to halt Gaza offensive further isolates US position
Police prepare to enter an encampment occupied by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
UCLA police arrest young man for alleged felony assault in attack on pro-Palestinian encampment


But now the two retired generals fear a prolonged, costly re-occupation of Gaza, from which Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005. They are also opposed to a withdrawal that would leave Hamas in control or lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.



Instead, they have put forth alternatives that many Israelis see as wildly unrealistic. Hamas, meanwhile, has proposed its own postwar plan.

Here’s a look at four ways this war might end.

ULL-SCALE MILITARY OCCUPATION​

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, June 25, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, June 25, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Netanyahu has promised a “total victory” that would remove Hamas from power, dismantle its military capabilities and return the scores of hostages it still holds from the attack that triggered the war.

He has said victory could come within weeks if Israel launches a full-scale invasion of Rafah, which Israel portrays as the last Hamas stronghold.
Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and former deputy commander of the Gaza division, says that’s only the beginning. He said Israel would need to remain in control to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

“If you don’t drain the swamp, you cannot deal with the mosquitoes. And drain the swamp means a complete change in the education system, and dealing with local leadership and not with a terror organization,” he said. “This is a generational process. It’s not going to happen in a day.”

Far-right members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, who hold the key to his remaining in power, have called for permanent occupation, “voluntary emigration” of large numbers of Palestinians to anywhere that will have them, and rebuilding of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Most Israelis are opposed, pointing to the immense costs of stationing thousands of troops in the territory that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. As an occupying power, Israel would likely be held responsible for providing health, education and other services. It’s unclear to what extent international donors would step in to fund reconstruction amid ongoing hostilities.

There’s also no guarantee such an occupation would eliminate Hamas.

Israel was in full control of Gaza when Hamas was established in the late 1980s. Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon coincided with the rise of Hezbollah, and Israeli troops routinely battle militants in the West Bank, which it has controlled since 1967.

A LIGHTER OCCUPATION, AIDED BY ‘UNICORNS’​

FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. The United Nations said Tuesday, May 21, 2024, it suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity. It also said no aid trucks entered in the past two days via a floating pier set up by the U.S. for sea deliveries. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. The United Nations said Tuesday, May 21, 2024, it suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity. It also said no aid trucks entered in the past two days via a floating pier set up by the U.S. for sea deliveries. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain security control over Gaza but delegate civilian administration to local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank. He has suggested that Arab and other countries assist with governance and rebuilding. But so far, none have shown interest.
No Palestinians are known to have offered to cooperate with the Israeli military, perhaps because Hamas has said they would be treated as collaborators, a veiled death threat.

Efforts to reach out to Palestinian businessmen and powerful families “have ended in catastrophe,” says Michael Milshtein, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs at Tel Aviv University and a former military intelligence officer.

He says Israelis seeking such allies are searching for “unicorns” — something that does not exist.

Arab states have also roundly rejected this scenario — even the United Arab Emirates, which is one of the few to formally recognize Israel and has close ties with it.

“The UAE refuses to be involved in any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip,” Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said this month.

A GRAND BARGAIN​

FILE - Benny Gantz, a key member of Israel's War Cabinet and the top political rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaves a meeting in the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at the Capitol in Washington, on March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - Benny Gantz, a key member of Israel’s War Cabinet and the top political rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaves a meeting in the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at the Capitol in Washington, on March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant makes a joint statement with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, after their meeting about Israel's military operation in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant makes a joint statement with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, after their meeting about Israel’s military operation in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
Instead, Arab states have coalesced around a U.S. proposal aimed at resolving the decades-old conflict and transforming the Middle East.

Under this plan, a reformed Palestinian Authority would govern Gaza with the assistance of Arab and Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia, which would normalize relations with Israel in return for a U.S. defense pact and help in building a civilian nuclear program.
But U.S. and Saudi officials say that hinges on Israel committing to a credible path to eventual Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu has ruled out such a scenario — as have Gallant and Gantz — saying it would reward Hamas and result in a militant-run state on Israel’s borders.

Palestinians say ending Israel’s decades-long occupation and creating a fully independent state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war — is the only way to end the cycle of bloodshed.

Hamas has said it would accept a two-state solution on at least an interim basis, but its political program still calls for the “full liberation of Palestine,” including what is now Israel. Hamas has also said it must be part of any postwar settlement.
A DEAL WITH HAMAS
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a performance calling for their return in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a performance calling for their return in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Hamas has proposed a very different grand bargain — one that, ironically enough, might be more palatable to Israelis than the U.S.-Saudi deal.

The militant group has proposed a phased agreement in which it would release all of the hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners — including senior militants — as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a lengthy cease-fire and reconstruction.

That would almost certainly leave Hamas in control of Gaza and potentially allow it to rebuild its military capabilities. Hamas might even claim victory, despite the extensive death and destruction suffered by Palestinian civilians since Oct. 7.

But thousands of Israeli protesters have taken to the streets in recent weeks calling on their leaders to take such a deal, because it’s probably the only way to get the hostages back.

They accuse Netanyahu of standing in the way of such an agreement because it could lead his far-right allies to bring down his government, potentially ending his political career and exposing him to prosecution on corruption charges.

Supporters of such a deal say there would be other benefits for Israel, beyond freeing the hostages.

The low-intensity conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah would likely die down as regional tensions ease, allowing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to return to their homes. Israel could finally reckon with the security failures that led to Oct. 7. And it could prepare for another inevitable round of fighting. Milshtein says Israel should adopt Hamas’ concept of a “hudna” — a prolonged period of strategic calm.
“Hudna doesn’t mean a peace agreement,” he said. “It’s a cease-fire that you will exploit in order to make yourself stronger and then to attack and surprise your enemy.”
 

dalvinder45

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Jul 22, 2023
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dalvinder45

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Jul 22, 2023
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Medical situation
G7 leaders say the UN Palestinian refugee agency must be allowed to work unhindered in Gaza in a draft of an end-of-summit statement seen by AFP Friday. “We agree it is critical that UNRWA and other UN organisations and agencies’ distribution networks be fully able to deliver aid to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandate effectively,” the Group of Seven nations said.
Israel bombed UNRWA school in central Gaza, killing at least 39 displaced Palestinians
In his interview, Hossam Abu Safiyya says the conditions faced by the malnourished children in Gaza could be reversed with the right level of support and supplies. If we had the minimum amount of medical supplies, we could have saved lived, we could have addressed these malnutrition cases.
However, due to the lack of necessities, these malnutrition cases develop into further complication. Many of these children either die or suffer chronic diseases. The Israeli occupation forces have laid tight siege to the entire Gaza Strip, namely the northern part. We are reeling under famine, we are left with nothing but some quantities of white flour. We do not have any livestock, any meat, any protein and these conditions require treatment in addition to certain nutrition, like fat, proteins, carbohydrates, etc.
However, we are left with nothing – no medical supplies, no food items, nothing but flour. That’s why we are running out of options. This is a very dire experience. Two months ago, in the north part of Gaza Strip we lost more than 26 children due to malnutrition.Children are very delicate; their conditions require immediate medical intervention and the longer they remain in this condition the more threat they are faced with. We are in a dire need for immediate response, immediate delivery of medical supplies and food items. The northern part of the Gaza Strip is totally besieged. We appeal for an immediate delivery of medical supplies and all forms of food and nutrition – from fat to protein to baby milk to other food items. If we don’t receive any assistance in the coming days, the number of fatalities among children will no doubt rise.
Hossam Abu Safiyya, the head of Kamal Adwan Hospital, says: As a matter of fact, the current condition is really dire. It is dangerous, beyond any [imagination]. We ran out of all medical supplies and after the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital, all that was left was massive destruction and total devastation. The Israeli soldiers willfully destroyed the main generators feeding Kamal Adwan Hospital. The hospital is running at a minimum level. Due to the shortage of medical supplies, as well as the total absence of fuel, we are not able to fully function. However, we’ve resumed some functions like the paediatric units. As a result of all this, many children die as a result of poor nutrition. We’ve documented many cases where children were suffering acute malnutritio They were put in the maximum care unit and we’ve administered a number of first-aid operations. However, we are running out of options simply because these cases require certain medication, certain baby milk and certain nutrition. The entire part of the Gaza Strip is still besieged from all directions.

Critical Education situation

Israel’s targeting of educational institutes across Gaza is “shameful as we consider the global education crisis where we see that more than 250 million children are out of school globally”, according to Talal al-Hathal, Director of the Al Fakhoora Programme at Education Above All foundation in Qatar.

Hundreds of educational institutes in Gaza, including schools run by the UN, have been bombed, and students and teachers killed. The attacks have ravaged educational infrastructure and caused mental trauma to thousands of beleaguered students.

“The war will undoubtedly leave educational institutions, access to critical infrastructure, and the regularity of the education process in Gaza in a worse state than before the war,” al-Hathal told Al Jazeera.

“With almost 400 school buildings in Gaza sustaining damage, the war has exacerbated the plight of the educational sector. This damage is compounded by the internal displacement with these schools now serving as shelters and hosting nearly four times their intended capacity, further burdening the already strained educational infrastructure.”
 

dalvinder45

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Jul 22, 2023
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The G7 group of countries announced a plan on Thursday to use frozen Russian assets to finance a $50bn loan for Ukraine as Kyiv continues its desperate campaign to stop its bigger neighbour’s forces from advancing further, 28 months into Moscow’s war.

The announcement came as leaders of the grouping, which consists of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, France and the European Union, met at an annual summit held in Puglia (Apulia), Italy.
 

dalvinder45

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Jul 22, 2023
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The Ukrainian military said its forces were fighting fierce battles near Chasiv Yar, a strategic hilltop settlement in Donetsk, and the situation was “tense”. A civilian was killed further south on the front line near Pokrovsk, while another man was killed by Russian fire in the southern Kherson region.

Russian journalist Valery Kozhin, who worked for Russia’s state-run NTV television channel, was killed in Ukrainian shelling of a Russian-occupied village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russian news agencies reported, quoting the mayor of the town of Horlivka near where the incident took place. NTV reported earlier that three of its staff, including Kozhin, had been injured and taken to hospital.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia’s advance in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region was slowing and the front line was stabilising after some allies lifted restrictions on Kyiv’s use of donated weapons inside Russian territory.

United States’ President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s invasion and moving Ukraine closer to NATO membership.
Group of Seven (G7) nations meeting in Italy agreed to provide financial support of $50bn to Ukraine by the end of the year, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. The deal will be funded from profits on frozen Russian assets.

Ukraine also signed a 10-year security agreement with Japan. “In 2024, Japan will provide Ukraine with $4.5 billion and will continue to support us throughout the agreement’s entire 10-year term,” Zelenskyy said on X. The deal, he added, envisages security and defence assistance, humanitarian aid, technical and financial cooperation.
The United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR said in an annual report that about 750,000 people became newly displaced inside Ukraine last year as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion, with a total of 3.7 million internally displaced people registered by the end of 2023. The number of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers increased by more than 275,000 to six million, it said.
Human rights organisation Global Rights Compliance said in a report that Russian forces deliberately used starvation of civilians as a military tactic during the 85-day siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in 2022. The report found Russian forces “systematically attacked objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population” such as food, water, energy and access to healthcare, and also cut off evacuation routes and blocked humanitarian aid from coming in.
Russian prosecutors said they would send Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in March 2023, for trial, accusing the 32-year-old of collecting information for the US CIA about a Russian tank factory. Gershkovich, who is being held in custody, has denied wrongdoing. His employer said the charge was “false and baseless” and built on lies. Biden called his detention “totally illegal”. Prosecutors did not say when the trial would start.

The judge in the trial of director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, two leading figures in Russian theatre, agreed to a prosecution request to close the trial to the public and the media over unspecified “threats” to witnesses. The two were arrested in May last year and accused of “justifying terrorism” over their production of an award-winning play about Russian women who married Islamic State fighters. The women have pleaded not guilty and say the play was about preventing terrorism.

German Moyzhes, a 39-year-old lawyer with dual Russian-German citizenship, was detained in Saint Petersburg with some Russian independent media reporting that he was suspected of treason. The German Federal Foreign Office told the Reuters news agency that its embassy in Moscow was in contact with Moyzhes’s family. There was no official word from Russia on the detention.

Russia’s Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, accompanied by a tug boat and a fuel ship, arrived in Cuba for a five-day visit seen as a show of force by Moscow amid rising tension over its invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy told a news conference in Italy that Chinese President Xi Jinping had given him his assurance in a phone call that China would not sell weapons to Russia. Speaking in English, Zelenskyy said Xi had told him that “he will not sell any weapon to Russia”. Zelenskyy did not say when the conversation took place. The last publicly known phone call between Zelenskyy and Xi was in April 2023.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence said Kyiv’s allies will send Ukraine about 350 million euros ($376.74m) worth of 152mm shells.

Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said the country would start sending a total of about 2,000 surplus unarmed rockets to Ukraine as well as a selection of other weapons.
 

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