New York Times report: U.S. intelligence officers estimate only a third of Hamas fighters have been killed

From Haaretz Updates - Free Link [link:https://archive.is/W1jKR|]

Opinion Netanyahu and His Squad of Cease-fire Refuseniks Have Israeli Hostages' Blood on Their Hands

Interesting opinion piece by auri Misgav in Haaretz. One I personally agree with.

The government's talking points that preceded Hamas' response to the mediators' proposal ("total refusal," "impossible," "Sinwar is running like a mouse from cave to cave and is out of contact&quot turned out Wednesday morning to be bullshit.
Hamas formulated a serious response and submitted a reasonable plan given the horrendous circumstances, certainly as a basis for negotiations.

This is a deal that a sane, responsible government should accept. Netanyahu and his supporters are expected to base the sacrificing of the hostages on the altar of "no partial deal" and "we will not stop the fighting before total victory." The blood of the hostages will forever be on their hands.

Hamas Proposes 135-day Cease-fire, Israeli Withdrawal From Gaza, Talks to End War

From Haaretz -

According to the three-phased cease-fire draft, hostages would be exchanged for 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, the remains of killed hostages would be handed over and Israeli forces would withdraw completely

"We are producing a generation of orphans" - US pediatrician, Seema Jilani after return from Gaza

Watched and wept.

These are excerpts from her interview this morning on Democracy Now.

[link:https://twitter.com/democracynow/status/1754868123478438161?s=61&t=_R0eaN5XDTx3hnl2jyXBTA|]

[link:https://twitter.com/democracynow/status/1754866743871185378?s=61&t=_R0eaN5XDTx3hnl2jyXBTA|]

Every day I become more and more heartbroken. 💔

Meet the Israelis Who Are Trying to Physically Block the Ethnic Cleansing Unfolding in the West Bank

This link is to a story that is about regular heroes (to me). It brought tears to my eyes but also a slight hope that through the Israelis and Palestinians who understand the need for peace - there may someday be peace.

Haaretz Free Link: [link:https://archive.is/eWkkc|]
Subscriber Link: [link:https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-02-02/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/meet-the-israelis-physically-blocking-the-ethnic-cleansing-unfolding-in-the-west-bank/0000018d-6609-d37c-a9df-ef8b77200000|]

It is an extremely long piece and I cannot even begin to post excerpts that will give you the scope of the article (copyright issues) so I encourage anyone who really wants to learn and understand what is happening in the West Bank - take the time to read the whole article. This isn't a twitter piece. It's not a soundbite. It's reality. I understand many don't have the time or inclination to read long pieces that are about real people - not a "news story" per se. And I know I post a lot of these - because I always want to know more. So this is for those who are like me. Please read.

Under the cover of war, backed by Israel's army and police, settler violence targeting Palestinian shepherding communities is surging. These Israeli activists are putting themselves in harm's way to protect them

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Most of the occasions when she accompanied Palestinian farmers and shepherds, to offer them support as they made their way to the fields, had been uneventful. "You hang out in the shade, listen to music, doze off a bit and go home. You see deer, foxes and birds, the lambs are bleating in the background. All in all it's quite pleasant."

But that was not the case one day in November 2021, when Ben Porat went to help olive harvesters in Surif, near the settlement of Bat Ayin, in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem. "Their groves were neglected, because they were really frightened to go there," she recalls. "For a few hours it was fun, we tended the trees and picked olives. We were eight Israelis, I was the only woman, along with some Palestinian families. The army was there to guard us, because it was all coordinated with them. A group of young settlers kept trying to approach us and the soldiers kept them at bay.

"Around noon, the soldiers disappeared. About 10 minutes later, we saw the settlers getting organized. Dozens of them showed up, coming from three directions. Kids with machetes and clubs. We saw a security vehicle from a nearby settlement bring in more young people, and the security chief himself was standing above, holding a shotgun. It was clear they were organizing for an attack. For 45 minutes we tried calling the army. We said: 'We see them, please get here, get here!'
"It doesn't matter how many stories I'd heard about settlers hitting people," she continues, "I didn't think they would hit me. But when I saw that a fistfight was about to break out, I moved to the side, away from the center of the melee. I thought I was protecting myself. And then two of them targeted me."

Israeli Army Occupies Gaza Homes - Then Burns Them Down

Israeli soldiers have begun in recent weeks to set fire to homes in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their commanders, without the necessary legal permission to do so, according to information obtained by Haaretz.

Soldiers have destroyed several hundred buildings using this method over the past month. After the structure is set on fire along with everything inside it, it is allowed to burn out until it is rendered useless.

The IDF said in response to the report that the destruction of buildings is done only with approved means, and that any action carried out in different ways will be looked into.

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In another incident, soldiers who were about to leave a building left a note to troops who were coming to replace them. "We are not burning the house so you can enjoy it, and when you leave – you'll know what to do," read the note, which appeared in a photograph one of the soldiers posted online.

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The Gaza war has already caused immense destruction to civilian buildings – even compared to other recent bloody conflicts around the globe.

According to an analysis of satellite images published by the BBC, between 144,000 and 170,000 buildings have been damaged in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war. A Washington Post investigation published last month and quoted in Haaretz found that entire swaths of the Strip have been obliterated – in Beit Hanoun, in Jabalya and in Gaza City's Al-Karama neighborhood.

The report also noted that as of late December, 350 schools and some 170 mosques and churches have been damaged or destroyed.

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In response to the report, the Israeli Army spokesperson said: "Detonating and destroying buildings is done with approved, appropriate means. Actions that were carried out in different ways during the war will be looked into."

Gaza's Mud Hell: Building a New Society in Dystopian Tent Cities

"Anybody who has a tent is lucky. It's hard to get a tent these days," said Abeer, 43, who is living in a tent with her family in the southern Gaza city of Rafah near the Egyptian border. "There are 11 of us in one tent. It's very cramped."

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According to UN figures, 1.7 million people – about 75 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip – have been displaced since Hamas' October 7 attack and the beginning of the war. Satellite footage published this month in Haaretz shows tent cities in Rafah, where, according to the United Nations, around a million people are crowded.

"People are looking for tents because it's the only available accommodation that can protect them from the rain, but it doesn't shield you against the cold. Every day, people ask me how we got the tent; some of them improvise temporary tents from plastic sheets and empty flour sacks," Abeer said in a video call.

"From the first day, we realized we needed iron or wooden poles to secure and stretch the tarpaulins. When the weather was stormy the tarps almost flew off. My husband managed to get four poles from a carpentry shop in Rafah, but now we're looking for high-quality nails to secure the tarps so they won't rip."

In the video call, you could see sand around the tent, with children crying in the background and clothes hanging on a line. Before the war, Abeer worked as an assistant in a pharmacy in Gaza City. She said living in a tent is both a psychological and physical hardship.

"I feel like I've lost everything," she said. "My whole life, 43 years in which I studied, worked, built a home with my husband and raised our kids there, was shattered in a single moment."

SNIP (Read whole article for many families’ heartbreaking stories)

A few hundred meters away is the tent of "Teacher Tariq." In footage shown on Al Jazeera, children enter and leave the tent and talk about what they learned in the lesson.

"When I heard that Teacher Tariq would teach us, I signed up for the class, because it's important to me to keep learning and fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor," 10-year-old Malek told Al Jazeera. "The studies in the tent gave me hope after I lost it when the war started, because we had no school and no teachers," she said."

'You're Dancing on Their Blood': Israeli Hostage Families Outraged Over Resettlement Conference

Gil Dikman, one of the leaders of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, whose cousin Carmel Gat is being held in Gaza, said at one of the meetings: "You don't bother with what is important, which is the hostages. In the morning you throw mud at each other, and in the evening you dance at an event that only harms us. In Gaza, the hostages do not dance."

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Meirav Leshem-Gonen, mother of hostage Romi Gonen, spoke at an Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption Committee meeting on Monday, where she addressed the hosts, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli and Likud MK Dan Illouz, directly.

"All this talk of transfer made me shudder," she told the ministers, both of whom attended Sunday's conference. "The transfer you talk about refers to ethnic and religious connections to a certain group. Isn't that what was done to us in Europe? We say we want to be better than this, but we are ready to do the same thing to another nation."

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Danny Elgert, whose brother Itzik is being held hostage, echoed these sentiments in an interview on Israeli news outlet Channel 12 Monday morning.

"From our perspective, the conference yesterday was the most terrible thing that could possibly have happened," he said. "This government allowed the murder of 1400 citizens, the kidnapping of 241 people who haven't come back. The bodies are still there. And they are dancing on their blood. What are they doing? They want to build settlements on the graves of the hostages? I do not understand this at all."

Ministers From Netanyahu's Party Join Thousands of Israelis at 'Resettle Gaza' Conference

Jerusalem event is 'Settlement Brings Security: Returning to the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria.' Israeli opposition head blasted the event, and said that 'it undermines a potential deal and endangers IDF soldiers'

Thousands of participants gathered in Jerusalem Sunday for a conference calling to re-settle the Gaza Strip.

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During the conference, participants will be presented with details of Jewish settlements, maps, and the stages of preparation, along with calls for decision-makers to acknowledge that a war victory can only be claimed through the Jewish resettling of the Gaza Strip.

Approximately twenty ministers and MKs from Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition said last week they would attend the event.
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Analysis ICJ Fires Warning Shot at Israel Over Genocide Case at World Court. This Is Why Netanyahu Should Be Worried

Three key points emerged from the International Court of Justice's provisional ruling at the Hague on Friday, in response to South African allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

First, the court did not order Israel to cease fire and halt all military operations in the Gaza Strip in its war against Hamas – which began when the terror group killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7. This indicates that the court isn't convinced at this point that the charge of genocide is visibly founded.

Second, the court issued a series of provisional orders requiring preventive Israeli actions, which suggest it believes Israel is perilously close to violating the UN Genocide Convention to which it is a signatory.

Third, combined with advanced talks over a hostage deal that includes an extended cease-fire in Gaza, this could create major strife in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition where far-right ministers are vehemently opposed to any steps to reduce the intensity of the war.

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The United Nations' top court considers whether a state committed genocide under the Genocide Convention of 1948. It defines this as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

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However, that was not the issue being ruled upon on Friday.

"The court is not required to ascertain whether any violations of Israel's obligations under the Genocide Convention have occurred," court President Joan E. Donaghue said at the outset, after confirming South Africa's standing in the case despite not being a party to the conflict and against Israel's objection.

The allegations of violations, she said, will be dealt with at a later stage in the process.