Things are not improving for the residents of Gaza. In particular there is an Israeli policy of refusing to allow aid or food or fuel for producing potable water through the checkpoints. Added to that, residents keep dying when they're shot or blown up.
On a point of information, there are no living Israeli hostages in Gaza any longer, the last living hostage was released some weeks ago. Hamas now has forty or so corpses which were taken into Gaza to be held for ransom. I take exception to calling the corpses hostages. I suggest all future mention of hostages in Gaza should be taken as references to the resident population.
I also note that in Friday, after the assassination of a dozen or so Iranians in Tehran, 200 IDF aircraft started blowing up infrastructure in Iran. The commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters (the most important strategic IRGC military command body in Iran), the head of the IRGC's Air Defence, Ali Shamkhani, a close security aide to Khamenei, the successor to Qassem Soleimani as Quds Force commander, and a half dozen scientists employed by the Iranian government, died in these attacks, all with the credibly alleged agreement of the White House administration. The Pentagon was sufficiently engaged with the bombings last night that its local Pizza delivery shops were noticeably busier than usual in the hours leading up to the explosions. This is apparently a recognized signal that events are about to unfold.
The Region
Re: The Region
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
Re: The Region
Israel’s defence minister said on Thursday that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “can no longer be allowed to exist” after Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Israel Katz told journalists in Holon near Tel Aviv: Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed – he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... -officials
Clearly this is not a matter where my knowledge exceeds that of Israel Katz but I note the improbability that Iran has ever targetted any hospital at all, much less that such an action was personally ordered by Iran's Head of State. Quite frankly I question the truth of his assertion.
It is, rather, tied up with Israel Katz himself as Defence Minister, in which role he has directly overseen what has become the largest number of non-combatant civilian killings of women and children within hospitals in world history (as qualified below). That's a statement I have no doubt about whatever. I'd welcome informed discussion on the contrast. "Killings", for the sake of clarity, involve human agency, in this case the IDF. Deaths that aren't killings are a natural outcome of hospitals and have nothing to do with my observation.
The only qualification I'd make to "world history" is the scope of engagements by military units within an identifiable period of conflict, by which I exclude the potential exceptions of Cambodia and Rwanda. In this period in Gaza there have been 136 documented hospital strikes (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Occupied Palestinian Territory); an estimated 64,260 traumatic deaths (41% higher than reported figures) with 59% being women, children and the elderly which represents unprecedented civilian casualties in modern urban warfare; there is a deliberate strategic lack of granular body counts on the part of the occupying force; and the Likud defence ministers over this entire period capable of preventing this IDF policy have been Yoav Gallant and, for the last seven months, Israel Katz.
Defence ministers establish rules of engagement, targeting and strategic priorities. They determine whether civilian protection is prioritized or subordinated to military objectives. The decision to systematically target hospital infrastructure, irrespective of claimed military justification, represents a strategic choice requiring ministerial-level authorization. Under international humanitarian law, defence ministers bear command responsibility for ensuring IDF compliance with Geneva Conventions protections for medical facilities. This isn't optional, it's a legal obligation that comes with the position.
And, for the elimination of doubt, this post has no antisemitic content. Criticism of Israel's national policy gets weaponized responses of antisemitism. This disclaimer shouldn't be necessary for legitimate analysis of documented events but given the level of discussion today it may have become so.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.