Journalists seriously injured in Israeli drone strike in Rafah
NewsFeed An Israeli drone strike has targeted two journalists in Muraj, north of Rafah, including Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent, Ismail Abu Omar who doctors say is in a critical condition. Published On 13 Feb 202413 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
South Africa urges ICJ to consider action on Israel’s planned Rafah assault
World Court asked to order additional emergency measures ahead of an assault on Gaza city crammed with displaced people. South Africa says it has asked the World Court to consider whether Israel’s plan to extend its offensive in the Gaza Strip into the densely populated southern city of Rafah requires additional emergency measures to protect Palestinians. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip in a case brought by South Africa. Israel has denied all allegations of genocide in connection with its assault on Gaza and asked the court to reject the case outright, saying it respects international law and has a right to defend itself against Hamas, the group that governs Gaza. The South African Government has made an urgent request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to consider whether the decision announced by Israel to extend its military operations in Rafah, which is the last refuge for surviving people in Gaza, requires that the court uses… — #SONA2024 | Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) February 13, 2024 Israel said it is planning to expand its ground assault into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge from the offensive that has laid waste to much of the enclave since Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7. “In a request submitted to the court yesterday [Monday], the South African government said it was gravely concerned that the unprecedented military offensive against Rafah, as announced by the State of Israel, has already led to and will result in further large-scale killing, harm and destruction,” a statement issued by South Africa’s presidency said. “This would be in serious and irreparable breach both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court’s Order of January 26.” There was no immediate comment from The Hague-based ICJ. In past cases, the ICJ has sometimes granted additional emergency measures when circumstances on the ground had changed. ‘Additional measures’ The court has not yet ruled on the core of the case brought by South Africa – whether genocide has occurred in Gaza. But it recognised the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide. The court also ordered Israel to allow in much-needed humanitarian aid, including fuel. Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Johannesburg, said there has always been questions about whether the original order by the ICJ would be followed. “While the order was given, there’s always been concern around monitoring and implementation and if Israel would pull back, which we haven’t seen yet,” Miller said. “South Africa is saying Israel is already in breach of the order, which was given several weeks ago, and … wants the court to put in place additional measures,” she added. “South Africa is asking for a declaration that would ultimately protect Palestinian lives.” The day South Africa filed its request, Israeli forces attacked 14 houses and three mosques in Rafah, killing dozens of people and prompting hundreds of displaced families to flee. On Tuesday, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Abu Omar and photojournalist Ahmed Matar were wounded in an Israeli drone attack in the Miraj area, north of Rafah. The area had been designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military, causing Palestinians from across Gaza to flee there. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 28,473 people, more than 70 percent of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials. About 80 percent of the population has been displaced, and a humanitarian catastrophe has pushed more than a quarter of the population towards starvation. Adblock test (Why?)
Hezbollah chief says only Gaza ceasefire will end Lebanon border attacks
Cross-border shelling into Israel will only end when Israel’s ‘aggression’ on Gaza stops, Hassan Nasrallah says. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said that his armed group’s cross-border shelling into Israel would only end when Israel’s “aggression” on the Gaza Strip stops, saying diplomatic efforts so far to bring a halt to hostilities along Lebanon’s border seemed to only benefit Israel. The Lebanese armed group has been trading fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which launched a cross-border assault from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7 that met heavy Israeli bombardment by land, air and sea. Nasrallah said on Tuesday his group would only stop its exchanges of fire if a full ceasefire was reached for Gaza. “On that day, when the shooting stops in Gaza, we will stop the shooting in the south,” he said in a televised address. There are growing fears of another full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, with tens of thousands displaced on both sides of the border and regional tensions soaring. Late last month, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli troops would “very soon go into action” near the country’s northern border with Lebanon. Recent weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity in Beirut, with foreign ministers including from Germany, France and the United Kingdom visiting in efforts to dial down tensions. Nasrallah said many foreign “delegations” had travelled to Beirut with “proposals” to end hostilities in southern Lebanon, but said they only seemed to “have one goal, which is: the security of Israel, the protection of Israel”. France’s foreign minister delivered a written proposal to Beirut that calls for fighters including Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit to withdraw 10km (six miles) from the border, among other measures, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a document. Without specifying the French proposal, Nasrallah said one delegation had “presented a paper as a mediator”. “You read the paper – there’s nothing. There’s Israel’s security,” he said. “Let nobody think Lebanon is weak and afraid, or that they can impose conditions” including over the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters, Nasrallah said. He added that if Israel widened the war further in Lebanon, his group would do the same. He warned that if Israel decided to wage war on Lebanon, those displaced from northern Israel “will not return” and Israeli officials should “prepare shelters, hotels, schools and tents for two million people” who would be displaced. Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that “time is running out” to reach a diplomatic solution in southern Lebanon. “Israel will act militarily to return the evacuated citizens” to its northern border area if no diplomatic solution is reached, he said. The cross-border shelling has killed about 200 people in Lebanon, including more than 170 Hezbollah fighters, as well as 10 Israeli troops and five Israeli civilians. Adblock test (Why?)
Riot police fire tear gas on farmers protesting in India
NewsFeed Police in India have fired tear gas at protesting farmers on the Haryana-Punjab state border. The farmers have organised a march to the capital New Delhi to demand greater government support and guaranteed prices for their produce. Published On 13 Feb 202413 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine’s new army chief is known as the ‘butcher’. Can he beat Russia?
The new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi has built a fearsome reputation as a military commander in the war with Russia, but he faces some major challenges, including how to mobilise new forces and combat corruption in the ranks. Over the past week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired most of his top generals in an attempt to “reset” management of the country’s decimated, undermanned and undersupplied armed forces. The list of 15 dismissed generals includes the popular commander-in-chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who has been replaced by Syrskyi – described by some as a “butcher” with little regard for loss of human life. Some heads of combined forces, military reserve, ground and airborne forces, along with some of their deputies and advisers, have survived the cull. “The first thought is that this is an absolutely unprecedented action,” said Nikolay Mitrokhin of Germany’s Bremen University, who has been writing detailed analyses of the Russia-Ukraine war since the conflict began in 2022. “Apparently, it was coordinated with the new commander-in-chief, Syrskyi, who named the people he would want to work with as a team,” Mitrokhin told Al Jazeera. The wave of dismissals follows the failure of last year’s counteroffensive to regain Russian-occupied areas in southern and eastern Ukraine, corruption scandals, dire delays to Western military aid and chaotic management of the armed forces. However, the scale of dismissals reflects the way Zelenskyy has been managing Ukraine since coming to power in 2019. “It’s very much in Zelenskyy’s style with his decision to ‘fire ’em all’, not only those who failed their work, but even those who belong to the wrong generation or team,” Mitrokhin said. The only top officers who have kept their jobs are the ones who commanded successful operations against the Russian fleet on the Black Sea, along with some heads of the air force and air defence force who “demonstrate success or stability in repelling Russian attacks”, he said. Newly appointed top military commanders pose with President Zelenskyy after a meeting in Kyiv on February 10, 2024 [Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters] Challenges ahead The new top brass faces a string of challenges – and mobilisation is number one. Kyiv does not disclose its battlefield casualties, but Washington believes Ukraine has lost at least 70,000 servicemen. The now-dismissed Zaluzhnyi had wanted to mobilise 500,000 men, but Zelenskyy rejected the idea fearing popular protests and citing limitations in training, housing and arming. Thousands of Ukrainian men of fighting age are believed to have bribed their way out of the country – or crossed Ukraine’s borders illegally, either by land or even by swimming across the ice-cold waters of the Prut River near Moldova. Some conscription officers have been arrested after receiving bribes of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to “free” someone from military service and have now amassed enormous assets in Ukraine and abroad. Zelenskyy fired each regional conscription officer, replacing them with battle-tested veterans vetted by intelligence services. But the new appointees failed to mobilise enough men for the 1,000km-long front line amid devastating losses of manpower. Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with Zaluzhnyi on February 8, 2024; just days later, the latter has been replaced by Syrskyi [Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP] ‘This man sent me to die like meat’ Meanwhile, some servicemen are snubbing the shake-up of Ukraine’s top brass. One seasoned veteran who enlisted in 2014, after pro-Russian separatists took up arms against Kyiv in the southeastern Donbas region, and had just returned from the front line, was especially dismissive about new top general Syrskyi. “This man sent me to die as if I were meat,” he told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, saying the servicemen who complain about their superiors or corruption end up dispatched to the most dangerous front-line spots to be killed. He claimed that medical doctors are instructed to ignore life-threatening wounds and injuries. “A man lost two legs and still was deemed fit for service,” he said. Other servicemen have reportedly complained about Syrskyi’s “butcher” tactics of neglecting human losses. Syrskyi addressed these concerns in his first public speech on the new job. “The life and health of servicemen has always been and is the main value of the Ukrainian army,” Syrskyi said on February 9. The former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Syrskyi is indeed “harsher” than his predecessor. “Judging by his previous actions, he has a harsher approach in preparing and organising action and in holding his subordinates accountable,” Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko told Al Jazeera. However, Syrskyi “is very scrupulous in preparing for hostilities, he goes into details, thoroughly studies matters of supply and so on”, Romanenko said. Syrskyi gives instructions in a shelter in Soledar, the site of heavy battles with the Russian forces, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, January 8, 2023 [Roman Chop/AP] Major successes under Syrskyi While heading land forces, Syrskyi has been credited with two significant successes. One was the defence of Kyiv in February and March 2022, when tens of thousands of Russian soldiers tried to encircle the capital from the north. Under Syrskyi’s command, small and highly autonomous groups of servicemen and irregular forces attacked Russian troops and armoured vehicles, cut off their supply lines and used drones for reconnaissance and surprise attacks. One such serviceman was Bohdan Yavorsky, whose group of two dozen men ambushed a column of armoured vehicles in the northern Kyiv suburb of Bucha. They immobilised the column by bombing the first and last vehicles and showering the rest with grenades and Molotov cocktails before speeding away and calling in an air raid to destroy the rest of the vehicles. “This crap was stinking in the centre of Bucha for a month until it was removed,” Yavorsky told Al Jazeera in August 2022. Syrskyi’s second big success was also in 2022, when he clandestinely amassed light infantry in the eastern Kharkiv region to break through Russian defences and liberate the entire region
Iran simulates strike on Israeli base as it showcases naval force
The display is seen as a clear message to Israel and the US as the war in Gaza spreads tensions across the region. Tehran, Iran – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has simulated a strike on a major Israeli airbase, making a show of its naval capabilities. Footage aired by state television on Tuesday showed that the IRGC fired a range of munitions from ships and submarines. The wargame appears a clear message as Israel’s war on Gaza escalates and tensions rise across the region. The footage showed that the IRGC launched missiles from two locations at a re-creation of the Palmachim airbase in Israel. The base is a critical operations centre for the war on Gaza. It has fighter jets in multiple hangars and receives wounded Israeli soldiers for treatment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at Palmachim last month that Tel Aviv will not hesitate to attack Iran. A large number of at least two variants of long-range ballistic missiles, Emad and Qadr, were shown being launched and hitting targets with a claimed precision of under 4 metres (13ft). State television called Palmachim in central Israel the “largest airbase of the Zionist regime in occupied territories”. IRGC commander-in-chief Hossein Salami said the force for the first time has succeeded in launching long-range ballistic missiles from a warship. “This new achievement increases the range of our naval influence and power to any desired location because our ocean-traversing warships can be at any point in the oceans,” he said. “There will be no safe place for any power that wants to create insecurity for us.” 🚀 شلیک موشک بالستیک دزفول از ناو شهید مهدوی به صورت کانتینر پرتاب pic.twitter.com/XxnojGeM3y — MESHKAT (@projectmeshkat) February 13, 2024 Translation: Firing a Dezful ballistic missile from the Shahid Mahdavi warship in a container launch. Footage carried by state television showed two long-range ballistic missiles being launched from the Shahid Mahdavi, a multi-purpose warship capable of carrying a variety of missiles, drones and radar systems. The missiles, which have a claimed range of at least 1,700km (1,056 miles), were reportedly launched from somewhere in the Sea of Oman and hit targets in a desert in central Iran. The IRGC also displayed speed boats, catamarans and submarines in action with short-range missiles launched by the former. There was no official confirmation, but the missile appears to be a variant of the Qaem, the Iranian equivalent of the US-made Hellfire missile. The IRGC also showed missiles being launched from its two recently unveiled catamarans that are capable of firing antiship cruise missiles. A torpedo launched from a submarine was shown to hit a ship. A new kamikaze drone was briefly shown being launched, which appeared to have similarities with the Lancet drones developed by Russia. Different Iranian UUVstorpedo in service of the IRGC Navy. pic.twitter.com/Elcnf93hKr — Yuri Lyamin (@imp_navigator) February 13, 2024 The display comes as the Houthis in Yemen, which Washington says are armed by Iran, disrupt global trade through the Red Sea. The Yemeni group is considered part of the “axis of resistance”, an informal, Iran-led political and military coalition in West Asia and North Africa that challenges the United States and its allies. In a post on X on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian threatened “severe consequences” for Israel if it goes through with its plan for a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, where 1.4 million Palestinians have been displaced. The Iranian diplomat was in Qatar on Tuesday in a regional tour that has taken him to Lebanon and Syria as well. He said Tehran does not want the war to get out of hand and called for a ceasefire on a trip during which he met with regional and “axis of resistance” leaders. Adblock test (Why?)
Al Jazeera journalist, cameraman wounded in Israeli strike on Gaza
Correspondent Ismail Abu Omar and cameraman Ahmad Matar in serious condition, rushed to European Hospital. Two journalists, including an Al Jazeera reporter, have been wounded in an Israeli attack north of Rafah in southern Gaza. The condition of Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Abu Omar and his cameraman Ahmad Matar was described as serious and both were transferred to the European Gaza Hospital, in Khan Younis, for treatment on Tuesday. Abu Omar has had his right leg amputated, but pieces of shrapnel remain in his head and chest. Doctors are attempting to save his left leg. He is currently in surgery after suffering significant blood loss from a possible cut in the femoral artery. The two journalists were hit by an Israeli drone strike in the Miraj area north of Rafah city. They were documenting the condition of displaced Palestinians who have been crammed into the area as Israel intensifies its attacks by land, sea and air across the besieged enclave, killing more than 28,000 people. Doctor Muhammad al-Astal, an emergency physician at the hospital, said Abu Omar’s life was at risk due to his severe injuries. Ahmed Matar, who was accompanying Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Abu Omar, in hospital [Screengrab/Sanad] Reporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said this is another tragedy hitting journalists trying to cover Israel’s war on Gaza. “They were in the field documenting the living conditions of displaced Palestinian families in that particular area, and documenting the horror that they have experienced and lived through in the past 24 hours as massive air strikes targeted major parts of Rafah city, where close to 100 people were killed,” he said. “They were directly targeted by a missile fired from a drone.” ‘Everyone is a target’ The Government Media Office in Gaza denounced the “targeting of the Al Jazeera channel crew for the fifth time”, in an attack it said was “deliberate”. “This targeting comes within the framework of intimidation of journalists,” it said, to prevent media coverage of the military offensive in Gaza. At least 126 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, while 10 journalists have been arrested, according to government figures. “This is not the first incident and we are expecting this is not the last one. There is ongoing, systematic, almost consistent attacks on journalists – there are more than 100 journalists since the beginning of this war that have been targeted,” Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud reported. “There are no terms to this genocidal war. Everyone is a target.” Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh was wounded in an Israeli drone strike in December in which Al Jazeera Arabic’s cameraperson Samer Abudaqa was killed while they were reporting in southern Gaza. Dahdouh lost his wife Amna, son Mahmoud, daughter Sham and grandson Adam in October after an Israeli air raid hit the home they were sheltering in at the Nuseirat refugee camp, after being displaced from their house in Gaza City. In January, the veteran journalist’s eldest son, Hamza, also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed by an Israeli missile strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)
Ethiopian forces killed ‘at least 45 citizens’ in Amhara, rights body says
The Amhara violence is Ethiopia’s most serious crisis since a 2022 peace agreement ended war in neighbouring Tigray. Ethiopia’s federal security forces killed at least 45 civilians in a massacre in Amhara state in late January, the independent state-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on Tuesday. A statement said the EHRC had confirmed “the identity of at least 45 civilians who were extrajudicially killed by government security forces for allegedly ‘supporting [ethnic Amhara armed group] Fano’.” “However, it can be assumed that the number of victims is even higher,” it said. The killings in the Amhara town of Merawi follow months of clashes last year between Ethiopia’s military and Fano, a “self defence” organisation with no publicly known command structure that draws volunteers from the local population. The fighting prompted the federal government to impose a state of emergency in August that politicians extended by four months, this month. There has also been a rise in deadly drone activity in the region. Tewodrose Tirfe, chairman of the United States-based advocacy group Amhara Association of America, told Al Jazeera in December that his organisation has accumulated data on about 70 drone strikes that caused civilian casualties in the Amhara region since May. The Ethiopian army is the only operator of armed drones in the Horn of Africa country, Last week, the United States said it was deeply concerned by reports of “targeted civilian killings” in Merawi and called for an independent investigation. The Amhara violence is Ethiopia’s most serious crisis since a peace agreement was signed in November 2022 to end a two-year conflict in the neighbouring region of Tigray. Amhara regional forces including Fano fought alongside federal troops against Tigrayan rebels but ties frayed in April last year when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government decided to dismantle state paramilitaries across the country. Amhara nationalists said it would weaken their region and protested against the move. In September, the EHRC accused federal government forces of carrying out extrajudicial killings in Amhara, and mass arbitrary detentions in the region and elsewhere. Adblock test (Why?)
How is satire being used to highlight Israel’s war on Gaza?
They say laughter is the best medicine. But in the face of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, can satire heal the wounds of war? Israel’s war on Gaza is far from a laughing matter, but some comedians are addressing the story head-on in their stand-up shows. It’s not because they think the destruction or deaths of thousands of Palestinians are funny or worthy of ridicule, but because they believe in the power of satire – comedy’s ability to challenge narratives, build bridges, and even help people heal through humour. Presenter: Anelise Borges Guests:Nasser Al Rayess – Comedian and creator, Habiiibi NightsJess Salomon – Comedian and former war crimes lawyerNina Kharoufeh – Stand-up comedian Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 130
Israel continues to face growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire amid mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Here’s how things stand on Tuesday, February 13, 2024: Humanitarian crisis in Gaza On Tuesday, at least five people were killed in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while four more were killed by an Israeli bomb in the Brazil neighbourhood of Rafah. A growing international chorus is calling for a ceasefire as Israel plans an assault on Rafah – home to 1.4 million people, most of whom were displaced from other parts of Gaza. Meanwhile, on the Israeli side, three soldiers were killed and two others were injured during the fighting. They were part of the 630th Battalion deployed in southern Gaza. Hala Mekdad, a 10-year-old girl, has died in the intensive care room of Nasser Hospital after electricity at the hospital was cut off overnight, according to a video shared on social media by a doctor at the hospital and verified by Al Jazeera. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip has been under siege for weeks, with Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, saying that Israeli snipers have fired at and killed people in the hospital’s yard. The bodies of several people killed near Nasser Hospital have reportedly been lying on the ground for several days as it is too unsafe to reach them, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said. Israel has described Rafah as the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the territory and signalled that its ground offensive may soon target the town on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip. At least 63 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah on Sunday overnight, ahead of the impending ground offensive. Palestinian health authorities say more than 28,000 people have been killed. More than 85 percent of Gazan residents have become homeless due to the destruction of residential buildings in Israeli strikes. A UN survey found that nearly one in 10 children under five is acutely malnourished. Regional tensions and diplomacy Israel is facing growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas. Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement “strongly” condemning “Israel’s military aggression against Rafah city in Gaza and the resulting destruction and massacre of the Palestinian people”. More than 100 people were killed in intense Israeli bombardments on Sunday overnight through to Monday. Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan discussed strategies to end the war in a meeting in Washington, DC. Biden and Netanyahu also spoke after two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said Cairo threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if troops were sent into Rafah. Separately, a cargo ship that Yemen’s Houthis struck in the Red Sea was bound for a port in Iran, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said. The ship was struck by two missiles but is “seaworthy with minor damage and no injuries to the crew”, CENTCOM added. Houthi Attack in Bab al-Mandeb On Feb. 12 from 3:30 to 3:45 a.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired two missiles from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Bab al-Mandeb. Both missiles were launched toward MV Star Iris, a Greek-owned, Marshall… pic.twitter.com/vfihRaw0rr — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 13, 2024 Occupied West Bank According to reports by Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israel set a Palestinian truck ablaze overnight in the town of Huwara, in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, Wafa also said that about 9,000 Palestinian prisoners are subjected to “unprecedented retaliatory measures”. “The Israeli Prison Service has further stripped the detainees of basic tools and means of communication with the outside world, such as television and family visits,” Wafa said. The number of settlers in the West Bank now stands at 517,407, up from 502,991 a year earlier. Additionally, the United Kingdom has also announced sanctions on four Israeli settlers accused of committing human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank after a similar move by the US this month. Announcing the asset freezes and travel and visa bans against the settlers, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “Israel must also take stronger action and put a stop to settler violence.” Adblock test (Why?)