Netanyahu says Israel has 'activated' some Palestinian clans in the fight against Hamas
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has 'activated' some local clans of Palestinians in Gaza in the fight against Hamas.
In a video posted to his X account, Netanyahu said the government made the move on the advice of 'security officials,' in order to save lives of Israeli soldiers.
The announcement came hours after a political opponent criticized him for arming unofficial groups of Palestinians in Gaza.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What we know about the killing of Palestinians at a food point in Gaza
On Sunday, at least 31 Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces opened fire at the site of a food distribution centre in Rafah, Gaza, according to witnesses. On Monday, another three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at the same site, according to health officials and a witness. And on Tuesday, 27 people were killed after Israeli forces opened fire again, say Gaza officials. The incidents have intensified criticism of the new system for distributing supplies in Gaza, run by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) rather than by the UN or well-established aid organisations. The UN's human rights chief, Volker Türk, said on Tuesday that Palestinians in Gaza now faced an impossible choice: 'Die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available.' The attacks on civilians, he added, constituted a war crime. All three incidents unfolded in the same area, near the al-Alam roundabout, about 1km from the GHF distribution centre in Rafah. The Israeli military is not present on the site itself – where armed American contractors are in charge – but it controls the surrounding areas. On Sunday, rescuers and witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire as people congregated before going to pick up food parcels. Israel denied firing 'near or within' the site, but an Israeli military source later acknowledged that 'warning shots were fired towards several suspects' about 1km away. The GHF denied that there were any 'injuries, fatalities or incidents' during its operations. Gaza's civil defence agency reported that 31 people were killed, with another 176 wounded. On Monday, the Israeli military again acknowledged firing warning shots towards 'suspects who advanced toward the troops and posed a threat to them'. Three people were killed, said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and dozens more injured. On Tuesday, witnesses said that the shooting started at about 4am local time, as crowds started to gather in the hope of getting food before the centre ran out for the day. Mohammed al-Shaer told AFP that 'the Israeli army fired shots into the air, then began shooting directly at the people', with a helicopter and drones present as the crowd approached a barrier separating them from the Israeli forces. The IDF said 'suspects' failed to retreat after warning fire and 'additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced towards the troops'. A statement claimed that they were not following 'designated access routes' to the GHF site. The GHF says civilians should arrive via a single coastal road, a route that one expert told the BBC was neither 'safe nor effective'. Local health officials put the death toll at 27 so far, including at least three children. Mohammed Saqr, the head of nursing at Nasser hospital, which received the bodies, told the Guardian that they had shrapnel wounds which appeared consistent with being targeted by tanks or artillery. Accounts from the scene suggest that besides the conduct of the Israeli forces, there are other factors exacerbating the situation. Food is reportedly running out very early each day, adding to the chaos as people desperately try to secure supplies for themselves and their families. Even if all of the GHF sites were opened, large numbers of people needing support would be congregating in a very few places; with only one site up and running since Friday and only one access route allowed, that effect is worsened. Then there is the sheer physical difficulty of the journey for those living further away. 'It takes three or four hours to reach the distribution point from here,' said Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza City. 'There are tens of thousands of people waiting to get a very limited amount of food parcels, and so there is a rush. There is no system; they just open the gate and tell people to go. The mechanism excludes older people, women with children, the sick, people with disabilities.' GHF says it has distributed just over 7m meals so far. It says that it will continue to increase its operations in the days ahead. But on Tuesday night it said that all of its distribution centres would be closed on Wednesday for 'update, organisation, and efficiency improvement work'. The Israeli military said that while the sites were closed, the areas leading to them would be considered 'combat zones'. The fact that food is running out so early each day is testament to how badly supply is outstripped by desperate demand. As of 12 May, almost all of the population of about 2.1 million were facing acute hunger, according to Unicef; one in five were facing starvation, and about 71,000 children and 17,000 mothers needed urgent treatment for acute malnutrition. Coverage of the war in Gaza is constrained by Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists and a bar on international reporters entering the Gaza Strip to report independently on the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza since 7 October 2023, unless they are under Israeli military escort. Reporters who join these trips have no control over where they go, and other restrictions include a bar on speaking to Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinian journalists and media workers inside Gaza have paid a heavy price for their work reporting on the war, with over 160 killed since the conflict began. The committee to protect journalists has determined that at least 19 of them 'were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders'. Foreign reporters based in Israel filed a legal petition seeking access to Gaza, but it was rejected by the supreme court on security grounds. Private lobbying by diplomats and public appeals by prominent journalists and media outlets have been ignored by the Israeli government. To ensure accurate reporting from Gaza given these restrictions, the Guardian works with trusted journalists on the ground; our visual teams verify photo and videos from third parties; and we use clearly sourced data from organisations that have a track record of providing accurate information in Gaza during past conflicts, or during other conflicts or humanitarian crises. Emma Graham-Harrison, chief Middle East correspondent While the GHF has sought to emphasise the amount of food it has distributed so far, there are reasons to be sceptical that it will soon be able to start running the sites in a more orderly way. Its founding executive director, Jake Wood, quit last week, saying that it could not operate in a way that followed 'humanitarian principles'; on Tuesday, he was replaced by the Rev Dr Johnnie Moore. Donald Trump appointed Moore as a commissioner for international religious freedom, but Moore has no apparent experience of complex aid operations. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that Boston Consulting Group, which helped design the programme, had withdrawn its team working in Tel Aviv. Sources close to the operation told the Post that 'it would be difficult for the foundation to continue to function without the consultants who helped create it'. As the situation worsens, Israel is facing growing diplomatic pressure from the UK, other European countries and Canada. But the Trump administration continues to offer its unflagging support, and is likely to veto a UN security council resolution demanding unfettered access for aid operations on Wednesday. In those circumstances, it is difficult to see how the situation on the ground will improve. 'People have no option but to keep coming,' Shawa said. 'They will be back tomorrow in search of food. But they will pay a price to get it, and the price is in lives.'
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ms Rachel says she'll risk career to advocate for children in Gaza
Ms Rachel, the children's entertainer and educator whose YouTube videos have been watched by millions of families around the world, said she is willing to risk her career to keep advocating for suffering children in Gaza. In an interview with WBUR, a Boston-based public radio station, Ms Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, said she had received pushback for speaking out to raise awareness of the situation in Gaza, where more than 54,000 people have been killed in Israel's ongoing military assault. But Accurso said she would continue to advocate for children's safety. Related: Gaza's youngest influencer aged 11 among children killed by Israeli strikes 'I wouldn't be Ms Rachel if I didn't deeply care about all kids. And I would risk everything, and I will risk my career over and over to stand up for them. It's all about the kids for me,' Accurso told WBUR. The UN has described Gaza as 'the hungriest place on Earth', and warned that the Palestinian territory's entire population is at risk of famine. Accurso said she had recently met with Palestinian women whose children were suffering in Gaza. 'When you sit with a mother who's FaceTiming her boys in Gaza who don't have food, and you see that anguish and you are there with her, it really moves you – I'm sorry to get emotional – to do everything you can for her,' she said. 'And of course, you say: 'I need to do more. What can I do to help?' I do have a big platform, and I look at it as a responsibility.' In April, a pro-Israel group urged the US attorney general to investigate Accurso over her messaging about children suffering in Gaza, and Accurso has been criticized by rightwing media and commentators. Asked about the criticism, Accurso said: 'It's really painful. And I have to remind myself that people don't know my heart, and people try to tell you who you are, but you know who you are. And I know how deeply and equally I care for all children, and I do lean on my faith in that situation. 'I care so deeply about every child. As a teacher, you have children from many different places, especially in New York City, and you care exactly the same about them. That's the basis of everything for me, is that children are equal, that they all deserve everything they need to thrive.' Accurso said in May 2024 that she had faced 'bullying' after launching a fundraiser for children in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In April of this year, Accurso donated $1m to World Food Program USA, which provides meals for starving people in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and 11 other impoverished countries, after the Trump administration said it would end funding to the program.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Dawn French apologises for 'mocking tone' in video about Israel-Hamas conflict
Dawn French has apologised and taken down a video she posted about the war in Gaza after facing backlash. The popular actress and comedian said she apologised "unreservedly" after posting a video in a "mocking tone". In the original 40-second clip, the Vicar of Dibley star said: "Complicated, no, but nuanced. But bottom line is no." Then, using a different tone, she went on: "Yeah, but you know they did a bad thing to us, yeah but no. "But we want that land... and we have history... No. "Those people aren't really even people, are they really? No." On Saturday afternoon, she issued an apology, saying that in an effort to convey "an important message" she had "clumsily used a mocking tone". "My intention was NEVER to mock, or dismiss, or diminish the horror of what happened on 7 October 2023," she posted on X and Instagram. She said her intention was to "point the finger of shame at the behaviour of the cruel leader on ALL sides of this atrocious war". French faced criticised after her initial post. Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was "saddened" by it. She said: "This mocking voice 'bad thing' of October 7 that Dawn (who I revere by the way) appears ro [sic] be mocking involved the most horrific terrorist attack." Read more from Sky News: MP Rosie Duffield responded to Oberman's post, saying: "One can, and should hate what is happening in Gaza and also condemn the hideous events of October 7th. "It is agonising to see events unfold, and requires extremely careful, measured and well-considered comments and actions. This is not that." Some social media users tried to pressure M&S, who French voices adverts for, over the incident. In October 2023, Hamas led other militant groups in a cross-border attack, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 people hostage. Since then, Israel has launched a number of large-scale campaigns in the region, including in Gaza where over 54,000 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave. Many of these are said to be women and children. Israel claims to be targeting militants and blames collateral deaths on Hamas fighters positioning themselves in densely populated areas.
