Israel's Cabinet approves plan to take control of Gaza City
The announcement issued by the office on Friday morning said the security cabinet had approved the prime minister's proposal for defeating Hamas.
It also said the Israel Defense Forces will prepare to expand the military operation in Gaza City. The city in the northern part of the Gaza Strip used to be the largest in the enclave.
Palestinian health authorities say the death toll in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, has risen to over 61,000.
The enclave has been hit by acute shortages of food. It is feared that the expected escalation in Israel's military operation will further worsen the humanitarian situation in the area.
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Japan Times
9 hours ago
- Japan Times
Hamas hostage videos silenced Israeli media's talk of Gaza aid crisis
A growing willingness among Israeli news media to critically explore the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has all but evaporated in recent weeks after militant group Hamas released videos of two emaciated Israeli hostages. In late July, as images of starving Gazans stirred international outcry, some Israeli press and broadcasters began to carry reports on the worsening conditions there, urging a more robust aid response. Yonit Levi, the main news anchor of Channel 12, branded the humanitarian crisis in Gaza a "moral failure" live on air, and the heads of some universities and the national Holocaust memorial appealed to the government to help hungry Gazans. Israeli media has largely focused during 22 months of war on the trauma and impact on Israelis of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack, in which, according to Israeli tallies, some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Coverage has concentrated on the fate of the hostages and the casualties suffered by the Israeli army. Some Israelis welcomed Levi's comment and the spate of reports discussing conditions in Gaza as evidence of a readiness to examine the impact of the war on Palestinian civilians. But the mood in Israel hardened dramatically when, on July 31, Hamas released a video of the skeletal 21-year-old Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, weeping and in pain. It was followed three days later by a video of Evyatar David, 24, who said he was being forced to dig his own grave. The videos — which one Palestinian source said were designed to show the terrible impact of restricted aid flows in Gaza — backfired, shutting down the growing sympathy in Israel towards civilians there. Amid international condemnation of Hamas, thousands of protestors took to the streets in Israel to demand the immediate return of the hostages. About 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only around 20 of them are thought to still be alive. Uri Dagon, deputy editor-in-chief of Yisrael Hayom, Israel's most widely circulated newspaper, said that with hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, Israelis "don't have the ability to experience the pain of the other side." "I know that sounds terrible, but it's the truth," he said. Dagon accused foreign media of falling into a "campaign of lies" about starvation in Gaza: while his paper had published articles on suffering there, it emphasized that Hamas was to blame. He questioned why foreign outlets that published photos of emaciated Gazans had not given the same prominence to the harrowing images of Evyatar David. "I suggest senior editors in the international press review themselves and only then discuss how the Israeli press is conducting itself," Dagon said. Denials of starvation Polls in the wake of Oct. 7 that showed most Palestinians approved of the attack sowed anger in Israel. Videos of Gazans crowding around hostages in the immediate aftermath of the raid, filming them on their mobile phones, spitting on them and beating them also fueled lasting resentment. Harel Chorev, a senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University specializing in media and Palestinian society, said such incidents made it difficult for many Israelis to feel sympathy for people in Gaza. While international media, barred by Israel from entering Gaza, have relied on Palestinian journalists, many Israelis have little faith in their reporting. Some cite the lack of press freedom in Gaza under Hamas' authoritarian rule. Elnav Zangauker, center, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, holds a sign as she joins in a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling for a deal to free hostages held in Gaza. | AMIT ELKAYAM / THE NEW YORK TIMES "I don't think there is a famine in Gaza," said Orit Maimon, 28, a lawyer from Tel Aviv. "I don't think the situation there is ideal or very good but I don't think there is a famine." The Gaza health ministry says 222 people have died of starvation and malnutrition, including 101 children, since the war began. Right-leaning Channel 14 has devoted coverage in recent weeks to discrediting some reports of starving children. When a child featured in a front-page photograph in Britain's Daily Express newspaper was discovered to have a preexisting health condition, some Israeli outlets reacted with outrage. A poll released this month by The Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based think tank, found that 78% of Jewish Israelis think Israel is making a substantial effort to avoid Palestinian suffering while only 15% think Israel could do more and chooses not to. The Israeli offensive makes reporting in Gaza perilous. According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, a professional body, Israel has killed more than 230 journalists in Gaza since November. Those figures could not be independently verified. Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists and says many of those killed were members of militant groups working under the guise of the press. On Sunday, Israel's military said it killed an Al Jazeera journalist in an airstrike: it accused 28-year-old Anas Al Sharif of being a Hamas cell leader. Al Sharif had rejected the accusations, which Israel made before he was killed, and rights advocates said Al Sharif was targeted for his reporting. More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military campaign, according to Gaza health officials Criticism of the government Polls conducted over the course of the war found that around 70% of the Israeli public wants to see Israel make a deal to release the hostages, even if that means ending the war immediately. Several Israeli media have criticized Netanyahu's government for failing to bring the hostages home or to enunciate a clear plan for Gaza after the conflict. Among its most outspoken critics has been left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, which has also published considerable reporting on the suffering in Gaza, including investigative pieces on army operations there. In November, Netanyahu's cabinet — which includes far-right ultranationalist parties — approved a ban on officials talking to Haaretz and government advertising boycott of the paper, accusing it of supporting "the enemies of the state in the midst of a war." The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment for this story. Netanyahu's ministers have also put forward a proposal to privatize Channel 11, the public broadcaster, which a spokesperson for his Likud party criticized for serving the radical left and damaging Israelis' morale. Some media experts have warned this could have a chilling effect on media coverage of the government. Asa Shapira, head of the Marketing and Advertising studies at Tel Aviv University, said the government's actions impact what Israeli channels decide to show. While editorial decisions to focus on the fate of Israeli hostages was a response to public concern, there was also fear of attracting government disapproval, he said.
Japan Times
14 hours ago
- Japan Times
Australia's Albanese says Netanyahu 'in denial' over suffering in Gaza
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, is "in denial" about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, a day after announcing Australia would recognize a Palestinian state for the first time. Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at next month's United Nations General Assembly, Albanese said on Monday, a move that adds to international pressure on Israel after similar announcements from France, Britain and Canada. Albanese said on Tuesday the Netanyahu government's reluctance to listen to its allies contributed to Australia's decision to recognize a Palestinian state. "He again reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well, which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people," Albanese said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC, recounting a Thursday phone call with Netanyahu discussing the issue. Australia's decision to recognize a Palestinian state is conditional on commitments received from the Palestinian Authority, including that Islamist militant group Hamas would have no involvement in any future state. Albanese said last month he would not be drawn on a timeline for recognition of a Palestinian state, and has previously been wary of dividing public opinion in Australia, which has significant Jewish and Muslim minorities. But the public mood has shifted sharply after Israel said it planned to take military control of Gaza, amid increasing reports of hunger and malnutrition amongst its people. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched across Sydney's Harbour Bridge this month calling for aid deliveries in Gaza as the humanitarian crisis worsened. "This decision is driven by popular sentiment in Australia which has shifted in recent months, with a majority of Australians wanting to see an imminent end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," said Jessica Genauer, a senior lecturer in international relations at Flinders University. Neighboring New Zealand has said it is still considering whether to recognize a Palestinian state, a decision that drew sharp criticism from former Prime Minister Helen Clark on Tuesday. "This is a catastrophic situation, and here we are in New Zealand somehow arguing some fine point about whether we should recognise we need to be adding our voice to the need for this catastrophe to stop," she said in an interview with state broadcaster RNZ. "This is not the New Zealand I've known."
NHK
18 hours ago
- NHK
Australia announces plan to recognize Palestinian state
Australia has become the latest country to announce a plan to recognize the state of Palestine. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Monday that the government will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. Referring to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, Albanese urged Israel to protect civilians and ensure the provision of food and medical supplies. He said permanent forced displacement of civilians is illegal. He added that the international community is moving to establish a Palestinian state consistent with a two-state solution. Also on Monday, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced that the government will carefully weigh up its position over the next month on recognition of a state of Palestine. France has already declared its plan to recognize Palestinian statehood. Britain and Canada have said they will do so if certain conditions are met.
