Israeli military kills 15 in Gaza as US marks Independence Day
Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an airstrike on a tent encampment west of the city around 2am, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Later on Friday, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight.
"The ceasefire will come, and I have lost my brother? There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was among those killed.
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IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
War, lies, and amapiano
President Bill Clinton must have been a lucky man. In his first term of office, he met with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, following the latter's election as his country's head of government. Image: Bebeto Matthews/File/AP IT could have been Aeschylus, the Greek tragedian or Phillip Gibbs, the journalist who covered the First World War, who probably coined the all-time enduring aphorism. During war, the first casualty is the truth. Whoever it was is purely academic. It is the prophetic accuracy of the quote attributed to both which is the hallmark of the US empire. The energy that fuels the current global order is wholly predicated on layers and layers of quasi-truths, catechismic recitations and just pure unadulterated lies. After all, with so much military power, lies rank least in the hierarchy of the empire's problems. These opaque reams of deception have compacted for so long, they have ossified into concrete like plinths that support the unipolar facade. Yarn upon yarn, they have been spun at such dizzying frequencies and complexity of detail that time has hardened their surface. And in the absence of contradicting counter narratives, especially with the dominance of the legacy media, so many generations of men and women post the two world wars have come to depend on the refined glib of their manufactured consent and the rhetoric of the captured academic institutions that shape societal consciousness. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ And for lack of alternatives, it has become intractably difficult to view the world from any other vantage. The are two alternating sides, the one far less likely than its mendacious counterpart. The more absurd and aggressive the lie is, the greater the opportunity for its acceptability. Any timid yet truthful variety cannot conceivably compete. Mark Twain was right. A lie gets halfway round the world before the truth gets the chance to put its pants on. There are little lies, ostensibly told without fear of consequence. And there are big lies, reserved no doubt, to start wars or casually justify them. However, there are many other frequent deceptive quips randomly churned out by the system's inbred algorithms designed to embellish the insidiousness of the US hegemony. President Bill Clinton must have been a lucky man. In his first term of office, he met with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, following the latter's election as his country's head of government. In that much-reported encounter, Clinton is said to have famously retorted, 'who the hell is the superpower here?', a rebuke which must have incensed his visitor. So soon thereafter, he literally survived two Epstein-esque operations. Every so often, when Monica Lewinsky returned from Tel Aviv, she would meet her 'friend', a deep state Pentagon operative named Linda Tripp. After a dress with a sputtering of what was vaunted as Presidential spermatozoids got paraded before the media, and many tape recordings between Monica and Linda nestled in the hands of Bibi Netanyahu, President Clinton narrowly survived an impeachment attempt. Whether or not the beret-wearing intern was consciously party to an intel operation or was a mole herself is both unclear and possibly irrelevant. Nor can it be said with prescience that it was an operation at all, notwithstanding the causality and sequentiality of events. For the damsel in distress, however, she casually sauntered out of the scene and landed herself a job in Tel-a-Viv. Epstein 1.0. Check! With the mission unaccomplished, the real Epstein showed up on a 2.0 version on steroids, replete with private jets, verdant islands and many more exotic offerings besides. The problem is, this Epstein fellow is said to have relinquished his task without honours and exited the stage in a huff. And Patel, not of the Glengarry leads, is sternly corroborated by Bongino, his deputy at the FBI, that Jeffrey, the scion of the Epsteins, egressed unassisted. The American blend of hegemony has a distinguishably strong flavour, as deceitful as it is violent. When Great Britain's empire was underway, as equally deceitful as it was similarly violent, it had other competing powers in other hemispheres. France and Spain come to mind. For its coverage and influence, the British imperialist footprint lent depth to the definition of hegemony, an attribution which could not be enjoyed by Portugal, Spain or France, for that matter. Their collective reach on other hemispheres marked the tolerance and strategic restraint of British dominance in trade and warfare. The US hegemony has other plans, however. Unlike the British experiment, it has no margin of tolerance for competition at all. If the Monroe doctrine defined the need for an American near abroad and spheres of influence, Wolfowitz for his part, redefined the concept in his own image, and turned the entire globe into an American near abroad. For that redefinition to hold, the United States of America, the only country called 'America' among 35 countries dotting the two eponymously named hemispheres, needs acres and acres of lies to sustain it. Donald J Trump has a name for it, whose prosaic brilliance betrays the hubris of the empire's adventurism. 'Obliterated!' The essence of the furore that ensues from 'obliterated', or its meaning, is playing out in the United States with ferocity. And it has united all the warring parties instead of dividing them. With the exception of a few, it confirms the US hatred for Iran and the US administration's commitment to its military project called Israel. Joe Biden, even in his much publicised fog of senility, was convinced that if there was no Israel, America would create one. On the one side of the obliteration divide are Trump's acolytes, who claim that Iran's nuclear sites and capabilities are gone forever. And perhaps that would eschew Trump from going back to Iran for other targeted strikes. And on the same side, too, are the more rational intellectual voices which can appreciate the dilemma of the tyranny of deception. For them, the obliteration lie must go on so that no war must be contemplated against the people of Iran. The other side of that divide is inhabited by neocons and war mongers. They don't believe the three nuclear sites were obliterated, nor that the resolve of the mullahs was definitively attenuated. Dead scientists or not, they are convinced that Iran is getting ready to restart the fissile centrifuges in a quick turnaround. After all, they point out with conviction that the Highly Enriched Uranium is nowhere to be found. Therefore, the US must return to Iran and finish the job. A lie that holds an entire nation together is both fragile and dangerous. It renders the entire adhesive fabric of that society fragile and their politicians dangerous. But as they say, in America, whoever you vote for, you get John McCain! Yet the opportunity to fan the flames can never be missed. Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the IAEA has a brash, aggressive and fiercely pro-Zionist President, Javier Milei. Grossi, the Argentinian diplomat, found himself in a maelstrom of accusations that he has been secretly providing intelligence on the Iranian nuclear sites, technical progression, and other sensitive geolocation information to Israeli intelligence. After the obliteration declaration by Trump, the Iranians have banned the IAEA from monitoring their sites.
IOL News
3 hours ago
- IOL News
Can Trump's unpredictable diplomacy lead to lasting peace?
Of all the accusations President Trump may face, he surely deserves credit for effort, at least, to end conflicts, particularly the Ukraine war. Image: AFP US President Donald Trump attracts an avalanche of international scrutiny for all the right reasons — he is, after all, the commander-in-chief of the world's most potent army and presides over an economy with significant global influence. Washington's penchant for a cantankerous foreign policy that is replete with unpredictability is also an added reason to the long list of why the US matters the most in international relations. However, of all the accusations President Trump may face, he surely deserves credit for effort, at least, to end conflicts, particularly the Ukraine war. His surprise telephone call to his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, this week, reveals the side of the US President that confirms his unpredictable human nature. The one minute, he is bombing Iran under the guise of thwarting Tehran's nuclear programme. The very next minute, he unilaterally announces the pending resumption of talks between the US and Iran aimed at ending the simmering tensions and military confrontation. Typically, Trump seems to revel in leaving his friends and foes alike wondering what his next move will be. Like a hurricane, he leaves everyone scrambling for cover in his wake. In East Central Africa, President Trump has recently succeeded, almost out of the blue, to bring about a peace treaty between long-term neighbouring adversaries in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the International Rescue Committee, from 1998-2007, an estimated 5.4 million people died as a result of conflict in the DRC, Africa's foremost producer of minerals and rare earths. Throughout many years until recently, Rwanda stood accused of providing military support to the notorious rebel group, the M23, that seeks to topple the DRC's democratically elected government. The African Union (AU) has been woefully unable to end the DRC conflict. The regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has attempted to halt the war through military intervention. However, the SADC army has been thoroughly overrun by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, causing a major continental embarrassment as purported peace-keeping soldiers were forced to cut and run with tails between their legs. It has thus taken great effort from the Trump administration to intervene, and successfully so, in bringing the warring sides to Washington a fortnight ago to put pen to paper, thereby creating a rare sense of normalcy to Africa's territory that has so far known only terror. Granted, Trump's endorsement and material support for the Israeli genocide against Gaza leave too much to be desired. With naked impunity and US diplomatic cover, Israel continues to extinguish helpless Palestinians on whose plight the world, except South Africa, has deliberately turned a blind eye. So far, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — aided by the US and EU — has killed nearly 60 000 Gazans since 2023. Nearly 20 000 of the victims are innocent children, including newborn babies in understaffed hospitals that the Western NGO's have elected to ignore. Methinks that if Trump never receives a Nobel Peace Prize, he so desperately aspires, Gaza will be the singular cause for that failure. But then again, nothing in life is ever 100% good or bad, at least in my book. Despite Trump's glaring litany of shortcomings, his unexpected nearly one-hour telephone call to President Putin, during which the elephant in the room was how to end the war in Ukraine, deserves merit. It happened during a time when some in Europe and Nato are desperately investing their time and resources in propaganda to peddle Russophobia, creating an atmosphere of foreboding fear about unsubstantiated claims of Moscow's dreaded secret intentions to conquer Europe one territory after the other. The Kremlin has consistently dismissed the war-mongering Western drums, dismissing the claims simply as ludicrous. During the Trump-Putin call, according to the Russian Presidential Aide, Yuri Ushakov, the discussions were cordial and meaningful and, above all, goal-oriented. Of greater importance, Trump raised 'the issue of an early end to hostilities in Ukraine'. In return, President Putin stressed that 'Russia continues to seek a negotiated solution to the Ukrainian conflict'. Although other issues were also discussed, the spirit of conviviality that characterised the discussion and their clear convergence of standpoints hint at the renewed path and hope that the road to a peace deal is getting clearer by the day. Finally, thanks to Trump, there is a thaw in bilateral relations between the two nuclear powers. Furthermore, the jovial discussions took place during a week in which Trump suspended the supply of US arms deliveries to Ukraine. This included a pause in the delivery of several critical munitions to Ukraine, including the patriot interceptors. Reports attributed the decision to Washington's concerns over dwindling US stockpiles. In my view, it matters less what the real reason could be. The move expedites the push toward the attainment of the much-needed truce in the Ukraine conflict. Too many lives have been lost, and unless there is a halt to the hostilities, and pretty soon, Ukraine could end up as one gigantic heap of rubble. The Trump administration's moves in global affairs, of course, affect every nation. But the greatest effects are inevitably felt across Europe, where Washington's traditional allies find themselves at the receiving end of devastating imposition of tariffs on various goods by the Trump administration. Additionally, at the level of Nato, the unity that until recently held the bloc together is rapidly disintegrating. Nato is no longer certain that, under Trump, the US still adheres to Article 5, which refers to 'an attack on one is an attack on all'. Instead, Trump has implored Europe to pull itself by the bootstraps and increase military expenditure to 5% of each country's GDP. This is a tall order. At the moment, many EU economies are reeling, and any expenditure on arms ahead of welfare, healthcare and social services is highly likely to trigger upheavals. This eventuality, the EU politicians are not prepared to face. Washington's push for peace in Ukraine has also forced Europe to rethink its aggressive propaganda against Russia, and instead, restart ways to seek a negotiated settlement. This week's out-of-the-blue call by the French President Emmanuel Macron to President Putin — the first in a long time — signalled Europe's acceptance that, without the US backing, the EU can no longer continue to threaten Russia with military force. Macron's call to his Russian counterpart follows the EU's years of demanding Russia's defeat, sending Scalp missiles, and spewing anti-Putin rhetoric. These latest moves, and a rare posture that cries out for peace talks, are a drastic change in the EU's foreign policy toward Moscow. The unprecedented barrage of economic sanctions that the EU had imposed on Moscow at the behest of the Biden administration has had a boomerang effect on Europe. It has caused EU economies to contract, such as Germany, and at the same time, the Russian economy flourished in spite of the sanctions. Europe's talk of going it alone if President Trump pushes for peace has dissipated very quickly. So has the talk of the so-called Coalition of the Willing led by the UK and France's Macron, aka 'Little Napoleon'. War talk, seemingly, has short legs. And now, as peace looms ever so large on the horizon, Moscow is insisting that the West address the fundamental causes of the Ukraine conflict, which is NATO's expansion eastward, especially to Russia's doorstep.
TimesLIVE
5 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Israeli military kills 15 in Gaza as US marks Independence Day
At least 15 Palestinians were killed overnight in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, according to local health officials, as US President Donald Trump said he expected Hamas to respond to his "final proposal" for a ceasefire in Gaza in the next 24 hours. Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an airstrike on a tent encampment west of the city around 2am, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Later on Friday, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight. "The ceasefire will come, and I have lost my brother? There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was among those killed.
