Hamas and the media
Throughout the various ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, western news outlets have repeatedly blamed their failure on Hamas. This week, we hear a perspective that rarely features in the coverage – the group's own – on the negotiations and the media narratives that surround them.
Contributors:
Tahani Mustafa – Senior Palestine Analyst, International Crisis Group
Basem Naim – Politburo member, Hamas
Julie Norman – Associate Professor, University College London
Abdaljawad Omar – Lecturer, Birzeit University
Ukrainian drone strikes on multiple Russian airfields have further escalated the conflict, as peace talks come up short. Tariq Nafi reports on the messaging on the airwaves both sides of the border.
After decades of increased connectivity, screen time and addictive algorithms, more and more young people are logging off.
The Listening Post's Ryan Kohls looks at the community-based movements reevaluating their relationships with digital technology.
Featuring:
Monique Golay – Barcelona Chapter Leader, Offline Club
Hussein Kesvani – Technology and culture journalist
Adele Walton – Author, Logging Off
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Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel kills more than 70 in Gaza, including 16 in bombing family building
Israeli raids across Gaza have killed at least 75 Palestinians, with rescuers scrambling to find dozens of bodies under the rubble after the bombing of a residential building in Gaza City described by the enclave's civil defence as a 'full-fledged massacre'. Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basel told Al Jazeera that the military gave 'no warning, no alert' before Saturday's strike on the house in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City that left at least 16 people dead, including women and children. 'This is truly a full-fledged massacre … a building full of civilians,' said Basel, who added that approximately 85 people were believed to be trapped under the rubble. 'We woke up to the strikes, destruction, yelling, rocks hitting us,' said Hamed Keheel, a displaced Palestinian at the site, noting that the attack had taken place on the second day of the Eid al-Adha festival. 'This is the occupation,' he said. 'Instead of waking up to cheer our children and dress them up to enjoy Eid, we wake up to carry women and children's bodies from under rubble.' Local resident Hassan Alkhor told Al Jazeera that the building belonged to the Abu Sharia family. 'May God hold the Israeli forces and [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu accountable,' he said. The Israeli military said afterwards that it had killed Asaad Abu Sharia, the leader of the Mujahideen Brigades, who it claimed had participated in the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023, according to a report in the Times of Israel published Saturday. Hamas confirmed the killing in a statement shared on Telegram, saying that Abu Sharia's brother, Ahmed Abu Sharia, had also been assassinated in the attack, which it said was 'part of a series of brutal massacres against civilians'. Also on Saturday, Israeli forces killed at least eight Palestinians waiting near an aid distribution site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in southern Gaza's Rafah, the latest in a series of deadly incidents around the group's operations that have killed 118 people and left others missing in less than two weeks. Gaza resident Samir Abu Hadid told the AFP news agency that thousands of people had gathered at the al-Alam roundabout near the aid site. 'As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli [forces] opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,' Abu Hadid said. One woman told Al Jazeera her husband had been killed in the attack after going to the aid point to get 'a handful of rice for our starving children'. 'He said he felt he was walking towards death, I begged him not to leave. He insisted to find anything to feed our children,' she said. The GHF, a shadowy United States-backed private group engaged by Israel to distribute aid under the protection of its troops and security contractors, began operations in late May, replacing existing networks run by the United Nations and charities that have worked for decades. Critics say the group does not abide by humanitarian principles of neutrality, claiming that its operations weaponise aid, serving Israel's stated aims of ethnically cleansing large swaths of Gaza and controlling the entire enclave. GHF said on Saturday that it was unable to distribute any humanitarian relief because Hamas issued 'direct threats' against its operations. 'These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,' it said in a statement. Hamas told the Reuters news agency that it had no knowledge of these 'alleged threats'. The United Nations, which has refused to cooperate with the GHF, has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. As Israel continued its attacks amid the looming famine, it emerged that health authorities had recorded more than 300 miscarriages over an 80-day period in the enclave. Expectant mothers face an increased risk of miscarriage and premature births, with basic medical supplies such as iron supplements and prenatal vitamins impossible to obtain. Brenda Kelly, a consultant obstetrician at Oxford University Hospital, told Al Jazeera that Gaza was 'losing a future generation of children', alluding to a 'staggering rise' in stillbirths, miscarriages and pre-term births. 'What we're seeing now is the direct fallout of Israel's weaponising of hunger in Gaza – impacting babies' growth and growth restriction is one of the leading causes of miscarriages and stillbirth,' she said. Severe malnutrition among pregnant women is compounded by severe stress and psychological trauma, as well as repeated displacement and a lack of safe shelter, she said. Those babies that do survive face heightened health risks. 'We know that famine experienced in-utero has lifelong consequences for children who then go into adulthood with much higher risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as mental health disorders,' she said.
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Israelis demand return of captives; pro-Palestine rallies held in Europe
Thousands of Israeli protesters in Tel Aviv have again called for the return of captives held in Gaza and an immediate ceasefire, while hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestine supporters gathered in Rome denouncing the Italian government's 'complicity' in the war. Captive families and antigovernment protesters gathered in front of Israel's army headquarters on Saturday, several hours after Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Israeli forces had recovered the body of a Thai captive. In a statement, the Israeli army said on Saturday morning that the body of Nattapong Pinta was retrieved from the Rafah area in southern Gaza after he was taken captive during Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X that it 'bows its head in sorrow over the murder of Nattapong Pinta'. 'The time is running out for all 55 hostages. We must bring them all home, Now!,' the group wrote on X. The spokesperson of Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, warned that an Israeli captive, Matan Zangauker, is being held in an area targeted by the Israeli army. He warned that if Zangauker were killed during an attempt to free him, the Israeli military would be responsible. The captive's mother, Einav Zangauker, speaking at the Tel Aviv protest, criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for neglecting those being held in Gaza. 'The military pressure is closing in on [my son] and is placing him in immediate danger. The decision to expand the ground operation comes at the cost of Matan's life and the lives of all the hostages,' she said. '[Netanyahu] continues to sacrifice the hostages. He is using the [Israeli military] not to protect Israel's security, but to continue the war and protect his government.' Police prevented activists from the NGO, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, from reaching the protest area in Tel Aviv, according to reports in the Israeli media. The activists were reportedly carrying placards protesting against Israeli war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. אלימות מצד המשטרה, דחיפות וצעקות לעבר מפגינים הנושאים שלטים הקוראים להפסקת המלחמה. 07.06.2025 תל אביב 🎥אריק סגל — אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) June 7, 2025Translation: Police pushing and shouting at protesters carrying signs calling for an end to the war. During the Hamas attack, which killed 1,139 people in southern Israel, the group abducted 251 people; following a series of prisoner-for-captive exchanges with the Israeli government, the group are currently holding 55 captives in Gaza, most of whom are dead. Israel's war on Gaza has now killed at least 54,772 Palestinians and injured 125,834 others, Gaza's Health Ministry reported. In the meantime, across Europe, pro-Palestine demonstrators called for an end to the Israeli genocidal assault in Gaza. In Rome, hundreds of thousands of people marched through the city in a protest called by opposition parties slamming the government's 'complicity' in the war. The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, called the turnout 'an enormous popular response' in opposition to Israel's actions in the besieged and bombarded enclave. The demonstration was 'to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians, to say enough to the crimes of Netanyahu's far-right government' and to show the world 'another Italy', Schlein told reporters. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has come under increasing pressure to take a stronger stance on the war in Gaza as she has backed Israel and Netanyahu throughout, while admitting difficult conversations with the Israeli leader of late. In the British capital, London, anti government demonstrators held placards demanding 'Cut war, not welfare.' Speaking at the Whitehall rally, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said with the 'abominable, deliberate starvation of children in Gaza and the genocide that's inflicted against the Palestinian people', a world of 'peace' was needed. 'We need a world of peace that will come through the vision of peace, the vision of disarmament and the vision of actually challenging the causes of war, which leads to the desperation and the refugee flows of today,' he said. Pro-Palestine protests were also held Saturday in Denmark, Sweden, and Germany, where demonstrators raised banners calling for an end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Yemen's al-Qaeda leader threatens Trump, Musk over Israel's war on Gaza
The leader of al-Qaeda's Yemen branch has targeted US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk over United States backing for Israel's ongoing war on the Gaza Strip and its besieged Palestinian population. 'There are no red lines after what happened and is happening to our people in Gaza,' said Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki in a half-hour video message that was spread online Saturday by supporters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni branch of the armed group. 'Reciprocity is legitimate,' he said. Al-Awlaki's video message also included calls for so-called lone wolves to assassinate leaders in Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf Arab states over the war, which has decimated Gaza, killing at least 54,772 Palestinians over the past 20 months. The message featured images of Trump and Musk, US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, as well as logos of Musk's businesses – including electric carmaker Tesla. Born in 2009 from the merger of al-Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi factions, AQAP is completely distinct from Yemen's Houthi rebel group, which controls most of the country and agreed to a ceasefire with the US earlier this month. AQAP grew and developed amid the chaos of Yemen's war, which has pitted the Houthis against a Saudi-led coalition backing the government since 2015. Al-Awlaki became the group's leader in 2024, replacing predecessor Khalid Batarfi, who died that year. He already has a $6m US bounty on his head, having, as Washington puts it, 'publicly called for attacks against the United States and its allies'. Though believed to be weakened in recent years due to infighting and suspected US drone strikes killing its leaders, the group had been considered the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda still operating since the US killing of founder Osama bin Laden in 2011. United Nations experts estimate AQAP has between 3,000 and 4,000 active fighters and passive members, claiming that it raises money by robbing banks and money exchange shops, as well as by smuggling weapons, counterfeiting currencies and conducting ransom operations. The Houthis have previously denied working with AQAP, though the latter's targeting of the Houthis has dropped in recent years, while its fighters keep attacking the Saudi-led coalition forces. Now, with its focus on Israel's war on Gaza, AQAP appears to be following the lead of the Houthi group, which has launched missile attacks on Israel and targeted commercial vessels moving through the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli fire. 'As the Houthis gain popularity as leaders of the 'Arab and Muslim world's resistance' against Israel, al-Awlaki seeks to challenge their dominance by presenting himself as equally concerned about the situation in Gaza,' said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen expert with the Basha Report risk advisory firm. 'For a national security and foreign policy community increasingly disengaged from Yemen, this video is a clear reminder: Yemen still matters,' he said.
