Latest news with #Anti-Hamas
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli reservists speak out against Gaza war as pressure on Netanyahu grows
Israel's war in Gaza grinds on, but opposition is growing. In recent weeks, thousands of Israeli reservists – from all branches of the military – have signed letters demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government stop the fighting and concentrate instead on reaching a deal to bring back the remaining 59 hostages being held by Hamas. Eighteen months ago, few Israelis doubted the war's logic: to defeat Hamas and return the hostages. For many, the January ceasefire and subsequent return of more than 30 hostages raised hopes that the war might soon end. But after Israel broke the ceasefire and returned to war in mid-March, those hopes were dashed. "We came to the conclusion that Israel is going to a very bad place," Danny Yatom, a former head of the spy agency Mossad told me. "We understand that what mainly bothers Netanyahu is his own interests. And in the list of priorities, his interests and the interests of having the government stable are the first ones, and not the hostages." Many of those signing recent letters are, like Yatom, long time critics of the prime minister. Some were involved in the anti-government protests that preceded the outbreak of war on 7 October 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel. But Yatom says that's not why he decided to speak out. "I signed my name and I am participating in the demonstrations not because of any political reason, but because of a national reason," he said. "I am highly concerned that my country is going to lose its way." The first open letter to be published, in early April, was signed by 1,000 air force reservists and retirees. "The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its declared goals," they wrote, "and will lead to the death of the hostages". The signatories urged Israelis to follow their lead before time ran out on the estimated 24 hostages still thought to be alive in Gaza. "Every day that passes is further risking their lives. Every moment of hesitation is a crying shame." In the weeks since, similar letters have appeared from almost every branch of the military, including elite fighting and intelligence units, along with a number of decorated commanders. More than 12,000 signatures all. After 7 October, hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists answered the call, eager to serve. But now, more and more are refusing, with reports suggesting that reserve attendance has dropped to as little as 50-60%. Anti-Hamas protests on rise in Gaza as group's iron grip slips As an Israeli hostage turns 48, his wife waits for blue ticks on her messages 'Part of us is still in Gaza': Freed Israeli hostages fight for a new ceasefire For a military that depends heavily on reservists to fight its wars, it's a looming crisis on a scale not seen since Israel's first Lebanon war in 1982. In a leafy Jerusalem park, I met "Yoav" (not his real name), an infantry reservist who asked not to be identified. Yoav served in Gaza last summer but said he wouldn't do it again. "I had the feeling that I needed to go to help my brothers and sisters," he told me. "I believed I was doing something good. Complicated but good. But now, I don't see it in the same way anymore." The government's determination to keep fighting Hamas, while hostages risk death in the tunnels of Gaza, Yoav said, was misplaced. "We are very strong and we can beat Hamas, but it's not about beating Hamas," he said. "It's about losing our country." During his time in Gaza, Yoav told me, he tried to be "the best moral soldier that a man can be". But the longer the war goes on, critics say, the harder it is for Israel to claim, as government officials often do, that its military is the most moral army in the world. In a recent column in the left of centre newspaper Haaretz, the retired general Amiram Levin said it was time for soldiers – starting with senior commanders - to think about disobeying orders. "The risk of being dragged into war crimes and suffering a fatal blow to the Israel Defense Forces and our social ethos," he wrote, "make it impossible to stand idly by". Some of Israel's critics, including those who have brought cases before the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, argue that such lines have already been crossed. Netanyahu has lashed out at the protesters, dismissing their concerns as "propaganda lies", spread by "a small handful of fringe elements – loud, anarchist and disconnected pensioners, most of whom haven't served in years". But polls suggest the protest letters reflect a growing public conviction: that the release of the remaining hostages should come before everything. In Tel Aviv, where noisy anti-war demonstrations have been held for well over a year, images of the hostages are held aloft, while other protestors sit on the road, cradling pictures of Palestinian children killed during the war. Amid the row generated by the letters, such emotive displays appear to have rattled the authorities. On 20 April, the police briefly told protesters that "pictures of children or babies from Gaza" would not be permitted, along with posters displaying the words "genocide" or "ethnic cleansing". Following expressions of outrage from the organisers, the police quickly backed down. Meanwhile, the prime minister continues to speak of his determination to defeat Hamas. Military pressure, Netanyahu continues to insist, is the only way to bring the hostages home.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli military admits its troops killed UN worker in Gaza Strip
Israel's military has admitted killing a United Nations (UN) worker with tank fire, having previously denied responsibility, in an incident in the Gaza Strip last month. After a UN staff member was killed when a UN compound in Deir al-Balah was damaged on 19 March, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had not struck the site. But the IDF said on Thursday that the initial findings of its investigation into the incident indicated its troops had in fact killed the UN worker after wrongly identifying the building as containing an "enemy presence". It said in a statement: "The building was struck due to assessed enemy presence and was not identified by the forces as a UN facility." These preliminary findings have been shared with the UN and the full conclusion will also be provided, it said. It added: "The IDF regrets this serious incident and continues to conduct thorough review processes to draw operational lessons and evaluate additional measures to prevent such events in the future. "We express our deep sorrow for the loss and send our condolences to the family." The incident, which killed Bulgarian UN worker Marin Valev Marinov and seriously injured five other UN personnel, came a day after Israel renewed its offensive against Hamas after a two-month ceasefire collapsed. At the time, UN Secretary General António Guterres called for a full investigation into the incident, while a spokesperson said: "The locations of all UN premises are known to the parties to the conflict, who are bound by international law to protect them and maintain their absolute inviolability." Following the attack, the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) said that "explosive ordnance was dropped or fired" at a guesthouse, which was in an "isolated" location. Its executive director, Jorge Moreira da Silva, said it was "not an accident". The IDF said in a statement on the day of the attack: "Contrary to reports, the IDF did not strike a UN compound in Deir el-Balah. The IDF calls on media outlets to act with caution regarding unverified reports." Footage verified by the BBC showed injured people - two wearing blue UN flak jackets - arriving at a hospital in an ambulance and a UN car. Anti-Hamas protests on rise in Gaza as group's iron grip slips Gaza health ministry denies manipulating death toll figures Red Cross outraged over killing of medics by Israeli forces in Gaza Separately, the IDF said earlier this week that "professional failures" had led to the killing of 15 emergency workers in an incident in Gaza last month. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says at least 1,978 people have been killed since Israel renewed its offensive on the territory, with at least 50 reported killed by Israeli strikes on Thursday. Israel says it is putting military pressure on Hamas to release the 59 hostages it is still holding, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. It has also blocked all deliveries of humanitarian aid and other supplies to Gaza for seven weeks. The UN says this is "further depriving people of the means for survival and undermining every aspect of civilian life". The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. More than 51,300 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 50, Palestinian officials say
At least 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, health officials and first responders say. Nine people died in the morning when a missile hit a police station in the market area of Jabalia town, in northern Gaza, a local hospital said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck a "command-and-control centre" for Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jabalia that was being used to plan attacks. Later, the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said 12 more people were killed when a family home in Jabalia's Ard Halawa area was bombed, and that others were believed to be missing under the rubble. The IDF said it was looking at the reports. Anti-Hamas protests on rise in Gaza as group's iron grip slips Gaza health ministry denies manipulating death toll figures Another 29 people were reportedly killed elsewhere in the territory. They included a family of six - a couple and their four children - whose home in the northern Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City was struck overnight, according to the Civil Defence. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) later identified the man who was killed as Ali al-Sarafiti, who it said was a member of the armed group and a former prisoner who was jailed for 13 years in Israel after being convicted over an attempted suicide attack. Palestinian media also said three displaced people were killed when their family tent was hit near Nuseirat, in central Gaza, and that two children died in a strike on another tent in the southern Khan Younis area. "One by one we are getting martyred, dying in pieces," Rania al-Jumla, who lost her sister in a strike in Khan Younis, told AFP news agency. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Thursday morning that at least 1,978 people had been killed since Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza on 18 March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire. Israel says it is putting military pressure on Hamas to release the 59 hostages it is still holding, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. It has also blocked all deliveries of humanitarian aid and other supplies to Gaza for seven weeks, which the UN says is "further depriving people of the means for survival and undermining every aspect of civilian life". The UN has urged Israel to end the blockade immediately, saying it has obligations under international law as the occupying power to ensure food and medical supplies for the population, as well as ensuring essential services. Israel has insisted it is acting in accordance with international law, and that there is no shortage of aid in Gaza because 25,000 lorries entered during the recent ceasefire. During a visit to southern Gaza on Thursday, the IDF's Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, told troops: "We continue our operational pressure and to tighten our hold on Hamas as needed, and if we do not see progress in the return of the hostages, we will expand our activities into a more intense and significant operation until we reach a decisive outcome." "Hamas is responsible for starting this war, Hamas is still cruelly holding the hostages, and is responsible for the dire situation of the population in Gaza," he added. The IDF later ordered residents of two areas just to the north-west of Jabalia to evacuate immediately. It warned that forces were "operating intensely" in Beit Hanoun and Sheikh Zayed "due to ongoing terrorist activities and sniper fire". About 420,000 Palestinians - 20% of Gaza's population - are estimated to have been displaced again over the past five weeks, with almost 70% of the territory under active Israeli evacuation orders, within Israeli-designated "no-go areas", or both, according to the UN. The IDF has said the evacuation orders are in accordance with the obligation under international law to take feasible precautions to mitigate harm to civilians by providing advance warnings prior to attacks. But the UN has warned that the orders have resulted in the "forcible transfer" of civilians into "ever shrinking spaces where they have little or no access to life-saving services" and continue to be subject to attacks. In a separate development on Thursday, the IDF acknowledged that Israeli tank fire had killed a Bulgarian working for the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and wounded five other UN staff on 19 March. The IDF had initially denied responsibility for the strike on a UN guesthouse in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. More than 51,350 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
USA Today
04-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Anti-Hamas protests erupt in Gaza. Where are our pro-Palestine 'allies' now?
Anti-Hamas protests erupt in Gaza. Where are our pro-Palestine 'allies' now? | Opinion As someone who once tried to protest Hamas and ended up in their jails and torture chambers, I understand what this neglect feels like. We can't all be Mahmoud Khalil. Show Caption Hide Caption Gazans march in largest anti-Hamas protests since war with Israel began Thousands in the Gaza Strip marched in anti-Hamas demonstrations, the largest since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks triggered the ongoing war with Israel. CBC English The anti-Hamas protests that erupted last week in the Gaza Strip are a testament to what many of us from Gaza have been saying for years: The people of this besieged enclave are exhausted by Hamas' rule and ready to break free from the terrorist group. Since Oct. 7, 2023, pundits, news outlets and social media accounts have been asking why Gazans have not protested Hamas during the ongoing war. The answer is painfully simple: How can people protest when they are being bombed, starved and displaced? When every act of defiance is met with brutal retaliation? Every Gazan family has suffered unbearable loss ‒ many have lost sons, daughters, entire lineages. They have been bombed, displaced and left to fend for survival with little to no resources. Despite this devastation, thousands took to the streets to protest. How Hamas punishes dissent: imprisonment, torture, execution What critics fail to understand is the brutal reality of life under Hamas' iron grip ‒ where dissent is met with imprisonment, torture or execution. They also fail to see Gazans as they truly are ‒ not as perpetrators, but as victims of both Hamas' oppression and the war that has ravaged us and our land for 18 months. Some observers ask: Why now? Where are the women? Imagine being a woman in Gaza, trying to make your voice heard in a Hamas-controlled, male-dominated society while simultaneously struggling to secure food and shelter for your family. Even then, the young men, the elderly and all those brave souls who have risked their lives to defy Hamas in the streets are carrying a message much greater than themselves. They are the voice of countless others who share their sentiment but fear the repercussions and consequences of speaking out. Opinion: I'm a Palestinian American. Trump's terrifying remarks on Gaza aren't just rhetoric to us. For three consecutive days, thousands of Gazans risked their lives to raise their voices against Hamas, yet their efforts have been overlooked by the so-called pro-Palestine movement in the West and by most of the news media as well. As someone who once tried to protest Hamas and ended up in their jails and torture chambers, I understand what this neglect feels like. I know the deep sense of betrayal that has touched every protester, the painful realization that they have been abandoned, left alone with no one willing to hear them. It's as if the world has resigned them to a fate of living under Hamas' rule, as if their suffering is too inconvenient and does not fit into the Western narrative of Palestine, which is why they have forsaken the actual people of Gaza, like me. Last week's protests were a watershed moment for Gazans, when so many in Gaza finally understood the true meaning of fake solidarity ‒ that to the Western "pro-Palestine" movement, Palestinians are not seen as real people with real struggles but as tools to be used in their ideological battles. Not only were the protests ignored by "allies" in the West, but so were the lives of the protesters and all they represent. 'Pro-Palestine' activists protest for Columbia student. Where are they for protester killed by Hamas? Hamas wasted no time in going after the leaders of the protests, threatening, torturing and even killing them. The family of Oday Nasser Al Rabay, 22, says the protester was tortured to death by Hamas simply for demanding a free Gaza ‒ free from Hamas and free from war. Where was the outrage from the "pro-Palestine movement" activists? Where were the protests in Western capitals for Oday? Nowhere. Because he did not fit into their ideological framework because his killing was not useful and too inconvenient to their narrative. Meanwhile, when a protester with a distinctly different profile ‒ Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student ‒ finds himself detained in the United States, the pro-Palestinian activists who claim to advocate for the oppressed wasted no time in flooding Western streets with protests calling for his release. His arrest became an emblem of resistance, sparking global campaigns to bring him home. Opinion: Trump's arrest of pro-Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil will hurt Israel But what about the young Palestinian from Gaza who, without the protection of international institutions, was tortured to death for his dissent? Oday was left to rot in obscurity, his brutal murder by Hamas nothing more than an inconvenient fact for the same movement that fervently defended Mahmoud. This stark contrast is not only a failure of solidarity ‒ it's also an indictment of the hollow, opportunistic nature of the so-called pro-Palestine movement. Mahmoud, a student in the West, was elevated to the status of martyr. Oday, a young man from Gaza, was left to die at the hands of the very regime that Western allies refuse to confront. The hypocrisy is staggering. If the pro-Palestinian movement is unwilling to stand with the Palestinians in Gaza ‒ those who are risking everything to break free from the shackles of Hamas ‒ then what kind of movement is this? If the pro-Palestine movement cannot recognize the bravery, the sacrifices and the legitimate demands of those fighting to end the reign of terror in Gaza, to end this war and to rebuild their city free of Iranian influence, then it exposes itself as nothing more than a vehicle for political expediency. It is a movement that uses Palestinian lives when convenient and discards them when they are inconvenient. If this is the solidarity these "allies" offer, then it is an insult to the struggle for justice, an empty gesture that does nothing to advance the cause of true liberation. Hamza Howidy is a Gazan anti-Hamas advocate who helped lead the 2019 protests against Hamas in Gaza, for which he was jailed and tortured. Today he is a writer, speaker, human rights advocate and a member of the Realign For Palestine project at the Atlantic Council.
Japan Times
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Israel must not ignore the anti-Hamas protests in Gaza
Typically, a small anti-war demonstration would not be front-page news unless it happened somewhere like Moscow, where few dare openly to oppose the Kremlin's ongoing aggression against Ukraine. But in war-torn Gaza, the stakes would be even higher. Even before the current conflict, Hamas responded to any criticism of its misrule with brutal repression and torture. Yet on March 25, hundreds of people took to the streets in Beit Lahiya (northern Gaza) to protest not only against the war, but against Hamas. With chants of 'stop war,' 'Hamas out,' 'Hamas terrorists,' the demonstrators sent exactly the right message: For the war to end, Hamas — which started it — must be removed from power. Nor were the Beit Lahiya protesters alone. As news and videos of this extraordinary event spread on social media, similar spontaneous demonstrations erupted elsewhere in Gaza, first in Jabalia and Khan Yunis, and then in Shejaiya, one of the enclave's largest communities. While most of the protesters refused to identify themselves by name to reporters, they nonetheless showed their faces. On Wednesday, over 3,000 people demonstrated again in Beit Lahiya. Anti-Hamas slogans were more visible, but protesters stressed that their main objective is for the war to end. 'We can't stop Israel from killing us, but we can press Hamas to give concessions,' said Mohammed Abu Saker, a father of three from the nearby town of Beit Hanoun. Even Hamas-controlled media covered the event, though only after editing out statements attacking the Islamists' rule. Though still relatively small in scale, the demonstrations clearly indicate a shift in opinion. After Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas took power the following year in the only free elections the Palestinians had ever had. Fatah, the secular nationalist party with majority support in the West Bank, had been tainted by corruption, so more Gazans voted for Hamas, which promised not terrorism, but clean government, even running under the name 'Change and Reform.' But after winning the election, Hamas violently expelled Fatah from Gaza — 345 people were killed in the process — and started firing rockets at Israel. This caused a series of wars, culminating in the current one — by far the most violent yet. Neither Gaza nor the West Bank has held an election in 20 years and Hamas's rule has proved no less corrupt than Fatah's (municipal elections have been held in the West Bank, but Hamas has boycotted all of them). Meanwhile, Israeli governments — led mainly by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — have regarded Hamas's totalitarian rule in Gaza as advantageous. With terrorists in power in Gaza and corrupt incompetents in Ramallah (the seat of the Palestinian Authority), the argument goes, Israel has had no legitimate counterparty with which to negotiate. Then came Oct. 7, 2023. The scale and viciousness of the slaughter, which visibly had broad support in Gaza, seemed to prove Netanyahu's point. Even the country's moderate president, Isaac Herzog, said — in the shock of the immediate aftermath of the slaughter — that 'there is an entire nation out there that is responsible.' In a November 2023 poll conducted by the respected Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 72% of Palestinians thought Hamas was 'correct' to launch the Oct. 7 attack, while over 90% refused to believe that civilians were killed on that day. Yet it is worth noting that support was much higher in the West Bank (82%) than in Gaza (57%), which was already enduring Israel's counterattack. Similarly, overall support for Hamas had been consistently higher in the West Bank, where it is the opposition, than in Gaza, which has suffered under its rule. Since then, however, support for the attack and for Hamas has been systematically declining, though the difference between West Bank and Gazan attitudes remains. Last fall, only 39% of Gazans supported the attack and in January 2025 only around 20% supported Hamas rule. This disenchantment almost certainly reflects the high cost of the war — there have been more than 50,000 fatalities (civilian and combatant) in Gaza, according to the unverifiable data provided by Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health — rather than a revaluation of attitudes toward terrorism. Still, the recent demonstrations indicate that a segment of Palestinian opinion in Gaza wants the war over and Hamas out. That means it shares Israel's own stated goals. Yet Netanyahu's government, embroiled in an internal political crisis of its own making, has failed to respond to the Gaza protests. Apart from a cursory remark by the defense minister, Israel Katz, there has been radio silence. With Israel having broken the ceasefire and reignited the war, Netanyahu's claim to want peace rings increasingly hollow. True, the Gaza protesters have not spoken out explicitly against the continuing detention of 59 Israeli hostages — only 24 of whom are believed to remain alive. But this issue, understandably, might not seem too important to them, just as the Gazans' fate is not a high priority for the Israeli anti-government protesters who want to free the hostages. What matters is that some Gazans and some Israelis have common ground — even if their governments do not share their goals. That is unprecedented. The demonstrators in Beit Lahiya and Tel Aviv cannot end the war. But they do represent the only possible path to a lasting peace. Konstanty Gebert is a Polish journalist, former anti-communist activist, and the author of 14 books on Polish, Jewish and international affairs.© Project Syndicate, 2025
