Latest news with #Arab48
Saba Yemen
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Israeli occupation authorities demolish at least 16 homes in unrecognized village of al-Sarra in Negev
Negev - Saba: Israeli occupation authorities demolished 16 homes in the unrecognized village of al-Sarra today, Monday, in the Negev, in the 1948 territories. Hundreds of police officers were deployed at the scene, surrounding the homes and preventing residents from approaching the site of the demolition. Suleiman al-Hawashla, Director General of the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages, said, "The demolitions come after the Beersheba Court's decision last Thursday to demolish the village's homes and empty it of its residents." Al-Hawashla added to Arab48 that "the demolitions today target at least 16 homes, while some residents had previously demolished their homes themselves." Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Middle East Eye
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israeli military intensifies military campaign on remaining residential neighbourhoods in Gaza
The Israeli military increased heavy shelling and air strikes on Gaza's remaining residential neighbourhoods, destroying residential buildings in Rafah and killing and wounding dozens of civilians, Arab 48 reported on Monday.
Middle East Eye
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israeli forces again storm prominent Palestinian bookshop in Jerusalem
Israeli forces stormed the Educational Bookshop near the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday. Local reports said they detained Imad Muna, the Palestinian owner of the library situated in Salahuddin Street, close to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and took him for questioning. Nasser Awda, a lawyer representing Muna, told the Arab48 news outlet that Israeli forces caused significant damage to the library's contents, seized several books, took the premises' keys and shut the place down without any judicial order or legal justification. 'They also removed people who had gathered in front of the library after the raid," he said. This assault comes a month after the Israeli police's previous storming of two of the three branches of the Educational Bookshop, on 10 February. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters During that raid, two of the shops' owners, Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, were arrested on charges of "selling inciting books" The court released them the following day, though the prosecution requested an extension of their detention for eight more days. At the time, the raid was condemned by the Palestinian National Library as a 'dangerous escalation targeting the Palestinian cultural and intellectual landscape'. Israel raids beloved Palestinian bookstores and detains owners Read More » The Educational Bookshop has been a significant cultural centre for almost 40 years, catering to diplomats, journalists, tourists and researchers alike. In 2011, it was recognised as the best library in Palestine. The Palestinian National Library said in February that the assault on the bookshop was 'part of a systematic policy aimed at destroying the Palestinian cultural and educational infrastructure in Jerusalem,' according to official news agency Wafa. The statement also highlighted that the Israeli aim was to enforce censorship on Palestinian intellectual output by criminalising the possession of books that represent Palestinian national identity, including children's books and historical references. 'It is an assault on the Palestinian right to knowledge and education,' said the statement. Several foreign governments also condemend the raid and arrests. The European Union delegation "expressed deep concern at the Israeli police raid [...] and the arrests" in a statement on X, while the French consulate in Jerusalem denounced "a blatant attack [...] against basic democratic values".
Middle East Eye
10-03-2025
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Gaza hospital chief recounts torture and isolation in Israeli detention
Testimony from the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza paints a brutal picture of Israeli detention, including accounts of torture, starvation and the poor conditions prisoners are forced to endure. Speaking to Arab48, the lawyer of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said that he was prevented from meeting anyone, including his lawyer, from the day he was detained on 27 December until 10 February. In late December last year, the hospital was stormed by Israeli troops following nearly three months of a suffocating blockade and constant air strikes on its departments and the area surrounding them. All medical staff, patients, and their relatives were taken out of the hospital at gunpoint, forced to strip down to their underwear and transferred to an unknown location. The Palestinian health ministry said dozens of doctors were taken to detention centres for interrogation, including Abu Safiya. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Lawyer Ghaid Qassem was able to visit the doctor in the notorious Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, where he has been detained for over 70 days after spending nearly two weeks at the Sde Teiman detention camp in the Negev desert. Isolation and torture Qassem's visit on 6 March was only the second lawyer visit granted to Abu Safiya since his incarceration and came after several pleas by lawyers. "Until February 10, 2025, Abu Safiya was denied the right to meet with any lawyer, with Israeli authorities explicitly refusing to allow anyone to visit him, preventing him from documenting the violations that took place," she said. 'The longest period of interrogation that Abu Safiya endured was 13 consecutive days, with each session lasting between eight to 10 hours' - Ghaid Qassem, lawyer to Dr Hussam Abu Safiya According to Qassem, the paediatric doctor was arrested and imprisoned for refusing to obey expulsion orders by the Israeli army "because his conscience and professionalism required him to remain in the hospital, especially with the presence of dozens of patients and wounded children." His lawyer detailed that he was isolated for 14 days in Sde Teiman and an additional 25 days in Ofer. He was later transferred to Section 24 in Ofer, where detainees from Gaza remain separated from other prisoners. "The longest period of interrogation that Abu Safiya endured was 13 consecutive days, with each session lasting between eight to 10 hours. Throughout this entire time, he was subjected to relentless and brutal abuse, torture, and assault," Qassem said. She added that the detainees are "almost completely isolated inside the prison", without any knowledge or information about the outside world, unless they are allowed a visit. Qassem said that intelligence services psychologically torment prisoners with news of their loved ones' deaths, regardless if it is true or not. "The situation of all Palestinians inside Israeli prisons is catastrophic and deplorable, but specifically, the situation of Gaza prisoners is exceptional and more difficult because they have no previous experience with imprisonment," she said. Slaughterhouse prisons Abu Safiya's lawyer describes the abuse and torture present in Israeli detention centres as "unprecedented". "If we talk about the Sde Timan prison, it is a slaughterhouse in every sense of the word," she said. "We are talking about prisoners who have been shackled for 10 months, prisoners whose limbs have been amputated without treatment, elderly prisoners who are shackled and blindfolded, prisoners who have lost 70-90 kilograms of their weight Israel's war on Gaza: What are crimes against humanity? Read More » "Addionally, there's the issue of the bitter cold, as the prisoners are held in open cages, meaning that they are exposed to wind and rainwater, and they are forced to sit on the ground at all times and are forbidden from talking to each other and from praying and reading the Quran." In late February, Israeli media aired footage of Abu Safiya, visibly exhausted and shackled by both hands and feet, being escorted by Israeli forces. Qassem said the doctor was surprised that he was being filmed and was not informed prior to the broadcast. Regarding Abu Safiya's legal situation, the lawyer said the Israeli authorities attempted to reframe Abu Safiya's case as a regular security case in order to file an indictment. "After a series of interrogations and severe torture to force him to sign anything they could use as evidence for the indictment, they were unable to find any grounds against him after more than 45 days," she said. "They then returned his case to its original designation (illegal fighter), and the file of an illegal fighter carries no rights, whether in terms of representation or an indictment. Each time, the decision to extend his detention is renewed.'" However, Qassem says that she left Abu Safiya in high spirits, ending the meeting with the following message: ''A human being is history, and their history is defined by a position that is taken and studied." 'Prisoners are in danger, save them' Abu Safiya's experience of torture is one of many inside Israeli prisons. In early April last year, a doctor at an Israeli field hospital where Palestinians detained from Gaza are held described harrowing details of conditions, including limb amputation due to handcuff injuries and prisoners forced to defecate in nappies. Israeli doctor at detention facility says grim conditions 'break the law' Read More » The unnamed doctor working at the Sde Teiman facility, between Gaza and Bersheeba in the Negev desert, wrote about the experiences in a letter to Israel's defence minister, health minister and the legal adviser to the government. The letter was reported by Haaretz. "This makes all of us - the medical teams and you, those in charge of us in the health and defence ministries - complicit in the violation of Israeli law, and perhaps worse for me as a doctor, in the violation of my basic commitment to patients, wherever they are, as I swore when I graduated 20 years ago," he wrote. The last groups of freed Palestinian detainees showed signs of distress, abuse, starvation and medical negligence in Israeli-run prisons and detention centres. A number of them have only received medical attention after their release. In one clip, a former detainee in a bus entering the Gaza Strip warned about the condition of those remaining in prison, shouting: "Prisoners [inside Israeli jails] are in danger. Save them." Rampant torture has been recorded in civilian and military detention facilities across Israel in recent months, resulting in the deaths of more than 60 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, among them at least 39 from Gaza.
Middle East Eye
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Middle East Eye
Israeli police interrogate Palestinian comedian over stand-up shows
Israeli police briefly detained and questioned Palestinian artist and comedian Nidal Badarneh on Monday over his stand-up shows, according to his family. His home in Haifa was raided, and the Palestinian citizens of Israel was taken in for investigation under the pretext of "posing a danger to the public," the family told Arab48 news outlet. The arrest followed calls from far-right Israeli groups to cancel his shows, including one in Nazareth last Friday. Israeli officers also reportedly pressured gallery owners to cancel his performances without legal grounds. Another show in Haifa was cancelled by police to "preserve the safety of the audience," with far-right groups claiming the show addressed Israeli detainees in Gaza. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters His family believes the arrest is part of a broader campaign against Badarneh, fuelled by far-right incitement. They accused police of targeting him through threats to cancel his shows. "This arrest comes as a result of a fierce fascist media incitement campaign against Nidal and the comedic artistic content he presents," they said. 'The police anywhere in the world don't engage in this form of 'bullying,' but it seems they're acting based on the incitement of the far-right' - Nidal Badarneh, comedian Badarneh had previously spoken to Arab48, saying Israeli police warned him not to perform in Nazareth. He criticised the police for bypassing the law and acting as a "body separate from the law". "They told me word for word, 'It's not good for you to come to Nazareth, and if you hold the show, we will take action and not allow you to do so,'' the comedian said. "The police anywhere in the world don't engage in this form of 'bullying,' but it seems they're acting based on the incitement of the far-right. The bans on the shows in Haifa and Nazareth have no legal basis." Badarneh plans to take legal action, working with Adalah, a Haifa-based legal centre, to protect his rights and continue his work. The centre sent an urgent letter to the Israeli attorney general last week urging intervention to stop the targeting of Badarneh. "The police have recently been exploiting this charge extensively to investigate violations of freedom of expression illegally and to avoid obtaining the required approvals from the Public Prosecution,' the centre said. Silencing dissenting voices Adalah also highlighted that the "unlawful" political persecution of Badarneh was part of a wider effort to suppress Palestinian expression in Israel since 7 October 2023. This has led to nearly 200 incitement charges and numerous illegal arrests aimed at intimidating artists and halting their performances. Palestinian citizens of Israel brace for extremist attacks as incitement spreads Read More » On Wednesday, Israeli police raided the home of a journalist and former game announcer for the Bnei Sakhnin football club, Saeed Hassanain. The Palestinian citizen of Israel was arrested on suspicion of "incitement" after criticising Israel and the army's actions during an interview with Al-Aqsa TV. He stated, 'The IDF is an occupying army, Israel is the enemy." Hassanain denounced Palestinian citizens of Israel who enlisted in the army, calling them "weak-minded". He also praised Hamas for how they treated captives held in Gaza, saying: "The Islamic Resistance acted with complete humanity according to Islamic law and proved to the world that Hamas preserves human dignity and respects the women who were captured on 7 October. Hamas defended them according to religious teachings, Islamic law, and Palestinian conscience." Hassanain's remarks caused public anger in Israel, leading to his dismissal as the Bnei Sakhnin's announcer and his arrest.
