Latest news with #Israel-catering
Gulf Insider
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Soldiers Deny Former Defense Minister's Claim That Israel Faked Gaza Tunnel Photo To Delay Hostage Deal
The Israeli government deliberately misrepresented the nature of a tunnel in Gaza's Philadelphi Corridor to derail a hostage deal with Hamas, according to a former Israeli defense minister in an interview aired by an Israeli public television network. While two soldiers who claim to have seen the tunnel say he's wrong, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have not yet issued a public denial. The alleged deception happened last August, amid massive protests by Israeli citizens pressing the Israeli government to make a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. At the time, the status of the Philadelphi Corridor — a 100-meter-wide strip running 14 miles along Gaza's border with Egypt — was a major obstruction to a hostage deal. (The corridor is a geopolitically important buffer zone that figures in security agreements between Israel and Egypt.) Hamas was demanding a withdrawal of IDF forces from the strip as a condition of a hostage release, while Netanyahu insisted the IDF would continue operating in it. It was against that backdrop that the IDF released a photo that was supposed to show a Hamas tunnel in the Philadelphi Corridor used to smuggle weapons from Egypt. Israeli-government-sympathetic news outlets and pro-Israel organizations inside the United States seized upon the narrative to defend Netanyahu's deal-precluding insistence on keeping troops in the corridor. The Times of Israel trumpeted the discovery of an 'unusually large smuggling tunnel.' The Israel-catering Foundation for Defense of Democracies said the tunnel was 'further evidence of the underground empire of terror that Hamas assembled in southern Gaza. This is important work and should continue.' This week, however, Israeli public television network Kan 11 reported that the Israeli government purposefully deceived Israeli citizens and the rest of the world, dressing up a mere water channel as a supposed Hamas tunnel. 'There was never a tunnel, but a canal covered in dirt,' said the report. The scheme's purpose 'was to exaggerate the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor and delay a hostage deal.' The source of the accusation is a former member of Netanyahu's government: Yoav Gallant, who was defense minister from 2022 until Netanyahu fired him in November 2024. Speaking about the photo this week, he told Kan 11: 'What the public cannot see is that this channel is not 30 meters underground, but just one meter underground. It is a covered water conduit…It was not a tunnel, but rather an attempt to prevent a ceasefire agreement…Someone took the picture, and a big fuss was made about it, a lot of headlines… weapons did not pass beneath the Philadelphi corridor.' NEW | Israeli Army Fabricated Gaza Tunnel Discovery to Stall Ceasefire TalksIsrael's public broadcaster KAN 11 reports the Israeli military fabricated claims of discovering a tunnel in Gaza's Philadelphi Corridor to stall ceasefire negotiations and delay a hostage deal.➤ The… — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 22, 2025 Gallant has been one of Israel's foremost hostage-deal advocates and a Netanyahu critic. In September, sources said Gallant confronted Netanyahu in a contentious evening security cabinet meeting. 'The decision made Thursday [to refuse to withdraw from the corridor] was reached under the assumption that there is time, but if we want the hostages alive, there's no time,' he reportedly said. 'The fact that we prioritize the Philadelphi corridor at the cost of the lives of the hostages is a serious moral disgrace.' Netanyahu was said to have countered with the questionable claim that, if the IDF left the corridor, 'the hostages will be taken to Sinai, and then to Iran.' Ahead of the airing of the Kan 11 report, two IDF soldiers said Gallant's claims are false. 'This famous photo is a photo of my battalion commander here in a Hummer entering a very significant tunnel, not some small tunnel as you published,' said Yehuda Bartov, a reserve soldier from the 605th Engineering Battalion. Their assertions were reported by Arutz Sheva, a network associated with the settler movement and extremist Religious Zionism party — the latter of which is part of Netanyahu's ruling coalition.
Gulf Insider
15-04-2025
- Health
- Gulf Insider
Israel Bombs Gaza's Only Christian Hospital on Palm Sunday
Claiming it held a 'command and control center used by Hamas,' Israel chose Palm Sunday to bomb the only Christian hospital in war-shattered Gaza. It was also the last fully-functioning hospital in Gaza City. No casualties from the bombing per se were reported by Gaza's civil emergency service. However, a child who'd been hospitalized for a head wound died from 'the rushed evacuation process,' said the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which runs the al Ahli Arab Hospital. The diocese is part of the Anglican Church. Citing Gaza Civil Defense, Middle East Eye reports that the bombs resulted in 'the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units.' St. Philip's Church was one of multiple nearby buildings that also suffered damage. The IDF attributed the low casualty count to its effort to 'mitigate harm to civilians or to the hospital compound, including issuing advanced warnings in the area of the terror infrastructure, the use of precise munitions, and aerial surveillance.'A local journalist told BBC that the IDF called an emergency room doctor and urged the hospital's immediate evacuation, saying 'You have only 20 minutes to leave.' A previously-injured Khalil Bakr said he and his three wounded daughters — two amputees and a third 'full of platinum plates' — managed to get out of the hospital just a couple minutes before destruction rained down. 'For the only Christian hospital in Gaza to be attacked on Palm Sunday is especially appalling,' said British Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell in a statement. 'I share in the grief of our Palestinian brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Jerusalem. I pray for the staff and patients of the hospital, and for the family of the boy who tragically died during the evacuation.' The British government joined the condemnation, with Foreign Minister David Lammy saying the 'deplorable attacks must end…Israel's attacks on medical facilities have comprehensively degraded access to healthcare in Gaza.' Before the attack, the hospital stood alone as the only one still fully functioning in Gaza City, after Israel blew up the Al-Shifa Hospital and others. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued its own statement: 'This hospital, already strained by months of siege, stood as one of the last beacons of medical hope in Gaza, where dozens of healthcare institutions have been systematically destroyed. The stripping away of such sanctuaries of life and dignity is a tragedy that transcends all boundaries of politics and enters the realm of the sacred.' While the British government and many other entities have decried the attack, there's been no official statement from the Israel-catering Trump administration. Previous IDF claims of hospitals being used as Hamas facilities have grown suspect under scrutiny, with credible accusations of the IDF staging evidence before ushering in journalists to see the 'proof.' Throughout the war that's raged since the Oct 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, the IDF has repeatedly bombed medical facilities and fired on ambulances. One of the most troubling such incidents came last month, when 14 While the British government and many other entities have decried the attack, there's been no official statement from the Israel-catering Trump administration. Previous IDF claims of hospitals being used as Hamas facilities have grown suspect under scrutiny, with credible accusations of the IDF staging evidence before ushering in journalists to see the 'proof.' Throughout the war that's raged since the Oct 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, the IDF has repeatedly bombed medical facilities and fired on ambulances. One of the most troubling such incidents came last month, when 14 medical and other aid workers were found in a mass grave in Gaza after the IDF destroyed a convoy of ambulances and other first-response vehicles. The IDF originally claimed the vehicles 'were identified advancing suspiciously' without either their headlights or emergency lights on. Then cell phone video of the IDF attack captured by one of the slain ambulance crew members proved the IDF account was completely false. The vehicles' headlights and emergency lights were on, and the vehicles carried clear markings of their nature. As withering IDF gunfire rakes over the first responders, the dying Palestinian video narrator can be heard reciting the Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith: 'There is no God but God, Muhammad is his messenger.' Then, perhaps anticipating the video may be recovered after his murder by Israeli soldiers, he said, 'Forgive me, mother. This is the path I chose — to help people. God is Great.' and other aid workers were found in a mass grave in Gaza after the IDF destroyed a convoy of ambulances and other first-response vehicles. The IDF originally claimed the vehicles 'were identified advancing suspiciously' without either their headlights or emergency lights on. Then cell phone video of the IDF attack captured by one of the slain ambulance crew members proved the IDF account was completely false. The vehicles' headlights and emergency lights were on, and the vehicles carried clear markings of their nature. As withering IDF gunfire rakes over the first responders, the dying Palestinian video narrator can be heard reciting the Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith: 'There is no God but God, Muhammad is his messenger.' Then, perhaps anticipating the video may be recovered after his murder by Israeli soldiers, he said, 'Forgive me, mother. This is the path I chose — to help people. God is Great.' Also read: Hamas Commander Known As 'Prime Minister Of Gaza' Killed In Hospital Strike
