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The Journal
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Journal
As the world's eyes turned to Iran this week, Israeli forces killed hundreds of people in Gaza
IN THE LAST week news headlines the world over have been focused on the alarming developments in the Middle East since Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran last Friday, and Iran responded with aerial strikes against Israel. Much of the focus has been on whether the US, under the Trump administration, will carry out strikes on Iran alongside Israel. Trump has prevaricated on the issue, but finally said yesterday that he believes that there a chance for real negotiations to take place, which he is allowing a two weeks window for. He has urged Iran to make an unconditional surrender. Israel's military offensive in Gaza and the deadly manner in which the dispersal of aid into the strip is being managed has continued in the last week at the same time, with several key incidents taking place. The last 24 hours Gaza's civil defence agency has said that 31 Palestinian aid seekers were among at least 60 people killed today by Israeli forces (Gaza is two hours ahead of GMT time). A spokesperson said that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza strip and 26 others were killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisets Palestinian territory. Thousands are gathering there daily in an attempt to get food ration, as famine is looming across Gaza after more than 20 months of war. The Israeli army has claimed it fired 'warning shots' at 'suspects' that approached them. They further said that when individuals continued to approach an aircraft 'eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat'. The Israel and US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has taken over the distribution of aid into the strip since May, and there have been multiple mass deaths of aid seekers since. Also today, the civil defence agency said that 14 people were killed in two separate strikes in and around the central city of Deir el-Balah, and 13 others in three Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City Area. In Southern Gaza, two others were killed by 'Israeli gunfire'. AFP news agency has said it is now difficult to independently verify death tolls due to Israeli restrictions on media in the Strip, and difficulties in accessing some areas. Today, the former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren appeared on Today with Claire Byrne, and he disputed reports that people are dying of widespread starvation in Gaza. He claimed that UN is getting its data 'from Hamas', and that Israeli analysts have 'different data'. Oren also claimed that Hamas is killing people near aid sites as In the last week On Thursday, the civil defence agency said that Israeli forces had killed at least 72 people, including another 21 aid seekers near distribution sites. Spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that six were killed while waiting for aid in Southern Gaza, and 15 were killed in the Netzarim corridor. A man who witnessed the shootings at aid sites told AFP that people had gathered overnight on Wednesday, hoping that aid would be distributed on Thursday morning. 'Around 1:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday), they started shooting at us,' he said by phone, reporting gunfire, tank shelling and bombs dropped by drones. Another man who spoke to the news agency said the size of the crowd made it impossible for people to escape, and that casualties were left lying on the ground within walking distance of the aid distribution point. 'We couldn't help them or even escape ourselves,' he said. In Northern Gaza – where most territories are under an evacuation order from the IDF – Bassal said that 51 people were killed in nine separate strikes. On the Wednesday, 33 people were reported as being killed by Israeli fire, including 11 aid seekers. Bassal said that 'occupation forces opened fire and launched several shells… at thousands of citizens'. Once again, on Wednesday, the IDF said that a group of 'suspicious individuals' had approached its forces in a manner that 'posed a potential threat'. It said that its troops fired 'warning shots', but that it was 'unaware of injuries'. Advertisement Later on Wednesday, the IDF said one of its soldiers was killed during an operation in Southern Gaza. On the same day the chair of the United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Palestinian territories said that the new aid 'foundation' is 'outrageous'. 'It involves the United States itself, the government, and it turns out, as we watch daily, that people who go to these centres are being killed as they seek food'. The United Nations and other major aid organisations are refusing to work with the group over concerns that it is furthering Israeli military objectives. West Bank raids In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Israeli military raided refugee camps in the West Bank overnight. An official who runs the Balata Camp said that the military evicted home owners in the camps and told them not to return for 72 hours, and used their homes as interrogation outposts. Imad Zaki said that house-to-house searches were conducted, and that the contents of refugees' homes were destroyed, and residents were 'assaulted'. Zaki said that life in the camp was 'largely paralysed' by the raid. On the Tuesday, the civil defence agency said that more than 50 Palestinians were killed near the aid centre in the territories south, and some 200 people were wounded. A man who witnessed the shootings by military drones said that people were murdered 'in cold blood' who were 'ordinary, unarmed people'. The IDF said that it was looking into reports of injuries, and that a 'gathering' had been identified near an aid distribution truck that 'got stuck'. On Monday the civil defence agency reported that Israeli troops killed 20 people who were waiting to collect food. Bassal said that the Israeli forces opened fire near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, where people were waiting to reach the aid distribution site. On the same day, Ahmed al-Farra, the head of the paediatric department at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Yunis said that people 'are hungry, they didn't get any food since nearly four months ago'. Farra said that the GHF sites are the only way for people to seek out food, and when they get there they are 'killed by snipers'. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had 200 people at its field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area near Rafah on the Monday. On the Sunday it treated 170 patients. In a statement the Red Cross said many of those people 'were wounded by gunshots, and reported that they were trying to access a food distribution site'. On the same day at the G7 summit in Canada, Ursala von der Leyen, the European Commission President, told reporters that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu promised over the phone to do more to bring aid in Gaza. On the Sunday, it was reported that 16 people were killed in Israeli military operations in various parts of the Gaza strip, including three citizens near aid distribution centres. Netanyahu speaking on Fox News. On the Sunday Netanyahu appeared on Fox News, the US channel, and said that he had ordered negotiators to 'advance' talks on the release of hostages being held in Gaza. He said that the US Middle East envoy made an offer to begin a 60-day ceasefire, with half of the remaining hostages being released straight away. Of the 251 hostages that were seized in Hamas's October 7 attacks, 52 are still held in Gaza, including 34 who Israel believes to be dead. On the Saturday, the day after Israel's attacks on Iran, Gaza rescuers said that 41 people were killed in Israeli military operations, more than half of whom were waiting on aid. On the same day, internet access was restored after a three day blackout, which the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority blamed on Israel (a claim Israel didn't comment on). The Palestine Red Crescent Society said the week before that the blackout had hindered its rescue operations by making it difficult to contact first responders in the field. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
13-06-2025
- Politics
Former Israeli ambassador on Israel-Iran conflict
Dr. Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, weighs in on the escalating tension in the Middle East as Iran launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel.
Japan Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Trump casts Netanyahu adrift with shifts on Iran, Houthis, Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would normally celebrate a hostage release such as that took place on Monday, though in this case the deal with Hamas is another sign U.S. President Donald Trump is starting to make decisions without him. The freeing of Edan Alexander, the last living U.S. citizen held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has been presented by the Palestinian militant group as a gesture to Trump on the eve of his trip to the Middle East, where he will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but not Jerusalem. The isolated release — which Israel objected to when it was first proposed two months ago — follows the start of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran about a new nuclear deal, a ceasefire with Yemen's Houthis and Washington's imposition of tariffs on Israel — all at odds with Netanyahu's wishes. "When the Israeli right was jubilant over Trump's election, I warned 'not so fast,'' said Michael Oren, a former Netanyahu ambassador to Washington. "But what is going on is even beyond what I feared. Donald Trump is a crisis for the world. We thought we'd be treated differently. We were wrong.' Netanyahu on Sunday sought to reassure his country that his "relationship is excellent' with Trump. "We are currently blessed with a president and an administration that is very, very friendly,' he said in a video clip. "We're trying to coordinate both the big things as well as the small things.' During his first term through 2021, Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights captured from Syria and helped Israel establish relations with four Arab states including the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. leader also withdrew from an Iranian nuclear deal that Israel disliked. Palestinian girls walk past a makeshift displacement camp set up amid rubble in Gaza City on Monday. | AFP-JIJI Far-right Israeli politicians were therefore jubilant when he won a return in last year's election, saying Trump was so favorable to their agenda that the country would soon declare sovereignty over the West Bank, where 3 million Palestinians live under occupation. Trump initially appeared to prove them right, reinstating arms deliveries withheld by the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden, out of concern over civilian casualties in Gaza. Netanyahu was then the first foreign leader hosted by Trump in the Oval Office in February, and even he seemed stunned by the new president's suggestion that Gaza's 2 million-strong population be moved abroad to make way for postwar reconstruction. "You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,' Netanyahu said to the president at the time. The first inkling of discord came in April when Trump announced a 17% tariff on Israeli goods, granting the country no exemption from the penalties imposed on scores of other countries. Netanyahu was quick to raise the issue, pledging to end Israeli duties on U.S. goods in return for the same deal from the U.S.. Netanyahu was granted another Oval Office meeting, but this one was less of a love-in. Trump said the U.S. was generous with Israel, providing it with billions of dollars a year in aid, and a tariff break would be a step too far. That day, he announced talks with Iran over its atomic activities. "This U.S. administration, without a doubt, is one of the most favorable to Israel ever,' said opposition legislator Matan Kahana. "But predictably, the Americans first and foremost look after the Americans.' The U.S. went on to agree to stop bombing the Yemen-based Houthis in exchange for their agreement not to fire on American ships. The Houthis started firing on vessels in the Red Sea — upending global trade — in solidarity with Hamas after the start of the war in Gaza in 2023, and haven't agreed to stop attacking Israel despite the deal with Washington. The Houthis — which like Hamas is backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. — landed a missile close to Israel's biggest airport earlier this month, prompting many foreign airlines to cancel flights. "Netanyahu presents himself as Mr. America — he and his aides thought they spoke Trumpism,' said Eytan Gilboa, a scholar of U.S.-Israeli relations at Israel's Bar Ilan and Reichmann Universities. "But the vocabulary in the White House has changed.' That may in part be due to the ascendancy of U.S. isolationists such as Vice President JD Vance. Israelis on the right are watching with unease, while those on the center and left are feeling uncharacteristically hopeful. They oppose Netanyahu's plan to extend the war in Gaza without first freeing hostages and are increasingly in favor of a diplomatic solution to the Palestinian dispute through an alliance with Saudi Arabia. This means, Israeli analysts say, that if Trump does push Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza, a domestic political crisis will erupt. The prime minister needs his far-right allies to keep his coalition afloat. "There will be demonstrations in the street whether Netanyahu accepts what Trump wants or rejects it,' said Oren, the former ambassador. If he accepts, his government will likely fall apart. If he rejects, the opposition will rise up.'
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump ‘is transactional': Fmr. Amb on U.S. and Iran nuclear negotiations
Former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren joins Andrea Mitchell to analyze the escalating threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions. Oren also provides insight on the significance of Prime Minister Netanyahu's meeting with President Trump.
