Israel Government
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says
A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. A new report says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births. It cites statements by Israeli leaders, and the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as distorted and false. A spokesperson accused the three experts on the commission of serving as Hamas proxies and relying entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others that had already been thoroughly debunked.
Right-Wing Influencers Are Turning to Foreign Affairs
Conservative creators are increasingly focusing on foreign policy. Wearing combat helmets and protective vests, some of the US's most popular right-wing creators toured what they called an aid distribution hub in Gaza late last month--a trip carefully funded by Israel's foreign ministry. By way of the nonprofit Israel365, the Israeli government funneled at least $70,000 to 15 MAGA creators to bring them to Gaza's humanitarian sites, the Western Wall, and the Golan Heights, among other areas. "It sits here to spoil and be stolen," Xaviaer DuRousseau captioned a photo of himself standing in front of what he claimed was food aid on X last month . "How is that Israel's fault?"
Suspected Palestinian gunmen kill six people in East Jerusalem
Six people were killed in a shooting attack by suspected Palestinian gunmen at a bus stop in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site, as Palestinian groups praised the attack without claiming responsibility. Israel wants to'destroy Gaza City, not occupy it'
Israeli drone attack kills 1 in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire deal
At least one person has been killed in an Israeli drone attack on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, just one day after Israeli troops withdrew from most of the border area. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that "an enemy drone struck a vehicle… in the town of Aita al-Shaab" on Wednesday. Sanad, Al Jazeera's fact-checking agency, identified the victim as Yusuf Mohammed Sorour, the son of the mayor of the town, targeted while he was sitting in his car in front of his home. NNA had earlier reported that in a separate attack, one person was wounded in the Wazzani region after Israeli forces opened fire "while residents were inspecting" restaurants and cafes in the area. The NNA also reported Israeli forces shot towards homes near the town of Shebaa.
Google reportedly made sure Israel's military had access to its AI tools
Google has been a much larger facilitator of tools to Israel during its war with Hamas than previously disclosed. A new report from The Washington Post found that Google employees have repeatedly worked with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel's Defense Ministry (IDM) to expand the government's access to AI tools. In 2021, Google entered into a 1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government, titled Nimbus, alongside Amazon. Internal documents show that Google employees repeatedly requested greater access to the company's AI technology on behalf of Israel -- starting shortly after the October 7 attacks. An employee in Google's cloud division reportedly escalated appeals from the IDM for greater access to Vertex.
6 killed in Israeli drone strike on occupied West Bank's Jenin refugee camp
A Palestinian teenager and three brothers were among at least six people killed in an Israeli air attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to reports. The Palestinian news agency Wafa said that an Israeli drone fired three missiles at a group of people near a traffic roundabout in the camp on Tuesday evening, killing six people, including a 15-year-old boy, and injuring several others. Five other victims of the attack were aged between 23 and 34, and included three brothers, Wafa reports. Earlier this month, an Israeli drone strike on the occupied West Bank's Tammun town killed two Palestinian children and a 23-year-old from the same family. Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said the drone strike on the Jenin camp comes amid intense Israeli military raids on local communities and the killing by Israeli forces of almost 800 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023 – as well as the arrest of several thousand others.
Israeli forces kill at least 8 in occupied West Bank raids, drone strikes
Israeli troops and military aircraft have killed at least eight Palestinians, including two women and a teenager, in attacks on the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Seven people were killed in an Israeli drone attack and shooting by troops in the Tulkarem refugee camp, and one person was killed in the nearby Nur Shams camp, the Health Ministry said, following a bloody day of Israeli military raids that began at dawn on Tuesday. The ministry said that two Palestinian women – identified as Khawla Ali Abdullah Abdo, 53, and Bara Khalid Hussein, 30 – and an 18-year-old, Fathi Saeed Salem Obaid, were among the seven people killed in the Israeli attacks on Tulkarem. The official Wafa news agency reported that the teenager died after being shot in the chest and abdomen and the two women were reported killed in drone strikes. The victim in the Nur Shams camp was identified as Mahmoud Muhammad Khaled Amar, who was shot by Israeli soldiers and later found dead on the ground in the camp's Abu Bakr as-Siddiq Mosque neighbourhood, Wafa also reports.
Gaza appeals for help as Israeli army attacks key hospitals
The Israeli military is targeting three major hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip as doctors and authorities in the enclave request immediate intervention by the international community. On Tuesday, weeklong Israeli attacks intensified on the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital and Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, and the al-Awda Hospital located east of the Jabalia refugee camp. Two explosive-laden unmanned robotic vehicles planted earlier by the Israeli military blew up in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan in the early hours of Tuesday, wounding approximately 20 patients and medical staff, hospital director Hussam Abu Safia told Al Jazeera. This was the first time Israeli forces used the explosives outside Kamal Adwan, but there have been similar reports of them being used to detonate buildings in northern Gaza. Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said, "An eyewitness told us that much of the area around the hospital has been cleared from buildings, the infrastructure destroyed and severely damaged, impeding movement in and out of the hospital."
Russia's Syria exit could help Ukraine-Israel relationship as analyst warns it 'offers little' to Jerusalem
With the collapse of the Assad regime and Russia's declining influence in Syria, some are saying that an opportunity for a rapprochement between Israel and Ukraine now exists, where it hadn't before. "Israel needs to be more involved in supporting Ukraine," Yuli Edelstein, the chair of Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Community and a member of the ruling Likud party, told Fox News Digital. "The situation has changed, it's time for Israel to step up." Edelstein, a leading voice in Israel's defense and foreign policy discussions, said "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," adding, "We see a strategic alliance between the Russians and the Iranians. If before it was the great Russia adopting Iran, now it's important to recognize that the balance of power has changed."