Palestine today
Don’t say you didn't know
Dear recipients, At a press conference in Melbourne yesterday, Sunday 16 March 2025, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “Vladimir Putin is a bully. You know what Australians do? They stand up to bullies.” So why is he crawling to the atrocious bully of bullies, Benjamin Netanyahu, instead of standing up to him? Albanese also said, “Have a look at what has happened with the attacks on civilians, innocent civilians, and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is someone who's an authoritarian leader who has imperialist designs on not just Ukraine, on the region, and that is why the whole world needs to stand up against this Russian aggression and needs to stand with Ukraine. Australia has participated and contributed $1.5 billion to the struggle in Ukraine, $1.3 billion of that is defence and military equipment. We have been training Ukrainian soldiers in the United Kingdom. So we have been participating, that up to that point, has enjoyed, of course, bipartisan support. We want to see peace. We want to see the killing stop. We want to see the Russian aggression stop, and then we want to ensure that there's peace and security there.” But it seems that Israel's occupation and aggression by Netanyahu and his criminal generals against Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and other Arab countries, and the killing of tens of thousands of innocent civilians and thousands of children, many times more than Ukrainian victims, does not deserve even condemnation. Why doesn't Australia also provide similar support to Palestinians and Arabs as it does to Ukrainian victims, to achieve their rights, security, stability, and peace? History records this brazen double standard and shameless hypocrisy! Ali kazak
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Vast areas in Gaza have been reduced to rubble. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Israel kills at least nine Palestinians, including journalists, in Gaza
The attack targets a relief team in the north of the enclave that was accompanied by journalists and photographers. At least nine people, including three journalists, have been killed and several others wounded in an Israeli drone attack on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian media. The attack on Saturday reportedly targeted a relief team that was accompanied by journalists and photographers. At least three local journalists are among the dead.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Protection Center said in a statement that “the journalists were documenting humanitarian relief efforts for those affected by Israel’s genocidal war” and called on Gaza ceasefire mediators to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward with implementing the agreed truce and prisoner exchange. Israel has rejected opening talks on the second phase of the ceasefire between it and Hamas, which would require it to negotiate over a permanent end to the war, a key Hamas demand.
“The attack [on Beit Lahiya] has triggered a huge swathe of condemnation, but it has not been the first one. Here in the southern part of Gaza, we have seen Israeli drones hovering above while in Rafah city we have got confirmation from eyewitnesses that they have been exposed to Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said at least 48,543 Palestinians have been confirmed killed and 111,981 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office has updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of Palestinian people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
Australian doctors who visited Gaza recount harrowing scenes
Australian doctors on the frontline of Gaza’s choked health system have recounted harrowing scenes as a fragile ceasefire in the war-torn enclave hangs in balance, Anadolu news agency reported.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Mohammad Awad, and Dr. Chris Holden are among few Australians to have entered Gaza. Awad recently returned home to Melbourne after spending two weeks volunteering in Gaza hospitals, many of which are overwhelmed, understaffed, and lacking in essential equipment and resources, local broadcaster SBS News reported on Sunday. “You see it so much on the TV and social media, but it’s very different when you see it in person, it really is quite confronting,” he told SBS.
“It’s almost surreal seeing that level of destruction; I don’t think you’re ever prepared for it until you see it.” During his time in Gaza, Awad mostly treated patients with brain tumors or spinal conditions that had been left untreated due to the war, as well as people who had experienced gunshots to the head or spine, and injuries from shrapnel. He described the level of need as “intense”, with hospitals full of inpatients and outpatients, as well as many others “hanging around the hospitals with nowhere else to go.”
Dr. Holden, who has been volunteering in Gaza with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) for the last month, said he was shocked to see the destruction and the breakdown of the healthcare system in the besieged enclave. “There are significant challenges on the ground. We’ve had a lot of loss of medical facility infrastructure … and then what is remaining is therefore overwhelmed and currently partly due to the blockade of supplies coming in, it’s very under-resourced materially as well”. He said the destruction and the breakdown of the healthcare system resulted in “a lot of unnecessary death and harm to people.”
Israel has killed 150 Palestinians—an average of three people every 24 hours—since the ceasefire on 19 January 2025. The Euro-Med Monitor field team has documented Israeli sniper and drone attacks since the ceasefire went into effect, as well as the continued use of the blockade as a weapon of slow death by starvation in the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Israel has engaged in widespread killing and destruction in the besieged enclave for over 15 months and has intensified its genocidal policies by imposing deadly living conditions on Palestinians that result in their slow, systematic killing. Through a complete, illegal siege, Israel is preventing the entry of humanitarian aid and essential supplies while blocking the repair of critical infrastructure and services necessary for survival—all amid an absence of effective international intervention.
Euro-Med Monitor warns of a worsening humanitarian crisis if the blockade persists, with markets now being rapidly depleted of goods. Additionally, numerous relief and food distribution centres have halted operations due to the ongoing closure of the Gaza Strip’s border crossings and Israel’s refusal to allow supplies to enter since 2 March. This has significantly worsened the suffering of civilians, pushing them closer towards famine without the swift intervention of the international community. Famine is not the only threat that should prompt the international community to act, and waiting for it to occur before responding is unacceptable. Depriving the enclave’s vulnerable population, particularly children, of proper nutrition will lead to severe malnutrition, resulting in long-term health damage and potentially irreversible physical and psychological disabilities depending on the individual’s age.
Death toll from US-UK airstrikes on Yemen rises to 31: Houthis
The death toll from Saturday night’s US-UK airstrikes on multiple Yemeni cities has risen to 31, with 101 others injured, mostly women and children, the Houthi-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday. Anis Al-Asbahi, the ministry’s spokesperson, stated: “The massacres committed by the US aggression targeting civilian and residential areas in Sanaa, Saada, Al-Bayda, and Rada’a on Saturday resulted in 132 civilian casualties, including 31 martyrs and 101 wounded, most of whom are children and women.” He added that the figures are “preliminary, as search efforts continue to recover victims following a series of US airstrikes targeting civilian sites.”
Asbahi condemned the attacks, calling them a “full-fledged war crime added to the record of the criminal coalition of evil” and a “blatant violation of all international laws and conventions.” The Houthis warned Israel on March 7 to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip within four days or face renewed maritime operations against Israeli-linked vessels. The US launched airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthis as President Donald Trump warned that “hell will rain down” if the Iran-backed group continues attacks on Red Sea shipping. The Houthis have been attacking Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones since late 2023, disrupting global trade, for what it said was a show of solidarity with the Gaza Strip. The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and Hamas. But it threatened to resume the attacks when Israel blocked all aid into Gaza on 2 March.
End support for Israel, stop killing people of Yemen: Iran responds to Trump’s threat
The Iranian foreign minister said Sunday that the US has no authority or mandate to dictate Iran’s foreign policy because “that era ended in 1979”, Anadolu news agency reported. Seyed Abbas Araghchi criticized the Biden administration for providing an unprecedented $23 billion to Israel last year, alleging that more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed and the world holds the US fully responsible. He directly addressed Washington’s demand to stop supporting the Houthis in Yemen. “End support for Israel’s genocide and terrorism. Stop killing the people of Yemen,” he said. US President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the US military launched an offensive against the Houthis
Israel airstrikes kill four in south Lebanon
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed four people on Sunday, Lebanese state media and the health ministry said, as Israel's military said it had killed two Hezbollah militants. "The Israeli enemy strike this evening on the town of Ainata led to the death of two people," Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said, citing the health ministry's emergency service. Earlier, the health ministry confirmed one person was killed in an Israeli strike on Mais al-Jabal and NNA reported one other fatality in Bint Jbeil. The agency reported that an Israeli drone carried out "a strike on a vehicle in the town of Mais al-Jabal, resulting in one fatality". The NNA said it was the third Israeli strike on southern Lebanon within 24 hours. Israel has continued to carry out periodic strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.
Israel invites Western far-right figures to conference on combatting anti-semitism
Israel is inviting Western far-right figures and parties to a conference against anti-semitism, amid Tel Aviv’s ongoing grooming of the political conservatives. According to Israeli media outlets, the ‘International Conference on Combating Antisemitism’ being held in the occupied city of Jerusalem this month – organised by Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry – has invited far-right and conservative figures from across Europe and the West for attendance. Such figures include Jordan Bardella, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, Argentina’s president Javier Milei, MEP Hermann Tertsch from Spain’s far-right Vox party, MEP Charlie Weimers from the far-right Sweden Democrats party, French MEP Marion Maréchal, and MEP Kinga Gál from Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party.
‘I was a human shield’: What Israeli soldiers did to a Gaza father
Yousef al-Masri spent several terrifying days forced to clear rooms for heavily armed Israeli soldiers. Yousef and his exhausted fellow captives dozed off at some point in the night, before being jolted awake by the soldiers and pushed out of the apartment and into the streets. He soon realised that the soldiers were walking behind him, to use him as cover. “The realisation that I was being used as a human shield was terrifying.”
When they reached a school that had been emptied by Israeli soldiers, he was ordered to open doors and go into each classroom to check for fighters who might be hidden there. The heavily armed soldiers would only enter after his “all clear”. The day continued that way, with Yousef being used to “clear” room after room, after which the soldiers would set the buildings on fire. On the fourth day, Yousef and the 58-year-old man were ordered to go to a nearby school and the Kamal Adwan Hospital to deliver evacuation leaflets to people sheltering there…
Professor at Center of Columbia University Deportation Scandal is Former Israeli Spy
The professor at the center of the Columbia University deportation scandal is a former Israeli intelligence official, MintPress News can reveal. Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of the university’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), was abducted by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Saturday for his role in organizing protests last year against Israel’s attack on Gaza. Khalil’s dean, Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo, head of the School of International and Public Affairs, is a former Israeli military intelligence officer and official at Israel’s Mission to the United Nations. Yarhi-Milo played a significant role in drumming up public concern about a supposed wave of intolerable anti-Semitism sweeping over the campus, thereby laying the groundwork for the extensive crackdown on civil liberties that has followed the protests.
Before entering academia, Dr. Yarhi-Milo served as an officer and an intelligence analyst with the Israeli Defense Forces. Given that she was recruited into the intelligence services because of her ability to speak Arabic fluently, her job likely entailed surveilling the Arab population. After leaving the world of intelligence, she worked for Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. While there, she met and married her husband, Israel’s official United Nations spokesperson.