09-12-2023, 02:32 PM
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67664804
[b]"UN secretary general António Guterres spoke this afternoon about the "serious risk to the maintenance of international peace and security", citing the spillover of hostilities in "the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen".[/b]
He triggered Article 99, prompting Friday's UN Security Council vote, because he believes this is a very urgent matter which must be brought to the attention of the council.
The Israeli government detests the UN and they detest the secretary general.
There was, Mr Guterres said, a high risk of the "total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza". And the Palestinians say that is exactly what Israel wants because it wants to get all Palestinians out of Gaza.
Journalists are not permitted by Israel to enter Gaza so I can't report from there myself, but what the secretary general is saying sounds pretty accurate from the pictures and video we can see and the people we speak to.
By all the measures you can think of, the situation there for civilians is absolutely catastrophic, as they are subjected to a remorseless military campaign. Israel says they are doing what they can to save civilian lives but insists Hamas holds responsibility for using them as human shields.
At the UN, the Americans duly vetoed this resolution calling for a ceasefire. For those concerned about the significant loss of life, that does sound a bit hollow - the Americans claim the Israelis are saying they will stick to the rules of war and avoid unnecessary civilian deaths. But, they say, there is a gap between what Israel says and what it does.
I think the strategy behind the secretary general's decision to bring a vote - which he knew would probably get vetoed - was to hurry up the inevitable moment when the Americans will say to Israel: "Enough is enough, you've had enough time and killed enough people and it's time for a ceasefire."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67664854
[b]"The armed wing of Hamas has released a video which it says shows the bloody aftermath of a failed Israeli operation to free an Israeli hostage.[/b]
In the footage, a man says he has been held for 40 days, suggesting the video may have been recorded in mid-November.
A lot of blood is seen on a tiled floor, as well as military equipment, which Hamas claims to have captured.
The video ends with gruesome images of a bloodied body that appears to be that of the same hostage seen earlier.
We are withholding the man's name - he says this and his age in the video.
A script in Arabic says that Israeli soldiers "failed to reach" the hostage, leading to his death, and that the Israeli team "quickly fled the place".
It claims that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used an ambulance to reach the place where the hostage was being held."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67666270
[b]"A 22-year-old Palestinian has told the BBC how he was detained with dozens of others by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in northern Gaza on Thursday.[/b]
Footage verified by the BBC shows a group of men stripped to their underwear, kneeling on the ground and being guarded by Israeli soldiers.
The man says he was forced to sit in the street for hours, handcuffed and blindfolded, before being driven away.
An Israeli official said the soldiers were searching for Hamas members.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the BBC they were looking for those "responsible for the massacre of October 7".
The detainees were taken by truck from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to an unknown place, according to the young man - who asked to remain anonymous for his safety.
One image - which has not yet been verified by the BBC - shows men blindfolded, kneeling in what appears to be a large pit of bulldozed sand.
The 22-year-old says the place that he, his father, brother and five cousins were taken to was sandy - and they were left there almost naked but given a blanket at night.
After questioning, he says he was taken to another location before being told to go home, arriving at around 01:40 in the morning.
"They released all of us, except my father and eldest cousin. My father works for UNRWA. I don't know why they took him," he said.
UNRWA is the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees.
One of the detained men, Diaa al-Kahlout - who has not been released yet, according to a colleague - is a correspondent for The New Arab, or Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a London-based pan-Arab outlet.
Some of those later released told al-Kahlout's family that the journalist had been transferred to Zikim military base in Israel, according to Lamis Andoni of The New Arab."
[b]"UN secretary general António Guterres spoke this afternoon about the "serious risk to the maintenance of international peace and security", citing the spillover of hostilities in "the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen".[/b]
He triggered Article 99, prompting Friday's UN Security Council vote, because he believes this is a very urgent matter which must be brought to the attention of the council.
The Israeli government detests the UN and they detest the secretary general.
There was, Mr Guterres said, a high risk of the "total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza". And the Palestinians say that is exactly what Israel wants because it wants to get all Palestinians out of Gaza.
Journalists are not permitted by Israel to enter Gaza so I can't report from there myself, but what the secretary general is saying sounds pretty accurate from the pictures and video we can see and the people we speak to.
By all the measures you can think of, the situation there for civilians is absolutely catastrophic, as they are subjected to a remorseless military campaign. Israel says they are doing what they can to save civilian lives but insists Hamas holds responsibility for using them as human shields.
At the UN, the Americans duly vetoed this resolution calling for a ceasefire. For those concerned about the significant loss of life, that does sound a bit hollow - the Americans claim the Israelis are saying they will stick to the rules of war and avoid unnecessary civilian deaths. But, they say, there is a gap between what Israel says and what it does.
I think the strategy behind the secretary general's decision to bring a vote - which he knew would probably get vetoed - was to hurry up the inevitable moment when the Americans will say to Israel: "Enough is enough, you've had enough time and killed enough people and it's time for a ceasefire."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67664854
[b]"The armed wing of Hamas has released a video which it says shows the bloody aftermath of a failed Israeli operation to free an Israeli hostage.[/b]
In the footage, a man says he has been held for 40 days, suggesting the video may have been recorded in mid-November.
A lot of blood is seen on a tiled floor, as well as military equipment, which Hamas claims to have captured.
The video ends with gruesome images of a bloodied body that appears to be that of the same hostage seen earlier.
We are withholding the man's name - he says this and his age in the video.
A script in Arabic says that Israeli soldiers "failed to reach" the hostage, leading to his death, and that the Israeli team "quickly fled the place".
It claims that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used an ambulance to reach the place where the hostage was being held."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67666270
[b]"A 22-year-old Palestinian has told the BBC how he was detained with dozens of others by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in northern Gaza on Thursday.[/b]
Footage verified by the BBC shows a group of men stripped to their underwear, kneeling on the ground and being guarded by Israeli soldiers.
The man says he was forced to sit in the street for hours, handcuffed and blindfolded, before being driven away.
An Israeli official said the soldiers were searching for Hamas members.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the BBC they were looking for those "responsible for the massacre of October 7".
The detainees were taken by truck from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to an unknown place, according to the young man - who asked to remain anonymous for his safety.
One image - which has not yet been verified by the BBC - shows men blindfolded, kneeling in what appears to be a large pit of bulldozed sand.
The 22-year-old says the place that he, his father, brother and five cousins were taken to was sandy - and they were left there almost naked but given a blanket at night.
After questioning, he says he was taken to another location before being told to go home, arriving at around 01:40 in the morning.
"They released all of us, except my father and eldest cousin. My father works for UNRWA. I don't know why they took him," he said.
UNRWA is the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees.
One of the detained men, Diaa al-Kahlout - who has not been released yet, according to a colleague - is a correspondent for The New Arab, or Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a London-based pan-Arab outlet.
Some of those later released told al-Kahlout's family that the journalist had been transferred to Zikim military base in Israel, according to Lamis Andoni of The New Arab."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)