Once again, Hamas was storing munitions in civilian residences. As mentioned earlier, this large blast was likely due to a secondary explosion. Now it is confirmed. Israeli army says it used small munitions in Rafah airstrike, and fire was caused by secondary blast https://apnews.com/article/israel-p...s-05-28-2024-21ea44e3b514d3f3f2bd26a33f157e48 DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military says an initial investigation into a strike that sparked a deadly weekend fire in a tent camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has found the blaze was caused by a secondary explosion. A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said Tuesday that the military fired two 17-kilogram (37-pound) munitions that targeted two senior Hamas militants. The official said the munitions would have been too small to ignite a fire on their own and the military is looking into the possibility that weapons were stored in the area. Palestinian health officials say at least 45 people, around half of them women and children, were killed in Sunday’s strike. The fire also could have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the densely populated camp housing displaced people. The strike caused widespread outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the result of a “tragic mishap.” New strikes in the same western Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah that was hit Sunday killed at least 16 Palestinians, the Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent said Tuesday. Residents reported an escalation of fighting in the southern Gaza city once seen as the territory’s last refuge. An Israeli incursion launched in early May has caused nearly 1 million to flee from Rafah, most of whom had already been displaced in the war between Israel and Hamas. They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-ravaged areas. The United States and other allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying that would cross a red line and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an undertaking. On Friday, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, an order it has no power to enforce. Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead, saying Israeli forces must enter Rafah to dismantle Hamas and return hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border. But residents reported heavy bombardment overnight in Tel al-Sultan. “It was a night of horror,” said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Tel al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “constant sounds” of explosions overnight and into Tuesday, with fighter jets and drones flying over the area. He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of his neighborhood of Shijaiyah in Gaza City, where Israel launched a heavy bombing campaign before sending in ground forces in late 2023. “We saw this before,” he said. Sayed al-Masri, a Rafah resident, said many families have been forced to flee their homes and shelters, with most heading for the crowded Muwasi area, where giant tent camps have been set up on a barren coastline, or to Khan Younis, a southern city that suffered heavy damage during months of fighting. “The situation is worsening” in Rafah, al-Masri said. Gaza’s Health Ministry said two medical facilities in Tel al-Sultan are out of service because of intense bombing nearby. Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity operating throughout the territory, said the Tel al-Sultan medical center and the Indonesian Field Hospital were under lockdown, with medics, patients and displaced people trapped inside. Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning. The Kuwait Hospital in Rafah shut down Monday after a strike near its entrance killed two health workers. A spokesperson for the World Health Organization said the casualties from Sunday’s strike and fire “absolutely overwhelmed” field hospitals in the area, which were already running short on supplies to treat severe burns. “That requires intensive care, that requires electricity, that requires high-level medical services,” Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva. “Increasingly, we are struggling to even have the high-level skilled doctors and nurses because they’ve been displaced.” The war began when Hamas and other militants burst into southern Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 civilians and abducting around 250. More than 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israel responded to the attack with a massive air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced and United Nations officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine. The fighting in Rafah has made it nearly impossible for humanitarian groups to import and distribute aid to southern Gaza. The Israeli military says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing since the start of its operation, but aid groups say it’s extremely difficult to access that aid on the Gaza side because of the fighting. The U.N. says it has only been able to collect aid from around 170 trucks over the past three weeks via Kerem Shalom. Smaller amounts of aid are entering through two crossings in the north and by sea through a U.S.-built floating pier, but it’s nowhere near the 600 trucks a day that aid groups say are needed.
This article opens a series... Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry Mossad director Yossi Cohen personally involved in secret plot to pressure Fatou Bensouda to drop Palestine investigation, sources say Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed Harry Davies in Jerusalem Tue 28 May 2024 07.30 BSTLast modified on Tue 28 May 2024 13.03 BST The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal. Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories. That investigation, launched in 2021, culminated last week when Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the country’s conduct in its war in Gaza. The prosecutor’s decision to apply to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders, is an outcome Israel’s military and political establishment has long feared. Cohen (right) was appointed as director of the Mossad by Netanyahu in 2016 after working for several years as his national security adviser. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images Cohen’s personal involvement in the operation against the ICC took place when he was the director of the Mossad. His activities were authorised at a high level and justified on the basis the court posed a threat of prosecutions against military personnel, according to a senior Israeli official. Another Israeli source briefed on the operation against Bensouda said the Mossad’s objective was to compromise the prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would cooperate with Israel’s demands. A third source familiar with the operation said Cohen was acting as Netanyahu’s “unofficial messenger”. Cohen, who was one of Netanyahu’s closest allies at the time and is emerging as a political force in his own right in Israel, personally led the Mossad’s involvement in an almost decade-long campaign by the country to undermine the court. Four sources confirmed that Bensouda had briefed a small group of senior ICC officials about Cohen’s attempts to sway her, amid concerns about the increasingly persistent and threatening nature of his behaviour. [ICC prosecutor requests arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders – video] Three of those sources were familiar with Bensouda’s formal disclosures to the ICC about the matter. They said she revealed Cohen had put pressure on her on several occasions not to proceed with a criminal investigation in the ICC’s Palestine case. According to accounts shared with ICC officials, he is alleged to have told her: “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.” One individual briefed on Cohen’s activities said he had used “despicable tactics” against Bensouda as part of an ultimately unsuccessful effort to intimidate and influence her. They likened his behaviour to “stalking”. The Mossad also took a keen interest in Bensouda’s family members and obtained transcripts of secret recordings of her husband, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Israeli officials then attempted to use the material to discredit the prosecutor. The revelations about Cohen’s operation form part of a forthcoming investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, revealing how multiple Israel intelligence agencies ran a covert “war” against the ICC for almost a decade. Contacted by the Guardian, a spokesperson for Israel’s prime minister’s office said: “The questions forwarded to us are replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel.” Cohen did not respond to a request for comment. Bensouda declined to comment. The ICC case dates back to 2015, when Fatou Bensouda decided to open a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine. Photograph: Pacific Press Media Production Corp/Alamy In the Mossad’s efforts to influence Bensouda, Israel received support from an unlikely ally: Joseph Kabila, the former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who played a supporting role in the plot. Revelations about the Mossad’s efforts to influence Bensouda come as the current chief prosecutor, Khan, warned in recent days that he would not hesitate to prosecute “attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence” ICC officials. According to legal experts and former ICC officials, efforts by the Mossad to threaten or put pressure on Bensouda could amount to offences against the administration of justice under article 70 of the Rome statute, the treaty that established the court. A spokesperson for the ICC would not say whether Khan had reviewed his predecessor’s disclosures about her contacts with Cohen, but said Khan had never met or spoken to the head of the Mossad. While the spokesperson declined to comment on specific allegations, they said Khan’s office had been subjected to “several forms of threats and communications that could be viewed as attempts to unduly influence its activities”. Bensouda sparks ire of Israel Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant last week marked the first time the court had taken action against leaders of a country closely allied with the US and Europe. Their alleged crimes – which include directing attacks on civilians and using starvation as a method of warfare – relate to the eight-month war in Gaza. The ICC case, however, dates back to 2015, when Bensouda decided to open a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine. Short of a full investigation, her inquiry was tasked with making an initial assessment of allegations of crimes by individuals in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Bensouda’s decision sparked the ire of Israel, which feared its citizens could be prosecuted for their involvement in operations in Palestinian territories. Israel had long been open about its opposition to the ICC, refusing to recognise its authority. Israeli ministers intensified their attacks on the court and even vowed to try to dismantle it. Soon after commencing the preliminary examination, Bensouda and her senior prosecutors began to receive warnings that Israeli intelligence was taking a close interest in their work. Yossi Cohen during a reception held at the Israeli foreign ministry in Jerusalem, in May 2018. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters According to two sources, there were even suspicions among senior ICC officials that Israel had cultivated sources within the court’s prosecution division, known as the office of the prosecutor. Another later recalled that although the Mossad “didn’t leave its signature”, it was an assumption the agency was behind some of the activity officials had been made aware of. Only a small group of senior figures at the ICC, however, were informed that the director of the Mossad had personally approached the chief prosecutor. A career spy, Cohen enjoys a reputation in Israel’s intelligence community as an effective recruiter of foreign agents. He was a loyal and powerful ally of the prime minister at the time, having been appointed as director of the Mossad by Netanyahu in 2016 after working for several years at his side as his national security adviser. As the head of the national security council between 2013 and 2016, Cohen oversaw the body that, according to multiple sources, began to coordinate a multiagency effort against the ICC once Bensouda opened the preliminary inquiry in 2015. Cohen’s first interaction with Bensouda appears to have taken place at the Munich security conference in 2017, when the Mossad director introduced himself to the prosecutor in a brief exchange. After this encounter, Cohen subsequently “ambushed” Bensouda in a bizarre episode in a Manhattan hotel suite, according to multiple sources familiar with the incident. Bensouda with Joseph Kabila in New York. Sources claim the then DRC leader played an important supporting role in the Mossad’s plot against the ICC’s chief prosecutor. Photograph: ICC Bensouda was in New York in 2018 on an official visit, and was meeting Kabila, then the president of the DRC, at his hotel. The pair had met several times before in relation to the ICC’s ongoing investigation into alleged crimes committed in his country. The meeting, however, appears to have been a setup. At a certain point, after Bensouda’s staff were asked to leave the room, Cohen entered, according to three sources familiar with the meeting. The surprise appearance, they said, caused alarm to Bensouda and a group of ICC officials travelling with her. Why Kabila helped Cohen is unclear, but ties between the two men were revealed in 2022 by the Israeli publication TheMarker, which reported on a series of secretive trips the Mossad director made to the DRC throughout 2019. According to the publication, Cohen’s trips, during which he sought Kabila’s advice “on an issue of interest to Israel”, and which were almost certainly approved by Netanyahu, were highly unusual and had astonished senior figures within the intelligence community. Reporting on the DRC meetings in 2022, the Israeli broadcaster Kan 11 said Cohen’s trips related to an “extremely controversial plan” and cited official sources who described it as “one of Israel’s most sensitive secrets”. Multiple sources have confirmed to the Guardian the trips were partly related to the ICC operation, and Kabila, who left office in January 2019, played an important supporting role in the Mossad’s plot against Bensouda. Kabila did not respond to a request for comment. ‘Threats and manipulation’ After the surprise meeting with Kabila and Bensouda in New York, Cohen repeatedly phoned the chief prosecutor and sought meetings with her, three sources recalled. According to two people familiar with the situation, at one stage Bensouda asked Cohen how he had obtained her phone number, to which he replied: “Did you forget what I do for a living?” Initially, the sources explained, the intelligence chief “tried to build a relationship” with the prosecutor and played “good cop” in an attempt to charm her. The initial objective, they said, appeared to have been to enlist Bensouda into cooperating with Israel. Over time, however, the tone of Cohen’s contact changed and he began to use a range of tactics, including “threats and manipulation”, an individual briefed on the meetings said. This prompted Bensouda to inform a small group of senior ICC officials about his behaviour. In December 2019, the prosecutor announced that she had grounds to open a full criminal investigation into allegations of war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. However, she held off launching it, deciding first to request a ruling from the ICC’s pre-trial chamber to confirm the court did indeed have jurisdiction over Palestine. Protesters gather outside the ICC to call for the court to prosecute Israel for war crimes. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP Multiple sources said it was at this stage, as the judges considered the case, that Cohen escalated his attempts to persuade Bensouda not to pursue a full investigation in the event the judges gave her the green light. Between late 2019 and early 2021, the sources said, there were at least three encounters between Cohen and Bensouda, all initiated by the spy chief. His behaviour is said to have become increasingly concerning to ICC officials. A source familiar with Bensouda’s accounts of the final two meetings with Cohen said he had raised questions about her security, and that of her family, in a manner that led her to believe he was threatening her. On one occasion, Cohen is said to have shown Bensouda copies of photographs of her husband, which were taken covertly when the couple were visiting London. On another, according to sources, Cohen suggested to the prosecutor that a decision to open a full investigation would be detrimental to her career. Four sources familiar with the situation said it was around the same time that Bensouda and other ICC officials discovered that information was circulating among diplomatic channels relating to her husband, who worked as an international affairs consultant. Between 2019 and 2020, the Mossad had been actively seeking compromising information on the prosecutor and took an interest in her family members. In February 2021, it was confirmed that the ICC had jurisdiction in occupied Palestinian territories. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP The spy agency obtained a cache of material, including transcripts of an apparent sting operation against her husband. It is unclear who conducted the operation, or precisely what he is alleged to have said in the recordings. One possibility is that he had been targeted by the intelligence agency or by private actors of another country that wanted leverage over the ICC. Another possibility is the information was fabricated. Once in the possession of Israel, however, the material was used by its diplomats in an unsuccessful attempt to undermine the chief prosecutor. But according to multiple sources, Israel failed to convince its allies of the significance of the material. Three sources briefed on the information shared by Israel at a diplomatic level described the efforts as part of an unsuccessful “smear campaign” against Bensouda. “They went after Fatou,” one source said, but it had “no impact” on the prosecutor’s work. Trump and Netanyahu. The Trump administration imposed visa restrictions and sanctions on Bensouda in 2019-20. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters The diplomatic efforts were part of a coordinated effort by the governments of Netanyahu and Donald Trump in the US to place public and private pressure on the prosecutor and her staff. Between 2019 and 2020, in an unprecedented decision, the Trump administration imposed visa restrictions and sanctions on the chief prosecutor. The move was in retaliation to Bensouda’s pursuit of a separate investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan, allegedly committed by the Taliban and both Afghan and US military personnel. However, Mike Pompeo, then US secretary of state, linked the sanctions package to the Palestine case. “It’s clear the ICC is only putting Israel in [its] crosshairs for nakedly political purposes,” he said. Months later, he accused Bensouda, without citing any evidence, of having “engaged in corrupt acts for her personal benefit”. The US sanctions were rescinded after President Joe Biden entered the White House. In February 2021, the ICC’s pre-trial chamber issued a ruling confirming the ICC had jurisdiction in occupied Palestinian territories. The following month, Bensouda announced the opening of the criminal investigation. “In the end, our central concern must be for the victims of crimes, both Palestinian and Israeli, arising from the long cycle of violence and insecurity that has caused deep suffering and despair on all sides,” she said at the time. Bensouda completed her nine-year term at the ICC three months later, leaving it to her successor, Khan, to take up the investigation. It was only after the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing war on Gaza that the ICC’s investigation gained renewed urgency, culminating in last week’s request for arrest warrants. It was the conclusion Israel’s political, military and intelligence establishment had feared. “The fact they chose the head of Mossad to be the prime minister’s unofficial messenger to [Bensouda] was to intimidate, by definition,” said a source briefed on Cohen’s operation. “It failed.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/a...secutor-war-crimes-inquiry#Echobox=1716878108
It's a well-known fact that the United States support for Israel is very one-sided by Republicans/Conservatives/Evangelicals (2 - 3x) more than Democrats. I'm very curious how this will play out if the Israel / Hamas War and bombing continue when students return to college campuses in August and then go to the polls in November. How does each political party including Independents plan to sell their support for Israel if the Israel / Hamas War is still in the face of Americans ??? I have been hearing more Republicans and House leader Mike Johnson want a plan to punish protestors that protest on college campuses if the school administration fails to control the protests. Soon after his announcement, he visited Columbia and was met with an overwhelming of loud boos. Whoever will be in office, shit will hit the fan if the Israel / Hamas War is continuing and we'll most likely be closer to War after the U.S. Presidential Elections if Israel / Hamas bullshit is still happening. wrbtrader
"It's their land"?? Let's take a look at the reality of Palestine and Palestinians. To recognize Palestine, we need to recognize a history of terror, genocide and injustice If we are going to recognize 'Palestine,' we must recognize it for what it is https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/may/28/state-of-palestine-turns-60-but-what-exactly-are-w/ If you’re keeping score, to date 138 states have recognized the “State of Palestine,” most recently Ireland, Norway, and Spain. This begs the question, what are they recognizing? They have recognized a state that never existed, with a name never used before 1964, but whose national identity is that Israel “occupied” them in 1948. The first time the term Palestine was used was in the Second Century, over 100 years after Jesus was crucified, to subjugate and embarrass its indigenous people, the Jewish people, after a Jewish revolt to expel Rome from Judea. It is documented in the term Judea capta which the Romans branded on their coins and architecture to document their conquering of the Land and its people. Today’s Palestinian Arabs are a self-identifying mix of indigenous Arabs, and descendants of Arab immigrants from the Arabian peninsula, Egypt, and Syria. Today’s “Palestine” is governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a terrorist group which, along with Hamas, are dedicated to eradicating Israel, not coexistence. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is their genocidal anthem, calling for the destruction of Israel. One must ask, if “Palestine” was ever independent and therefore occupied by Israel: who was its first king, president, emir, or prime minister? What is its currency? When is its independence day? How is it possible that the PLO governs a territory that is not under its control, not because of Israel but because of Hamas expelling the PLO in 2007? What are the “Palestinians” national past times? Celebrating terror, inciting hatred and violence, funding terrorists and their families with an obscene financial incentives known as “pay to slay.” Why when its terrorist attack Israelis and Jews around the world, the “State of Palestine” is not brought to the International Court of Justice? Why the double standard? If we are going to recognize “Palestine,” we must recognize it for what it is: a divisive tool to pressure Israel, a “state” whose only response to multiple offers for actual independence has been violence and terror and death. Before the PLO was established May 28, 1964, one would be hard pressed to find any mention of the “Palestinians,” referring to Arabs in the Land. Before 1948, “Palestinian” currency issued by the British, had Arabic, English, and Hebrew. Would a Palestinian Arab state, or any Arab or Islamic state, ever have Hebrew on its official currency? Before 1948, the Palestine Philharmonic was a Jewish orchestra. As were “Palestinian” athletic teams that competed internationally. All Jewish. The daily “Palestine Post” was a Jewish publication. And when the British referred to Palestinians, they were referring to the Jewish population as there was no Palestinian Arab ethnicity recognized by anyone until then. My father was an actual Palestinian. After creating the PLO and a people for it to represent, Palestinian Arab nationalism existed with the sole purpose of eliminating Israel and the Jewish people. The PLO also tried to unseat the artificial Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1970, the entity that sits on 70% of British Mandate “Palestine.” They made up a state to reward their Hashemite allies who hailed from Arabia. Even the PLO knew that this was a fake state. But after being squashed and butchered by the Hashemite army, with more casualties in a month than Hamas claims today in Gaza after eight months, they retreated, were expelled, and set their sights only on Israel. In the Oslo Accords, PLO leader Yasser Arafat publicly recognized Israel’s right to exist and renounced “terrorism and other acts of violence” against Israel. Yet practically, the PLO continued to engage in terrorism, and initiated the infamous “Pay to Slay” program, providing hefty pensions for Palestinian Arab terrorists and their families. This represents millions of dollars in the Palestinian Authority’s annual budget, and is subsidized by foreign contributions to the PA. In October 2018, the PLO suspended its recognition of Israel, and doubled down on the funding of terrorism. This is the “Palestine” the world should recognize. Yes, there are several million people who identify as “Palestinians” today, a reality that will not change. There needs to be a resolution where they will hopefully, one day, choose to live in peace with Israel, truly renounce and stop inciting terror even among their children as young as pre-school, and live prosperously. But the solution is not to recognize a “State of Palestine” blind to this reality, as a slap to Israel, or thinking in any way that doing so without the Palestinian Arabs having to negotiate and aspire to peace rather than an endless genocidal war, will bring peace closer. It won’t. It only emboldens the terrorists. Alternatively if the world actually recognizes the “State of Palestine” against which it claims Israel is committing acts of war and genocide, and which 138 states that have recognized “Palestine” as an actual legitimate entity, it’s high time that “Palestine” be held to the same accountability as Israel, or any other state. As such, acts of terror that are inspired by, celebrated in, and funded from the “State of Palestine,” constitute actual war crimes and genocide. “Palestine’s” leaders should have arrest warrants against them. They should be brought to trial, individually and nationally. It’s doubtful that anyone in Ireland, Norway, or Spain were intelligent enough to note the irony of their recognition of “Palestine” the week of the anniversary of the creation of the PLO. Since a terrorist revolutionary movement can’t have a cause without a people, the Palestinians were invented along with it. If only the Marx brothers had the sense to create a people, the Fredonians, along with their fictitious country called Fredonia, they could have been recognized as the indigenous people, from the river to the sea, of their imaginary state, receiving billions from gullible governments and terrorist sympathizers around the world. If only Dorothy and the Wizard had a sense to create a revolutionary movement to liberate the Munchkins, the Munchkinland Liberation Organization, the Wicked Witch of the West and Good Witch of the South would have been jailed on charges of genocide of the little people and rotted away in prison. The world’s double standards are profound. In calling for a “two state solution” nobody is demanding that “Palestine” be democratic. “Palestine” is an anti-democratic kleptocracy that has not seen even a fake election in nearly two decades, and the last time they had an election, Hamas became the parliamentary majority. The vast majority of “Palestinians” support the genocidal Islamist Hamas, according to their own polls, the same Hamas that slaughtered PLO leaders in Gaza, and then held all Gazans hostage. This is the “Palestine” to recognize.
Not that any of the aid brought in by this pier was being distributed. The food was all being stolen by Hamas or rampaging desperate mobs. Any aid delivered recently is merely being warehoused. However it looks like the pier was definitely "temporary". So much for this delivery channel. Aid deliveries suspended after rough seas damage US-built temporary pier in Gaza, US officials say https://www.wral.com/story/aid-deli...ary-pier-in-gaza-3-us-officials-say/21454041/ WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. built temporary pier that had been used to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza was damaged by rough seas and has temporarily suspended operations, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The Joint Logistics Over The Shore, or JLOTS, pier only began operations in the past two weeks and had provided an additional way to get critically needed food to Gaza. The setback is the latest for the $320 million pier, which has already had three U.S. service member injuries and had four if its vessels beached due to heavy seas. Deliveries also were halted for two days last week after crowds rushed aid trucks coming from the pier and one Palestinian man was shot dead. The U.S. military worked with the U.N. and Israeli officials to select safer alternate routes for trucks, the Pentagon said Friday. The pier was fully functional as late as Saturday when heavy seas unmoored four of the Army boats that were being used to ferry pallets of aid from commercial vessels to the pier, which was anchored into the beach and provided a long causeway for trucks to drive that aid onto the shore. Two of the vessels were beached on Gaza and two others on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not yet been announced publicly. Before the weather damage and suspension, the pier had begun to pick up steam and as of Friday more than 820 metric tons of food aid had been delivered from the sea onto the Gaza beach via the pier, U.S. officials have repeatedly emphasized that the pier cannot provide the amount of aid that starving Gazans need and stressed that more checkpoints for humanitarian trucks need to be opened. At maximum capacity, the pier would bring in enough food for 500,000 of Gaza’s people. U.S. officials stressed the need for open land crossings for the remaining 1.8 million.
Israel’s war on Gaza live: Tent cities attacked as tanks roll into Rafah By Zaheena RasheedandAlastair Mccready 29 May 2024 Israeli forces shelled a tent camp in a designated “safe zone” west of Rafah and killed at least 21 people, including 13 women and girls, in the latest mass killing of Palestinian civilians. The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting over Israel’s ground invasion of Rafah as Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised the state of Palestine. Israeli military drones shoot ‘anyone who moves’ in Rafah: Report Israel forces carried out fresh air strikes in southern Gaza’s Rafah overnight and in the early hours of the morning as tanks pushed through to the centre of a city that was a “safe zone” until recently for Palestinians fleeing attacks by Israeli forces elsewhere in the territory. The French news agency AFP said that its journalists in Rafah reported new strikes early Wednesday, hours after witnesses and a Palestinian security source said Israeli tanks had penetrated the heart of the city. “People are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by Israeli drones,” Rafah resident Abdel Khatib told AFP. An Israeli fighter jet releases flares while a military drone flies over Rafah on May 28, 2024 [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Israeli strikes kill at least 37 Palestinians, most in tents, near Gaza’s Rafah as offensive expands An Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, only adding to the surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas. By SAMY MAGDY and WAFAA SHURAFA May 29, 2024 https://apnews.com/article/israel-p...s-05-28-2024-21ea44e3b514d3f3f2bd26a33f157e48 DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday — pummeling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians — according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials. The tent camp inferno has drawn widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies, over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah. And in a sign of Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday. The Israeli military suggested Sunday’s blaze in the tent camp may have been caused by secondary explosions, possibly from Palestinian militants’ weapons. The results of Israel’s initial probe into the fire were issued Tuesday, with military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari saying the cause of the fire was still under investigation but that the Israeli munitions used — targeting what the army said was a position with two senior Hamas militants — were too small to be the source. The strike or the subsequent fire could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp. The blaze killed 45 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials’ count. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a “tragic mishap.”