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Tag: Hamas

  • Ireland to recognise Palestinian statehood ‘this month’: minister

    Ireland to recognise Palestinian statehood ‘this month’: minister

    Ireland is certain to recognise Palestinian statehood by the end of May, the country’s foreign minister said Wednesday, without specifying a date.

    “We will be recognising the state of Palestine before the end of the month,” Micheal Martin, who is also Ireland’s deputy prime minister, told the Newstalk radio station.

    In March the leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovakia and Malta said in a joint statement that they stand ready to recognise Palestinian statehood.

    Ireland has long said it has no objection in principle to officially recognising the Palestinian state if it could help the peace process in the Middle East.

    But Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has given the issue new impetus.

    Last week EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Spain, Ireland and Slovenia planned to symbolically recognise a Palestinian state on May 21, with others potentially following suit.

    But Ireland’s Martin shied Wednesday from pinpointing a date.

    “The specific date is still fluid because we’re still in discussions with some countries in respect of a joint recognition of a Palestinian state,” said Martin.

    “It will become clear in the next few days as to the specific date but it certainly will be before the end of this month.

    “I will look forward to consultations today with some foreign ministers in respect of the final specific detail of this.”

    Last month during a visit to Dublin by Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said the countries would coordinate the move together.

    “When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many others as possible to lend weight to the decision and to send the strongest message,” said Harris.

    Israeli genocide in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 people in the besieged strip, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

  • Joe Biden finally threatens Israel with cutting arms supply

    Joe Biden finally threatens Israel with cutting arms supply

    US President Joe Biden has given his most severe warning yet after Israel shelled Rafah on Thursday, warning that he will stop arms supplies if IDF continue ahead with a ground offensive into the city.

    “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used… to deal with the cities,” Biden said. “We’re not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used.”

    “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs,” Biden said. “It’s just wrong.”

    In response, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations has expressed disappointment at Biden’s threat.

    “This is a difficult and very disappointing statement to hear from a president to whom we have been grateful since the beginning of the war,” Gilad Erdan told Israeli public broadcaster Kan radio, in Israel’s first reaction to Biden’s warning.

  • Pro-Palestinian student protests spread in Switzerland

    Pro-Palestinian student protests spread in Switzerland

    Pro-Palestinian protests on Tuesday spread to three universities across Switzerland — inspired by similar student demonstrations that began in the United States.

    For weeks, students around the world have been calling for their universities to cut ties with Israeli institutions over the war in Gaza.

    Students at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) were the first to mobilise in Switzerland, with several hundred occupying a hall Thursday evening to demand an end to partnerships with Israeli universities.

    UNIL responded in a statement that it “considers that there is no reason to cease these relations”. Protesters and the rector will meet later Tuesday.

    On Tuesday, the movement spread to the prestigious EPFL university in Lausanne, where a group of students occupied the university’s hall, an AFP photographer observed.

    The students are demanding “an academic boycott” of Israeli institutions and “an end to censorship at EPFL”, and called on other universities to join in.

    Tens of students protested in the entrance hall of the ETH Zurich shortly before midday on Tuesday, shouting “Free Palestine” and rolling a poster onto the floor that said “no Tech for Genocide” before being removed by police, according to news agency Keystone-ATS.

    In Geneva, the Palestine Student Coordination – University of Geneva (CEP-UnigGe) took over a hall at the university with sofas, chairs and tables around midday, the Swiss agency reported.

    Numerous Palestinian flags and banners were hung on all floors of the building. An assembly is scheduled for Tuesday.

    In a letter to the university’s rector, the group called for “an immediate end to links between the University of Geneva and Israeli universities” and called on the rectorate to encourage the admission of Palestinian students.

    Students across Europe have launched pro-Palestinian protests on campuses in Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

  • Israel shows no sign of accepting ceasefire

    Israel shows no sign of accepting ceasefire

    The ceasefire. The one that Palestinians still in Rafah were waiting for. Hamas had agreed to the ceasefire terms but Israel has once again, delayed any possibility of peace in the region.

    Israel’s unapologetic dissent comes despite global pressure calling for an end to the seven-month genocide of Palestinians which has now killed more than 34,000 people.

    As per the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the three-phase ceasefire is in ‘contradiction with Israel’s demands’ and a delegation will reportedly be sent to Cairo for talks.

    On the other hand, according to sources from Al Jazeera, Hamas claims that Netanyahu deliberately undermined the recent discussions while reports in the Israeli media of Hamas accepting a deal is also being discredited, deeming it as a “ruse designed to make Israel look like they had sabotaged the deal”.

    Ironically, at the same time, Israeli military has invaded the Rafah crossing.

    “By deciding to close the Rafah and Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] border crossing, Israel is leading the region toward a disaster and continues its policy of starvation and persecution of [Palestinians],” said Hamas.

    Hamas has also called for “international intervention” to prompt Israel into accepting the ceasefire.

    Previously, Hamas deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya confirmed to Al Jazeera that US President Biden personally committed to the implementation of the ceasefire deal.

    He told the Qatari news network that Egyptian and Qatari mediators had told Hamas that the United States president was committed to making sure that the agreement was enforced.

    However, there hasn’t been confirmation of this from the American side.

    The US confirmed that work was being done ‘right now’ to ensure peace. State Department spokesperson Miller didn’t give a timeframe for how long the details of the ceasefire would take but he said that the CIA director is “literally working on this right now”.

    “It’s something that is a top priority for everyone in this administration from the president on down,” Miller said.

    “Everyone is focused on this. Everyone is trying to get a deal over the line.”

  • Israeli military strikes Rafah while continuing talks with mediators

    Israeli military strikes Rafah while continuing talks with mediators

    The Israeli military said that it is conducting targeted strikes against positions held by the Islamist group Hamas in the eastern part of Rafah, a southern city in Gaza.

    The operation is part of ongoing efforts to pressure Hamas into releasing Israeli hostages and achieving other strategic goals, reports Ari Rabinovitch.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that his war cabinet has approved the continuation of the operation in Rafah. The aim is to increase pressure on Hamas to ensure the release of Israeli hostages while pursuing other military objectives.

    “The war cabinet unanimously decided that Israel continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

    The statement also indicated that despite the ongoing strikes, Israel would engage with mediators in an attempt to reach an agreement with Hamas, noting that the current Hamas proposal does not meet Israel’s necessary demands.

    “In parallel, even though the Hamas proposal is far from Israel’s necessary demands, Israel will send a working delegation to the mediators in order to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions acceptable to Israel,” the statement read.

    Meanwhile, the White House announced that it is reviewing Hamas’s response to a ceasefire and hostage release deal and is urging Israel to avoid launching a large-scale offensive in Rafah.

    White House spokesperson John Kirby noted that U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu for about 30 minutes regarding the ongoing operation in Rafah and the hostage situation before Hamas’s response was received.

    Kirby described the discussion as constructive, stating, “It wasn’t a pressure call; it wasn’t about twisting his arm towards a certain set of parameters.”

    However, he also said that the United States does “not support ground operations in Rafah” unless Israel can demonstrate a clear plan to protect hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians living in the area.

    CIA Director William Burns is also in the region, discussing the Hamas response with Israeli officials.

    Kirby highlighted the urgency of the situation, stating, “We are at a critical stage right now,” and reiterated that the U.S. is urging restraint to avoid further civilian casualties.

  • Pro-Palestinian students camp out at Mexico’s largest university

    Pro-Palestinian students camp out at Mexico’s largest university

    Mexico City (AFP) – Dozens of pro-Palestinian students from Mexico’s largest university camped out Thursday in solidarity with similar protests that have swept colleges in the United States.

    Mounting flags and chanting “Long live free Palestine,” the protesters set up tents in front of the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s (UNAM) head office in Mexico City.

    The students called on the Mexican government to break diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel.

    “We are here to support Palestine, the people who are in Palestine, and the student camps in the United States,” said Valentino Pino, a 19-year-old philosophy student.

    Jimena Rosas, 21, said she hoped the protest would have a domino effect and spread to other universities in the country.

    “Once people see that UNAM is beginning to mobilize, other universities should start as well,” she said.

    Dozens of universities in the United States have seen pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent weeks, leading to clashes with police and counter-protests.

    Israeli genocide against Palestinians since October 8 has killed more than 34,500 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

  • More war debris in Gaza than Ukraine: UN

    More war debris in Gaza than Ukraine: UN

    Geneva (AFP) – The Gaza Strip is filled with more war debris and rubble than Ukraine, the head of UN demining operations for the narrow Palestinian territory said Wednesday.

    And the danger for clearance work is restricted not just to unexploded ordnance but includes possible exposure to toxic substances such as asbestos.

    The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) estimated the amount of debris in Gaza at 37 million tonnes in mid-April, or 300 kilogrammes per square metre.

    “Gaza has more rubble than Ukraine, and to put that in perspective, the Ukrainian front line is 600 miles (nearly 1,000 kilometres) long, and Gaza is 25 miles (40 km) long,” said Mungo Birch, head of the UNMAS programme in the Palestinian territories.

    But the sheer volume of rubble is not the only problem, said UNMAS.

    “This rubble is likely heavily contaminated with UXO (unexploded ordnance), but its clearance will be further complicated by other hazards in the rubble,” Birch told journalists.

    “There’s estimated to be over 800,000 tonnes of asbestos, for instance, alone in the Gaza rubble.” The cancer-causing mineral used in construction requires special precautions when handling.

    Birch said he hoped UNMAS, which works to mitigate the threats posed by all types of explosive ordnance, would become the coordination body for mine action in Gaza.

    It has secured $5 million of funding but needs a further $40 million to continue its work in Gaza over the next 12 months.

    However, “the sector as a whole will need hundreds of millions of US dollars over multiple years in order to make Gaza safe again for the population”, Birch added.

    Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,568 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.

  • Google fires 28 workers protesting contracts with Israel

    Google fires 28 workers protesting contracts with Israel

    New York, United States – Google fired 28 employees following a sit-down protest over the tech giant’s contract with the Israeli government, a Google spokesperson said Thursday.

    The Tuesday demonstration was organized by the group “No Tech for Apartheid,” which has long opposed “Project Nimbus,” Google’s joint $1.2 billion contract with Amazon to provide cloud services to the government of Israel.

    Video of the demonstration showed police arresting Google workers in Sunnyvale, California, in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s, according to a post by the advocacy group on X, formerly Twitter.

    Kurian’s office was occupied for 10 hours, the advocacy group said.

    Workers held signs including “Googlers against Genocide,” a reference to accusations surrounding Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

    “No Tech for Apartheid,” which also held protests in New York and Seattle, pointed to an April 12 Time magazine article reporting a draft contract of Google billing the Israeli Ministry of Defense more than $1 million for consulting services.

    A “small number” of employees “disrupted” a few Google locations, but the protests are “part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don’t work at Google,” a Google spokesperson said.

    “After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” the Google spokesperson said. “We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed.”

    Israel is one of “numerous” governments for which Google provides cloud computing services, the Google spokesperson said.

    “This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services,” the Google spokesperson said.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • US says new sanctions on Iran coming soon

    US says new sanctions on Iran coming soon

    The United States said Tuesday it would soon impose new sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program after its retaliatory attack on Israel, and that it expects its allies and partners to follow with parallel measures.

    US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s announcement came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen indicated punitive measures were in the works, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said his office was working on it.

    Iran sent more than 300 missiles, drones and rockets at Israel over the weekend, in what it said was retaliation for a deadly strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus. Nearly all of the projectiles were intercepted, and there was little damage.

    “In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program” as well as the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian defense ministry, Sullivan said in a statement.

    “We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions,” he added.

    “These new sanctions and other measures will continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors.”

    US authorities have been using economic tools to counter Iran’s activities, taking aim at its drone and missile programs, as well as its financing of groups like Hamas, which launched its own attack on Israel on October 7.

    Earlier, Yellen previewed the sanctions, telling reporters: “Iran’s actions threaten the region’s stability and could cause economic spillovers.”

    The Treasury will not hesitate to work with US allies to “use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity,” she said.

    She added that “all options to disrupt terrorist financing” will be on the table.

    ‘More that we could do’

    Months of Israeli genocide in Gaza have triggered violence in the region involving Iranian proxies and allies who say they are acting in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

    But tensions have soared even higher with Tehran’s first direct assault on Israel, which has prompted appeals for de-escalation by world leaders fearing wider conflict.

    Yellen did not offer specifics on the possible measures to be taken, but said Washington has been working to diminish Iran’s ability to export oil, adding there might be “more that we could do.”

    The United States is also looking to work with G7 partners and countries including China to constrain Iran’s ability to access goods needed to build weapons, a senior Treasury official told reporters.

    “We’re going to have conversations with all major suppliers around the world,” the official said.

    In Brussels, Borrell said after an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers that some member states had proposed “the adoption of expanded restrictive measures against Iran” and that his office would begin preparatory work.

    “We have to move away from the edge of the abyss,” Borrell said.

    Sullivan said that Washington had sanctioned more than 600 Iran-linked individuals and entities “connected to terrorism, terrorist financing and other forms of illicit trade, horrific human rights abuses, and support for proxy terrorist groups.”

    “The pressure will continue,” he warned.

    “We will not hesitate to continue to take action, in coordination with allies and partners around the world, and with Congress, to hold the Iranian government accountable for its malicious and destabilizing actions.”

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • UN agency finds unexploded 1,000-pound bombs in Gaza schools

    UN agency finds unexploded 1,000-pound bombs in Gaza schools

    The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday it had found unexploded 1,000-pound bombs inside schools after Israel pulled troops out of southern Gaza’s main city Khan Yunis.

    The Israeli army has carried out relentless air strikes and bombardments in Gaza since October 7 attacks.

    UN agencies led an “assessment mission” in Khan Yunis after Israeli forces withdrew from the embattled city last week, UNRWA said.

    It found “significant challenges in operating safely due to the presence of unexploded ordnance (UXOs), including 1,000-pound bombs inside schools and on roads”.

    “Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) require a range of lifesaving assistance, including health, water and sanitation, and food,” it said.

    Earlier this month, the United Nations said it would take “millions of dollars and many years to decontaminate the (Gaza) Strip from unexploded munitions”.

    “We work off the rule of thumb that 10 percent of ordnance doesn’t function as designed,” UN Mine Action Service chief Charles Birch said in a statement earlier this month.

    “We estimate that, to begin the clearance of Gaza, we need around $45 million.”

    Israeli genocide in Gaza since October 7 has killed at least 33,843 people in the besieged strip, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.

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    © Agence France-Presse