90 killed as Israel targets food aid sites in Gaza again
Al Jazeera :
At least 90 Palestinians, including 36 people near food aid sites in Rafah, killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza today.
World Food Programme (WFP) said thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are on the “verge of catastrophic hunger”, with one in three people in the enclave not eating for days at a time.
Syria president announces “immediate ceasefire” in Suwayda province. Hamas said Israel rejected a ceasefire proposal that would have seen the release of all remaining captives held in Gaza, and pledged it was prepared for a lengthy war if there is no deal.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 58,765 people and wounded 140,485. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israel’s actions in hitting Damascus this week were works of a government that did not consider anything other than military approaches to reach its objectives, says Yossi Mekelberg, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House.
Mekelberg added that Israel may have had legitimate concerns about the Syrian government’s failure to prevent sectarian conflict that has drawn in the Druze community in the country’s south, but the Netanyahu government appeared incapable of pursuing any approach other than its favoured “modus operandi of using excessive force and taking over more territory”.
“Israel, for many years, but especially after October 7, is working on the premise that using force will provide it with security,” he said. “It’s a very short-sighted view.”
He said the “radical” changes that had taken place in post-Assad Syria presented risks but also potential opportunities for Israel, including the possibility of security arrangements or even normalisation with the new Syrian government.
“The current government in Israel is incapable of seeing that,” he said. “It doesn’t look at any diplomatic [efforts] or any political change that can take place beyond using military force.”
Meanwhile, London’s Metropolitan Police say they have arrested 55 people under “anti-terrorism laws” at a demonstration in support of the banned group Palestine Action in the British capital.
Protesters had gathered in central London for a third Saturday in a row to protest the pro-Palestinian group’s proscription under “anti-terrorism laws”, making it a crime to support the organisation, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In a repeat of scenes from the previous weeks, police hauled away protesters carrying placards declaring: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.