GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip remain homeless after their houses were badly damaged or destroyed during Israel’s recent military offensive there. The Israeli army began with aerial bombardments of the enclave on 27 December and added a ground assault from 3 January. Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on 18 January while Hamas, the de facto ruling authority in the Strip, declared its own ceasefire later that day. Read more about Thousands of Gazans remain homeless
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Israel is bracing for a wave of lawsuits accusing the state of substantial human rights violations during its 22-day military assault on Gaza which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and nearly 5,000 wounded, more than half of them civilian. The International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have confirmed that phosphorous bombs were used over Gaza. It is against international law to use phosphorous in densely crowded civilian areas. Read more about Israel braces for wave of lawsuits
The export of unmanned aerial vehicles, techniques of urban warfare and other tools of Israel’s pacification industry is the occupation’s contribution to the sustaining of the global power structures. Jimmy Johnson analyzes for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Unmanned aerial vehicles and the warfare of inequality management
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - The Hamas government in Gaza has said it is trying to help thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes and/or loved ones in the 22-day Israeli offensive which ended on 18 January. According to deputy minister of social affairs, Sobhi Redwan, Hamas has so far spent an estimated $50 million on emergency relief assistance, but more aid is needed. Read more about Hamas providing emergency relief in Gaza
As Israelis voted on Tuesday for a new government, Palestinian residents in the Gaza Strip continue to rebuild from the three-week long attack on their territory which killed at least 1,350 people. While many commentators say that the results of the Israeli elections matter to the prospects for peace, Palestinians voiced less optimistic views in bomb-ravaged Gaza. The Electronic Intifada contributor Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about In Gaza, Palestinians react to Israeli elections
Suppose that the US weapon makers had to use a tunnel to deliver weapons to Israel. The US would have to build a mighty big tunnel to accommodate the weapons that Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar have supplied to Israel. The size of such a tunnel would be an eighth wonder of the world, a Grand Canyon of a tunnel, an engineering feat of the ages. Kathy Kelly writes from Chicago, the United States after returning from Gaza. Read more about If Israel's weapons came through a tunnel
Amidst a wave of repression against protests in support of Palestine, Egyptian security agents on 6 February arrested journalist and filmmaker Philip Rizk. Rizk, an Egyptian and German national, was detained after a peaceful march in solidarity with the people under siege and attack in the Gaza Strip. Days later his location is still unknown. Per Bjorklund reports from Cairo. Read more about Egypt arrests pro-Palestine journalist
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Despite a desperate need to rebuild the Gaza Strip, viewed by many as a key ingredient to reuniting the Palestinian territories and building a two-state peace deal with Israel, it appears that the United States and the international community are poised to continue old, politically-charged policies that will impede progress. Even before Israel’s three-week war on the Gaza Strip, some 80 percent of the besieged territory’s 1.5 million Palestinian residents reportedly depended on aid to meet their basic needs. Read more about Anti-Hamas policies stymie Gaza recovery
After 21 indescribable days, “the war was over,” or so they said. But it wasn’t for me; enormous destruction covered the beautiful face of Gaza that I knew. Thousands of houses and buildings were wiped off the earth. Three weeks were all that Israeli warplanes and tanks needed to smash so many living creatures in Gaza including babies — even unborn ones — women, children, men and the elderly. Eman Mohammed writes from the devastated Gaza Strip. Read more about The war where I was killed and Gaza survived
The Israeli government has moved quickly to quash protests over the appointment of the army’s senior adviser on international law to a teaching post at Tel Aviv University. Col Pnina Sharvit-Baruch is thought to have provided legal cover for war crimes during the recent Gaza offensive. Government officials fear that recent media revelations relating to Col Sharvit-Baruch’s role in the Gaza operation may assist human rights groups seeking to bring Israeli soldiers to trial abroad. The Electronic Intifada contributor Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israeli university welcomes "war crimes" colonel
