Chris Hedges “The Genocide in Gaza”

Best-selling author, foreign correspondent, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges addressed the Middle East crisis with a talk titled “The Genocide in Gaza” on December 6, 2023 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in North Troy NY.

31 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah after Netanyahu says invasion there is inevitable

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 Palestinians in Rafah early Saturday, hours after Israel’s prime minister said he asked the military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from the southern Gaza city ahead of a ground invasion.

Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide details or a timeline, but the announcement set off widespread panic. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, many after being uprooted repeatedly by Israeli evacuation orders that now cover two-thirds of Gaza’s territory. It’s not clear where they could run next.

Medical teams targeted: Israeli sniper fire hits operating room staff

Palestinian medics targeted by Israelis; hospitals disrupted. Plea for foreign intervention. Blockades worsen situation. Medical workers in Gaza are under attack, as Israeli forces have deliberately shot and injured them while they were on duty. The shortage of medical personnel at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis has made it difficult to treat sick and injured Palestinians. The doctors at Nasser hospital are calling for foreign intervention to ensure the safety of medical workers. Israel’s blockade on food, fuel, and medicine entering Gaza has worsened the situation, making it harder for understocked hospitals to operate effectively.

Ex-UNRWA Official: Funding Cuts Make Donor Countries Complicit in Starvation of Gaza

As Israel’s assault on Gaza has displaced the majority of Palestinians in Gaza, more than half are sheltering in facilities run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Despite being the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza, UNRWA says it may run out of funds by the end of the month, after at least 18 states or institutions, including many of the agency’s biggest funders, announced they were suspending their donations in January. The cuts came after the Israeli government accused several UNRWA employees of participating in the Hamas attack on October 7. Israel made the allegations in a document it provided to foreign governments which apparently contained no direct evidence of the claims. “As of now, the evidence simply does not exist” outside of this “dodgy Israeli dossier,” says Chris Gunness, former chief spokesperson for UNRWA. He slams donors who have pulled their funding as “doing Israel’s political bidding” in its “scheme to dismantle UNRWA” and further dispossess Palestinians in Gaza.

How to End America’s Hypocrisy on Gaza

The military campaign that Israel launched in response to Hamas’s brutal October 7 attacks has killed more than 27,000 people in the Gaza Strip and injured more than 60,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. About 75 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced. Some 400,000 people are enduring famine because of the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza and the severe restrictions on humanitarian aid that have deprived civilians of what they need to survive. This number could grow if international funding for aid falters.