Author: Steven Sahiounie

Three Israeli hostages who were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces on Friday did everything in their power to demonstrate that they posed no threat, including holding a white flag, the chief of the general staff of the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) has said. In a video statement on Saturday, Herzi Halevi, who is leading Israel’s war in Gaza, said the IOF bears full responsibility for the “painful event” and pledged to “do everything to prevent the recurrence of such cases in the continuation of the fighting.” “The three hostages who survived seventy hellish days, moved towards the IOF soldiers, and were killed by…

The battle for Gaza adds yet another page to Israel’s long list of military operations in Arab nations and enclaves. We are shocked by the brutal fighting going on today, but history has seen many similar military operations where it was impossible to draw the line between war and terrorism. The 1982 Lebanon War is one such example. Israel may have won that war, but as a result it only acquired a fiercer enemy. Setup for slaughter By the mid-1970s, Israel had defeated the regular armies of several opposing Arab nations. However, the Jewish state still had an irreconcilable enemy:…

By: Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator This Christmas, the rooms of all the hotels in Bethlehem are empty, and local businesses are suffering because no Christian pilgrims wanted to travel to what is increasingly looking like a war-zone. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, has cancelled Christmas this year. For the first time since modern celebrations began, the birthplace of Jesus will not decorate the Manger Square tree. In the original first Christmas story, Joseph and Mary were turned away from the inns, as all the rooms were full. This Christmas, the rooms of all the hotels in Bethlehem are empty, and…

A French lawmaker has denounced as “unacceptable” the participation of French nationals in Israel’s war on Gaza, stressing that they should be held accountable if they are found to have been involved in war crimes in the besieged territory. Thomas Portes, a member of the left-wing La France Insoumise party, made the remarks in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday, referring to a report by radio network Europe 1 that more than 4,000 French nationals are engaged with the Israeli military in Gaza. “While the UN, through several of its special rapporteurs, warns of genocidal risks……

Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network, citing local sources speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that an explosive-laden drone targeted the US-run military facility in al-Malikiyah town of Hasakah province on Saturday afternoon. There were no immediate reports about the extent of damage at the military facility, and possible casualties. This came shortly before a combat drone struck the base which houses US troops at Conoco gas field in Dayr al-Zawr province. Another explosion ripped through the al-Omar oil field in the same Syrian province shortly afterwards, as an unmanned aerial vehicle hit the vicinity of the US base set up in the energy-rich…

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called on the international community to hold Israel responsible for war crimes it has committed against journalists and medics in the besieged Gaza Strip. Hamas issued a statement on Friday saying that the Israeli regime has killed members of groups that are protected by law in war time, including journalists and medical and humanitarian personnel, during its ongoing aggression. “(Israel’s) neo-Nazi leaders should be held accountable for committing heinous war crimes against the Palestinian people,” said the statement. It came after Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel said one of its cameramen had been killed…

“We had big dreams but the only dream left now is when we die, let our bodies remain intact and recognizable and not be reduced to dismembered corpses in a bag,” were the final words of Palestinian journalist Ayat Khadoura. “When we die, we dream of having a shroud to cover us and our bodies laid to rest in a grave.” Khadoura, a freelance broadcast journalist based in the Gaza Strip, never knew she would become the news herself. In what turned out to be her last message, the Gaza-based journalist expressed legitimate fears that every young Palestinian has amid…

Pro-peace demonstrators have taken part in fresh protest rallies across the UK, demanding an end to Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip. The pro-Palestine demonstrators continue as the Stop the War Coalition titled Saturday as the “Day of Action.” The Stop the War Coalition organizers listed 57 separate pro-Palestinian events across the UK on Saturday, including assemblies and candlelit vigils. Protesters in north London gathered in Camden Town, calling for an end to the Israeli regime forces deadly attacks on Gaza. The weekly demonstrations in the UK are held amid growing concern in the international community about the Israeli regime’s brutal…

Israeli bulldozers have demolished tents of displaced Palestinians outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip, “burying people alive” inside them, according to a report. Video footage from Al Jazeera showed mangled tents and belongings of Palestinians at the courtyard of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza, on Saturday. The report said at least 20 bodies now lie in the yard. “Dozens of displaced, sick, and wounded people were buried alive. The occupation [Israeli] bulldozers trampled the tents of the displaced people in the hospital yard and brutally crushed them,” Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif reported. “A terrifying massacre and…

“Our people continue to be resilient with all the success we’re having on the battlefield thanks to the fighters. This is pushing many countries in the world to change their stances and a lot of politicians not to adopt the Israeli narrative that is filled with the blood of our civilians,” says Hamas official Osama Hamdan. “The Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian statements calling for a ceasefire, the vote at the UN General Assembly to stop the war in Gaza shows the enemy is being exposed in the international community. “The Unites States’s stance that is ‘shifting’ – we are…