Author: Steven Sahiounie

A group of people gathered in front of the White House for a candlelit vigil holding a sign that say, “President Biden, your staff demands a ceasefire”. Josh Paul, who resigned from the State Department in October over the US’s “lethal assistance to Israel”, spoke at the event. Information shared online before the protest encouraged staff members from the Biden-Harris administration to attend. Attendees were encouraged to wear masks and nondescript clothing and not to bring their work phones. Source: AlJazeera

Speaking of thousands of women and children being killed in Gaza, the Russian president Putin reiterated that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “called the present-day Gaza Strip the world’s largest graveyard for children” Russian President Vladimir Putin has branded the events underway in the Gaza Strip as a catastrophe. “What is going on [in the Gaza Strip] is certainly a catastrophe,” he said at the combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference. Speaking of thousands of women and children being killed in Gaza, the Russian president reiterated that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “called the present-day Gaza Strip…

Almost half of Gaza’s population of nearly 1.9 million people is now estimated to be residing in the Rafah Governorate area in southern Gaza, the UN relief agency in the occupied Palestinian territory has said. “Large crowds wait for hours around aid distribution centres, in desperate need of food, water, shelter, health, and protection,” the UN said. While limited aid is still being distributed in Rafah, aid distribution has largely stopped across the rest of Gaza, the UN added. Source: AlJazeera

UNESCO on Thursday asked for a “full and transparent investigation” to determine the circumstances behind the killing of Anadolu freelance cameraman Montaser Al-Sawaf in Gaza. “I deplore the death of Montaser Al-Sawaf. The protection of journalists as civilians is a requirement under international law, including UN Security Council Resolution 2222/2015 on the protection of journalists, media professionals and associated personnel in situations of conflict,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement. “I call for a full and transparent investigation to determine the circumstances of this tragedy,” Azoulay added. Al-Sawaf, an Anadolu freelance cameraman reporting from Gaza, was killed in…

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, 3,714 students have been killed and 5,700 injured in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since October 7. A ministry statement, cited by the official Wafa news agency, said the number of students who have been killed in Gaza is 3,679 with 5,429 wounded. In the West Bank, 35 students have been killed, with 271 others injured and 82 arrested, according to the statement. The ministry added that 209 teachers and school administrators were also killed and 619 injured in Gaza, while two teachers were injured and 65 arrested in the occupied West…

US should no longer block any UN cease-fire resolutions,’ Fidan says, adding that other Western countries are also complicit in Israel’s attacks Türkiye’s foreign minister blasted the US on Thursday for blocking UN resolutions for a cease-fire in Gaza, which has seen an intense Israeli air and ground offensive since the flare-up of conflict on Oct. 7. “Only the US stands between massacre and cease-fire in Gaza,” said Hakan Fidan. “It should no longer block any UN cease-fire resolutions,” he added, referring to the widely criticized US vetoes of two UN Security Council cease-fire resolutions in October and earlier this…

Pedro Sanchez says he hopes the bloc’s member states will reach an agreement on the situation in Gaza and reiterated that Spain supports a ceasefire. “The ceasefire should open the door to diplomacy and to the realisation of a two-state solution,” he said at the EU summit in Brussels. The Spanish prime minister has repeatedly called for a permanent ceasefire and an end to killings in Gaza. Source: AlJazeera

The vote of 221 to 212 was along strict party lines, with every Republican voting for it and every Democrat against. The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden based on his son Hunter’s controversial international dealings — a move Biden himself slammed as a “baseless” stunt. Republicans have yet to provide evidence of corruption by the president, and the Democratic-led Senate would be unlikely to convict Biden even if the inquiry did lead to an actual impeachment trial. The vote of 221 to 212 was along strict party lines,…

A young man has died from his wounds following an Israeli military raid on the West Bank city of Jenin for the third day in a row, Wafa news agency reported, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry. This raises the death toll to 11, with at least 10 people injured, including two seriously. The Israeli military has said its troops were operating “to expose explosive devices planted under roads to attack the security forces”. Source: AlJazeera

The Ministry of Health said today that 18,682 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50,000 wounded since the start of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It said in its daily report that 18,400 were killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, and that more than 50,000 were wounded, while 282 were killed in the West Bank. It explained that the vast majority of the dead, or 70%, were women and children, while thousands are still missing under the rubble in the bombed homes and buildings. Source: WAFA