Palestinian Information Center – December 31, 2024
Israeli genocidal war on Gaza enters day 452
In the midst of catastrophic humanitarian suffering for more than two million Palestinians — half of them children, the Israeli occupation army continued, for the 452nd consecutive day, to pound and target different areas and massacre more civilians in the Gaza Strip, especially in the northern areas.
Reporters for the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) said on Tuesday that the Israeli occupation army carried out attacks on several homes, civilian targets and shelter centers in different areas of Gaza during the past 24 hours, killing and injuring a number of citizens.
The Israeli army’s large-scale genocidal campaign in northern Gaza, especially in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, has entered day 88, where its forces continue to intensively bomb homes and shelters and attack civilians while imposing a tight siege on the entire area.
Deliberate Israeli attacks on ambulance and civil defense workers already deprived northern Gaza of any rescue services.
Local sources said that a citizen was martyred following an Israeli attack in Ahmed Fikri street in Jabalia an-Nazla area, north of Gaza.
On Monday evening, the Israeli army bombed a gathering of citizens near the Jabalia al-Balad Care Center in northern Gaza, killing and injuring a number of people.
More casualties were reported in other areas of Gaza following Israeli aerial, artillery and shooting attacks last night and today.
Meanwhile, Hundreds of tents in displacement camps across the Gaza Strip were flooded last night and on Tuesday morning due to heavy rains.
https://english.palinfo.com/news/2024/12/31/331438/
US, UK conduct fresh airstrikes against Yemeni capital
US and British warplanes have conducted new airstrikes on the Yemeni capital Sana’a in response to the Arab country’s operations against Israel.
Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network reported that three aerial assaults targeted the September 21st Park, located in the northwestern part of Sana’a, which previously housed the First Armored Division on Tuesday.
US and British military aircraft also targeted the al-Ardi complex in Sana'a's al-Safiyah District, as well as the May 22nd Military Industrial Complex in al-Thawra District, with eight airstrikes.
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the latest American-British aggression, saying its forces have conducted multiple “precision strikes” against targets in the Yemeni capital province of Sana'a and other regions across the Arab country over the last 24 hours.
Mohammed Abdul-Salam, spokesman of Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement, noted that the aggression against Yemen represents "a blatant violation of the sovereignty of an independent state and comes in support of Israel".
He also affirmed that "Yemen will continue to defend itself against any aggression and remains steadfast in supporting Gaza."
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched its campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Yemenis have hit targets throughout the occupied territories, in addition to firing at Israeli ships or vessels heading to or departing Israeli-occupied ports, in the southern Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have said they will not stop their attacks until Israel’s ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.
Al Mayadeen – December 31, 2024
Yemen carried out two 'top-tier' operations, targeted USS Truman
The first operation targeted Ben Gurion Airport in the city of Yafa (Tel Aviv) in occupied Palestine, while the second operation targeted a power station in southern occupied al-Quds.
The Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) missile force carried out two top-tier military operations against Israeli targets, spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced on Tuesday.
The first targeted Ben Gurion Airport in the city of Yafa (Tel Aviv) in occupied Palestine using a hypersonic ballistic missile of the Palestine-2 type, Saree said, adding that the second operation targeted a power station in southern occupied al-Quds with a Zulfiqar-type ballistic missile.
According to the spokesperson, both missiles successfully hit their targets.
Saree pointed out that the two operations coincided with a joint operation conducted by the YAF's naval, missile, and UAV forces, targeting the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman with a large number of drones and cruise missiles, while US forces were preparing to launch a major aerial attack against Yemen.
He confirmed that the operation successfully achieved its objectives, thwarting the planned American aerial assault on Yemen.
Elsewhere, Saree reiterated that the operations of the YAF will only cease with the cessation of the Israeli aggression against Gaza and the lifting of the blockade imposed on the Palestinian strip.
On late Monday, sirens sounded across several city settlements and Israeli-occupied areas in central Palestine, amid a Yemeni missile attack.
At 11:11 am (local time) sirens went off in Tel Aviv, Rehovot, Rishon LeZion, Holon, Bat Yam, occupied al-Ramleh, the suburb of Petach Tikva, occupied Isdud, and Beit Shemesh, among other areas.
Meanwhile, air traffic was halted at the Ben Gurion Airport. Shrapnel resulting from the missile attack also fell in the Beit Shemesh area, while Israeli media outlets reported that a large fragment fell in Ramat, near Tel Aviv.
Other Israeli media outlets criticized the Israeli occupation forces' spokesperson, saying that when the spokesperson "says the missile was intercepted outside Israel's borders, he is either lying or distorting the truth."
The Yemeni missile attack was launched following an American-British assault on the country. Strikes targeted the al-Tuhayta district, south of the port city of Hodeidah.
Israeli correspondent on Arab Affairs for the Israeli broadcasting corporation KAN Roi Kais said that the ballistic missiles were launched from an area south of Hodeidah, which is the same area reported to have been attacked by the United States hours earlier.
Al Mayadeen – December 31, 2024
Palestine entering New Year amid silence over Gaza: Church Affairs
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine urges the world to "act decisively to rescue the Palestinian people from Israel’s tyranny."
The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine stated that the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip, are entering the new year amid increased suffering, displacement, starvation, killing, destruction, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement, as a result of Israeli brutality over more than 14 months of genocide, taking place amid "deafening global silence and complicity."
In a statement issued by its president, Dr. Ramzi Khoury, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, on the occasion of the new Gregorian year, the committee said that the Israeli occupation is waging an open genocide against the existence of the Palestinian people—its women, children, elderly, men, land, and holy sites—along with the destruction of vital infrastructure, including the health system, as evidenced by the destruction and burning of hospitals such as Kamal Adwan, the Indonesian, al-Wafa, the Baptist, al-Awda, and others.
The committee pointed out that the occupation is waging what is likely the first of its kind in history: a war on hospitals that save lives.
It highlighted that nearly 1,068 medical personnel have been killed, hundreds have been humiliated through detentions, 34 hospitals have been rendered inoperable, 242 health centers and institutions have been destroyed or targeted, 136 ambulances have been destroyed, and access to medicines, medical supplies, and primary care has been obstructed.
The occupation has turned the Gaza Strip "into a living nightmare" after destroying its infrastructure and facilities, the committee indicated.
According to the statement, the Israeli occupation forces have committed around 10,000 brutal massacres, resulting in the martyrdom and disappearance of 57,000 people, erased 1,413 families from the civil registry, injured 108,000, displaced 90% of Gaza's population, and forced them into harsh conditions within 20% of the strip’s area.
It also emphasized that the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories "set a dangerous precedent that undermines international law, ushering in a world governed by brute force."
"Nations that hold sway over global decisions bear direct responsibility for enabling a fascist state to commit genocide against an entire people," the committee stressed.
It indicated that "rather than holding Israel accountable as a rogue state that violates international law, major powers have instead rewarded it with diplomatic protection in the UN Security Council and supplied it with the tools to continue its atrocities."
The committee added that the international community’s abandonment of the Palestinian people, allowing "Israel" to destroy hospitals, dismantle UNRWA—an organization vital for the Palestinians—and remaining silent on the siege of a suffering people whose tattered tents have become their graves, where they die from cold, hunger, and disease, reflects "a full bias toward the murderous criminal, soaked in Palestinian blood."
The statement also pointed out that the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing extend to the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military and settlers "relentlessly seize land, displace rightful owners, and build and expand illegal settlements."
"Settler militias rampage through cities, villages, and refugee camps, committing heinous crimes to entrench their colonial project," the statement added.
The Higher Presidential Committee warned that "Muslim and Christian holy sites are desecrated, and efforts to alter the historical, legal, and religious status of Al-Aqsa Mosque continue unabated."
"In occupied Jerusalem, systematic demolitions of Palestinian homes and forced expulsions aim to Judaize the city," it added.
Elsewhere, the committee concluded by saying that "these well-documented crimes leave no room for excuses," underlining that "the legal and moral responsibility now lies with the international community, its institutions, and people of conscience worldwide, including churches, to stand firmly on the side of justice."
"The world must act decisively to rescue the Palestinian people from Israel’s tyranny."
Israel hiring Indian workers as Palestinians leave construction industry amid war
About 16,000 workers have come to the Israeli-occupied territories from India in 2024 to replace Palestinians in the regime’s construction industry.
The Indian workers will replace Palestinian peers as Israel denies the latter entry into their homeland.
Samir Khosla, chairman of the Delhi-based Dynamic Staffing Services, has brought more than 3,500 workers into the occupied territories, AFP reported on Tuesday. Khosla has sent about 500,000 Indians to work in more than 30 countries.
He believes India is a natural choice for Israel given their “excellent relations.”
“We didn't know much about the market, and there wasn't an incumbent workforce from India here,” Khosla said.
Raju Nishad is one of the workers, who will earn three times more money than they would in India – a remarkable incentive.
Nishad works in the new neighborhood of Beer Yaakov in the central-occupied territories.
India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and one of the fastest growing, but it has also struggled to generate enough full-time jobs for millions of people.
Indians have been employed by Israel for decades. They mainly work as caregivers looking after elderly Israelis, diamond traders, and IT professionals.
India is the largest purchaser of Israeli weapons. It has also become a major co-producer of Israeli weapons.
Indian human rights activists and scholars have raised concerns about India’s complicity in the crimes of Israel in Gaza.
In November, the Middle East Eye reported that Israel has been employing an artificial intelligence firing system jointly manufactured by an Indian arms company in Gaza.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/12/31/740080/india-construction-workers-israel-settlement
Al Mayadeen – December 31, 2024
Pentagon releases longest-held detainee at Guantanamo to Tunisia
With Ridah Bin Saleh al Yazidi's transfer, only one of the original 20 detainees remains at the Cuba-based prison: Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, who is serving a life sentence.
The Pentagon repatriated a Tunisian detainee on Monday who had been held at Guantanamo Bay since the prison's opening, without ever being charged or tried at the war court, The New York Times reported.
Ridah Bin Saleh al Yazidi, 59, had been approved for transfer more than 10 years ago but had remained at the facility due to difficulties in securing his repatriation or resettlement.
He was secretly flown back to Tunisia, nearly a year after the Department of Defense informed Congress of an agreement to return him. No details were provided regarding the security arrangements for his transfer.
Al Yazidi’s release marked the fourth transfer in two weeks as part of a final push by the Biden administration to reduce the detainee population at the prison.
When Biden took office, 40 prisoners remained at Guantanamo; now, 26 detainees remain, with 14 approved for transfer, pending security and diplomatic arrangements.
Nine prisoners are either in pretrial proceedings or convicted of war crimes, which means the Biden administration is unlikely to fulfill President Obama’s goal of closing the facility. As the prison approaches its 24th year in January, its focus has reportedly shifted to conducting military trials, rather than detaining and interrogating prisoners as it did in its early years.
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Al Yazidi was the last of a dozen Tunisians once held at Guantanamo Bay, most of whom were captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan after the September 11 attacks and brought to the prison as terrorism suspects. He was one of the first detainees sent to Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, and became part of one of the most iconic images of the detention facility—photographed kneeling in a crude open-air compound at Camp X-Ray.
With his transfer, only one of the original 20 detainees remains at the prison: Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, who is serving a life sentence for conspiring to commit war crimes as a media advisor to Osama bin Laden.
According to a leaked 2007 prison assessment, al Yazidi was captured by Pakistani forces near the Afghanistan border in December 2001, part of a group of about 30 men who had reportedly fled the battle of Tora Bora. Some in the group were suspected of being bodyguards to bin Laden, making them key targets in the early efforts to locate the al-Qaeda leader.
The assessment described al Yazidi as a "dangerous detainee" who had been hostile to the Guantanamo guard force, with reports of him defacing a library book and throwing a cup of tea at a US soldier. However, by 2010, an Obama administration task force determined that al Yazidi could not be prosecuted for war crimes and should be eligible for release to another country with security assurances.
But al Yazidi's transfer was delayed for years. Ian Moss, who spent a decade at the State Department arranging detainee transfers, explained that al Yazidi remained at Guantanamo because Tunisia was considered either too dangerous or uninterested in taking him, and al Yazidi himself refused to meet with countries that might have resettled him.
"He could have been gone a while ago but for Tunisian foot-dragging," Moss said.
The New York Times mentioned that little is known about al Yazidi beyond information from leaked US intelligence documents, which state that he lived in Italy during the 1980s and 1990s and was arrested for involvement in illegal drugs.
In 1999, he moved to Afghanistan, where he reportedly attended a militant training camp. It is unclear what family members await him in Tunisia, and it appears he has not had contact with a lawyer in nearly 20 years, the report noted.
