Though it caused a minimal number of direct casualties, the Israeli attack on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) made headlines across the world and sparked a litany of public condemnations, not the least of which because UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the building was attacked with white phosphorus shells, which Israel had [...]
In a hopeful sign that the 20 day long Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip may finally be winding down, Israel’s Ynet is quoting Palestinian sources as saying both Israel and Hamas have agreed on the general outline for the Egyptian ceasefire and will soon begin a two-week truce to allow time to hammer [...]
Hamas has reportedly told the Egyptian government that it will agree to a year-long, renewable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if Israel withdraws its forces from the strip in the next week and reopens the border crossings which have long remained closed. The offer falls well short of the “durable” ceasefire that the Israel has [...]
The headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip was attacked today by Israeli artillery, sparking a fire which continues to burn. The compound was reportedly housing 700 civilian refugees and storehouses of increasingly scarce food aid at the time of the attack. But perhaps even more pressing is [...]
Retired judge Susan Crawford, who was responsible for overseeing the Guantanamo tribunals, admitted in an interview published today that the United States tortured detainee Mohammed al-Qahtani. “This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him, that hurt his health. It was abusive and [...]
Tensions between India and Pakistan continue to worsen nearly two months after the Mumbai attacks. Today, Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor commented on the increase in the number of Pakistani troops along the powder-keg border between the two. Gen. Kapoor said that “our political leadership has said war is not an option. But all [...]
America’s Joint Forces Command issued their annual “Joint Operating Environment” report, which projects future wars and other potential global threats. This year, the report pointed to two nations which may undergo a “rapid and sudden collapse.” One, unsurprisingly, was Pakistan: a near-bankrupt nation with spiraling inflation, a huge domestic insurgency problem and growing military tension [...]
The International Criminal Court declared today that it has no jurisdiction over the actions of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, meaning that the growing number of calls by humanitarian organizations to investigate Israeli activities in the Gaza Strip cannot lead to any action by the Hague-based court. Israel has been accused of a myriad [...]
The struggling Egyptian ceasefire effort for the Gaza Strip seems to have finally made some meaningful progress after a week of backdoor wrangling, as Hamas has accepted the deal “in principle,” though they said they had reservations about some of the terms and were waiting for Israel to respond. Israeli officials too seem to be [...]
19 days in, the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip passed another major milestone, with over 1,000 Palestinians killed in the attack. The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which has been tracking the toll, said 673 of those killed were civilians, with 225 children and 69 women. 13 Israelis have also been killed, three [...]
