The Dead Sea Scrolls. Ancient dedication plaques on loan from the Louvre. A 1916 masterpiece by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. These and other treasures were quickly taken off display and brought to special bunkers to ensure they are not damaged during the war.
Speaking of ArtâŚ
From the Guardian liveblog:
Israeli minister says Israel no longer able to accept existence of Gaza, calls for âvoluntary emigrationâ
A senior member of Benjamin Netanyahuâs government said on Tuesday Gaza could not survive as an independent entity, and Palestinians there should agree to âvoluntary emigrationâ and leave for other countries.
The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said: âI welcome the initiative of the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to countries around the world. This is the right humanitarian solution for the residents of Gaza and the entire region after 75 years of refugees, poverty and danger. The State of Israel will no longer be able to accept the existence of an independent entity in Gaza.
Reuters reports Smotrich, who heads one of the religious nationalist parties in Netanyahuâs coalition, was speaking after a call by two members of the Israeli parliament who wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that western countries should accept families from Gaza who expressed a desire to relocate.
His comments underscore fears across the region that Israel wants to drive Palestinians out of Gaza, repeating the mass dispossession of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948, referred to as the Nakba.
In the Wall Street Journal opinion piece, two Israeli Knesset members, Danny Danon of Likud, a former ambassador to the UN, and Ram Ben Barak of Yesh Atid, a former deputy director of the Mossad, said:
It is imperative that the international community explore potential solutions to help civilians caught in the crisis. One idea is for countries around the world to accept limited numbers of Gazan families who have expressed a desire to relocate. Europe has a long history of assisting refugees fleeing conflicts.
Countries around the world should offer a haven for Gaza residents who seek relocation. Members of the international community can collaborate to provide one-time financial-support packages to Gazans interested in moving to help with relocation costs and to ease refugeesâ acclimation to their new communities.
We simply need a handful of the worldâs nations to share the responsibility of hosting Gazan residents.
Throughout the war, many Gazans have sent voice memos to relatives and foreign organizations informing them of their conditions. Some of these memos were sent to a US-based organization, which prefers to remain anonymous. This organization in turn forwarded the voice messages to a team of volunteer transcribers and translators in New York City and Chicago. The following testimonies, edited for length and clarity, represent a small selection from the transcript.
Sounds as if heâs a terrible person as well.
100 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers view 43-minute footage graphically capturing October 7 atrocities, emerge in tears
U.S. Congress Member Madeleine Dean crying and embracing after viewing footage of 7.10 Hamas attack, on tuesday.
Nearly 100 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday viewed the 43-minute footage graphically capturing the October 7 atrocities, shortly before todayâs March for Israel rally in Washington.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee aired the video for any member that wished to attend, with facilitation from the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Reactions from lawmakers attending ranged from tears to rage to stunned silence.
The screening is being followed by a briefing from senior Biden administration officials to members of Congress about the state of the war. Senators will be able to view the footage on Thursday.
Among the attendees included several progressive Democrats calling for an immediate ceasefire, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who emerged from the screening in tears) and Greg Casar.
I went looking for the March to Israel turnout, but weirdly major news orgs seemed to have punted on it and smaller ones are all over the place.
PBS and DCist said âthousands.â
NYT, CBS, NBC Washington, WaPo/AP went with âtens of thousands.â
ABC Arlington and Haaretz said 200,000. Forward and Reuters quoted organizers saying the same.
NY Post, which I only include for laughs, said 300,000.
Iâm used to crowd estimates being all over the place because people are incredibly bad at it, but itâs unusual that so many news orgs seemingly just gave up on it and no one seemed to get a number from the Parks service who, iirc, usually gives estimates when events are held on the Mall.
âI can confirm for you that we have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them, to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,â Mr. Kirby told reporters on Air Force One as President Biden headed to San Francisco for a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders.
âHamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad â J.I.D. â members operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City,â he added. âThey have stored weapons there, and theyâre prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility.â
Previously this only came from an anonymous source. Standard caveats about military âintelligenceâ apply.
Hamas run ministry says Israel will raid hospital:
A Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman says Israel informed Gaza officials it will âraidâ al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City.
Israeli army says carrying out âoperation against Hamas in specific areaâ of al-Shifa
In a series of posts on social media, Israelâs military said its operation was based on intelligence information and âoperationalâ needs.
The army said its forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers who have been trained to prepare for what it described as a âcomplex and sensitiveâ environment.
Israel has accused Hamas of using al-Shifa Hospital as a base of operations â a claim that has been rejected by the Palestinian group.
Hamas on Tuesday also repeated its invitation to the United Nations to send independent investigators to Gaza hospitals to verify Israelâs âfalsehoodsâ.
Seems itâs already in progress.
From the Guardian liveblog:
IDF enters al-Shifa hospitl: what we know
Here is what we know about the breaking news that Israeli forces have entered Gazaâs al-Shifa hospital.
- The Israeli Defence Force has just said on X that it is âcarrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospitalâ.
- The announcement came within an hour of Gaza health officials saying that the IDF had said it would raid the hospital âwithin minutesâ. The Gaza health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, told Al Jazeera that Israel âinformed us that it will raid Al Shifa hospital complex in the coming minutes.â
- al-Qidra added: âThe occupation did not specify whether (its forces) would enter the complex. But it said that within a few minutes it would raid the complex. We do not know how it will raid it or what mechanism will be used, nor do we know (Israelâs) intentions with the raid.â
- On its Hebrew X account, the IDF appeared to signal that once inside the hopsital, it would continue to have a presence there, saying, ââin the continuation of the operation, incubators, medical equipment and baby food are expected to be transferred to the hospitalâ.
- Three of the original 39 premature babies at al-Shifa have died since the hospital ran out of fuel at the weekend to power generators that had kept their incubators going, according to medical staff. The remaining 36 babies requiring neonatal care are still alive, Dr Ahmed El Mokhatallali, a surgeon, told NBC News on Tuesday.
- Israeli forces have surrounded al-Shifa, Gazaâs biggest hospital, after waging fierce street battles with Hamas fighters they accuse of having a command post under the complex. The US on Tuesday cited intelligence backing Israelâs assertion, which Hamas denies.
