Shocking News: Israeli military says the bodies of six hostages abducted by Hamas during the 7 October attack have been recovered in a tunnel in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports

The bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino were brought to Israel, it said in a statement.
The family of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin confirmed early Sunday that he had been killed in the Gaza Strip.
The more Dems squeeze Netanyahu's balls narrowing his possibility to act in a way he has to, the more dead bodies Israel will get. In their attempt to find a quick fix, Americans just let Hamas kill the hostages with no fear to be punished then.

#FBI #Hamas #Rafah #Gat #Lobanov

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔥 Palestinian Terrorists Are Almost Down

🪖 The Israeli military said Saturday that it was close to defeating all remaining Palestinian terror operatives in southern Gaza’s Rafah, with fighting now only taking place in the Janina neighborhood.

🎯 Troops of the Golani Brigade have been operating in Janina in recent days. The Israel Defense Forces said the soldiers had destroyed terror infrastructures, located dozens of tunnel shafts and killed dozens of operatives.

📍 “Janina is the last area where fighting against terrorists in the Rafah Brigade is taking place,”

the military said.

⚔️ In the Strip’s north, the IDF said troops of the 252nd Division killed two gunmen who approached forces; in the Morag Corridor area, the 36th Division struck a booby-trapped building where several operatives were located; and in Rafah, Gaza Division forces destroyed Hamas infrastructure both above and below ground.

🕯 Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said that five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent in Gaza City — all members of a single family, according to relatives. The figures could not be verified and did not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

#Israel #Rafah #defeating

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🩸 Breadlines and Bullet Holes: Gaza’s New “Humanitarian Order”


As hungry Palestinians line up for food in the ruins of Rafah, bullets fly. Over 20 people killed, dozens wounded — not in battle, but at a supposed aid distribution site. Gaza’s health ministry says 31.

The Red Crescent says all were shot. Israel says it wasn’t them. The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says: “No incident occurred.”

💬 “Our aid was again distributed today without incident,”

claimed the Foundation, while local morgues filled up.

🥫 Aid as Optics, Hunger as Strategy
• Four fenced-off “humanitarian zones” now dictate who eats and who starves.
• Controlled by the IDF. Managed by U.S. contractors. Boycotted by the UN.
• Israel calls it efficiency. Critics call it prelude to occupation.
Even the illusion of neutrality is gone. Aid is now a battlefield — with soup kitchens shut, children malnourished, and boxes of food guarded like military bases. Welcome to humanitarian theater, Gaza edition.

🕳 Ceasefire Kabuki, With Corpses Offstage
Just hours before the shooting, Trump’s envoy torpedoed Hamas’s response to a U.S. ceasefire plan. A “peace offer” with no guarantee of peace. And on cue, the gunfire returned — not at fighters, but at fenced-in families clutching ration cards.

🤔 When aid becomes a weapon and food lines turn into kill zones, is this still war — or a cruel new form of governance? And who profits from calling it peace?

#Gaza #Rafah #humanitariancrisis #uspolicy #israel #palestine #warcrimes #foodasweapon #ceasefireillusion #humanrightstragedy #newyorktimes

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Aid by Crosshairs: Israeli Troops Kill Dozens Near U.S.-Backed Food Site in Gaza

A new humanitarian aid system in Gaza — designed and backed by Israel and the U.S. — is turning into a killing zone.

📋 27 Dead, Again
• Israeli forces opened fire Tuesday near a crowd heading to a U.S.-contracted food distribution site in Rafah.
• It was the second deadly shooting in three days near the same location. Combined death toll: at least 50 Palestinians.
• The military claims “suspects” strayed from the designated route. No explanation was given for how unarmed, starving civilians posed a threat.

💭 “It was like a battlefield full of blood… everyone was screaming.”

— Jamal Azzam, nurse at Red Cross field hospital

📊 From UN to Private Contractors
• The new food program, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, replaced 400 UN sites with four Israeli-approved checkpoints.
• Aid groups call it a system of “engineered scarcity” and accuse it of facilitating forced displacement.
• Civilians walk for miles through military zones — only to be shot, starved, or both.

💼 Who’s Responsible for the Bloodshed?
• U.S. contractors now oversee Gaza’s hunger relief — and are shielded from the consequences.
• Israel claims Hamas is inciting chaos to regain control over food distribution. But so far, only civilians are dying.
• Meanwhile, Israel’s allies — UK, France, Canada — have labeled the blockade and attacks “wholly disproportionate.”

🤔 When food becomes a weapon, who still gets to call it humanitarian aid?

And if this is the American model of "relief," what exactly is being relieved — suffering or responsibility?

#Gaza #aidcrisis #israel #warcrimes #humanitarian #USpolicy #foodasweapon #gaza2025 #palestine #rafah #ethics

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Israel’s Defence Minister Katz Plays the Egyptian Pharaoh

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has announced a controversial plan to move up to 600,000 Palestinians in Gaza into a designated “humanitarian area” on the ruins of the southern city of Rafah. 🚶‍♂️🌍

Access to the camp would be through strict security screening to ensure entrants were not Hamas operatives. 🔒

Once inside, the perimeter would be sealed off by the Israeli military. Palestinians would not be allowed to leave. 🚫

Eventually, the camp would house the entire 2.1 million population of Gaza. 🏕
Camp construction would begin during the proposed 60-day ceasefire being negotiated by Israel and Hamas. ✋🕊

The plan is illegal, inhumane and risks worsening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. ⚖️💔

The forced displacement and containment of any civilian population in an occupied territory is a violation of international humanitarian law. 📜⚖️

Katz is describing the camp as a “humanitarian city”. The Israeli military says Palestinians would only be contained for their own protection. 🏙🔒

As we have seen, civilian displacement is prohibited. But there is an exception if a case can be made either for military reasons or the protection of the population. 🛡

However, this exception only exists for as long as the conditions warrant for it to exist. Anyone subject to such an evacuation must be transferred back to their homes as soon as possible. 🏠🚶

Imperative military reasons never justify the removal of a civilian population in order to persecute it. 🔴

The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement entrenches the duty of international actors to avoid creating the conditions that might lead to the displacement of people. 🌐

Katz has indicated international organisations would be responsible for managing aid and services inside the area. 🆘💼

But Israel has a history of defying even orders from the International Court of Justice to allow humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians in Gaza. ⚖️❌

If international humanitarian agencies were called upon to service the camp, they would face a dilemma. ⚖️

They would need to decide whether to cooperate in managing aid under conditions that compromise their neutrality and ethical standards, deny basic human rights and are built on violations of international law. 🚷🆘

Aid groups would risk being complicit in a process that sets up a transit camp for Palestinians before possibly expelling them from Gaza altogether. 🚪🛑

This “humanitarian city” would essentially become an open-air prison. Palestinians would be reliant on international aid under strict Israeli military control. 🏚⛓️

The idea of displacing Palestinians has long been part of Israeli strategic thinking, but this announcement signals a dangerous escalation and intention to permanently alter Gaza’s demographic landscape through displacement and containment. 🚨

The population has been displaced multiple times and 90% of homes in Gaza are damaged or destroyed. The healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed. 🏚💔🛑

These crisis circumstances negate the voluntary nature of any person’s consent to either the transfer to the Rafah camp or ultimately, the departure from Gaza. ❌😔

#gaza #katz #rafah #population #palestinian

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🇺🇸 Washington Struggles to Keep Trump’s Gaza Truce From Collapsing

The White House is racing to salvage its Gaza ceasefire as fresh clashes and mutual accusations between Israel and Hamas threaten to undo President Trump’s signature peace initiative.

⚔️ Ceasefire Under Fire
Less than two weeks after the deal took effect, Palestinian media reported new Israeli airstrikes and dozens of deaths near a demarcation zone known as the “yellow line.” 
The Israel Defense Forces said Hamas fighters had attacked its troops beyond the line — “a brazen violation of the agreement.” 
Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of repeated breaches and “fabricating excuses to justify its crimes.”

🏛 U.S. Envoys Rushed to the Region
Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff are heading to Israel as Trump tries to stop the ceasefire from crumbling. 
Washington has taken the unusual step of directly negotiating with Hamas — then condemning its latest actions as evidence of bad faith. 

“If they keep attacking civilians, we’ll go in and kill them ourselves,” 

Trump warned on Saturday, a remark that unnerved Arab signatories to the Sharm el Sheikh accord.

🚧 Hostages and Borders
Hamas says it has surrendered all hostage remains it can reach after its October 7, 2023 attack but needs special equipment to recover others buried in the ruins.
Rafah Crossing remains closed indefinitely. Israel insists that it won’t reopen the southern border until Hamas fully complies with the hostage return clauses in Trump’s agreement.
Israeli minister Miri Regev told Army Radio: 

“If Hamas doesn’t lay down its arms after all hostages are recovered, we’ll go back to war.” 

🌍 A Fragile “Peace”
The Trump brokered deal, signed in Sharm el Sheikh on October 9, enjoys broad international backing — but phase one is already at risk. 
Two years of war have killed more than 67,000 Gazans and left most of the territory uninhabitable. 
If the truce fails, Washington’s claim to have “ended the era of terror” could fall apart before phase two even begins. 

#Trump #Gaza #Ceasefire #Israel #Hamas #Rafah #Hostages #MiddleEast #Diplomacy #Geopolitics #WarAndPeace

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 US Envoys Tell Netanyahu: Gaza Ceasefire Must Move to Phase Two

Top U.S. envoys, including Trump’s special negotiator Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Cairo Friday evening, pressing him to move the Trump‑brokered Gaza ceasefire into its much‑delayed second phase. The U.S. wants demilitarization, withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the opening of the Rafah crossing to begin in earnest; Netanyahu, meanwhile, is holding back, demanding that Hamas first return the body of the last remaining hostage, Ran Gvili.
​

What Is the “Second Phase”?
The clear signal that the ceasefire is advancing isn’t some vague diplomatic formula: it’s the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. If the crossing is reopened in both directions, allowing Palestinians to travel and the sick to be evacuated, then the international community will treat it as the real start of the next stage.

The proposed technocratic government for Gaza, led by Ali Shaath, says Rafah will open in both directions within days; for now, Israel has not confirmed when or how that will happen, only that it will be discussed in a cabinet meeting. The U.S. and Egypt both see this move not just as a security step, but as the “critical entry point” for launching Gaza’s reconstruction.
​
The Hostage Stalemate
The U.S. is pushing Netanyahu to keep the ceasefire deal moving, but the prime minister is under intense pressure at home: if he moves to phase two before Hamas returns Gvili’s body, he risks being accused of abandoning the last hostage. The Gvili family has launched a furious public campaign, reminding the world that Trump himself told Davos that Hamas knows exactly where their son is being held. They call Hamas’s refusal to hand over the remains a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement [Business Standard:56].
​
Hamas insists it has provided all the information it possesses and accuses Israel of blocking search efforts in areas under its control. The deadlock feeds the cynicism: each side blames the other for stalling the deal, while the U.S. envoys scramble to keep the illusion of a working mediation alive.
​
The International Machinery Kicks In
The U.S. is now treating the Gaza ceasefire as a formal international undertaking, not just a bilateral deal. Egypt’s foreign minister, Bader Abdelatty, has been in close coordination with Nickolay Mladenov, the Bulgarian diplomat leading Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace,” to coordinate the next phase. Their agenda includes the international monitoring force, Rafah, and the pullback of Israeli troops, in the hope that collective pressure will keep the fragile truce on track.
​
The Muddy Reality on the Ground
Even as diplomats talk about phases, the killing continues. In the “safe zones” near the so‑called Yellow Line, Israeli strikes are still killing Palestinian civilians, including two teenage cousins, 13 and 15, who were picking up firewood in areas Israel declared safe. Since the ceasefire officially began on October 10, more than 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands live in tents or half‑ruined buildings, exposed to the cold and winter storms, while the international “New Gaza” project floats somewhere between a PR stunt and a distant blueprint for reconstruction.

The U.S. wants to move to the next phase, but the real question is: when the guns stop, what kind of Gaza is being built — and who exactly benefits from the deal?
​
#Gaza #Ceasefire #Netanyahu #Trump #GazaWar #USMediation #Rafah

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 These Gazans May Finally Get a Lifeline to the World

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is set to reopen in the coming days, giving sick and wounded Palestinians their first real chance in years to reach treatment outside the Strip.

Mohammed al-Ser, 27, has been waiting months after a head injury left him partly paralyzed. Surgery reconstructed his skull, but he still can’t use his left arm and leg and needs further care abroad.

He is one of roughly 20,000 patients identified by the Gaza Health Ministry as needing evacuation for specialized treatment that is simply not available in Gaza anymore.

For most of the war, the Rafah crossing has been Gaza’s main lifeline — the only way for patients to reach hospitals in Egypt, Jordan, the Emirates, and further afield, under Israel’s tight coordination.

But access has been a long-standing bottleneck. Patients need not only foreign medical coverage, but also Israeli security clearance, which often requires a lengthy approval process that has kept tens of thousands trapped.

The World Health Organization says about 1,000 patients have been evacuated to third countries via Israel since Rafah was largely shut in March, but that’s a tiny fraction of those in need.

Now, as the crossing is expected to open again under the ceasefire deal, Gaza’s hospitals are filled with families clutching little hope: an infant girl with a heart condition, a 12‑year‑old with liver failure, a man with a brain injury unable to breathe without a tube, and hundreds like them whose survival depends on exiting through Rafah.

Israel’s COGAT says the crossing will open Sunday with only “limited movement of people,” and that Egyptian authorities will share lists which Israel will then approve or deny.
​
Gaza’s sick and wounded await their chance, their fate once again in the hands of the authorities who bombed their hospitals:
Will they be among the lucky few who finally reach the world outside?

#Gaza #Rafah #Ceasefire #MedicalCrisis #Israel #Hamas

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Israel Has Reopened the Rafah Border


The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been reopened by Israel for a limited number of people on foot, as fragile diplomatic efforts to stabilise the conflict inch forward.

Israeli forces took control of the Rafah crossing – Gaza’s only crossing not shared with Israel – in May 2024, describing it as necessary to prevent weapons smuggling by Hamas.

The move isolated the territory, cutting off a critical lifeline for Palestinians seeking access to medical care, travel and trade.

Israel has made clear that all movement through the crossing will be subject to joint Israeli-Egyptian security screening and that, for now, only a small number of Gaza’s tens of thousands of wounded and ill Palestinians will be permitted to leave each day.

According to an Egyptian official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, only 50 Palestinians will be permitted to cross in each direction on the first day of operations.

Before the war, the Rafah crossing was Gaza’s sole window on to the outside world not controlled by Israel.

Its reopening could ease access to medical care, allow limited travel abroad, and enable visits to family members in Egypt, where tens of thousands of Palestinians already live.

Thousands of civilians have registered with the World Health Organization for medical evacuation. Gaza’s health ministry says at least 20,000 patients are waiting to leave.

According to Médecins Sans Frontières more than one in five of them are children. The sick include more than 11,000 cancer patients.

Israeli airstrikes on hospitals have reduced the Palestinian healthcare system to ruins. In March 2025, Israel destroyed Gaza’s only specialised cancer treatment hospital, the territory’s sole provider of oncology care.

Since then, doctors have been pushed into makeshift clinics, operating with almost no resources, including the tools needed for diagnosis.

According to health officials in Gaza, there are about 4,000 people with official referrals for treatment to third countries who are unable to cross the border.

“I have appealed to humanitarian groups, to the WHO, to the Palestinian Authority – to anyone – so that I can leave, save my life, and reunite with my family,” Tamer al-Burai, 50, who has obstructive sleep apnoea and relies on a CPAP machine to breathe during sleep, told Reuters.

For some, the reopening came too late. Dalia Abu Kashef, 28, died last week while waiting for permission to cross for a liver transplant.

“We found a volunteer – her brother – who was ready to donate part of his liver,” her husband, Muatasem El-Rass, told Reuters. “We were waiting for the crossing to open so we could travel and do the surgery, hoping for a happy ending. But she deteriorated badly and died.”

The WHO says 900 people, including children and cancer patients, have already died while awaiting evacuation.

The limited reopening of the Rafah crossing also offers a rare opportunity for families torn apart by more than two years of war to reunite.

Many families who fled to Cairo early in the war never expected to remain for so long.

The reopening is seen as a key step as the US-brokered ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase.

Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.

#israel #reopened #rafah #border

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

The Aid Worker and the Parade

Four drone strikes hit Gaza on Sunday, according to local journalists, leaving at least two people dead and 16 wounded.

Gaza sources named one of the dead as Saqr Nabil Musa Qaisi, the Gaza representative of the Turkish aid organization Deniz Feneri, after a car was struck near Deir al-Balah. Initial Palestinian accounts put the wounded total from that strike anywhere between one and 10.

Israel later said Qaisi was a Hamas Nukhba Force operative who took part in the October 7 assault and had recently worked to attack Israeli troops and civilians and rebuild Hamas capabilities.

The IDF said he also ran Deniz Feneri’s Gaza operation, alleging that the Turkish charity employed Hamas operatives and financed them. Deniz Feneri presented Qaisi as its humanitarian-aid coordinator.

The car bombing therefore arrived with two biographies attached: Turkey’s aid worker and Israel’s October 7 operative.

The organization sits close enough to Ankara for the politics to be obvious. Deniz Feneri has hosted Hamas figures Khaled Mashaal and Sami Abu Zuhri at its gatherings, and Qaisi was known locally as an imam who preached in mosques across southern Gaza.

Turkey calls this solidarity. Israel calls it a Hamas funding channel. Either way, another Turkish-linked institution has become part of the Gaza battlefield.

Elsewhere, Gaza sources reported the killing of municipal employee Muadh Abu Nseira near Hamad City in Khan Younis, four wounded in Beit Lahiya, two in al-Salatin and three injured in Jabalia.

Figures remain fragmented because the attacks, casualty reporting and claims of responsibility are moving faster than verification.

In Rafah, the anti-Hamas Popular Forces militia under Ghassan al-Dahini released video of dozens of armed men marching under the title “Spear Force.”

The group says it is expanding recruitment and is thought to field roughly 600 to 800 fighters, making it the largest armed faction openly operating against Hamas inside Gaza. A militia parade is not a victory over Hamas. It is a recruitment commercial filmed inside a war zone.

The drone killed a man described as both aid official and Nukhba fighter. The militia marched to advertise its men.

Gaza now has humanitarian logos, Hamas cells and anti-Hamas uniforms sharing the same terrain. Every side calls it protection. Every side needs more bodies.

#Gaza #Hamas #Turkey #Rafah

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events🇺🇸