Israeli Attacks Kill 70+ as Netanyahu Delays Cabinet Vote on Cease-Fire Deal

January 16, 2025

Jake Johnson

Israeli attacks have reportedly killed more than 70 people in the Gaza Strip in the hours since a multiphase cease-fire agreement was announced Wednesday, a deal that sparked cautious hope for an end to a 15-month U.S.-backed assault that has decimated the Palestinian enclave and created one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in modern history.

 

 Relatives of a journalist killed by an Israeli drone attack carry his shrouded body in Khan Younis, Gaza on January 16, 2025. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Fatal Effort to Dismantle the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees

January 16, 2025

Dan Steinbock

New York (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Early in the year, State Department officials briefed Joel Rayburn from the Trump transition team there could be a humanitarian “catastrophe” in Gaza when a new Israeli law barring contact with the UN refugee agency for Palestinians takes effect at the end of the month.

The Gaza ceasefire will not cure the wounds of genocide

January 15, 2025

Roaa Shamallakh

Now that a ceasefire has been agreed to in Gaza, the bombs will stop falling, and the world will breathe a sigh of relief. There will be celebrations of peace, even if temporary, nations will pat themselves on the back, and the media will move on to the next trending crisis. Yet, for those of us who survived, the war hasn’t ended—it has merely transformed. 

 

Genocide

Do we call it genocide, land-grab, racism, or political maneuver? Whatever of these or similar terms we use, such action was the essence of the inception of a country called the United States of America. What the US government is doing in Palestine, aiding the Zionist government in destroying Palestinian communities, is nothing but repeating what culminated the inception of this country. The United States of America was established by European settlers on the graves of indigenous people. It is important to read the history of the United States, especially from the time when white European settles invaded this land.

What do we know about a Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal in Gaza?

January 15, 2025

The Palestinian group Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire deal with Israel after more than 460 days of a war that has devastated Gaza.

 

 Israel has decimated Gaza during its war on the Palestinian enclave [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

Fiscal Redemption Requires a Republic, Not an Empire

January 15, 2025

David Stockman

There is not a snowball’s chance in the hot place of containing America’s public debt disaster unless the Empire is brought home and the national security budget is slashed by $500 billion per year. The merits aside, all the other big slices of the budget led by Social Security and Medicare are surrounded by nearly impenetrable political moats.

 

Palestinian filmmakers are doing the impossible to capture their stories

January 14, 2025

Matt Minton

A young girl listens to music in her headphones while the sound of missiles and bombs destroys the only home she’s ever known. A girl and her uncle stand on top of a bombed house, looking for her father trapped below. They keep calling his phone to see if he is still alive. A group of children help create stop-motion films about their mothers’ writing names on their arms in case they are bombed and disfigured.

BRICS grows, adding Indonesia as member: World’s 4th most populous country, 7th biggest economy

January 11, 2025

Ben Norton

The Global South-led organization BRICS has expanded again.

 

عَرَق‌خوری

هوشنگ فاضلی

جمعه شب از نیمه‌شب گذشته بود و من و آغلام و آقای عینکچی، همچنان در مغازهٔ عینکچی به میگساری مشغول بودیم. تا اینکه همهٔ بطری‌ها خالی‌ شدند. شهر همدان دیگر خلوت و هوا هم نسبتا سرد شده بود. ما که در عطش مشروب دیگری می‌سوختیم بدنبال پیاله فروشی می‌گشتیم، ولی‌ همه جا تعطیل بود. یادم آمد که در تهران اول لاله‌زارنو کافهٔ شب و روز بود؛ کافه‌ای که خاموشی نداشت. به دوستانم، آقا غلام و آقای عینکچی گفتم بهتر است به کافهٔ شب و روز برویم. فولکسی داشتم که آنرا به راه انداختیم و با سه سرنشین بسوی تهران حرکت کردیم.ا

Palestinian detainee dies of medical negligence in Israeli prison

January 13, 2025

Mera Aladam

Palestinian rights groups have accused Israeli authorities of committing a "medical crime" following the death of a Palestinian prisoner who was denied treatment. 

 

 MLA Members for Justice in Palestine lead a die-in during the Modern Language Association Delegate Assembly in New Orleans on January 11, 2025. (Photo: MLA Members for Justice in Palestine)

In Syria’s war-scarred Yarmouk Camp, Palestinians begin long path to recovery

January 10, 2025

Santiago Montag

In 2017, as Syrian regime forces besieged the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in the southern outskirts of Damascus and food grew scarce, six Palestinian sisters devised a unique strategy for surviving the civil war: a small garden. Filled with flowers and vegetables, the garden provided sustenance, as well as camouflage for the house within the camp’s narrow alleyways. But just as importantly, it provided a much-needed affirmation of life, and a symbol of their connection to the land.

 

Trump, Iran and the Obama strategic blueprint

January 13, 2025

Alastair Crooke

Like a smashed antique clock – with its elaborate cogs, ratchet wheels and innards splayed out from the casing – so the mechanics of the Middle East lie similarly exposed and broken. All the region is in play – Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and Iran.

Gaza ceasefire talks near final stage as Hamas awaits Israeli approval: Reports

January 12, 2025

Hamas said on 11 January that it had completed a draft framework for a Gaza ceasefire deal and is awaiting a response from Israel. The news coincides with recent reports of cautious progress in reaching an agreement to end 15 months of genocidal war on the strip.

The Historic Landmarks Razed By Los Angeles’ Deadly Fires

January 9, 2025

Sonja Anderson

The raging wildfires in the Los Angeles area have so far killed five people, spreading over almost 30 square miles. The fires are the city’s most destructive to date: More than 2,000 structures have burnt down, including homes, businesses and historic buildings.

 

Will Rogers' Western Ranch House was on the National Register of Historic Places. California State Parks

Israel destroyed Gaza for Generations to come, and the World stayed Silent

January 11, 2025

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – The first official reference to Gaza becoming increasingly uninhabitable was made by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2012, when the population of the Gaza Strip was estimated at 1.8 million inhabitants.

 

Will Iran build a nuclear bomb while Trump is in power in the US?

January 11, 2025

Maziar Motamedi

Tehran, Iran – Donald Trump’s second term as president of the United States promises Iran a rocky road that could lead to different outcomes when it comes to its relations with the West, analysts say.

 

Iran’s nuclear site in Isfahan, Iran, on April 4, 2024 [Planet Labs PBC via AP]

While Los Angeles Burns, AI Fans the Flames

January 11, 2025

Schuyler Mitchell

As multiple wildfires tore across Los Angeles County this week, leveling thousands of homes and businesses and killing at least 10 people, incoming President Donald Trump seized upon the crisis as an opportunity to point fingers and make false claims.

A burned fire extinguisher sits in the auditorium at the Eliot Arts Magnet Academy that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire on January 10, 2025, in Altadena, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

LIVE BLOG: 7 Soldiers Killed, 30 Wounded in Gaza as Ceasefire Talks in Doha Reach Critical Stage – Day 463

January 11, 2025

Killed	Wounded	Missing
46,53	109,571	11,000

The Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson reported that Israeli forces are deploying massive munitions capable of leveling entire residential blocks, with the intent to inflict maximum casualties among civilians and medical personnel.

Simultaneously, Israeli media stated that the Palestinian Resistance is repurposing unexploded Israeli munitions to produce explosive devices.

Meanwhile, rocket fire from the Gaza Strip triggered sirens in Sderot and Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom), in the Gaza Envelope.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 46,006 Palestinians have been killed, and 109,378 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

 

Dr. Abu Safiya Symbolized Humanity in Gaza. Israel and the West Are Destroying It

January 10, 2025

 

The Los Angeles inferno: A historic crime of capitalism

January 10, 2025

Niles Niemuth

California is facing what could be its most devastating wildfire in history, with fires burning uncontrolled throughout Los Angeles County. Images shared widely on social media show whole neighborhoods and city block after city block completely burned to the ground, amid reports that firefighters have been unable to even access water to extinguish the flames as their lines have run dry.