Over 100 people were killed, and dozens more injured, after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the village of Wad al Noora in Sudan’s Gezira state on June 5, officials said.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherina Russell said in a statement that at least 35 children were killed and 20 others injured during the attacks.

On June 6, Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council accused the RSF of committing a massacre in the village and killing “a large number of innocents,” while the RSF said they attacked three camps housing elements of the army and intelligence personnel.

Madani Resistance Committee, a local pro-democracy activists group, put the toll at “more than 104,” and accused the paramilitaries of looting Wad al Noura during the attacks.

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese army, which broke out in April 2023, has wrecked the country as clashes spread across multiple cities and pushed its population to the brink of famine.

More than 14,000 people have been killed and thousands more have been wounded, with hundreds of thousands displaced.

Spain will request to participate in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel’s actions in Palestine’s Gaza before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the country’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on June 6.

Spain is the second European nation after Ireland to join the case, which has also been joined by Chile and Mexico.

“Our sole goal is to put an end to the war and to advance on the road of applying the two-state solution,” Albares said in a press conference held in Madrid.

South Africa brought the case before the top court last year, alleging that Israel’s Gaza offensive breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention — a charge Israel strongly denies.

In a ruling on January 26, the ICJ ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza.

On May 24, the court ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah and keep open the key border crossing there for “unhindered” humanitarian aid.

ICJ rulings are legally binding, but the court has no concrete means to enforce them.

Israeli strikes hit Palestine’s Gaza as Muslims marked the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Palestinians gathered for morning prayers on April 10, on the first day of the Eid al Fitr amid the ruins of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than six months of war.

Israel has imposed a siege that has deprived Gaza's people of most food, water, fuel, medicines and other essential goods.

Humanitarian groups have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 33,482 Palestinians and wounded 76,049 since October 7.

Protestors in San Sebastian, Spain performed a “die-in” demonstration in a tribute to those who have lost their lives in Gaza on Sunday, March 17. Hundreds of people lay together on the ground to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as Israel’s assault enters its sixth month.

Along La Concha beach’s esplanade in the Spanish city, many people held anti-war banners and Palestinian flags, with a huge painting inspired by world-renowned artist Pablo Picasso’s anti-war artwork “Guernica.”

Named after another Spanish city, Guernica, the painting is a response to the 1937 bombing of the town during WWII. Guernica is the site of the first large-scale military air assault against civilians in history, causing widespread destruction.

Artists and activists from the Gernika-Palestina collective, which organized the gathering, drew a parallel between the situation in Gaza and the historic tragedy in Guernica.

#spain #sansebastian #antiwar #protest #Picasso #guernica

Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi Citadel or Mountain Castle

Salah al-Din Citadel is one of the most important landmarks of Islamic Cairo, and one of the most ancient military castles built in the Middle Ages. Its strategic location at the top of Mount Mokattam provided a wonderful view of all of Cairo’s historical landmarks. The fortified walls around the capitals of Islamic Egypt, along with the citadel, provided further protection against any attack. .

The Damascus to Medina section of the Ottoman railway network was initially intended to connect Istanbul and Hejaz, the Islamic holy city of Mecca, but construction was interrupted by World War I, reaching only Medina 400 kilometers short of Mecca. The railway aimed to improve economic and political integration of Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state and facilitate military transportation. The completed Damascus to Medina section was 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) long. The railway was a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's railway network.

Below is an old photo of the Hejaz railways.

𝐀𝐬â𝐤𝐢𝐫-𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐬û𝐫𝐞-𝐢 𝐌𝐮𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐲𝐞
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐮𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐝 ﷺ "

It was an ocak (military unit) of the Ottoman army established by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 and replaced Yeniçeri Corp (Janissaries).

Iconic Palestinian artist Fathi Ghaben — who documented the Palestinian resistance with bold, colourful strokes — passed away at the age of 77 in Gaza on January 25 amid a severe shortage of medicines and oxygen after Israeli authorities denied him permission to leave the besieged enclave for medical treatment he urgently required.

Reportedly suffering from chest and lung problems, Ghaben's death occurred in the midst of Tel Aviv’s brutal war on Gaza, rendering him yet another victim of Israel's genocidal military campaign against Palestinians.

But amid the challenging conditions of the occupation and with scarce resources, Ghaben created artworks that will continue to inspire resistance and adorn walls across the occupied Palestinian territories.

"My paintings are not filled with smiles; they are not loud, flashy or without a deep thought. I draw the national Palestinian issues and the reality of the Palestinian struggle," the artist once said.

He lived his life in a tent and died in a tent, the Palestinian Minister of Culture Atef Abu Saif said in a poignant tribute to the artist. Yet, his artistic presence transcended tents and even borders.

Today, Fathi Ghaben's words resonate as a representative voice for all Palestinian artists who have endured the heavy tolls of occupation and used their art as an active tool of resistance.

Read more: https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/born-in-tent-died-in-tent-in-memory-of-palestinian-artist-fathi-ghaben-17147047

“Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

South Africa is taking legal action to halt Israel’s aggressive military offensive in Palestine’s Gaza, filing a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Tel Aviv of breaching the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

On December 29, the country filed a petition with the ICJ to initiate genocidal proceedings against Tel Aviv, a move that comes after South Africa suspended relations with Israel on November 21 in response to the Israeli army’s intensified attacks on Gaza.

Cape Town requested that Israel immediately cease all acts and measures in violation of its obligations as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention. The convention defines genocide as acts, such as killings, that are “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

South Africa will present its case at the ICJ in The Hague on January 11. Israel — which has rejected the genocide accusation, claiming it lacks a legal foundation and constitutes a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the court — will then present its defence on January 12.

Cape Town, which has been a the forefront of Israeli criticism, has long supported the Palestinian movement for freedom, drawing parallels between the plight of the Palestinians to its own struggle with apartheid.

Famine, disease and dehydration threaten to create a “triangle of death” in Palestine’s Gaza, warned Ashraf al Qudra, the spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry in the enclave.

Intentionally creating food insecurity and using starvation as a weapon of war were declared war crimes by the UN Security Council in 2018, but this cruel tactic continues to be employed by Israel to cripple Gaza’s population.

In the past 90 days, Israeli restrictions on food supplies entering besieged Gaza have left almost the entire population facing crisis levels of hunger and starvation, coupled with increasing levels of malnutrition.

Water pipelines in Gaza are controlled by Israel, and even before October 7, more than 97 percent of the enclave’s drinking water was below the minimum health standards for human consumption. As part of its ongoing military campaign, Israel has targeted facilities such as operating stations, water wells, sewage pumps and rainwater pumps, further deepening the water crisis.

Palestinians are being forced to consume contaminated food and water to ensure their survival, leaving hundreds of thousands suffering from diseases and infections amid the collapse of Gaza’s health system.