This is The Prophecy. The Prophecy is much more than seeing into the future. For The Prophecy sees without the limits of time. For The Prophecy sees what is, what was, and what always shall be.
By Meteorologist Dominic Ramunni Nationwide PUBLISHED 7:13 PM ET Aug. 11, 2020 PUBLISHED 7:13 PM EDT Aug. 11, 2020
People across the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic were shaken, literally, on a Sunday morning as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck in North Carolina on August 9, 2020.
Centered in Sparta, NC, the tremor knocked groceries off shelves and left many wondering just when the next big one could strike.
Fault Lines
Compared to the West Coast, there are far fewer fault lines in the East. This is why earthquakes in the East are relatively uncommon and weaker in magnitude.
That said, earthquakes still occur in the East.
According to Spectrum News Meteorologist Matthew East, “Earthquakes have occurred in every eastern U.S. state, and a majority of states have recorded damaging earthquakes. However, they are pretty rare. For instance, the Sparta earthquake Sunday was the strongest in North Carolina in over 100 years.”
For example, across the Tennesse River Valley lies the New Madrid Fault Line. While much smaller in size than those found farther west, the fault has managed to produce several earthquakes over magnitude 7.0 in the last couple hundred years.
In 1886, an estimated magnitude 7.0 struck Charleston, South Carolina along a previously unknown seismic zone. Nearly the entire town had to be rebuilt.
Vulnerabilities
The eastern half of the U.S. has its own set of vulnerabilities from earthquakes.
These older rocks have had much more time to bond together with other rocks under the tremendous pressure of Earth’s crust. This allows seismic energy to transfer between rocks more efficiently during an earthquake, causing the shaking to be felt much further.
This is why, during the latest quake in North Carolina, impacts were felt not just across the state, but reports of shaking came as far as Atlanta, Georgia, nearly 300 miles away.
Reports of shaking from different earthquakes of similar magnitude.
Quakes in the East can also be more damaging to infrastructure than in the West. This is generally due to the older buildings found east. Architects in the early-to-mid 1900s simply were not accounting for earthquakes in their designs for cities along the East Coast.
When a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Virginia in 2011, not only were numerous historical monuments in Washington, D.C. damaged, shaking was reported up and down the East Coast with tremors even reported in Canada.
Unpredictable
There is no way to accurately predict when or where an earthquake may strike.
Some quakes will have a smaller earthquake precede the primary one. This is called a foreshock.
The problem is though, it’s difficult to say whether the foreshock is in fact a foreshock and not the primary earthquake. Only time will tell the difference.
The United State Geological Survey (USGS) is experimenting with early warning detection systems in the West Coast.
While this system cannot predict earthquakes before they occur, they can provide warning up to tens of seconds in advance that shaking is imminent. This could provide just enough time to find a secure location before the tremors begin.
Much like hurricanes, tornadoes, or snowstorms, earthquakes are a natural occuring phenomenon that we can prepare for.
The USGS provides an abundance of resources on how to best stay safe when the earth starts to quake.
NEW YORK, July 8 (JTA) — Iran’s recent test of a ballistic missile capable of hitting Israel heightens the risk the Muslim fundamentalist state poses to Israel and to American interests in the region, pro-Israel advocates say.
Opponents of President Bush may suggest that Washington’s recent decision to ratchet up the rhetoric against Iran is meant to distract Americans from the domestic economy and keep the public rallied around the administration.
But pro-Israel advocates say nothing negates the threat posed by Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and Tehran’s active undermining of U.S. policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
American Jewish officials are trying to keep the Bush administration focused on Iran, as they see signs that support for pro-democracy demonstrators may be diminishing.
The concern is sparked by Secretary of State Colin Powell’s recent comments that the United States should not get involved in a “family fight” in Iran.
In contrast to the situation before the recent Iraq war, when the United States seemed to be standing against the world, the mullahs who control Iran now face mounting international pressure — particularly from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency — and from the European Union and Russia.
Observers say the increasingly united front abroad, coupled with frequent demonstrations by ordinary Iranians demanding more freedom, ultimately benefits Israel: The noose may be closing around a regime the Jewish state sees as more dangerous than Iraq.
“Every day Iran calls for the extermination of Israel and they have weapons aimed at Israel, so this is not a hypothetical,” says Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “So, of course, anything done to minimize the danger Iran represents is good for Israel.”
But Hoenlein and others say it’s not only in Israel’s interest for Iran to be reined in or undergo a regime change: A nuclear Iran also may threaten its Arab neighbors, spark an arms race in the region and perhaps one day even threaten targets in the West.
The missiles tested recently, for example, are able to hit U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, Iranian support for extremist Palestinians and groups like Hezbollah torpedoes any aspiration for peace that Arab moderates may hold, analysts say.
“This is an Israeli issue and it’s not an Israeli issue,” says Matthew Levitt, a terrorism expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Iran is the most frenetic sponsor of terrorism in the world and works most actively to undermine the peace process, which is why this effort is being led primarily by the Americans and the Europeans — and not on Israel’s behalf.”
Iran reportedly initiated its nuclear program back in 1957 under the shah, with the assistance of the United States. The program was shelved after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but was restarted in the 1990s with the help of countries such as Russia and Pakistan.
With Washington-Tehran relations hostile, the United States opted for a policy of containment with barely any dialogue. In contrast, Europe chose engagement, believing relations with Iran would allow it to offer “constructive criticism.”
The Iranian threat increased this summer with the final test of the Shihab-3. The State Department has said it is concerned about Iran’s missile development, and Israel is nervous about the combination of weapons of mass destruction and the capability to deliver them.
“Having these two capabilities in the hands of a regime like the one you have in Iran, one that openly calls for the destruction of Israel, is something we find highly problematic,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Analysts estimate it would be four to seven years before Iran would have all of the pieces in place to produce nuclear weapons and transport them.
“It makes it all the more urgent to ensure that they don’t get their hands on nuclear weapons,” said Rebecca Dinar, spokeswoman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby.
Last August, the Iranian exile group National Council of Resistance accused Iran of trying to produce weapons-grade uranium, a charge later supported by satellite pictures taken by the U.S.-based Institute for Science and International Security.
IAEA officials confirmed the production potential on a February visit to Iraq.
“The U.S. will focus on stopping Iran getting nuclear weapons,” U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton told Israeli officials in mid-March.
The IAEA last month pressed Iran to sign a more restrictive protocol of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The NPT allowed countries to develop nuclear materials as long as they were declared and inspections of nuclear facilities were permitted, with advanced notice.
The treaty was beefed up after 1991, when the first Persian Gulf War revealed Iraq’s secret nuclear program, humiliating the IAEA.
The new NPT protocol allows for more intrusive surprise inspections of any facility within a ratifying nation’s territory. Iran refuses to ratify the new protocol.
On top of this, there has been mounting tension between America and Iran over Iran’s role in allegedly roiling the waters in neighboring Afghanistan; supporting the uprising of fellow Shi’ites in Iraq and attacks on U.S. troops stationed there; providing sanctuary to Al-Qaida operatives; and funneling arms, cash and other support to Palestinian terrorist groups.
President Bush last month said he would “not tolerate construction of a nuclear weapon” by Iran. Analysts took this as a bit of saber-rattling to compel Iran to accept inspections, since the consensus in Washington seems to be that force is a last resort.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin — who recently reassured U.S. Jewish leaders of his opposition to a nuclear Iran, but whose country has helped Iran build a controversial nuclear power plant — also appealed to Iran to cooperate with the IAEA. The IAEA recently criticized Iran for possibly using civilian nuclear facilities to make weapons.
The European Union, Iran’s largest trading partner, has not suspended trade talks with Tehran but last month endorsed coercive measures “and, as appropriate, the use of force” against any government found to be lying to the IAEA about its nuclear intentions.
“Just as there are more people here who think some carrot needs to go with the stick, on the European side there’s a recognition that their policy also failed and that there needs to be more stick with the carrot,” said Scott Lasensky, a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations.
“For Israel and supporters of Israel, this growing convergence between the Americans and Europeans is only a positive development,” Lasensky said. “A more cohesive coalition gives the Iranians fewer opportunities to exploit the differences and makes the stick of containment more credible.”
However, Iran-watchers note that there is broad consensus within Iran that nuclear weapons are a point of national pride and that the country must be nuclear for self-defense purposes.
Hoenlein said he broached the subject of support for Iran’s democracy movement with National Security Council officials last week.
He remains concerned about Powell’s comments last week, in which the secretary told a national radio show, “The best thing we can do right now is not get in the middle of this family fight too deeply.”
Observers say a nuclear Iran with its current radical leadership would be able to able to resist virtually any sort of international pressure to reform domestically or stop supporting terrorism.
But the worst-case scenario is that Iran could use its nuclear weapons for offensive, not purely defensive, purposes.
“Not every nuclear country poses a threat. But Iran has made its intentions clear,” Dinar said. “Iranian officials have stated on numerous occasions that they would like to ‘blow Israel into the sea.’ And that’s what makes its growing capability so threatening.”
Indeed, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who still wields considerable influence in Iran, was quoted in December 2001 saying that “a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy Israel, while an Israeli counterstrike can only cause partial damage to the Islamic world.”
The notion of nuclear-induced “mutually assured destruction,” which helped keep the U.S.-Soviet status quo during the Cold War, may not deter the Iranians, says Pooya Dayanim, president of the Los Angeles-based Iranian Jewish Public Affairs Committee.
“If they’re thinking their days are numbered, they may consider this to be their last revolutionary act: going down in history as having destroyed ‘the Zionist entity,’ ” Dayanim says. “They’d figure there would still be a billion Muslims left.”
(JTA correspondent Matthew E. Berger in Washington contributed to this report.) JTA END
China is showing no signs of slowing the furious pace of its program to develop nuclear weapons delivery systems, a sign that Beijing is shifting away from a strategy of minimum deterrence, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command told Congress on Thursday.
Chinese military leaders are speeding up the deployment of nuclear forces, including sharp increases in land-based missiles, missile-firing submarines and a new bomber capable of launching a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, he said.
The commander warned in his prepared testimony that nuclear war dangers are increasing because of strategic cooperation between China and other U.S. adversaries, notably Russia, North Korea and Iran. Chinese and Russian nuclear bombers recently conducted joint patrols, an indication that the two authoritarian allies are prepared to combine their nuclear power, he said.
Air Force Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, commander of the Space Command, told the Senate panel that China’s space weaponry poses a strategic threat to American satellites, both military and civilian, that are used for various vital functions.
China’s military “clinically studied” U.S. space systems with an eye to finding vulnerabilities that could be attacked in a crisis or conflict, Gen. Whiting said.
“And now [Beijing] is rapidly building systems to hold that architecture at risk,” Gen. Whiting said.
Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, disclosed during the hearing that the Chinese nuclear arsenal has expanded by more than 100% since Chinese President Xi Jinping took power in 2012 and that the Pentagon estimates the expansion will increase by 500% before it is through. China’s communist regime, until very recently, maintained a much smaller nuclear arsenal compared with those of Russia and the United States, contending it needed only enough missiles to deter a nuclear strike by a hostile power.
“The breakout that we saw, and the advancement and how quickly the advancements we are seeing on China to create a viable triad are breathtaking,” said Gen. Cotton, noting that the rapid fielding of weapons is “unprecedented.”
China’s land-, air- and sea-based nuclear array includes H-6 bombers, a new H-20 stealth bomber and six missile submarines with advanced JL-3 missiles “capable of striking the continental United States from littoral waters,” he said.
Strategic Command officials reported to Congress a year ago that China’s arsenal of land-based strategic intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers exceeded the number of U.S. Minuteman III launchers.
“Today, the PRC likely has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads and, should it continue building weapons at its current pace, could have more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030,” Gen. Cotton said in his statement.
Three large ICBM fields were built in 2022, with at least 300 solid-fuel DF-31A missiles armed with multiple warheads.
China is building a new generation of road-mobile ICBMs and has 1,000 medium-range missiles that can be armed with either conventional or nuclear warheads that have the range to threaten the U.S. island of Guam and allied nations in the region.
“These developments, combined with [China’s] increasing counter-space and cyber capabilities, pose a complex but not insurmountable challenge to U.S. strategic deterrence,” Gen. Cotton said.
Beyond ‘minimum’
Gen. Cotton testified that China’s large nuclear buildup, contrary to what its leaders say, no longer ranks as a “minimum deterrent” force. China also appears to have abandoned a decade-old strategy of concealing its military capabilities as it grows into an economic superpower rivaling the U.S.
Now “they’re showing us their capabilities and showing us how fast they can grow,” Gen. Cotton said.
Gen. Cotton said the growing ties among China, Iran, Russia and North Korea create the possibility that U.S. commanders will be faced with the challenge of simultaneous crises and increased aggression on multiple fronts. Chinese and Russian bombers flew joint patrols in the western Pacific in November and a joint maritime patrol near the Aleutian Islands over the summer.
North Korea and Iran are delivering arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, helping Moscow reclaim the initiative on the battlefield over outgunned Ukrainian forces.
“This increasing cooperation and the risk of simultaneous crisis or conflict place a premium on credible, robust and flexible joint force response options that signal our readiness and commitment to potential adversaries, allies and partners,” Gen. Cotton said.
The four-star general urged senators to support the modernization of aging U.S. nuclear forces that are being upgraded with new missiles, bombers and submarines.
Gen. Cotton said America’s strategic forces are more powerful and remain fully capable of deterring potential adversaries despite nuclear advances by China and Russia.
“Today, we’re still superior. No adversary should ever doubt our capability today,” Gen Cotton said, even while acknowledging that current threats are “unlike anything America has encountered.”
Sen. Roger F. Wicker of Mississippi, a former chairman and now the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, noted that a congressional strategic commission last year called for rapidly updating nuclear and space programs to counter the threats from China and Russia. He said the Biden administration has failed to heed the call.
“Unfortunately, the current administration has naively maintained the status quo,” he said. “While the United States has stayed complacent, Russia and China have advanced by leaps and bounds in their nuclear and space programs.”
Israeli security forces at the scene of a deadly shooting attack near the Jewish Settlement of Eli, West Bank, February 29, 2024.(photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Israel-Hamas War: What happened on Day 146?
Hamas claims ‘massacre’ as Palestinians killed in Gaza aid delivery disaster • Netanyahu: Too early to tell if a deal will be reached in the next few days
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday said the killing of over 100 people seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza was a situation that would require an effective independent investigation.
Speaking in St. Vincent and the Grenadines ahead of a regional summit, Guterres said he was “shocked” by the latest episode in the war with Israel, in which Palestinian authorities say over 30,000 civilians have been killed since Oct. 7.Go to the full article >>18 hr 40 min ago
Israel apprehended officer responsible for Hamas leaders’ security – report
The arrested Hamas official was tasked with organizing the security of the heads of Hamas’ political bureau.
A senior Hamas member responsible for the security of Hamas leaders was arrested by Israeli forces several months ago, KAN news reported on Thursday.
The Hamas official was tasked with organizing the security of the heads of Hamas’ political bureau, including the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
The arrested official gave Israeli forces valuable intelligence about Hamas leaders in Gaza, as well as information about the days leading to the October 7th massacre and the first days of the war.
Sinwar believed to still be under Khan Yunis
On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Israeli, US, and Western intelligence and security officials believe that Sinwar is still hiding in tunnels under Khan Yunis and has not moved to Rafah or escaped to Egypt.
According to the report, the central challenge in capturing or killing Sinwar will be trying to do so without killing or injuring nearby hostages.
“It’s not about locating him, it’s about doing something” without putting the hostages at risk, a senior Israeli official told the Washington Post.
Sinwar was born in Khan Yunis in 1962. He became infamous for murdering suspected Palestinian collaborators, gaining the nickname “the Butcher of Khan Yunis” and eventually landing in an Israeli prison until he was released in 2011 as part of the deal to release IDF soldier Gilad Schalit from Hamas captivity.
Earlier in the war, Israeli media reported that the defense establishment believed that Sinwar and the commander of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammad Deif, were hiding under Khan Yunis, although, in recent weeks, some reports alleged that the two had fled to Rafah or even into Egypt.
“Sinwar plans and acts accordingly to each situation and doesn’t necessarily trust those around him,” a military source told Maariv. “He will make mistakes, and we need to be there or in proximity to recognize it.”
Now, he moves from place to place and plans his actions accordingly. “The distance between us and him will be shortened by one mistake too many of his.”
Russia’s defence ministry announced a successful test fire of a Yars intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile on Friday, reported news agency TASS.FILE PHOTO: A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 78th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2023. (Pelagiya Tikhonova/Moscow News Agency/Handout via REUTERS)
“At the state test cosmodrome Plesetsk, crews from the Yoshkar-Ola missile formation carried out a combat training launch of a mobile-based solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile PGRK Yars, equipped with multiple warheads. The training warheads arrived at the designated area at the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula (translated from Russian),” the Russian defence ministry said, the report added.
The objective of the launch was to confirm the tactical, technical, and flight characteristics of the modern missile system, the statement said, affirming the completion of all assigned tasks.
Putin’s nuke war warning
The test follows Russian president Vladimir Putin’s warning against “increased Western involvement” in the Ukraine war, pointing towards the potential for a “global nuclear conflict”.
Putin, in a two-hour speech, attacked Western leaders as reckless and irresponsible, cautioning about the real threat of a nuclear conflict that could lead to the “destruction of our civilisation”.
“We also have the weapons that can strike targets on their territory, and what they are now suggesting and scaring the world with, all that raises the real threat of a nuclear conflict that will mean the destruction of our civilisation,” Putin said.
How lethal is Yars missile?
• The RS-24 (Yars) missile is 23 meters long and is designed to carry multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).
• MIRVs enable the Yars missile to deliver multiple nuclear warheads, each capable of targeting different objectives.
• The Yars is a modified version of the Topol-M missile system.
• Russia started the deployment of Yars Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) systems in 2009, with the Yars launcher accepted for experimental combat duty in the Strategic Missile Force.
• In December, Russian rocket forces loaded a new Yars ICBM into a silo at the Kozelsk base in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow.
• Russia possesses the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, with about 5,889 nuclear warheads, making it the leading nuclear power. The United States follows closely with about 5,244 nuclear warheads.
• Both Russia and the United States control over 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons, with approximately 1,670 strategic nuclear warheads deployed by each country.
China has urged states with the largest nuclear arsenals to negotiate a treaty to ensure “no-first-use” of nuclear weapons against each other. By: MEGA
The Foreign Ministry of China has urged states with the largest nuclear arsenals to negotiate a treaty to ensure “no-first-use” of nuclear weapons against each other.
Knewz.com has learned that China put forward this proposal at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Monday, February 26.
Sun Xiaobo, the Director General of the Arms Control Department of the Foreign Ministry of China, said at the meeting on Monday that the United Nations forum should outline the roadmap for “an international legal instrument” that would protect the states without nuclear power against the behemoth of a threat looming over them.
“Nuclear-weapon states should negotiate and conclude a treaty on no-first-use of nuclear weapons against each other or make a political statement in this regard,” the Director General said at the meeting, according to Reuters.
The news agency noted that the only two countries to officially observe a “no-first-use” policy are China and its neighbor, India. On the other hand, the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world at the moment are Russia and the United States.
The Foreign Ministry of China said that the United Nations forum should outline the roadmap for “an international legal instrument” that would protect the states without nuclear power against the behemoth of a threat looming over them. By: MEGA
Notably, Russia has emerged as a more “unhinged” nuclear threat, as leaked classified military documents from the Kremlin have shown that the Russian threshold of what warrants a nuclear response is much lower than what the Vladimir Putin administration publicly admitted.
The leaked documents include the operating principles for nuclear power, as well as detailed presentations meant for the eyes of Russian naval officers and scenarios for simulations of potential military operations.
According to the Daily Express, the recently leaked military documents from the Kremlin were drawn up nearly a decade ago, between 2008 and 2014. It is worth noting that Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, marking the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The 29 military documents that have been leaked laid out the directives for “a potential nuclear response range from an enemy incursion on Russian territory to more specific requirements,” according to the news outlet.
The United States believes Russia could launch a nuclear-capable satellite as early as this year. By: MEGA
For instance, the documents mention that an event such as the destruction of 20 percent of the total number of strategic ballistic missile submarines or 30 percent of the nuclear-powered attack submarines currently in Putin’s arsenal.
With Putin’s cronies shouting themselves hoarse with threats of nuclear attacks on Ukraine and the Western bloc that supports it in the war, one is left to wonder how long it is until the Russian tyrant is prompted to push the big red button.
The documents, which date back over a decade, reportedly also show that the Russian administration suspects that China is capable of, and possibly intends to, invade Russia. The Chinese Foreign Ministry was quick to dismiss the claims, citing the deepening ties between the two nations.
However, the proposal put forward by the Director General of the Arms Control Department of the Foreign Ministry shows that China is growing increasingly concerned about the prospect of an all-out nuclear war as political volatility arises in multiple geopolitical centers across the globe.
Xiaobo added that the United Nations Conference on Disarmament should also address the threats and challenges posed by emerging technological advances By: Facebook/United Nations
The treaty China proposes might not be an absolute safety net against a nuclear conflict among the biggest political players, but it can help keep the possibility of unprecedented death and destruction at bay.
However, he also pointed out that nations with more powerful military capabilities have time and again broken treaties and agreements in their quest for “absolute superiority.”
At the forum’s meeting in Geneva, Director General Xiaobo also called for a “universal, non-discriminatory, non-proliferation, export control order to address global security challenges and promote more compliance in the field of biochemistry to maintain the authority of the arms control treaty system,” according to Reuters.
He added that the United Nations Conference on Disarmament should also address the threats and challenges posed by emerging technological advances, like artificial intelligence, outer space, and cyber.
More than 100 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on people waiting for food in Gaza City, pushing the Palestinian death toll above 30,000 since the war began, the Gaza Health Ministry and Hamas said Thursday.
Israeli authorities released aerial footage of crowds swarming arriving aid trucks, placed blame on the crush of the crowd and Palestinian truck drivers and said fewer than 10 of the casualties were a result of Israeli gunfire.
“Contrary to the accusations, we didn’t open fire on a humanitarian aid convoy, not from the air and not from land,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson. “We secured it so it could reach northern Gaza.”
Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said at least 112 people were killed and 760 wounded. Hamas issued a statement saying Israeli forces, “indifferent to the consequences of its terrorist actions due to the cover and complicity of the administration of US President Biden,” targeted a gathering of thousands of citizens awaiting food aid in Gaza City, where the United Nations has warned of an unprecedented hunger crisis amid the Israeli siege.
Gaza resident Kamel Abu Nahel was hospitalized with a gunshot wound. He told the Associated Press he was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers who opened fire on crowds that had gathered at the distribution point in the middle of the night. “We’ve been eating animal feed for two months,” he said.
The Israeli military issued a statement saying that “during the early morning delivery of humanitarian aid trucks to the northern Gaza Strip, a violent gathering of Gazan residents developed around the trucks, who looted the equipment.” The statement said dozens of Gazans were wounded as a result of “overcrowding, crowding and trampling.”
The military said about 30 aid trucks rolled up to a checkpoint in Gaza City, setting off a deadly stampede. The initial investigation found that some of the trucks rolled north to the Rimal neighborhood, where the military said armed men opened fire and looted the convoy. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, then shot at the legs of looters who pressed on, the military said.
Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman told Al-Jazeera the trucks were overwhelmed and the civilian Palestinian drivers ploughed into the crowds, killing dozens. In January, witnesses and Gaza health officials said Israeli troops fired on an aid distribution site in Gaza City, killing at least 20.
The Palestinian Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the latest “massacre” and called for an immediate cease-fire to protect civilians.
Developments:
∎ Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant toured northern Gaza and said his military is preparing for an assault on the southern city of Rafah. Hamas is “getting weaker with each passing day, we are getting stronger. We will go and tighten the rope around the neck of Hamas until we eliminate it,” he said.
∎ The Palestinian Authority has received the equivalent of $114 million in tax revenue Israel had collected and then frozen, Reuters reported citing the Norwegian government, which helped arrange the transfer.
∎ Hagari said Thursday that Israeli forces have killed “more than 13,000 (Hamas) terrorists” since the beginning of the war, a much higher number than the 10,000 Israel has recently claimed. The figures have not been independently verified.
∎ The U.N. says a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians could face starvation and that 80% have been forced to flee their homes.
∎ Babies in crowded Emirates Hospital in Rafah are forced to share incubators, leading to the spread of disease, hospital officials said.
Biden: Tragedy will complicate cease-fire talks
President Joe Biden, asked by reporters whether the tragedy in Gaza City would hamper talks aimed at a cease-fire and release of hostages, said, “I know it will.” Biden, who said this week a deal could be reached by Monday, acknowledged that time frame has changed.
“Probably not by Monday but I’m hopeful,” he said.
Administration officials said they have been in contact with the Israeli government, and White House principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters: “The events in northern Gaza are tremendously alarming and of deep concern to us. Too many civilian lives have been lost as a consequence of military operations in Gaza. We think that this latest event needs to be thoroughly investigated.”
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan accused Israel of targeting civilians and called for increased safe passages for humanitarian aid.
Hamas warned in a statement that the incident could jeopardize the talks.
“The negotiations conducted by the movement’s leadership are not an open process at the expense of the blood of our people,” the statement said, adding that Israel would be responsible if the talks fail.
Israeli security chief backs troops after deadly clash
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir voiced support for Israeli troops after the Gaza City calamity, saying they acted “excellently against a Gazan mob that tried to harm them.” He said the chaos proved the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza is “madness” while militants are still holding Israeli hostages in Gaza under substandard conditions.
“This is another clear reason why we must stop transferring this aid, which is in fact aid to harm the (Israeli) soldiers and oxygen to Hamas,’ he said.
Palestinian death toll surpasses 30,000; 70,000 wounded
The Palestinian death toll since the war began has climbed to 30,035, and another 70,457 have been wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry reported Thursday. The ministry, controlled by the Hamas-run government, counts combatants and civilians and says women and children make up two-thirds of the deaths. The ministry’s counts from previous wars have generally matched the tallies of the U.N., independent experts and Israel.
Israel recently said it had killed more than 10,000 Hamas militants, blaming any civilian deaths on Hamas using civilians as human shields. Hamas has said about 6,000 of its fighters have been killed. The Israeli assault on Gaza was prompted by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israeli border communities that killed an estimated 1,200 people, with another 250 taken hostage.
Hamas, Fatah leaders to meet in Moscow
Representatives from Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian political factions were scheduled to gather in Moscow to discuss the formation of a unified Palestinian government for Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas has mostly controlled Gaza while Fatah has been the primary faction of the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of in the West Bank.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh announced the resignation of his government this week in a concession aimed at building broader consensus. Still, Minister for Foreign Affairs Riad Malki said he did not expect “miracles” from the meeting.
“We hope that there might be good results in terms of mutual understanding between all factions about the need to support such a technocratic government that will emerge,” Malki said.
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