On GPS: Holocaust scholar says Israel is committing genocide
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Gaza refugee artist in Paris embroiders 'pain' on canvas
In her new Paris home, Palestinian artist Maha Al-Daya pulled a needle and thread through material as news for war-torn Gaza blared in the background. "Before the war I used to embroider for happy occasions, but today I stitch away my pain," said the 41-year-old visual artist, who also paints. Daya, her husband and three children -- aged eight, 15 and 18 -- are among several hundreds of Palestinians to have been granted a visa to France since the Gaza war broke in October 2023. Stitch after stitch, Daya embroiders impressions of the war on to drab-coloured material. In one work, she has stitched red thread over most of a map of Gaza to show areas ravaged by now more than 21 months of war. In another, Daya has sewn the Arabic words "Stop the genocide" in black wool. Rights groups, lawyers and some Israeli historians have described the Gaza war as "genocide". Israel, created in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II, vehemently rejects the accusation. - From wedding dresses to war - Palestinians have for centuries painstakingly sewn long black dresses and adorned them with stark red embroidery, in designs still worn today in rural areas and at weddings or other celebrations. But today Daya is using it to highlight the suffering of two million Gazans in the latest Israeli bombardment campaign against the besieged Palestinian territory. Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 people taken hostage that day, 49 are still in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Humanitarian groups say Gaza's population is facing famine-like conditions. In April this year, Daya met French President Emmanuel Macron to show him her work when it was exhibited at the French capital's Arab World Institute. She says she gave him an embroidery bearing the words "Where are we going to go now?" "Everybody is always saying this because we're always being displaced," Daya said. - 'Just a few days' - Daya and her family lived through six months of conflict in Gaza before they were able to escape the Palestinian territory. Just days after the war started, she and her children fled their home in Gaza City -- and its flowered balcony -- with just some clothes stuffed into backpacks. "I thought, it's just for a few days, we'll be back," she said. "We had no idea it would last for so long." They found refuge with friends of a nephew in the southern city of Khan Younis -- people they had never met before but who were incredibly kind to them, she said. But in mid-December, bombardment hit that house, gravely wounding two of her nephews, one of whom had to undergo an amputation. They then lived in a tent for four months. "The cold was unbearable. In winter, rain would come inside," she said. But they had heard of a Cairo-based agency that could put their names on a list so they could leave via the crossing point with Egypt for a fee of $4,000 a person. A Bethlehem artist raised the funds to pay in exchange for future works by her and her husband, also an artist. - 'Difficult to find peace' - In Cairo, she started embroidering. Her husband picked up a paint brush again. "We were like birds who had been freed from their cage," she said. A non-profit set up to help Gaza artists called Maan helped her apply for PAUSE, a French government programme for researchers and artists in need. Her application was accepted by Sciences Po and the Paris-based branch of Columbia University. After nine months in Egypt, the family landed in Paris. Daya started attending French courses in the morning and embroidering in the afternoon. In the evening she joins her family in the university residence where they now live. Yaffa, eight years old, Rima, 15, and Adam, 18, are back in school. "When I arrived here I was happy," she said. "But at the same time, there's a sort on internal pain. While there's still war over there, while people are dying, it's difficult to find peace." rka/ah/jh/giv
News24
2 hours ago
- News24
WHO slams Israel for ‘forcing women and children to evacuate on foot' as Gaza strikes kill 12
Israel fire killed 12 in Gaza. The WHO said Israel attacked its staff residence. Britain and more than 20 other countries called for an end to the war in Gaza. Israeli tank shelling killed at least 12 Palestinians and wounded dozens of others in a tent encampment in western Gaza City north of the enclave, local health authorities said early on Tuesday. Medics said the tanks stationed north of Shati camp fired two shells at tents, housing displaced families, killing at least 12 people. There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the incident. The World Health Organisation said the Israeli military attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah on Monday, compromising its operations in Gaza. The United Nations agency said the WHO staff residence was attacked three times, with airstrikes causing a fire and extensive damage, and endangering staff and their families, including children. Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes hostages may be held. Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said. 'Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot, and screened at gunpoint,' WHO said. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained, it said in a post on X, adding that three were later released, while one staff member remained in detention. WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Deir al-Balah is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west or south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of the militant group Hamas. WHO said its main warehouse, located within an evacuation zone, was damaged on Sunday due to an attack that triggered explosions and a fire inside. WHO stated it would remain in Deir al-Balah and expand its operations despite the attacks. Britain and more than 20 other countries called on Monday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and criticised the Israeli government's aid delivery model after hundreds of Palestinians were killed near sites distributing food. Saeed MMT Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images AFP reported that the Israeli army said on Tuesday it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, a day after Israel carried out air strikes on its Houthi rebel-held port of Hodeida. 'Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF,' the Israeli military reported on Telegram. Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen have come under repeated Israeli strikes since the Iran-backed rebels began launching missile and drone attacks on Israel, declaring they act in solidarity with Palestinians over the Gaza war. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said Monday's strikes hit 'targets of the Houthi terror regime at the port of Hodeida' and aimed to prevent any attempt to restore infrastructure previously hit. 'Yemen's fate will be the same as Tehran's,' Katz said. A Houthi security official, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told AFP that 'the bombing destroyed the port's dock, which had been rebuilt following previous strikes.' The Houthis recently resumed deadly attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting ships they accuse of having links to Israel, to force Israel to end the Gaza war.
New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
Quote of the Day: Aid Disarray Rends Gaza
'After 22 months of war, it's anarchy in Gaza. And without addressing the core issue of what should happen next in Gaza, there won't be a solution.' SHIRA EFRON, from the research group Israel Policy Forum, on how recently deadly shootings highlight the risks of distributing aid.
