For today, links to 10 reports: from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, Middle East Monitor, the Anadolu Agency, and Middle East Eye, and to an interview from the Chris Hedges Report via ScheerPost and Consortium News; other news and commentary is accessible by clicking on their names. (UKRAINE entry for this date and an ECONOMY entry are HERE and HERE.) — MCM
– – –
Israel recovers the bodies of 6 hostages in Gaza, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, by Josef Federman | AP JERUSALEM — Israel said today it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including a young Israeli-American man who became one of the most well-known captives held by Hamas. The military said all six had been killed shortly before the arrival of Israeli forces. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for another report from AP, and HERE and HERE for reports from Reuters and NPR.
– – –
Hamas blames Israeli airstrikes for death of six hostages in Gaza. From Middle East Monitor. A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, said today that the six Israeli hostages recently found in Gaza were killed as a result of ongoing Israeli airstrikes, challenging the Israeli army’s claim that Hamas executed the hostages while they were in captivity, Anadolu Agency reports. READ MORE . . .
– – –
Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport to halt all arrivals, departures on Monday amid general strike, by Rania R.a. Abushamala | Anadolu Agency ISTANBUL — Israel’s main international airport will halt all arrivals and departures on Monday amid a general strike to pressure the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a prisoner swap deal with Palestinians. Specifically . . . READ MORE . . .
– – –
Israel, Hamas agree to brief pauses in fighting for polio vaccinations, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Hussam Al-Masri | Reuters CAIRO / GAZA — The United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, began to vaccinate 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip today, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to brief pauses in their 11-month war to allow the campaign to go ahead. READ MORE . . .
– – –
Families accuse Netanyahu of failing to return Israeli captives alive. From Middle East Eye. The families of Israeli captives held in Gaza have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to bring their relatives home alive amid growing calls for a general strike to force a deal with Hamas. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum today . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from the Anadolu Agency.
– – –
Elderly Palestinian dies ‘of systematic torture’ in Israel’s Ayalon Prison in Ramla, by Awad Rjoob | Anadolu Agency RAMALLAH, Palestine — An elderly person from the Gaza Strip died “of systematic torture” in Israel’s Ayalon Prison in Ramla, bringing the total number of Palestinian detainees killed in custody since Oct. 7 of last year to 24, rights groups said on Saturday. READ MORE . . .
– – –
The Middle East’s roots lie in the fall of the Ottomans. Chris Hedges of the Chris Hedges Report talks with Eugene Rogan, professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of Oxford, about his book The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East (2016) and how the modern geopolitical makeup of the region came to be. Click HERE for an introduction, the interview, and transcript.