For today, links to five reports: from Reuters, the Associated Press, Middle East Eye, and the Anadolu Agency, and to commentary from Indian Punchline and Peoples Dispatch; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM
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Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza, as Biden urges peace, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi | Reuters CAIRO — Israeli forces pressed deeper into areas of the central and southern Gaza Strip as they battled Hamas fighters, while Palestinian health officials said on Thursday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 22 people across the enclave. The new escalation . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for Aug. 21 report from AP.
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Israeli strikes kill at least 16 in Gaza, Palestinian officials say. From AP. Palestinian health officials say Israeli strikes have killed at least 16 people in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received the bodies, including the remains of a woman and three children, after strikes overnight and into today. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the bodies. READ MORE . . .
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Netanyahu insists on full control of Philadelphi Corridor ahead of Gaza cease-fire talks in Egypt, by Abdelraouf Arnaout | Anadolu Agency JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still insists on maintaining control over the Philadelphi Corridor in the southern Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, the public broadcaster KAN said today. READ MORE . . .
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Blinken ‘sentenced ceasefire talks to death’ with Hamas, Netanyahu remarks. From Middle East Eye. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sentenced the Gaza ceasefire negotiations to death by implying Hamas was the obstacle to a deal and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted it, Israeli officials told local media. Blinken’s comments . . . READ MORE . . .
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Iran will hit Israel, ball is in U.S.-Israeli court, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline Tehran’s grit to push back western bullying is at an all-time high level. Iran will not submit to western diktat. In today’s circumstances . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM AUG. 20 Why Palestinians question the recent U.S. proposal, by Aseel Saleh | Peoples Dispatch For many, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s current tour in the region, his ninth with the stated purpose of ending the Israeli aggression in Gaza, has proved to be propaganda to serve Israel’s strategic goals and interests, and to place the blame on . . . READ MORE . . .