For today, links to five or more reports* from the Associated Press, Reuters, the Times of Israel, and National Public Radio, and to commentary from the Anadolu Agency and ScheerPost; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE and ASSANGE entries for this date are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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NEWER  Israel approves plans for nearly 5,300 new homes in West Bank settlements, by Tia Goldenberg, Josef Federman and Kareem Chehayeb | AP  JERUSALEM — The Israeli government has approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank, a monitoring group said today, the latest in a campaign to accelerate settlement expansion, aimed at cementing Israeli control over the territory and preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state. READ MORE . . .

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NEWER  Israel sends delegation to negotiate hostage release deal with Hamas, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi,Mohammad Salem and Maayan Lubell | Reuters  CAIRO / GAZA / JERUSALEM  — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden today he has decided to send a delegation to resume stalled negotiations on a hostage release deal with Hamas, their administrations said. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from the Times of Israel.

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Israel weighs Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Mohammad Salem and Maayan Lubell | Reuters  CAIRO / GAZA / JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet this evening to discuss new Hamas positions on a possible ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu’s office said, as fighting raged in the enclave. Before the cabinet meets, Netanyahu will have consultations with . . . READ MORE . .

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With the focus on Gaza, Israel expands Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Reported by Greg Myre and Steve Inskeep | NPR  As Israel wages war in Gaza, it’s also working to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Several moves are being described as the biggest seizure of land for the settlers in more than 30 years. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM JULY 3  Life and death in Gaza’s ‘safe zone’ where food is scarce and Israel strikes without warning, by Wafaa Shurafa | AP  KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike slammed into a residential building next to the main medical center in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, wounding at least seven people, hospital authorities and witnesses said Wednesday. Nasser Hospital is . . .  READ MORE . . .

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U.S., Germany lead West in arming Israel war on Gaza, by Esra Tekin and Necva Taştan | Anadolu Agency  ISTANBUL — Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, now stretching into its 10th month, has been marked by severe civilian casualties and widespread destruction, significantly fueled by Western arms. Germany, as the second-largest arms supplier to Israel after the U.S., plays . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM JUNE 29  90 minutes that shook the liberals awake, by Patrick Lawrence | Original to ScheerPost  I have regretted for years the extent to which elections in this country have come to be determined not by ideas, courage and imagination, guiding principles, or the articulation of wise ways forward, but by affect. We are on notice as of Wednesday evening that . . . READ MORE . . .

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* Number is vague because often news services replace an earlier report with a later one, which is sometimes no longer available online.

For today, links to seven reports from Tass, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Kyiv Post, and the Kyiv Independent, and to commentary from the Post, the Independent, and Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date, so far, is HERE, and an ASSANGE entry is HERE.) —  MCM

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Russia uncertain if Ukraine would reciprocate with ceasefire — Putin. From Tass. ASTANA — Russia can’t agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine as Moscow is not sure how Kiev would respond, Russian President Vladimir Putin said as he wrapped up his trip to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana. He said agreements were reached in 2022 to withdraw Russian troops from Kiev, but . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for a second report from Tass.

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Ukraine’s army retreats from positions as Russia gets closer to seizing strategically important town, by Hanna Arhirova | AP  KYIV — Ukraine’s army has retreated from a neighborhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a military spokesperson said today. Chasiv Yar is a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region that has been reduced to rubble under a monthslong Russian assault. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE to a report from Reuters. 

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Russia says it destroyed Ukrainian fighter jet, vehicles. From AFP. Russia’s Defense Ministry said today its troops destroyed a Mig-29 fighter jet and two or more vehicles during a strike on an airbase at Dolgintsevo in central Ukraine. READ MORE . . .

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Russian offensive inexorably makes gains in eastern Donbas, by Stefan Korshak | Kyiv Post  A relentless Russian offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas sector has grabbed new territory from Kyiv forces hard-pressed following massed air strikes, artillery bombardments and repeated ground assaults. The biggest Russian gain in territory was near the coal-mining town of Toretsk, where . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian attack on Dnipro kills 7, injures over 50, shopping center hit, by Martin Fornusek | The Kyiv Independent  At least seven people were killed and more than 50 were injured after Russia launched drones and missiles against Dnipro on Wednesday, officials said. Five fatalities were reported on the day of the attack. A 60-year-old woman and a 58-year-old woman died in the hospital a day later, Governor Serhii Lysak said. . . READ MORE . . . Earlier reports are HERE, at top.

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F-16 ‘Viper’ combat debut in Ukraine’s skies will be slow, careful and risk-averse, by Stefan Korshak and Christopher Stewart | Kyiv Post  As the clock ticks down to the first combat deployment of Ukrainian-piloted F-16 fighters against the Russian Air Force, and with it a possible . . . READ MORE . . .

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Who needs warships when you’ve got drones? Russia loses control of dominance over Black Sea, by Igor Kossov | The Kyiv Independent  Russia began the war with a formidable Black Sea fleet and all the Ukrainian ports in Crimea it seized in 2014, including the Ukrainian vessels that were docked there at the time. With this, Russia could . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM JULY 2  Will Putin attack Poland & the Baltics? by Ray McGovern | Special to Consortium News  At Thursday’s debate with Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” claimed that he “wants all of Ukraine. … Do you think he’ll stop? … What do you think happens to Poland and other places?” READ MORE . . .

Links to an interview from Consortium News and to a report from National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE  and a GAZA entry for this date, so far, is HERE.) — MCM

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FROM JULY 3  The road to freedom. Cathy Vogel and Joe Lauria of Consortium News speak successively with Australian Member of Parliament Julian Hill and Australian Senators David Shoebridge and Peter Whish-Wilson several days after WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange was freed from a London maximum-security prison. Click HERE to watch and listen.

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FROM JUNE 26  What did WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange change by releasing classified documents? A Martínez of NPR asks Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, about the legacy of Julian Assange, and the 2010 WikiLeaks publication of classified government information. Click HERE to listen and read.

NOTE: TO FIND THIS WEBSITE USING A SEARCH ENGINE, TYPE XMAWALKER.

Links to three pieces of commentary from Truthdig, Declassified UK, and the Flautist, all via Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (GAZA and UKRAINE entries are HERE and HERE.) — MCM 

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FROM JUNE 28  Julian Assange is free: Here’s what he’s given us, by Marjorie Cohn | Truthout / Consortium News  After a 14-year struggle, including five years spent in Belmarsh, a maximum-security prison in London, WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is finally free.  Although the U.S. government alleged that WikiLeaks’s publication of information had caused “great harm,” Assange’s attorney Barry Pollack said at at June 26 press conference in Australia they “admitted there was not a single person anywhere that they could produce that was harmed . . .  READ MORE . . .

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FROM JUNE 26  The media kept Assange behind bars, by Jonathan Cook | Declassified UK / Consortium News / Popular Resistance  The establishment media acted as a willing tool in the demonising narrative the U.S. and British governments carefully crafted against Assange. Even now, the BBC and others are peddling the same long-discredited lies. Those include the constantly repeated claim by journalists that . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM JULY  1  The state failed to break Assange, by Patrick Lawrence | The Flautist / Consortium News  Even during the darkest moments of his years under house arrest, in asylum at Ecuador’s London embassy, and at Belmarsh, he never surrendered his sovereignty. He remained ever the captain of his soul, and never did he . . . READ MORE . . .

NOTE: TO FIND THIS WEBSITE USING A SEARCH ENGINE, TYPE XMAWALKER.

For today, links to eight reports from the Associated Press, Middle East Eye, Reuters, the Anadolu Agency, National Public Radio, and the Jerusalem Post, and to commentary from Middle East Monitor; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE and ASSANGE entries for this date are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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Settlement tracking group says Israel has made largest West Bank land seizure in 3 decades, by Julia Frankel | AP  JERUSALEM — Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, a settlement tracking group said today, a move that could further worsen already soaring tensions linked to the ongoing war in Gaza. Authorities recently approved . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from Middle East Eye.

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Israel carries out new strikes in Gaza, warns Lebanon’s Hezbollah, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Mohammad Salem | Reuters  CAIRO / GAZA — Many Palestinians were seeking shelter today after fleeing their homes in southern Gaza and complained of water shortages as Israel pressed on with its military offensive in the densely populated enclave. Israeli forces . . . READ MORE . . .

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UN rapporteur calls on all to ‘wake up’ regarding Gaza, by Merve Berker | Anadolu Agency  ANKARA — The UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine today called on people from all over the world to “wake up” regarding the atrocities in Gaza.“Only a deep-seated dehumanization of Palestinians in Gaza . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israel’s state prosecutor seeks probe of security minister for anti-Gazan incitement: report, by Zein Khalil | Anadolu Agency  JERUSALEM — Israeli State Prosecutor Amit Aisman is seeking to open a criminal investigation into National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for allegedly inciting violence against Palestinians in Gaza in order to show the International Criminal Court that it is holding Israeli officials to account for such actions, local media reported today. READ MORE . . .

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12 former gov’t officials call Biden’s Gaza policy ‘failure,’ ‘threat to U.S. national security,’ by Rabia Iclal Turan | Anadolu Agency  WASHINGTON — Twelve former U.S. government officials who resigned over the Biden administration’s policy on Gaza released a statement Tuesday, calling it a “failure and a threat to US national security.” “America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel, they said in a joint statement, “has. . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM JULY 1  2 U.S. military members discuss why they resigned over the war in Gaza. Reported by Leila Fadel | NPR  The number of resignations among Biden administration officials and American military service members over U.S. policY in Gaza is small, but growing. Click HERE to listen and read.

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FROM JULY 2  Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 270? From the Jerusalem Post. IDF forces began demolishing the house of Ahmed Duavsha, a terrorist from the village of Duma, according to Israeli media reports on Tuesday. Duavsha had been responsible for the murder of Binyamin Achimair, a 14-year-old shepherd, in April. READ MORE . . .

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The Israeli plan has now been exposed, by Abdul Majeed Swailem | Middle East Monitor  The only guaranteed path for Israel after nearly nine months of its criminal war on the Gaza Strip, and the accompanying aggressive battles along the southern border of Lebanon, is to reduce the pace of the war there and wait . . . READ MORE . . .

NOTE: TO FIND THIS WEBSITE USING A SEARCH ENGINE, TYPE XMAWALKER.

For today, links to five reports from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, the Kyiv Independent, Tass, and Reuters, and to an interview from the Kyiv Post; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA and  ASSANGE entries are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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Russian missiles and drones strike eastern Ukraine’s Dnipro in a daylight attack that kills 5, by Illia Novikov | AP  KYIV — A Russian missile and drone attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro today killed five civilians and injured 47 others, including a 14-year-old girl, authorities said. Blasts . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE and HERE for reports from AFP and the Kyiv Independent.

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Russian troops destroy first Tunguska anti-aircraft missile system in Ukraine operation. From Tass. MOSCOW — In a statement on the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said today that in the last day its Battlegroup North repulsed a Ukrainian counterattack, inflicted roughly 140 casualties on enemy troops and destroyed the first Tunguska . . . READ MORE . . .

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At field hospital in Ukraine’s battered east, the wounded keep coming, by Anna Voitenko and Alina Smutko | Reuters  Ukrainian forces have begun to receive billions of dollars worth of Western military aid that has eased acute shortages of ammunition and armour, but . . . READ MORE . . .

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The road to how Russia loses in Ukraine. Jason Jay Smart of Kyiv Post interviews U.S. Air Force veteran Jake Broe about a scenario for Russian defeat. Click HERE to watch and listen, and read introduction.

Links to three pieces of commentary from Truthdig, Declassified UK, and the Flautist, all via Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (GAZA and UKRAINE entries are HERE and HERE.) — MCM 

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FROM JUNE 28  Julian Assange is free: Here’s what he’s given us, by Marjorie Cohn | Truthout / Consortium News  After a 14-year struggle, including five years spent in Belmarsh, a maximum-security prison in London, WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is finally free.  Although the U.S. government alleged that WikiLeaks’s publication of information had caused “great harm,” Assange’s attorney Barry Pollack said at at June 26 press conference in Australia they “admitted there was not a single person anywhere that they could produce that was harmed . . .  READ MORE . . .

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FROM JUNE 26  The media kept Assange behind bars, by Jonathan Cook | Declassified UK / Consortium News / Popular Resistance  The establishment media acted as a willing tool in the demonising narrative the U.S. and British governments carefully crafted against Assange. Even now, the BBC and others are peddling the same long-discredited lies. Those include the constantly repeated claim by journalists that . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM JULY  1  The state failed to break Assange, by Patrick Lawrence | The Flautist / Consortium News  Even during the darkest moments of his years under house arrest, in asylum at Ecuador’s London embassy, and at Belmarsh, he never surrendered his sovereignty. He remained ever the captain of his soul, and never did he . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For today, links to eleven reports from the Associated Press, the Moscow Times, Reuters, Tass, Agence France-Presse, the Kyiv Post, and the Kyiv Independent; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date is HERE.) —  MCM

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Defense Secretary Austin says the U.S. will provide $2.3 billion more in military aid to Ukraine, by Tara Copp | AP  WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said today the U.S. will soon announce an additional $2.3 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, to include anti-tank weapons, interceptors and munitions for Patriot and other air defense systems. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with Austin . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says strikes destroy several Ukrainian fighter jets. From the Moscow Times. Russia’s Defense Ministry said today its missile strike on the Myrhorod airfield in central Ukraine destroyed five active Su-27 multipurpose fighter jets and damaged two under repair. Ukraine’s former Air Force speaker Yuriy Ihnat confirmed the strike but accused the Russian military of exaggerating the extent of the damage. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from Reuters.

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Russian forces strike nine Ukrainian Su-27, MiG-29 fighter jets over past day. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian forces struck nine Ukrainian Su-27 and MiG-29 fighter jets over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry said today in a general statement. READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine’s air force says it destroyed Russian ammunition depot in Crimea. From Reuters. Ukraine’s air force commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, said today the military had carried out a “destructive strike” on a Russian ammunition depot in Moscow-occupied Crimea on Monday. “Once again . . . READ MORE . . .

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Hungary’s Orban, in Kyiv, proposes ceasefire to speed up peace talks, by Anastasiia Malenko and Anita Komuves | Reuters KYIV — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy today to consider a ceasefire to accelerate an end to the war with Russia and also said he wanted a big cooperation agreement with Kyiv. Orban, an outspoken critic of Western military aid to Ukraine, held talks with Zelenskiy during . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from AFP, and HERE, HERE and HERE for reports from Kyiv Post, the Kyiv Independent, and Tass. 

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Lukashenko sounds alarm on Ukrainian troop movements near Belarusian border. From Tass. MINSK — Opponents of Belarus and Russia are trying to pull both countries into a conflict and escalate the situation to such an extent that “the entire world will shudder,” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday. “They are itching,” he said, “to get us involved . . . READ MORE . . .

For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and the Anadolu Agency; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

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Overnight strike kills 9 in Khan Younis, hours after Israel ordered a mass evacuation. From AP. An Israeli strike has killed at least nine people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinian health officials said today, less than a day after Israel ordering parts of the city to evacuate ahead of a likely ground operation. The overnight strike hit a home near . . . READ MORE . . .

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Thousands flee their homes as Israeli forces bomb southern Gaza, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Mohammad Salem | Reuters  CAIRO / GAZA — Israeli forces bombarded several areas of the southern Gaza Strip today and thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in what could be part of a final push of Israel’s intensive military operations in nine months of war. Health officials said eight Palestinians were killed and . . . READ MORE . . .

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Released doctor says Palestinians in Israeli jails died under torture, medical negligence, by Nour Abu Eisha and Mustafa Habboush | Anadolu Agency  GAZA CITY, Palestine — The director of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City has said several Palestinians in Israeli jails died during interrogation, torture, medical negligence, and deprivation of medicine. Speaking at a press conference following his release on Monday, Mohammad Abu Salmiya said . . . READ MORE . . .

For today, links to six reports from Reuters, the Anadolu Agency, the Associated Press, and Middle East Monitor, and to commentary from Middle East Eye; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

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Palestinian militants fire rockets into Israel, tanks advance into Gaza, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Mohammad Salem | Reuters  CAIRO / GAZA — The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of rockets into Israel today as fighting raged in Gaza and Israeli tanks advanced deeper in parts of the enclave, residents and officials said. The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas, said its fighters fired . . . READ MORE . . .

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Another journalist killed in Israeli attack in Gaza as death toll rises to 153 since Oct. 7, by Mustafa Haboush | Anadolu Agency  GAZA City, Palestine — A Palestinian journalist died today of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, taking the death toll to 153 since last October, local authorities said. Mohammad Mahmoud Abu Shareeah, a journalist with  . . READ MORE . . .

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Israel releases 55 Palestinians it had detained from Gaza, including hospital director. From AP. A Palestinian health official says Israel released 55 Palestinians today whom it had detained from Gaza, including the director of the territory’s main hospital. Mohammed Abu Selmia was released without charge or trial, after being detained in November when . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israel releases director of hospital it says was used as a Hamas base. He alleges abuse in custody, by Mohammad Jahjouh. Samy Magdy, and Julia Frankel | AP  KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel released the director of Gaza’s main hospital today after holding him for seven months without charge or trial over allegations the facility had been used as a Hamas command center. He said he and . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from Middle East Monitor.

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Israeli finance minister threatens to build new settlements for each country recognizing Palestine, by Abdelraouf Arnaout | Anadolu Agency  JERUSALEM — Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened today to establish a new settlement in return for each country recognizing Palestine as a state. “For every country that unilaterally recognizes a Palestinian state, we . . . READ MORE . . .

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Why is Argentina becoming a ‘great friend’ of Israel amid its war crimes in Gaza? by Jodor Jalit | Middle East Eye  When Hamas launched its offensive against Israel last October, Argentine voters were heading to the first round of the presidential election. Politicians and candidates across the political spectrum quickly took to X to share their thoughts. The centre-left outgoing president, the continuity candidate and others, including two centre-right politicians and the right-wing Javier Milei, currently president, expressed their solidarity with Israel and condemned the Palestinian group. None made any mention of Gaza, Palestine, or the Palestinians. READ MORE . . .