RSS
Hamas Denies Terrorist Presence at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital in English — but Celebrates It in Arabic
Israeli soldiers operate at the opening to a tunnel at Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, Nov. 22, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Videos taken by Palestinian terrorists and released in Arabic show themselves in civilian clothing barricading in and around Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City while firing guns and explosives at Israeli soldiers — a different story than the one that Hamas and its allies have told the world in English.
For the last two weeks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been operating in and around Al-Shifa, the largest medical facility in Gaza before the current war, after Palestinian terrorists regrouped there following Israel’s operation in the compound in November.
In the fall, Israel had provided weeks of warning prior to entering the complex. “They [the terrorists] left there because they knew we were coming,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. “And this time, we did something else.”
Israel has long said Al-Shifa was home to Hamas’ main base of operations, as well as cover for the terrorist group’s complex tunnel system and a hideout for fuel, water, food, and other supplies that were being withheld from Gaza’s civilian population. According to the US, Hamas used the medical facility to run military operations and even hold hostages seized by the terrorists during their Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
The IDF on Monday withdrew from Al-Shifa after a two-week raid, claiming Israeli soldiers killed more than 200 gunmen and captured about 900 suspects, of whom more than 500 were confirmed to be terrorist operatives.
Despite Article 19 of the Geneva Convention stating that “protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy,” some news reports framed Israel’s operation as a “massacre” that targeted doctors and patients rather than terrorists. Additionally, Hamas has told reporters in English language outlets that there were no militants in Al-Shifa.
However, footage taken by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade — all Palestinian terrorist organizations — indicate they were quite active in the areas in and around Al-Shifa. The Israel Files, a pro-Israel X/Twitter account, compiled a number of such videos.
Al Araby TV, for example, reported on “scenes from Al-Qassam [Hamas] fighters confronting the Israeli forces invading the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex.”
The videos show Palestinian terrorists in civilian buildings and wearing civilian clothing. John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, recently wrote that “not wearing uniforms and trying to blend in with civilians” constitutes a war crime.
مشاهد من تصدي مقاتلي القسام للقوات الإسرائيلية المتوغلة في محيط مجمع الشفاء الطبي بمدينة #غزة pic.twitter.com/FTENF9Ia3k
— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) March 25, 2024
Observers have flagged the difference in Hamas’ messaging between English and Arabic to the media.
One X/Twitter user observed that these terrorist groups “openly [brag] about firing missiles and mortars at Al-Shifa over the last several weeks in Arabic, but then ‘reporters’ from the same outlets in English pretend the hundreds of terrorists were just invented and Israel was just assassinating random people.”
Islamic Jihad video portrays similar scenes. The Palestinian Information Center posted video with the caption: “The Al-Quds Brigades shows scenes of targeting a military vehicle and bombing Zionist enemy soldiers during the battles in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Complex.”
#شاهد.. سـ.ـرايا القدس تعرض مشاهد من استهداف آلية عسكرية وقصف جنود العـدو الصـ.ـهيوني خلال المعارك في محيط مجمع الشفـاء غرب غز.ة. pic.twitter.com/kbazaiD5Yb
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) April 1, 2024
Other video, released by Hamas, shows terrorists firing mortars at Israeli troops around Al-Shifa, with the following caption added by an X/Twitter user: “Qassam mortar barrages crush the Zionists’ pigs in the vicinity” of Al-Shifa.
زخات الهاون القسامية تدك خنازير الصهاينة في محيط #مستشفی_الشفاء
لا إسرائيل .. ولا 100 اسرائيل .. ولا 1000 اسرائيل يمكنها ان تقضي علي مقاومة نبتت من تراب الأرض الفلسطينية .#كتائب_القسام pic.twitter.com/WrPKQCNoyq
— JUBA (@jubaegyptian) March 26, 2024
Meanwhile, Hamas has openly acknowledged its presence at Al-Shifa — in Arabic.
“Since Monday dawn, we have been engaged in fierce clashes with enemy forces in Al-Shifa Hospital, and we have caused deaths and injuries among its ranks,” the terrorist group said in a statement last month.
In its latest raid on the medical complex, the IDF said some “very significant” Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders were captured. At least four Hamas leaders were killed — including the deputy commander of its Gaza City rocket unit and an operative who helped plan a terror attack that killed four Israelis.
Hamas commander Raad Thabet was also killed in the raid. Hagari described Thabet as one of the most senior Hamas military commanders who had been in close contact with the terrorist group’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar and military wing head Mohammed Deif.
The post Hamas Denies Terrorist Presence at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital in English — but Celebrates It in Arabic first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
The post Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
The post Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
The post Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login