by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

The war in the Middle East continues to escalate, as Israelis took to the streets Sunday (September 1, 2024) after the bodies of six hostages who were being detained by Hamas were found dead.

Netanyahu claims they were “brutally murdered” while Hamas released a statement claiming Israeli airstrikes killed them.

Israel recovers bodies of six captives held in Gaza

Families of the Israeli captives have called on the government to sign a deal with Hamas to free about 100 people still in Gaza.

Israel’s military has announced that its troops have recovered the bodies of six captives, including a dual US national, from a tunnel in southern Gaza, as it continued its 11-month long, deadly assault on the Palestinian enclave.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched war on Gaza on October 7 following an attack led by Palestinian group Hamas that left more than 1,100 people dead.

The Palestinian fighters took about 250 captives in the wake of the attack. The coastal enclave has since been turned into rubble amid non-stop bombardment as Israel has been accused of stalling a ceasefire deal to free the captives.

The military said on Sunday that their remains were recovered “from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” and returned to Israel where they were formally identified. It claimed that the captives were killed not long before their bodies were recovered.

The captives were identified as Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi and Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said the six captives were killed in Israeli air strikes. Al-Risheq also blamed the United States for its “bias, support and partnership” in the 11-month war on the besieged territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to “settle the score” with Hamas, saying “we will hunt you down.”

“Those who kill hostages do not want an agreement” for a Gaza truce, Netanyahu said.

But a forum of captives’ families, who have been critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the issue, called for a massive protest later on Sunday, demanding a “complete halt of the country” to push for the implementation of a ceasefire and release of the remaining captives. (Full article.)

There were calls for a general strike on Monday (September 2, 2024) from Israel’s labor groups. September 2, 2024 is, ironically, “Labor Day” in the United States.

Israel’s main labour union calls strike as pressure mounts for hostage deal

JERUSALEM, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The head of Israel’s biggest labour union called for a general strike on Monday to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to bring back Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, as thousands of protesters took to the streets.

The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David, whose Histadrut union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.

Israel said earlier it had recovered the six bodies from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were killed not long before Israeli troops reached them.

Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, will be closed from 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Monday, he said. Municipal services in Israel’s economic hub Tel-Aviv will also be shut for part of Monday.

Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association said it backed the strike and accused the government of failing in its “moral duty” to bring the hostages back alive. (Full article.)

Palestinian Resistance Forces Participate in the War in the West Bank

Meanwhile, the war in the West Bank entered its 5th day Sunday, with many Palestinian “resistance forces” called the “Axis of Resistance” now participating, including the Pakistani Al-Mujahideen Resistance movement, now engaging the Israeli military forces.

Palestinian Resistance factions praise dual op in Al-Khalil

Palestinian Resistance factions praise the dual operation that took place at dawn Saturday, calling for escalation against the Israeli occupation and its forces.

The Al-Mujahideen Resistance movement hailed the significant and heroic operations carried out in the Gush Etzion and Karmei Tzur settlements in northern al-Khalil, in the occupied West Bank, which resulted in confirmed casualties among Israeli ranks, including the commander of the Etzion Regional Brigade.

The Resistance movement, in a statement, affirmed that the operations were “a firey message from the free Palestinian people to the enemy’s fascist government,” and a natural response to the violent Israeli crimes in the West Bank, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the continued attempts at Judaization and aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied al-Quds.

The operations also reflect the growing revolutionary sentiment and increasing confrontations in Palestine against the Israeli enemy forces, which further reaffirm that the people of Palestine continue fighting on the path of Resistance, the statement said. “The enemy’s attempts and plots to break their [Palestinian people’s] will and determination to resist and achieve liberation will fail.”

The Al-Mujahideen movement further considered that the operations were “another blow to the arrogant enemy’s security and intelligence apparatuses.” It warned the Israeli occupation to prepare for floods of strikes and confrontation axes “from the unknown” and to expect escalations in operations and blows carried out by the people and the Resistance everywhere.

“As the enemy attacks in the North, the response will come from the South.” (Full article.)

Three Israeli police officers were reportedly killed in the West Bank on Sunday.

3 Israeli officers killed in shooting operation in south West Bank

Reports indicate that the Palestinians who carried out the operation safely withdrew from the shooting scene near the Tarqumiyah military checkpoint.

Three Israeli police officers were killed in a shooting operation in the southern West Bank governorate of al-Khalil on Sunday morning, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported.

According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, two Israeli police officers were critically injured and one was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting on Route 35 east of the Tarqumiyah military checkpoint.

Israeli emergency services rushed to the scene in an area to the northwest of the city of al-Khalil. Israeli emergency services later announced the death of the three injured soldiers. (Full article.)

We are most definitely in the beginning stages of World War III now, as the Middle East is not the only region where tensions are escalating.

The war between Russia and Ukraine is also escalating, as Russia has reported this weekend that they shot down over 150 Ukrainian drones inside Russia today, and the Chinese Navy is actively patrolling disputed islands near the Philippines in the South China Sea where clashes happened last week.

Meanwhile, it was also reported this past week that the U.S. Navy does not have any aircraft carriers in the Indo-Pacific for the first time in “decades” due to deployments to the Middle East.

U.S. military has no carriers in Indo-Pacific waters for first time in decades

Carrier ‘gap’ comes as tensions mount with China over regional disputes

The U.S. military for the first time in decades has no aircraft carrier strike groups in the Indo-Pacific region, despite mounting tensions with China over disputed South China Sea islands, the Taiwan Strait, and a recent Chinese air incursion near Japan.

The Pentagon recently ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln to speed up its deployment from the Pacific to the Middle East to be ready for a potential conflict with Iran. Earlier the USS Theodore Roosevelt, like the Lincoln based in San Diego, was sent to the Middle East.

Both warships are currently in the Gulf of Oman, USNI reported Monday. (Full article.)

One has to wonder how well-trained today’s U.S. Navy is where most have never seen active combat, when it was reported that Commander Cameron Yaste of the USS John McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer ship with the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, was relieved of command this week by Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander because Yaste was photographed firing a rifle with the scope attached backwards. (Source.)

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