st albans fox

That’s not what happened at Al-ahli ??? (and it was an Islamic Jihad rocket failure rather than Hamas )

I haven’t seen any proof that they actually fire from hospitals or schools. there is plenty of stuff about them doing so from very close by to these sites and I’ve seen video’s illustrating that. I saw a drone video a few days back where a shoulder launched grenade was fired from the street and the guy then ran into the entrance of what was apparently a hospital site (Al quads) afterwards (with the weapon). Maybe this is something that bbc verify could actually deal with !

There are tunnels below ground - but without showing a clear connection into Al shifa and finding more than just tunnels, they are struggling. Of course over time they may discover where there were entries once they are able to access the labyrinth from other points but as you say, even if they do that’s going to be too late for world opinion.

Again, I would caution against making deductions and extrapolations from what Israel are revealing to the media during an ongoing operation. they accessed the site less than 48 hours ago and they can only dedicate a certain number of troops to it - have you seen how big it is ! Remembering that they believe there are access tunnels on the site, all the time they have to be conscious that they could theoretically be ambushed - would seem very unlikely for Hamas to do that but they can’t take chances.

it’s going to take some time for stuff to come out - there are tunnels below Al shifa area - but they may not be connected to the hospital compound at all. And it’s an ongoing live operation - Gaza is without telephone comms so I wouldn’t expect Israel to effectively show Hamas what they’ve discovered etc etc in that respect.. they already found bodies of two hostages close by so it could be that they are keeping some info away from the media because they may believe there are possibly live histages below ground in the area. if they can’t show any tunnels connections from Al shifa by the middle of next week then there will certainly be some searching questions from the Americans

Watching the reports of journos going into n Gaza, it occurred to me that a lot of buildings were razed to the ground to create ‘safe routes’ into Gaza city for the IDF. Israel went to lengths to tell people that their homes were to be destroyed before they bombed them. at the time you knew that not all these buildings were where Hamas was hiding out. The fact that Israel has got as far as it has with 50 military fatalities likely reveals its strategy in destroying so many buildings. I assume this is in breach of international law as surely this can’t be legally argued on a military level to be necessary or proportionate? i guess Israel will argue that warning civilians to flee specific buildings and checking that this has happened pre strike is justification if it means it’s soldiers are safer ?

Some of that is fine but temporarily relocating Palestinians away from Gaza will not be acceptable to them (for historical reasons). And Israel will not relocate any young Palestinian males inside Israel anyway. the rafah crossing is big enough to get the aid in - there is no need to open Kerem shalom. there are plenty of aid trucks unable to access Gaza via rafah for a multitude of reasons. Having another crossing open atm won’t help (and Israel will not permit any border opening from s Gaza into Israel given Hamas tunnel network and Israel’s inability to know where they all are). it seems to me that Israel are now at a crossroads - they’ve likely effectively emptied n Gaza of Hamas above ground. They will no doubt spend a fair amount of time trying to look underground. what happens now in s Gaza where around 1.5m of Gaza’s population are now crammed in? There is no way that a huge number of civilians can move to the area near the sea which has been identified as being the safe area because it is not built on and apparently has no tunnel network. I have no answers or ideas but cannot think of anything that makes any sense whatever your view of what is happening.

There are things which don’t make sense to me Eg . two days ago we were shown at a tanker with 23000 litres of fuel entering the strip which was apparently solely for UNWRA so they could distribute aid. Two days later and UNWRA say they cannot collect or distribute any aid because there is no fuel ? we see heart wrenching images of the premature babies in Al shifa lying on heated beds because there is no power to drive the incubators- yet we see other photos from the hospital where the lights are clearly working at night. Assuming the electricity in the paediatric dept isn’t working (is there any other explanation), couldn’t they have moved the incubators to a part of the hospital which clearly has electricity (must be via solar if there is no fuel left to drive the generators). I just don’t hear journos asking these questions- they just seem to report that ‘Israel says this ‘ and ‘the Gaza health ministry says that’. BBC verify spent time a few days ago running an article which proved that civilians leaving N Gaza to go to the south were using the road that Israel had said was a safe route during a daylight four to six hour period. What was the point of this when you have plenty of questions that need looking into. I hadn’t seen anyone question that so why bother putting resources into it? EDIT: I just read that UNWRA say that 160, 000 litres of fuel is needed each day for basic humanitarian operations. at least two weeks ago we were told that there was almost no fuel left in Gaza whilst Israel said almost 500,000 litres was in storage in Gaza. Clearly Israel must have been correct but even then, how has that lasted two weeks ???

I think the door has been opened for a claim judging by what I heard on five live

was discussing this very thing the other day misinformation shapes the narrative as has been said countless times, the first casualty of war is the truth I would make a stab that israel is telling less untruths than Hamas but if anything you put out there is false and not corrected quickly and publicly then I’m afraid everything you put out there is tainted. however, the first couple of weeks of this war shaped this. It took trusted media outlets that long to realise that they were quoting Gaza ministries without making it clear to the reader or viewer that gaza ministries = Hamas. people will generally take Israeli govt information as either trustworthy or not depending on their feelings. Of course both sides are not being truthful - sometimes honest mistakes, often very much not and in war, misinformation may be deliberate to protect your military. The strike on the hospital was an illustration that the first words out are generally considered to be fact - Israel decided to wait several hours to check in detail whether they may have been responsible. By the time they started shouting their position and producing evidence, the narrative was set and a large proportion of people simply don’t have the time or inclination to take stuff in when they think they already know about something. (Especially if it fits their pov - that applies to both sides).

Probably be the next first minister then ….

If you speak to an Israeli (and I asked this question decades ago), then they are very much of the mindset that when the chips are down, the only people who they can 100% rely on is themselves. they know that every other country in the world could be compromised (now or in the future) in their support by other factors. so they will deal with their security in the way they feel that they need to. Clearly they will attempt to keep opinion onside but ultimately they view this as us or them ref Hamas (and would be the same with Hezbollah). I was discussing the two state solution with someone the other day and we entered the area of national security. I’m sure that Palestinians realise that Israel will not allow them to have a military as part of any agreement. but how is that enforceable once Palestine comes into existence ???

51 of you have proven the saying that’s ‘there’s nowt so queer as folk’!

Is it the shadow cabinet that determine Labour policy ? I thought it was done via the NPF and NEC

If I’m hearing sunak correctly, if parliament voted to say that n korea was a safe country for this purpose then we’d be able to send people there ??? surely that’s not right and the courts would be able to pass a judgment on that to say it was nonsense ?

Sunak comes out fighting he’ll just legislate to make the courts accept that the policy isn’t illegal I would have thought the simple adjustment to the policy is for any asylum request lodged in Rwanda which is rejected is then heard in the U.K. as an appeal. if successful then either Rwanda accepts the refugee(s) or we do. payments to Rwanda under the policy would be linked to this so there’s no incentive for them to simply reject requests.

Been following all afternoon finally home and turn on to see that I’ve probably missed the best bit !

Could have been worse ……

Was there a ‘good’ empire in the 19th/first half 20th century ?? Many European countries were guilty. Do the Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italians do the same navel gazing as we do over this ??

You mean it’s not named after the Aussie opener ?

Corrected for you

How come he wasn’t already a peer ?

They don’t have mates running business’ able to profit from these policies …….. when they do you can be sure that they will be in the kings speech !

Come on …..we’ve all been passed at uni …………….. haven’t we ???

Wow - must be the lowest bar ever !