CrossFireArarbia

US Envoy Lashes Out at Israeli Settlers For Church Vandalism

CrossFireArabia
July 20, 2025

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the Palestinian town of Taybeh on Saturday, days after a historic church there was attacked and vandalized by illegal Israeli settlers.

During his visit, Huckabee toured the site of Al-Khadr Church in the town, northeast of Ramallah in the central West Bank.

“Desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God,” the diplomat said on his X account.

He also emphasized that “when American citizens – Jewish, Muslim or Christian – are terrorized or victims of crime, I will demand those responsible be held accountable with real consequences.”

According to local reports, illegal settlers stormed the area around the centuries-old church last week, set fires in its surroundings, and brought livestock into the church compound as reported in Anadolu.

The town, home to many American citizens, has faced a surge in settler violence in recent weeks.

Attacks by illegal settlers have also targeted nearby Bedouin communities, as part of a broader escalation across the West Bank.

Palestinian authorities documented at least 2,153 illegal settler attacks in the occupied territory in the first half of this year alone, resulting in the killing of four Palestinians.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Opinion

The Argentinian Priest of Gaza

CrossFireArabia
July 20, 2025

Fr. Dr. Rif’at Bader

Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, a young priest of the Society of the Incarnate Word founded in Argentina in 1984, was the first priest to arrive in Jordan for pastoral and spiritual service since 1996. I had the honor to be one of the first people to welcome him during my work in Madaba. He came to learn Arabic and he mastered the language.

Fr. Gabriel represents notable priests and pious pastors who live with their people. I recall that on September 30, 2023, he was in Rome to participate in the investiture of Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa of Jerusalem as cardinal in the universal Catholic Church. A few days later, events erupted on October 7, 2023, and Fr. Gabriel remained in Rome for several days until he returned to Jerusalem. He was very sad when he saw the aggression taking place on Gaza while he was in Jerusalem, and he had a daily longing to go to Gaza to be with his people.

At the time, Fr. Yousef As’ad, an Egyptian affiliate with the same religious order, was there living with his people in Gaza. Since October 7, he had to do everything at hand, and he truly excelled in depicting the image of the good and faithful shepherd. What encouraged the people of Gaza to remain steadfast was the almost daily phone call by the late Pope Francis, except for days when communications were disrupted in Gaza. However, this phenomenon provided the people of Gaza with reassurance, courage, patience, and steadfastness.

We have seen wounded Fr. Gabriel Romanelli while he was checking on the wounded and caring for them. He was not concerned with his own wounds; he rather cared for the wounds of his people in Gaza. Gaza’s small number of Christians has dwindled due to the bitterness of time and the bloody events that have taken place in this distressed strip. The Christian presence in Gaza was bright, pioneering, and wonderful, yet it has dwindled to a few hundred people sheltering next to the Church of the Holy Family and the Church of Saint Porphyrius.

Where pain, wounds, and death prevail, then sectarianism and competitiveness diminish, while humanity emerges in its most glorious manifestations. We were very jubilant during feasts when seeing priests–despite the harshness of days—accompany their people, while going from one church to another conveying well wishes to pastors of churches and their blessed people.

The suffering and bloodshed to which the Christians were exposed in Gaza is only part of the suffering experienced by all shades of the Palestinian people, and experienced daily through this bloody conflict that dates back far beyond October 7, namely spanning 76 years of daily suffering and daily avid and athirst for freedom, peace, justice, and independence.

We greet the Palestinian people on their legendary steadfastness, which history will one day mark as being one of the stories of steadfastness and heroism experienced by people on daily bases. Congratulations are conveyed to the Palestinian people for their national unity as well as Christian- Muslim cohesion. This is the greatest message of confronting an occupation force, which has occasionally sought to create a schism between the religious shades of people by claiming that Christians are neutral.

Christians in Gaza are an integral part of the Palestinian people’s composition. Consequently, the martyrdom of three people in the church marks Palestinian national unity, whereby independence will one day be attained on national soil.

Fr. Dr. Rif’at Bader wrote this for the Jordan Times and it is reprinted here in crossfirearabia.com

News

Yemeni Missile Stops Air Traffic Over Tel Aviv

CrossFireArabia
July 19, 2025

Air traffic at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport was suspended Friday following the launch of a missile from Yemen, according to Israeli Channel 12.

“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF,” the army said in a statement.

Alarms were sounded in various areas across the country, including in major cities such as Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Petah Tikva, Jerusalem, Holon, Rishon LeZion, Bnei Brak, Modi’in and Rehovot, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

The army and Israeli media did not note any damage from the missile but this was the third missile to have fired from Yemen since Wednesday and was intercepted by Israel’s Arrow-3 System according to the Jerusalem Post.

The Yemeni Houthi group announced it launched a military operation targeting the Ben Gurion Airport with a hypersonic ballistic missile.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group carried out a “qualitative” military operation targeting the airport with a missile called “Palestine-2.”

“Our operations will continue until the aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and the siege is lifted,” Saree emphasized in a televised speech.

The Houthis have intensified missile and drone strikes on Israel since Israeli forces resumed attacks on the Gaza Strip in March after two months of a shaky ceasefire.

Since November 2023, the group has targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where nearly 59,000 victims have been killed in an Israeli onslaught according to Anadolu.

Uncategorized

‘Have Mercy on The Starving People of Gaza’

CrossFireArabia
July 19, 2025

The starving people of Gaza no longer count the days, but the hours, minutes before they collapse from hunger.

Hunger is ravaging more than 2.5 million people living in a small coastal area of Gaza subjected to a genocidal war for nearly two years.

The elderly say they never experienced such famine in their lives, not even in the wars of 1948-1967, when they ate dry bread which is currently not available.

Hanadi Ismail says: “It’s true the first famine in this war a year ago was very difficult, especially for us in the northern Gaza but there was a little flour, rice, and lentils. Now, there is nothing, and even if there is, we cannot buy it because of the high prices.”

Ismail, a mother of six, told Quds Press: “Yesterday, my children went to bed hungry, and I tried to comfort them. This morning, I cooked some lentils for them, but they weren’t full. I hope we would get some food in the coming hours.”

Ms. Ismail’s situation is similar to that of thousands of women who cannot provide for their children, while men are helpless due to the famine plaguing the besieged Gaza Strip.

Palestinian activists launched a campaign, Friday, against merchants who sell essential goods at exorbitant prices despite the fact that many of these markets were destroyed because of the Israeli genocide.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip warned on Friday of a worsening health disaster as a result of the escalating hunger crisis.

It confirmed in a press statement that hospitals and emergency departments are receiving unprecedented numbers of citizens of all ages suffering from severe stress caused by hunger and malnutrition.

It explained hundreds of patients whose bodies have became emasculated and are at risk of death because of the severe food shortage and the lack of any effective humanitarian solutions.

The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza has also confirmed that the medical staff deal daily with hundreds of cases showing severe symptoms of famine, most notably severe emaciation, loss of consciousness, poor concentration, and a sharp decline in vital functions.

These cases include children, women, and the elderly, and that a large number of patients suffer from temporary memory loss and general fatigue as a result of chronic hunger.

He added approximately 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from severe malnutrition, amid a shortage of basic food supplies and the absence of ongoing aid, which could well to a complete health collapse.

Meanwhile, Suhaib al-Hams, director of the Kuwait Specialized Field Hospital in Mawasi Khan Younis, said the hospital is currently witnessing an unprecedented influx of displaced people there. “We are receiving cases suffering from extreme exhaustion and complete fatigue, along with signs of severe emaciation and acute malnutrition due to the prolonged lack of food.”

“We confirm that all the cases we are receiving now are in dire need of food before medicine, and we warn that hundreds of those whose bodies have completely emaciated are now threatened with death after their bodies have exceeded their ability to withstand.”

Al-Hams called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to take immediate and urgent action to stop the Palestinian bloodshed, fully open the crossings, provide essential food and medicine supplies, and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches those in need without any obstacles.

For its part, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) warned of what it called an “imminent humanitarian catastrophe” in the coming hours.

In a press statement, the PFLP indicated that the coming hours could witness mass deaths of the most vulnerable groups, primarily children, the sick, and the elderly, amid the dangerous deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. This is a result of the escalating aggression and the continued systematic starvation policy practiced by the occupation, with American partnership, international silence, and the blatant complicity of the European Union.

The PFLP added: “Our steadfast people in Gaza do not need hollow speeches, but bold political positions that halts the comprehensive war of extermination, foremost among which is the immediate lifting of the blockade and holding the occupation accountable for its crimes against humanity.”

It held the European Union politically and morally responsible for the worsening famine, considering it a partner in the starvation crime being perpetrated against our people through its inaction and providing diplomatic cover for the occupation. We call on the countries of the European Union to stop their policy of camouflage and manipulation of public opinion and to abandon their blatant bias toward the occupation.

The Front stated: “Despite escalating warnings about the threat of famine and the use of food as a weapon against more than two million besieged Palestinians, the European Union has chosen to cover up the occupation’s crimes through false diplomatic promises that have not translated into any tangible steps. The recent bargaining between some EU countries and the occupation’s foreign minister clearly reflects the EU’s policy of deception and complicity.”

Features

Starvation Centers, Death Traps

CrossFireArabia
July 19, 2025

The deaths of 21 Palestinian civilians by suffocation, crowd crush, and live fire from US security forces operating in coordination with the Israeli army at an aid distribution centre in Rafah expose the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as an active instrument of the systematic mass killing and starvation policies imposed on Gaza.

These centres are no longer relief sites but death traps, deliberately used to lure starving crowds in scenes marked by humiliation and genocide, which constitutes a grave violation of international law and requires the immediate suspension of GHF’s operations, an urgent investigation, and full criminal accountability.

Documentation by Euro-Med Monitor’s field team revealed that the attack on Wednesday, 16 July 2025, occurred in two phases. The first happened around 4:00 a.m., when Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of civilians gathered on al-Tina Street, north of Rafah, as food aid trucks were being unloaded, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries. Despite the gunfire and casualties, thousands remained. They had no choice but to wait or starve, especially after a GHF worker told them distribution would begin at 6:00 a.m.

Those who fell to the ground could not get up and were trampled. I saw women and children among the victims, and we only managed to escape by stepping over the dead bodies lying there

Abdul Rahman B., one of the survivors

The second phase happened at 6:20 a.m., when crowds surged toward the outer gate of the distribution centre amid severe overcrowding and the closure of the inner gate. This led to a deadly crowd crush, with no safety measures or immediate intervention to prevent or contain the disaster.

Instead of organising the crowds and ensuring their safety, US special forces used pepper spray and fired sound bombs and tear gas at civilians trapped between the outer and inner gates, triggering panic and chaos. Thousands tried to escape, while some attempted to jump into the distribution centre to avoid overcrowding and certain death, only to be met with live fire as well.

The open fire and the resulting violent crowd crush caused the deaths of at least 21 Palestinians, including seven killed by live ammunition and 15 from tear gas inhalation and the crush, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

A review by Euro-Med Monitor of several casualties found no signs of bullet wounds, supporting the conclusion that most victims died from suffocation or being trampled in a closed, overcrowded space with no protective measures in place.

Abdul Rahman B., one of the survivors, told Euro-Med Monitor’s team: “At around 6:15 a.m., a quadcopter arrived and announced that the distribution centre had been opened and required that we head to the gates.”

“People rushed frantically toward the entrances, and when we reached the front gate, we found the inner gate closed and a heavy presence of US forces accompanied by employees speaking Arabic,” said Abdul Rahman. “They asked us to step back 50 metres and enter in groups of no more than 100, but the crowding was so intense that stepping back was impossible.”

He continued: “Minutes later, they began firing sound bombs, followed by tear gas and pepper spray. People were disoriented and suffocating. Some tried to climb the fences to escape, but snipers shot them. Those who fell to the ground could not get up and were trampled. I saw women and children among the victims, and we only managed to escape by stepping over the dead bodies lying there.”

This incident demonstrates that aid distribution centres were deliberately placed in dangerous locations, designed with narrow paths enclosed by barbed-wire fences that can be easily sealed. These routes cannot accommodate the vast numbers of people in need and are fully controlled by the Israeli army, making them resemble elaborate traps for killing and humiliation rather than corridors for humanitarian aid.

GHF, established by Israel to manage its starvation policy, issued a brief statement claiming to have opened an investigation into the incident. This follows a familiar propaganda pattern: whenever starving civilians are killed, an internal investigation is announced, its results are never released, no one is held accountable, and the same crime is repeated without consequence.

An investigation by an organisation established within a framework designed to perpetuate starvation can hardly be considered credible. Given its direct role in managing starvation, GHF must be immediately dismantled and its mandate withdrawn. It operates under the guise of humanitarian work, failing as a neutral intermediary for aid delivery.

GHF functions as a field instrument of blockade, starvation, and killing by operating distribution centres designed to humiliate civilians and gather them in tightly controlled locations under the pretext of “organising” crowds. Rather than protecting those in need, it facilitates the implementation of engineered starvation and creates a closed environment where civilians are killed in the name of humanitarian aid.

Even when a threat is alleged, international law requires security forces to apply force in a proportionate and graduated manner, using lethal force only as a last resort and in response to an imminent and real threat to life. This standard was not met in the documented cases, making the killings a grave and flagrant violation of international law.

The deliberate targeting of Palestinian civilians as they seek food, along with the use of starvation as a weapon, is a clear violation of international humanitarian and criminal law. These acts constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute, including wilful killing, targeting civilians, and using starvation as a method of warfare, all of which are strictly prohibited in armed conflicts.

The widespread and systematic nature of these violations against the civilian population fulfils the elements of crimes against humanity, particularly killing, persecution, and inhumane acts causing severe suffering or serious physical or mental harm, when committed as part of a systematic attack targeting civilians.

Placing these crimes in their broader context, including the systematic destruction of means of survival, the denial of aid access, and the imposition of deadly living conditions on the civilian population, along with public incitement by Israeli political and military figures, reveals a clear and deliberate intent to destroy the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. According to Article II of the Genocide Convention, these acts constitute genocide, specifically through the intentional killing of members of the group and the imposition of living conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part.

The international community and complicit governments bear responsibility for the continued crimes against starving civilians at GHF-run aid distribution centres in the Gaza Strip. An immediate halt to GHF operations is essential, along with the launch of an independent international investigation leading to the prosecution of its officials before international and national courts for their involvement in systematic mass killings at distribution sites imposed by the Israeli army as a replacement for the UN mechanism that had operated in the enclave for nearly a year and a half.

International and national judicial bodies must move to hold US President Donald Trump criminally accountable for his complicity in the genocide in the Gaza Strip. This includes his adoption and direct support of the Israeli aid distribution mechanism, imposed by force and transformed into arenas of mass slaughter against starving civilians, as well as his administration’s full-scale provision of military, financial, political, and diplomatic backing that enabled Israel to commit and expand the crime for over 21 months.

The United States, through this organisation and other instruments, continues to provide political, logistical, financial, and military cover for Israel’s crimes, rendering current and former American officials, foremost among them President Donald Trump, subject to international criminal accountability.

Euro-Med Monitor calls for holding all state leaders involved in the genocide committed in the Gaza Strip accountable, whether through direct or indirect participation, by providing political, military, or financial support, or by facilitating its commission in any form. Such acts constitute criminal complicity under Article 25 of the Rome Statute. It holds states that failed to take serious measures to prevent or stop the crime legally responsible under their international obligations, particularly under the Genocide Convention.

A comprehensive and independent international investigation must be launched into the role of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in facilitating and executing serious crimes committed against Palestinian civilians. These investigations should address the individual responsibility of the organisation’s founders, directors, logistics coordinators, team leaders, and any other staff members, whether through planning, facilitating, directly contributing, or knowingly failing to prevent the commission of crimes.

We urge all states with territorial or universal jurisdiction to open immediate criminal investigations against all individuals affiliated with the GHF and its contracted private security firms, in order to hold them accountable for their role in crimes committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, particularly including wilful killings, starvation, and cruel or degrading treatment.

All states, both individually and collectively, must fulfil their legal responsibilities by taking urgent action to stop the genocide in the Gaza Strip, through implementing effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians; ensuring Israel’s compliance with international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice; preventing the implementation of the US-Israeli forced displacement plan; and holding Israel and its more powerful allies accountable for all crimes against the Palestinians in the Strip. The International Criminal Court must implement the arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defence at the earliest opportunity, in accordance with the principle that there is no immunity for international crimes.

The international community must also impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel for its systematic and grave violations of international law. These sanctions should include an arms embargo; an end to all political, financial, and military support; freezing the assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians; imposing travel ban on these officials; suspending the operations of Israeli military and security industries companies in international markets; banning involved companies’ access to banking services; and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that provide Israel with economic benefits that enable its continued crimes.