Annie's New Letters (& notes)

Thursday, October 16, 2025

“After 2 years of heavy Israeli Forces bombardment with more than 67,000 people reported killed, the infamous death trap of the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” and finally the silent killing of famine, civilians are now confronted with shocking arbitrary summary killings by Hamas members. The ceasefire should bring respite and hope not more killings. No one should escape justice and accountability.” — UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini

“After 2 years of heavy Israeli Forces bombardment with more than 67,000 people reported killed, the infamous death trap of the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” and finally the silent killing of #famine, civilians are now confronted with shocking arbitrary summary killings by Hamas members. The #ceasefire should bring respite and hope not more killings. No one should escape justice and accountability.” — UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini https://x.com/UNRWA/status/1978470081177727302

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK or TWEET TO READ GOOD QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

"The Red Cross say it'll be a "massive challenge" to find the graves of the last Israeli captives under mountains of rubble from Israel's levelling of Gaza. Having created a near-impossible task for Hamas, Israel's using it to justify keeping up its genocidal starvation campaign" Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook

@Jonathan_K_Cook

"The Red Cross say it'll be a "massive challenge" to find the graves of the last Israeli captives under mountains of rubble from Israel's levelling of Gaza.

Having created a near-impossible task for Hamas, Israel's using it to justify keeping up its genocidal starvation campaign"

Jonathan Cook

@Jonathan_K_Cook

"Israel's levelling of Gaza City in the days before the ceasefire has doubtless made it far harder for Hamas to locate dead Israeli captives under the rubble. Which gives Israel the pretext to continue starving Gaza – collective punishment that Israel has utterly normalised."

Jonathan Cook

@Jonathan_K_Cook

"Israel is the excuse to snatch away freedoms we once took for granted

In interviews and a comment article over the weekend, the UK education secretary Bridget Phillipson made clear she plans to exploit the pause in the Gaza genocide to snuff out criticism of Israel’s criminal actions – and, of course, her own government’s collusion in that criminality.

Naturally, the British establishment media have been keen to amplify her message that there will be painful consequences both for individuals who continue protesting against Israeli atrocities and for institutions, such as universities, that mistakenly assume they have a duty to uphold centuries-old freedoms by tolerating such protests.

These protests, let us remember, are fully in line with a ruling last year from the International Court of Justice, the world’s highest court, which declared:

a) Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territory and enforcing a system of apartheid rule over the Palestinian populations there – and has been doing so for decades.

b) Western governments are obligated to do what they can to bring that illegal occupation and Israel’s apartheid system to an end as quickly as possible.

Instead, those same governments are violating the ruling, and international law, both by continuing to support Israel’s criminality and by preventing their own citizens from putting pressure on them to end their support.

The government of Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, has even categorised protest against genocide as “support for terrorism”. For the first time in British history, a direct-action group, Palestine Action, has been banned..." READ MORE https://x.com/Jonathan_K_Cook/status/1977756356833665084

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

"Not only is Israel still killing and starving Palestinians, Israeli officials are openly declaring their intention to occupy Gaza. But none of that is part of the dominant media narrative about the “ceasefire” at the moment." Assal Rad

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

"Not only is Israel still killing and starving Palestinians, Israeli officials are openly declaring their intention to occupy Gaza. But none of that is part of the dominant media narrative about the “ceasefire” at the moment."

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

"If you’re not writing the truth about crimes against humanity, you’re culpable in them."

"“Evictions” makes it sound like they didn’t pay their rent. An indigenous population is being forced out of their homes, off their land, brutalized by security forces & threatened with violence. Call it what it is. #Palestine " Assal Rad https://x.com/AssalRad

Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors. Almost all had been blindfolded and had gunshot wounds between the eyes, says medic at Nasser hospital in Gaza

Many of the 90 bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities under the ceasefire deal showed signs of torture and execution, including blindfolds, cuffed hands and bullet wounds in the head, according to doctors’ accounts.

As part of the US-brokered truce, Hamas has handed over the bodies of some of the hostages who died during the course of the war, and Israel has transferred the bodies of two groups of 45 Palestinians killed during the fighting. The exchange was carried out through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Doctors at Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, which received the Palestinian bodies from the ICRC, said on Wednesday there was substantial evidence of beatings and summary executions, and that none of the bodies were identifiable.

“Almost all of them had been blindfolded, and had been bound up and they had gunshots between the eyes. Almost all of them had been executed,” said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the head of Nasser hospital’s paediatric department.

“There were also scars and discoloured patches of skin showing they had been beaten before being killed. There were also signs that their bodies had been abused after they were killed.”

Farra added that the bodies had been handed over by the Israeli authorities with no identification, and the hospitals in Gaza, heavily bombed over the course of two years of war, had no means of doing DNA analysis.

“They know the identity of these bodies but they want the families to suffer even more about these victims,” the doctor said.

Nasser hospital authorities said the bodies, which had been kept in refrigerators in Israel, were returned with numbered labels but no names. Doctors said they were asking relatives of missing Palestinian men to help... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/15/palestinian-bodies-returned-by-israel-show-signs-of-torture-and-execution-say-doctors

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

‘My heart is broken’: Palestinians begin searching the Gaza rubble for their dead. Using manual tools and their bare hands, people start the immense task of trying to find their loved ones’ remains

The destruction left by Israel’s offensive on Gaza City. Photograph: Amjed Tantesh/The Guardian

Seham Tantesh in Gaza and William Christou in Jerusalem

Sun 12 Oct 2025

Ghali Khadr spent two days pleading with his parents to flee with him to southern Gaza, warning them that it was too dangerous to stay. His father, known for being stubborn, refused. Their argument was never finished – an Israeli airstrike hit his father’s home, burying his parents beneath the rubble.

On Sunday, two days after the ceasefire was announced, Khadr returned to search through the ruins of his parents’ home. He spent the day sifting through shattered concrete and twisted metal for any sign of them. All he managed to find were some shards of their skulls and parts of their hands.

“My father, a retired ambulance driver, was known for his strong will and patience. He did not know fear and was always optimistic,” said Khadr, 40, of Jabaliya in northern Gaza.

Khadr took the remains of his parents to the graveyard, but found that it too had been destroyed. He decided to bury them next to the few graves that were still intact.

Like Khadr, thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza since Friday’s ceasefire with a grim task ahead of them: searching for loved ones killed weeks or months earlier in Israeli airstrikes and whose bodies are buried under the rubble.

Gaza’s civil defence agency estimates that the bodies of about 10,000 people are trapped under the debris and collapsed buildings. The halt in the fighting has given the ambulance service the chance to finally start the search for the dead and give their families a chance at closure.

The task ahead of the rescuers is immense given an estimated 60m tonnes of rubble across the territory.

Most roads have been destroyed or blocked by debris. Civil defence workers are short of heavy equipment and have to use pickaxes and sledgehammers to break through collapsed buildings. Rescue crews have to move slowly. The debris is also full of unexploded bombs and ordnance.

“At first, we are focusing on... " READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/12/my-heart-is-broken-palestinians-begin-searching-the-gaza-rubble-for-their-dead?CMP=share_btn_url

"Racism & discrimination are a serious threat to life, dignity & human rights. Each of us can help #FightRacism to create more peaceful societies." United Nations

United Nations

@UN

"For refugees.

For stateless people.

For asylum-seekers.

For internally displaced people.

For EVERYONE.

Racism & discrimination are a serious threat to life, dignity & human rights.

Each of us can help #FightRacism to create more peaceful societies."

– via @Refugees

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency

For peace, dignity & equality on a healthy planet... The United Nations @UN

"There are two peoples here, and they will remain here. Only ending the occupation, and only recognizing the State of Palestine alongside Israel, will bring justice, peace, and security to all." איימן עודה أيمن عودة Ayman Odeh

איימן עודה أيمن عودة Ayman Odeh

@AyOdeh

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"They removed me from the plenum just because I raised the simplest demand, a demand that the entire international community agrees on: To recognize a Palestinian state. To recognize this simple reality: There are two peoples here, and neither is going anywhere."

איימן עודה أيمن عودة Ayman Odeh

@AyOdeh

Oct 13

כמות הצביעות במליאה בלתי נסבלת. להמליך את נתניהו על ידי חנפנות שלא נראתה כמותה, על ידי להקה מתוזמרת, לא פוטרת אותו ואת ממשלתו מהפשעים נגד האנושות שבוצעו בעזה, ולא מהאחריות על דמם של מאות אלפי קורבנות פלסטינים ואלפי קורבנות ישראלים. אבל רק בגלל הפסקת המלחמה והעסקה הכוללת אני כאן. ולכל אלה החיים בבועה המנותקת של הכנסת: למרות ממשלת ימין על מלא, למרות השימוש הציני ב-7 באוקטובר, ולמרות מלחמת ההשמדה, ממשלת הפשעים לא הצליחה לשנות את המשוואה הפשוטה: יש כאן שני עמים, והם יישארו כאן. רק סיום הכיבוש, ורק הכרה במדינת פלסטין לצד ישראל, יביאו צדק, שלום וביטחון, לכולם.

6:38 AM · Oct 13, 2025

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"The amount of hypocrisy in the plenum is unbearable.

To crown Netanyahu through flattery the likes of which has never been seen, through an orchestrated group, does not absolve him and his government of the crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, nor of the responsibility for the blood of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian victims and thousands of Israeli victims.

But only because of the ceasefire and the overall deal am I here.

And to all those living in the disconnected bubble of the Knesset: despite a fully right-wing government, despite the cynical use of October 7, and despite the war of annihilation, the government of crimes has failed to change the simple equation:

There are two peoples here, and they will remain here. Only ending the occupation, and only recognizing the State of Palestine alongside Israel, will bring justice, peace, and security to all."

איימן עודה أيمن عودة Ayman Odeh

@AyOdeh

Oct 13

Auto-translated by Grok

"We struggled for two years for this moment, for the cessation of war and a comprehensive deal.

We are happy, but our joy is tinged with pain, from the horrific crimes that were caused, and the tunnels of blood that our land has absorbed.

We deserve to smile. The families deserve to rejoice.

But we must gather strength to continue the struggle for the noblest cause of all, achieving comprehensive peace, based on ending the occupation and respecting the rights of both peoples.

Because we were all born free

Two Israeli lawmakers – Ayman Odeh and Ofer Cassif, members of the left-wing Hadash Party – interrupted the US president’s address, chanting slogans demanding recognition of Palestinian statehood and denouncing the Gaza genocide, according to the Anadolu news agency.

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