Ongoing Nakba in Gaza, Palestine: People inspect the remains of a residential building hit by an Israeli airstrike... Listen to the stories of Gaza’s women to fully grasp the horrors Israel is inflicting

Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip

People inspect the remains of a residential building hit by an Israeli airstrike

Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

 https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2026/may/24/protests-parades-and-an-erupting-geyser-photos-of-the-weekend?CMP=share_btn_url#img-8

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Listen to the stories of Gaza’s women to fully grasp the horrors Israel is inflicting on us

Olfat al-Kurd

I survived months of bombardment before escaping. The systematic dismantling of our home has harmed every aspect of women’s lives

Since Israel’s assault on Gaza began in October 2023, I have lost my father, my brother, his wife and their daughter. They are still buried under the rubble. My house, where we lived with my husband’s family, was destroyed by Israeli bombing. In 2024, after months of bombardments, flight and displacement, I managed to escape with my family to Egypt. I’ve been living here ever since, but the memories of life in Gaza are always with me. What happened to me reflects the reality that Palestinian women in Gaza continue to face during the genocide.

Since the start of the war, many women in Gaza have become sole providers. Countless numbers have been left with no protection or home, and many have lost children or their entire families. A recent UN report showed that Israel has killed more than 38,000 women and girls in Gaza during this war. A further 11,000 have sustained injuries causing lifelong disabilities.

I used to live in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood of Gaza City with my family of six. Life under Israeli occupation was defined by violence, fear, and constant uncertainty. Yet within this reality, we built a life of dignity and continuity, with moments of joy. Remaining steadfast in the face of relentless violence became our form of resistance.

For me, that resistance was working as a field researcher for B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, documenting human-rights violations in Gaza long before the genocide... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/25/stories-gaza-women-horrors-israel

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The United States is destroying itself - The daily news can’t adequately convey the administration’s sabotaging of our government, economy, alliances and environment

‘Every department, every branch, every bureau and function of the federal government is being fatally corrupted or altogether dismantled or disabled.’ Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Rebecca Solnit 

Sun 12 Apr 2026

The United States is being murdered, and it’s an inside job. Every department, every branch, every bureau and function of the federal government is being fatally corrupted or altogether dismantled or disabled. All this is common knowledge, but because it dribbles out in news stories about this specific incident or department, the reports never adequately describe an administration sabotaging the functioning of the federal government and also trashing the global economy, international alliances and relationships, and the national and global environment in ways that will have downstream consequences for decades and perhaps, especially when it comes to climate, centuries.

Across the branches of government, the services that are supposed to protect us – nuclear stockpile monitoring, cybersecurity, counter-terrorism – are being undermined, understaffed or trashed. A different kind of protection that consists of public health, vaccination programs, food safety, clean air and water, social services, civil rights and the rule of law is also under attack. The federal government that serves us is being starved while the federal government that serves the Trump agenda and the oligarchy is glutting itself on taxpayer money, including the grotesque sums dumped on the Department of Homeland Security and the US military now being warped into Pete Hegseth’s twisted vision of a ruthless mercenary force. Hegseth has reportedly stood in the way of promotions for more than a dozen Black and female officers.

It is striking that the Trump team’s constant refrain is that we cannot afford to protect the vulnerable or provide for the people, which is why the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, atop Doge, destroyed USAID last year, which has already resulted in tens of thousands of deaths from starvation and preventable disease. The Iran war is creating a fertilizer crisis in Europe, Africa and Asia that may also result in widespread famine. Meanwhile, the former head of homeland security Kristi Noem spent more than $200m on an ad campaign starring herself before she was fired.

Although there are far worse things about the utterly gratuitous and literally unjustified war on Iran, the fact that it burns through billions a day is striking, given that huge cuts are being made to environmental protection and national parks, and the forest service is being effectively sabotaged, while public lands are being offered up to fossil fuel companies and mining interests. The forest service headquarters are being moved across the country, which will probably cause many resignations, like the similar move of the Bureau of Land Management in Trump’s first term. More than 50 forest service research stations are being cut, meaning more loss of irreplaceable ongoing research, data, facilities and staff.

Trump said in his droning dullard speech last week: “We can’t take care of daycare. We’re a big country ... We’re fighting wars ... It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.” Your money, our money, our public lands, our kids. Trump even bribed the builders of offshore windfarms almost a billion dollars to stop, just because he has a personal vendetta against the clean energy systems. The US used to lead the world in scientific research, including medical research, which had led to important breakthroughs in disease treatment and health, but all that has been slashed to the bone and beyond. This is murder.

The old aphorism about how long it takes an aircraft carrier to turn around might be why the nation seems relatively stable... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/12/united-states-trump-destruction

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Israeli Settlers threw molotov cocktails and rocks, breaking windows and setting several houses and cars on fire in each place they targeted in protest at the release of 90 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

"Since the war in Gaza began, settler violence has intensified further, displacing entire villages for the first time. On many occasions, the Israeli army has been documented failing to stop settler attacks, or even joining in."

"“We can’t even cross the road to our olive trees now or they’ll shoot at us,” he said of the settlers. “This is our land, and our houses, but they want us to leave for good.”"

Mohammed al-Fukaha, 46, inspects his father’s burnt-out truck. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

‘It’s not the damage, it’s the terror’: Israeli settlers run riot after ceasefire deal

Violent settlers descend on Sinjil and other West Bank towns to protest against release of Palestinian prisoners

By Bethan McKernan and Sufian Taha in Sinjil, West Bank

Thu 23 Jan 2025 00.00 EST

Last modified on Thu 23 Jan 2025 11.34 EST

Sundus al-Fukaha was watching the news at home in the occupied West Bank village of Sinjil on Saturday evening when she heard the sound of running and muffled voices outside. The next thing she knew, a molotov cocktail thrown by an Israeli settler crashed through the window, setting the sofa and curtains on fire.

In a video taken by an elderly relative, one of Sundus’ daughters, aged 12, can be seen throwing a pot of water at the blaze, while her 14-year-old sister tries to smother the flames with a cushion....READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/23/its-not-the-damage-its-the-terror-israeli-settlers-run-riot-after-ceasefire-deal

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