Doctors in Gaza described scenes of “armageddon” as they struggled to tend to hundreds of dead and wounded, including children with severed limbs, as Israel launched some of its deadliest-ever strikes, shattering the relative calm of a ceasefire.

The ferocious bombardment came after Israel had imposed a two-week blockade on aid, supplies, and electricity, crippling the emergency responses. It pounded swathes of the strip early Tuesday morning, bringing an already struggling healthcare system to its knees.

Palestinian health officials said that in just a few hours alone, over 400 people had been killed, the vast majority women and children.
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On Tuesday the Israeli government broke the ceasefire and began bombing Gaza once again. The attacks targeted a number of residential at killed at least 400 people, most of them children.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that Al-Ahli Hospital had been overwhelmed with mass casualties and that entire families were arriving dead.

“Last night’s attacks prove again that there is no safe place across Gaza,” said Mahmoud. “People had gone back to bombed homes and evacuation centers, thinking it was going to be safe due to the ceasefire, but that was not the case. They were killed inside these very places.”

“Israeli forces have signed a death warrant for Palestinian children in Gaza as they carry out nonstop attacks, continue to destroy civilian infrastructure, and prevent any humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians in need,” said Defense for Children Palestine’s Ayed Abu Eqtaish in a statement. “This is nothing short of genocide.”

Israeli officials say that the country was given permission by the Trump administration to attack Gaza. “All those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay,” said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Fox News. “All hell will break loose.”

“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” Trump posted to Truth Social.

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Dr Muhammad Abuafash, director of Palestinian Medical Relief, who rushed to treat those at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, said the few medics available struggled to decide who to treat first, as patients and bloodied bodies intermingled on the floor.

“The vast majority of the wounded are children. We’re talking about large numbers of children with severed limbs,” he said in desperation, adding that emergency workers were still pulling the wounded and the dead out from under the rubble.

“There are not enough medical facilities or supplies, nor are there enough medical personnel. The doctors deal with injuries without preference, unfortunately.”

Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care physician working with Medical Aid for Palestinians inside Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, described being woken before dawn by an “airstrike frenzy.”

“The ER was just chaos, patients everywhere on the floor,” she said in a voice recording, adding that the paediatric intensive area unit beds were full and in the first couple of hours, more than 70 bodies were brought in and taken immediately to the morgue.

“There were probably three men, and the rest were all children, women, the elderly – it was everybody caught in their sleep, still wrapped in their blankets. Terrifying, a level of horror and evil that is hard to articulate. It felt like armageddon.”

Dr Mohammad Qishta, a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) emergency doctor at Nasser Hospital, said the emergency department was “disastrous.”

“We received no less than 400 cases in less than two hours. We received many bodies and parts of bodies, most of them children and women,” he continued.

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At our site, Tareq Hajjaj reported on a child who watched their mother burn to death before dying himself:

On Tuesday night, in the Qarara area east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, brothers Muhammad and Ibrahim Hamidi decided to take their children and flee to a less dangerous location east of the city. The sound of heavy gunfire from tanks stationed near their home after a brutal night of nonstop shelling and bombardment pushed them to head toward the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, the same coastal stretch of land that had served as a so-called “safe zone” throughout the war.

The brothers arrived and set up their tents. In the middle of the night, Muhammad heard the sound of bombing. He emerged from his tent, hundreds of meters away from his brother Ibrahim’s. He was rushing toward the sound of the bombs to help people who had been hit — a common sight in Gaza — but he didn’t expect that the bombed tent would belong to his brother.

“I ran out, thinking the bombing might have targeted a family we know. When I arrived, I found my brother lying on the ground, covered in blood, and his wife holding their child, both of them on fire,” Muhammad Hamidi told Mondoweiss. “My nephew was lying on the ground, injured in his head and back, and looking at his mother. She was engulfed in flames with his younger baby brother. Then my nephew turned his head toward his father, who was bleeding after the missile struck his head.”

With deep sadness, Muhammad says that in his final moments, his three-year-old nephew watched his mother and brother burn. “The child was helpless,” he said.

Sources:

mondoweiss.net/2025/03/the-shi…

independent.co.uk/news/world/m…

#freepalestine #uspol

In response to #Poland declaration of exit from land mine (Ottawa) convention, #Russia MFA stated it “will take steps to increase its defensive capabilities”.

But land mines do not magically jump over the border and conduct offensives. Land mines are already a 100% defensive weapon so the only case when Polish land mines may cause any problems to Russia is when its soldiers illegally cross into Polish territory and get blown up in result.

The only “defensive step” Russia needs to take is therefore to abstain from invading Polish territory, and Russian soldiers won’t suffer from Polish land mines🤷 It’s really very simple.

P.S. I explained in the past that Russia uses its private meanings for well-established words. In 2010 Russia already absurdly described “Patriot” air defense batteries in Poland and Ukraine’s defensive fortifications in Donbas as “aggressive escalation”. This is because Russia perceives its ability to invade other countries as it wishes as some kind of its natural right or entitlement. Therefore any initiative these countries take to make Russian invasion more difficult reduces this imaginary entitlement, and thus dialectically becomes “threat to Russian security”.

Somehow I missed this Feb. 5 letter from Public Citizen to the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, asking why President Trump is soliciting gifts in violation of 18 U.S.C. 201. Hard to argue with the conclusions that it is a violation. But I'd be surprised if this DOJ office still exists.

"Dear Officers,

We ask you to investigate whether President Donald J. Trump has violated 18 U.S.C. § 201, as implemented in 5 C.F.R. §2635, barring the president from soliciting gifts.

Federal law strictly regulates payments to government officials, including gifts. Although the president may receive gifts, he may not “solicit” gifts. These prohibitions begin with the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause and are reiterated in the anti-bribery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 201, and federal regulations, 5 C.F.R. § 2635. Although section 2635.205 lists several exemptions from the prohibition, none exempts soliciting purchases for personal gain.

As the Congressional Research Service has explained:

Under these regulations, the President is expressly exempt from the broad restrictions on receiving or accepting gifts from prohibited sources or gifts given because of his official position, and thus may accept gifts from the general public, even from “prohibited sources,” or gifts given because of his official position, as long as the President does not “solicit or coerce” the offering of gifts from such sources, nor accept a gift in return for an official act. [Emphasis added.]

President Trump’s promotion of a Trump meme appears to violate this prohibition. In a January 17 tweet, also apparently retweeted after January 20, Trump stated: “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to gettrumpmemes.com — Have Fun!” On Truth Social, he posted the same content, on January 21, at 6:19 PM.

Trump is the principal owner of the Trump Meme. The website explains that the memes are largely (80 percent) owned by CIC Digital LLC, “an affiliate of The Trump Organization.” CIC Digital is 100% owned by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust. Donald Trump is the “sole beneficiary” of the revocable trust. Under the question on the website: “Is this an official Trump product?” the website answers: “Yes, this is the only Official Trump Meme, by President Donald J. Trump.”

As to why the public might be interested in sending money, the website explains: “On July 13, 2024, President Trump faced death and came up fighting! With his fist in the air and the iconic battle cry FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, President Trump showed the world what a LEADER is made of. His strength and courage ignited a movement becoming the most memorable meme of the century. Now, you can get your piece of history. This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn’t back down, no matter the odds. Join the Trump Community – we’re all about fighting for what matters. “Under the Trump meme website’s question, “What is a meme?” the website explains: “Merriam-Webster’s meme noun: 1: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.”

The website states that “Trump Memes . . . are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”

Accordingly, a person sending money for a Trump meme is not purchasing a tangible product. Instead, the person receives only a digital receipt (in a blockchain), which is similar to a donor sending a check and receiving digital confirmation that the check was received.

Beyond Trump’s own declaration that the Trump meme is not an investment, other cryptocurrency observers deride memes generally as without value. Former aide Anthony Scaramucci said Trump’s effort demeans broader cryptocurrency efforts, calling it “Idi Amin level corruption.” Another commenter said that the Trump meme “is effectively a ‘for sale’ sign on the White House.” Some, including an author in the Washington Post, characterized this token as a “sh—coin.”

In short, it appears Trump is not soliciting money in exchange for an investment or tangible product (such as a Bible, sports shoes, or a guitar), but soliciting money in exchange for nothing—that is, asking for a gift that will benefit him personally.

Beyond the issue of solicitation, the Constitution (Article 1, Section 9) forbids accepting money (specifically a “present” or “emolument”) or anything of value from any “king, prince, or foreign state.” Because of the nature of a cryptocurrency exchange, it is difficult to know whether foreign state actors are gifting the president by way of purchasing a Trump meme. We urge you to investigate this issue, as well."

citizen.org/article/doj-oge-mu…