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Images from Gaza circulating on social media Thursday showed a mass detention by the Israeli military of men who were made to strip to their underwear, kneel on the street, wear blindfolds, and pack into the cargo bed of a military vehicle. The exact circumstances and dates of the detentions are unclear, but some of the detainees’ identities were confirmed by colleagues or family members. At least some of the men are civilians with no known affiliation to militant groups, according to a conversationhad had with one of their relatives and a statement by one of their employers, a news network. The   Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor posted an image of one detainment and  said in a statement on its website Thursday  that “the Israeli army detained and severely abused dozens of Palestinian civilians.” “Euro-Med Monitor received reports that Israeli forces launched random and arbitrary arrest campaigns against displaced people, i...

(Globeraccess) They are still finding bodies in the neighbourhoods near Gaza. Recovery teams on Wednesday pulled a woman's body from the rubble in Kibbutz Be'eri. She was naked, her feet bound with metal wire. One of the team said the bodies of more than 20 children had been found nearby, tied together and burned. Even experienced workers are struggling: deaths like this are enough to break the living. In Nir Oz, a line of ambulances and black vans processed slowly past the fence as we entered the kibbutz. This is now a place of stillness, the community frozen in the chaos of the attack. Cats provide the only movement - sliding between bright toys strewn across gardens, the collapsed rooves, the charred gaping skeletons of people's homes. Overhead, loud explosions regularly fill the silence. Gaza is only three miles away. Hamas gunmen attacked early in Nir Oz. Survivors say one in four people are dead or missing, including a B...

(globeraccess) Hamas is “ready” for an Israeli invasion of Gaza over the October 7 attacks, a top official of the Palestinian Islamist group said late Friday after Israel announced it would extend its ground operation. “Following the series of strikes of the last days, the ground forces are extending the ground operation tonight,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters after two straight nights of tank incursions into the Gaza Strip. A top Hamas official said it was “ready” for an Israeli ground invasion. “If (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu decides to enter Gaza tonight, the resistance is ready,” said Ezzat al-Rishaq, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, on Telegram social media. “The remains of his soldiers will be swallowed up by the land of Gaza.” Israel’s military said it had increased its strikes “in a very significant way”, as AFP live footage captured intense bombardment of northern Gaza. Air strike after air...