25 December 2023, The Age, by Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy: Deir Al-Balah/Jerusalem: Dozens were killed in Gaza overnight in one of the deadliest strikes of the war, while Israel’s leaders acknowledged the “very heavy price” after 15 soldiers were killed in combat over the weekend.
Read MoreIsraeli airstrike kills Gaza aid worker and 70 of his extended family, UN says
24 December 2023, The Guardian, by Emma Graham-Harrison: An Israeli military airstrike killed more than 70 members of an extended family, including a veteran UN aid worker, as the UN secretary general warned that the scale of death and destruction inside Gaza is blocking delivery of desperately needed aid.
Read MoreIn season of hope, we can’t forget plight of Israel and Ukraine
22 December 2023, The Australian, by Tony Abbott: At the start of 2020, for most people in most places, life had never been more free, more fair, more safe, and more rich.
It might not have been the broad sunlit uplands of the end of history, but it was the best of times – made possible by a long Anglo-American ascendancy protecting freer speech, freer trade and freer politics.
Read MoreIsrael is increasingly portrayed as the villain. Some perspective, please
22 December 2023, The Age, by George Brandis: The scenes from Gaza on the nightly television news are, of course, awful. Bewildered and suffering children, hysterical parents, outraged doctors and paramedics struggling to cope. Predictably, Western opinion, appalled by what it sees, is beginning to shift against Israel.
Read MoreCeasefires Lead Only to Bloodshed Without End
23 December 2023, The Australian, by Henry Ergas: Shakespeare hardly put much store in truces. The Duke of Alecon is presented in Henry VI, Part I as an admirable character; but when he is convincing the future King Charles VII of France to accept the truce proposed by Richard, Duke of York, Alecon doesn’t hesitate to remind him that he can “break it when your pleasure serves”. The problem, however, is not merely that truces and ceasefires are inherently fragile; it is that they so often prolong and deepen conflicts, making wars more, rather than less, destructive.
Read MoreUN Issues Aid Demands
24 December 2023, Sunday Telegraph: GAZA STRIP: Fighting is raging on between Israel and Hamas as the UN Security Council approved a much-delayed resolution to boost aid to the besieged Palestinian territory where civilians are struggling to find food.
Read MoreUN resolution avoids ceasefire call
24 December 2023, The Age/ Reuters, by Michelle Nichols: The United Nations Security Council has approved a toned-down bid to boost humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and called for urgent steps ‘‘to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities’’ after a week of vote delays and intense negotiations to avoid a veto by the United States.
Read MoreThe gap between Biden’s words and deeds on Gaza is growing — and there are two words the US president can’t shake
24 December 2023, ABC, by Brad Ryan in Washington DC: Eleven days after 1,200 people were killed in the brutal October 7 attacks, the American president was in Tel Aviv with a message for grieving Israelis. “Israel, you are not alone,” he promised. “The United States stands with you.”
Read MoreIsrael-Hamas war: Security Council passes aid resolution, as Gaza becomes unrecognisable from Space
23 December 2023, Herald Sun, by Justin Vallejo, Adella Beaini and Holly Hales: The United Nations Security Council passed a historic resolution calling for a boost in aid after one of the most destructive bombing campaigns in human history left Gaza unrecognisable from Space.
Read MoreHuman Rights Watch alleges Israel is breaching the rules of war in Gaza — what are they?
23 December 2023, ABC News, by Olivia Ralph: There have been many references to “rules of war” being broken, and the UN is investigating whether war crimes have been committed by Israel and by Hamas. But what exactly qualifies as a war crime?
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