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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
❗️Communications and internet outage reported in Beit Ana.
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❗️The village of Beit Ana, in the Jableh countryside in Latakia, Syria, is currently being stormed by HTS-led security forces.
Clashes broke out between local armed groups and security forces, accompanied by artillery shelling and shooting.
This incursion comes after the security forces claimed that former regime remnants attacked one of its patrol in the village.
⭕️ Israel has leveraged a vast collection of intercepted Palestinian communications to develop an artificial intelligence tool similar to ChatGPT, which it aims to use to enhance its spying capabilities, as revealed by an investigation by the Guardian.
The investigation, conducted jointly with Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, uncovered that the Israeli military’s Unit 8200 trained the AI model to understand spoken Arabic by using large volumes of Palestinian phone conversations and text messages obtained through its extensive surveillance of the occupied territories.
“We tried to create the largest dataset possible [and] collect all the data the state of Israel has ever had in Arabic,” said former official Chaked Roger Joseph Sayedoff at a military AI conference in Tel Aviv last year, adding that the model required “psychotic amounts” of data.
In recent years, Unit 8200 has developed several AI-powered tools. Systems like The Gospel and Lavender were quickly integrated into operations during Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, playing a significant role in assisting its bombardment of the area by helping identify potential targets (both people and structures).
❗️Israeli quadcopter drones and vehicles shoot at the homes of Palestinians near Al-Qadisiyah School, west of Rafah, southern Gaza.
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❗️Lebanese Minister of Information Paul Morcos:
"President Aoun noted that there will be a second visit to Saudi Arabia after Eid al-Fitr with the participation of a number of ministers to sign agreements between the two countries."
⭕️ A senior US official says that Trump's Gaza Plan might also apply to the occupied West Bank, with potential US backing for annexation and permanent Israeli sovereignty. US talks include ideas to turn certain areas into a joint American-Israeli initiative, alongside encouraging Palestinian migration to Egypt and Jordan.
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❗️Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared:
○ "Israel is holding the bodies of approximately 1,500 Palestinians, including 665 documented cases, in refrigerators and 'cemeteries of numbers,' some since the 1960s and 1970s."
○ "The occupation must be held internationally accountable for its crimes related to withholding bodies and enforced disappearances."
○ "US President Donald Trump and the international community should not approach the issue of withheld bodies with double standards."
○ "If the US president, who threatened the people of Gaza over the retention of a few bodies, is to be consistent, he should apply the same standards to Israel, which has been holding hundreds of bodies for decades."
○ "Israel continues to forcibly conceal the fate of hundreds of Palestinians after detaining them from within Gaza."
❗️Ministry of Health in Gaza:
○ "6 martyrs and 7 injuries arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals during the past 24 hours."
○ "There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them."
○ "The death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 48,446 martyrs and 111,852 injuries since 7 October 2023."
⭕️ Since the beginning of Ramadan, Israel has been preventing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque. They also imposed restrictions on Jerusalemites and Palestinians with Israeli citizenship coming from the '48 territories.
The Israeli police said in a statement that they would deploy "about 3,000 police officers, border guards, and additional forces throughout the city of Jerusalem." It added, "The police will operate with reinforced forces, especially at the checkpoints surrounding Jerusalem, the eastern part of the city, and the alleys of the Old City."
The police indicated that they would "reinforce security forces and increase police activity at traffic junctions to optimally respond to any scenario, prevent any attempts by hostile parties to exploit Ramadan to incite terrorism, disturb public order, or any form of violence."
❗️Hamas:
○ "The martyrdom of prisoner Ali al-Batsh from Jabalia, in the north of Gaza Strip, inside the occupation prisons, is a result of the policy of the occupation government that seeks to kill our prisoners inside the prisons."
○ "The adoption of a policy of slow and deliberate execution against our prisoners inside the prisons confirms the brutality of this occupation and its disregard for all human values and international conventions related to the rights of war prisoners."
○ "We warn against the continuation of the occupation's approach in targeting and physically liquidating prisoners, and we affirm that these practices will not succeed in deterring their resolve and hope for imminent freedom."
❗️The Media Committee in Jenin Camp:
○ "The Zionist occupation continues its siege and aggression on Jenin and its camp for the 45th consecutive day, resulting in the martyrdom of 30 people, the injury and arrest of dozens, as well as acts of arson, demolition, destruction, and the forced displacement of thousands of residents."
○ "On the sixth day of the blessed month of Ramadan, occupation forces set fire to a house in Jenin camp, forced six families to evacuate their homes in the Jabriyat neighborhood last night, and continued demolition and destruction operations."
○ "The aggression on Jenin has led to the displacement of nearly 20,000 residents from the camp, who have sought refuge in shelters and the homes of relatives."
○ "We warn against the occupation’s plan to alter the features of Jenin camp through systematic destruction, which has completely demolished 120 homes and partially damaged dozens more."
○ "Occupation forces have carried out 336 raids, subjected residents to field interrogations, and conducted approximately 15 drone airstrikes."
○ "We call for solidarity with Jenin and its camp, supporting the residents, the displaced, and those whose homes have been destroyed. We urge for intensified mutual aid and unity during the blessed month of Ramadan."
❗️Salama Maarouf – Head of Gaza Government Media Office:
"For the fifth consecutive day, the occupation continues its crime of besieging Gaza and preventing the entry of all forms of aid, including fuel. So, what does the lack of fuel mean?
○ Complete shutdown of hospitals and health centers, endangering the lives of thousands of patients and wounded individuals.
○ Oxygen stations in hospitals ceasing operation, affecting thousands of patients.
○ Kidney dialysis services coming to a halt, leaving hundreds of patients without treatment.
○ Operating rooms and intensive care units shutting down, leading to the deaths of hundreds of patients relying on them.
○ Desalination plants stopping, leaving no access to clean drinking water.
○ Water wells ceasing to function, meaning no water for household use.
○ Municipal services halting, preventing waste collection and debris removal from streets.
○ Complete shutdown of transportation for all relief sectors.
○ Ambulances, civil defense vehicles, and other essential service providers unable to operate.
○ Wastewater treatment plants shutting down, risking sewage overflows and flooding in residential areas."
❗️Israel bans the film 'No Other Land' from being screened. The Documentary Forum in Israel released the following statement:
"Dear Managers and Heads of Institutions,
Last week, the film No Other Land won the American Academy Award (Oscar).
Following this, the Minister of Culture called on cultural institutions not to screen the film.
The Documentary Forum strongly opposes the minister's attempt to dictate content and determine which content will be shown in institutions funded by the ministry. Public funds come from taxpayer money, and the institutions we have built are democratic cultural institutions. They must not be used as a tool of control by the ministry. Culture is valuable content presented to Israeli citizens in the institutions they support through taxes.
The Documentary Forum calls on every cultural institution to screen the film without fear. There is no doubt that the film is a matter of public interest, and the public has the right to watch it. Therefore, cultural institutions and cinemas exist to present diverse and independent cultural content.
We turn to you with a request to demonstrate public and solidarity responsibility with the creators and screen No Other Land to allow its exposure to the Israeli audience, regardless of any political stance, whether in agreement or opposition.
We call on you to maintain the independence of cultural institutions in Israel, screen this film and others like it that spark discussion and thought. We stand against attempts to silence and censor artistic and journalistic creation, recognizing your essential cultural, ethical, and democratic role in preserving freedom of expression, which is the very soul of culture."
❗️Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem, commenting on Trump’s post to Anadolu Agency:
○ "These threats complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement and encourage the occupation government to evade implementing its terms.
An agreement was signed with Washington as a mediator, stipulating the release of all prisoners in three phases. Hamas fulfilled its obligations in the first phase, while Israel is evading the second phase."
○ "The US administration must pressure the occupation to enter negotiations for the second phase, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement."
❗️Trump on Truth Social threatens Gaza with “hell to pay” if captives are not released—again.
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❗️At least one person was killed and others wounded in the Israeli airstrike on a group of Palestinians near the Al-Tawfiq Mosque in Shujaiya, east of Gaza City.
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WATCH | The 'most moral army' in the world has a looting unit.
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❗️Israeli army radio:
The Israeli Air Force just launched a raid on the Shujaiya neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip.
⭕️ Israel and US conduct joint aerial drill
The Israeli military and US Air Force recently concluded a joint aerial exercise, featuring Israeli F-35i and F-15i fighters alongside a US B-52 strategic bomber, in what is being interpreted as a show of force against Iran. The drill, part of CENTCOM’s Bomber Task Force Mission, focused on enhancing "operational coordination" amid speculation that Israel is preparing for a strike on the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites.
Moscow in talks to maintain 'reduced military presence' inside Syria
Russia was previously an enemy of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the extremist group that now rules Syria
❗️Syrians in Suwayda protest against the transitional Syrian government in Al-Karama Square.
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❗️Syrians in Suwayda take down the flag adopted by the new authority in Syria, on top of the municipality building, and erected a Druze flag instead, while expelling Mustafa Bakour, the new HTS governor of Suwayda.
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⭕️ On this day in 2017, resistance icon, activist, and intellectual Bassel al-Araj was killed during a confrontation with Israeli forces in Al-Bireh, on the outskirts of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Araj was a fearless intellectual who criticized corruption, occupation, and collusion, reviving the spirit of Palestinian resistance. He left his career as a pharmacist to dedicate his life to the cause, equipping Palestinians with the historical and theoretical knowledge necessary for resistance.
His family accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of complicity in his assassination, and he came to be known as a victim of the security coordination between the PA and Israel.
Since his killing, he has remained one of Palestine’s most influential and recognizable figures.
Trump’s latest threats ‘complicate’ Gaza ceasefire: Hamas
The US president took to social media for a ‘last warning’ to Hamas, threatening the resistance movement with ‘hell to pay’
⭕️ Israel has started demolishing 17 Palestinian homes in the Nour Shams refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank today, a witness told Anadolu Agency.
Military bulldozers moved into the camp east of Tulkarem at dawn and began to raze the buildings, they added.
It came hours after Israeli authorities issued demolition orders for the buildings on Wednesday to allegedly build a road in Al-Manshiya neighborhood in the camp.
Nihad al-Shawish, head of a local service committee in the camp, warned that the demolitions will leave dozens of families homeless.
Shawish noted that 11 Palestinian homes were also razed by the Israeli army in the camp a few days ago.
"This is a collective punishment aimed at changing the geography of the camp under false security pretexts," he said.
The Israeli army has been conducting military operations in the northern West Bank since 21 January, killing at least 65 people and displacing thousands.
❗️Palestinian Prisoners' Club:
"The occupation forces launched a wide-scale arrest campaign during the night, which included at least 30 citizens from the West Bank, including children and former prisoners."
❗️AFP: Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassim al-Araji confirmed that Iraq is still working to locate Israeli-Russian 'researcher' Elizabeth Tsurkov, who went missing in March 2023.
A video of Tsurkov admitting to working for the Mossad and CIA surfaced in November 2023. She is believed to have entered Iraq on a Russian passport.
❗️Unprecedented destruction in the camps of occupied Tulkarem, West Bank, at the hands of Israel.
(Photos: Quds News Network)
US lawmaker revives PAGER Act demanding Lebanon 'end any recognition of Hezbollah'
Israel's pager terror attack in Lebanon last year killed dozens and injured thousands across the country
BBC chair says inclusion of 13-year-old Abdullah al-Yazouri in Gaza film 'a really bad moment'
The Palestinian boy says he holds the British broadcaster responsible 'if anything happens to me'