Israeli cruelty from every direction – war on Gaza Day 552

Last week, Israel bombed and destroyed one of Gaza’s only operational water desalination plants still supplying clean drinking water to the Strip.

Many Palestinians now fear dying of thirst before being killed in the continuing bombardment.

The Israeli army released some 80 Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, local sources said.

The detainees were set free at the Israeli-controlled Kissufim crossing in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the sources added.

A medical source said that at least 10 of the freed prisoners were in poor health condition and hospitalized at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

“One of the freed detainees is in a very critical condition and unable to move, with his body bearing clear signs of torture,” he told Anadolu.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or the Palestinian group Hamas on the releases.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition filed by families of Israeli captives in Gaza demanding the restoration of electricity supply to the blockaded enclave, which had been cut off last month.

“Israel is under no obligation to provide electricity to Gaza,” Judge Alex Stein said in his verdict.

He argued that the electricity supply to Gaza was not subject to a judicial review but to a decision of the political leadership.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen hailed the court verdict, claiming that cutting off electricity to Gaza is “a right decision from a security and moral perspective.”

“Only continued and escalating pressure on Hamas would help to bring the hostages back and to ensure that Hamas will not be in Gaza,” he added on X.

NOTE: Israeli leaders’ assertion that the only way to stop the war and get the hostages back is through force, ignores the facts: the vast majority of returned hostages were negotiated, and most who didn’t survive were killed by Israeli airstrikes. Another fact: if Israel had not unilaterally destroyed the ceasefire, the remaining living hostages would have been returned by April 13.

Palestinian Ahmad Manasra released from Israeli prison after nine years

A Palestinian who was arrested at age 13 for allegedly taking part in a stabbing attack has been released after spending more than nine years in prison, where he developed severe mental health issues but was repeatedly denied requests for early release.

Ahmad Manasra, now 23, was released on Thursday after completing his nine-and-a-half-year sentence, his lawyer Khaled Zabarqa said.

Manasra, from occupied East Jerusalem, was sentenced for being present with his cousin Hassan Manasra, who stabbed two Israelis near the illegal settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev in East Jerusalem in 2015.

Hassan, who was 15 at the time, was shot dead by an Israeli man, while Ahmad was severely beaten by a group of Israelis and run over by an Israeli driver, suffering fractures to his skull and internal bleeding. A graphic video of Ahmad lying in the street, bleeding from the head while Israelis taunted him, garnered millions of views at the time.

Ahmad was charged with attempted murder even though he did not stab anyone – something that the courts had acknowledged (continue reading here).

Another report says: Manasra was expected to be released at Nafha prison, where his family were waiting to greet him, but he was released in the Beersheba area, in the Negev desert, far from the prison.

Khaled Zabarqa, his lawyer, said he was left in an abandoned location, where he later met with a Palestinian Bedouin who contacted his family.

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Report: Israeli Army Abducted 16,400 Palestinians Since October 7, 2023

Organizations advocating for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons have reported that Israeli occupation forces have continued systematic abduction campaigns across the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023.

In March 2025 alone, Israeli soldiers abducted 800 Palestinians, including 84 children and 18 women, amidst the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. These abductions occurred during invasions and violent searches, intensified field interrogations, and the use of civilians as hostages or human shields.

In their monthly report on detentions, the organizations revealed that the total number of abductions in the West Bank since the beginning of the genocide and forced displacement has reached approximately 16,400 individuals. This figure includes 510 women and around 1,300 children, excluding thousands of abductions documented in Gaza as its remain difficult to document abductions in Gaza amidst the ongoing genocide.

The organizations expressed grave concern over the surge in administrative detentions, with 3,498 Palestinians currently held without charge or trial, including over 100 children.

Such levels of administrative detention are unprecedented, even during the height of previous popular uprisings. These detentions are upheld by military courts, which continue to function as tools of repression through sham trials.

In March, three detainees died in Israeli prisons. Khaled Abdullah from Jenin passed away in Megiddo Prison in February, with his death officially confirmed in March. Similarly, Ali Al-Batsh from Gaza died in February, with his death also confirmed the following month. Additionally, Walid Ahmad, a 17-year-old, was declared dead on March 22, 2025, in Megiddo Prison under harrowing conditions (continue reading here). 

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Report: Over 250 former members, reservists of Israel’s elite Unit 8200 join call for end to Gaza war

Around 250 reservists and former members of Israel’s elite intelligence Unit 8200 released a letter on Friday, expressing support for around 1000 Israeli Air Force reservists and former soldiers calling for the return of all captives and an end to the war in Gaza, Haaretz reported.

“We identify with the assertion that at the time the war serves mainly political and personal interests and not security interests,” the letter said.

“Continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its declared goals and will bring the death of the hostages, IDF [Israeli military] soldiers and innocent people,” it said, 

The publication said additional alumni of the unit are expected to join the call. A group of entrepreneurs, investors and employees in the Israeli high-tech sector is expected to publish a similar letter on Friday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement in response to the letters alleging political motives in continuing the Gaza war and demanding an end to it, along with a hostage deal. He claimed, “The public is no longer buying their propaganda lies that echo in the media,” adding, “These letters were written by a small group of radicals, operated by foreign-funded organizations with one goal – to overthrow the right-wing government.”

“This is not a wave. It’s not a movement. It’s a small, noisy, anarchistic, and disconnected group of pensioners – most of whom haven’t served in years,” he further said.

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Hamas Has 75% of Tunnels Intact, 40,000 Fighters & Rocket Production Facilities

Israeli military sources speaking to the press revealed the lack of progress Tel Aviv has made toward one of its core goals in Gaza: eliminating Hamas. The armed wing of the Palestinian group reportedly retains 75% of its tunnel network, 40,000 fighters and the ability to produce its own weapons.

According to Haaretz, an Israeli defense official explained that Hamas still has significant military capabilities despite 18 months of fighting in the Strip. Israeli military analysts now estimate that Hamas has 40,000 fighters.

Before October 7, 2023, Hamas was estimated to have between 20,000 and 30,000 fighters under arms. Near the end of the Joe Biden administration, the US intelligence community estimated the group had lost 15,000 men during the Israeli onslaught, but had recruited the same number of new troops.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that one of his top goals in Gaza is to eradicate Hamas. However, the war has decimated the civilian population of Gaza. Most Gazans have been displaced multiple times, at least 50,000 have been killed, and countless deaths of deprivation have been reported.

Tel Aviv and Washington maintain that all of the fatalities caused by the Israeli war and blockade are the responsibility of Hamas (continue reading here).

NOTE: Israel’s narrative has it that Hamas “started a war” on October 7th, implying that on October 6th there was peace. In reality, Israel has been at war with the Palestinian people since its creation. Hamas was exercising – albeit imperfectly – its internationally recognized right to resist the oppressor and occupier of its people.

For years, Palestinians have tried rational, peaceful methods of achieving justice: they have petitioned the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. They have held thousands of peaceful protests. In the ICC and ICJ, the United States always exercises veto power in Israel’s favor. When it comes to peaceful protests, Israeli soldiers shoot to kill.

RELATED: Unpacking Israel’s war on international humanitarian law

Top Houthi Official Tells Drop Site Yemen Will Cease Attacks on U.S. Ships if Trump Halts Bombing

A senior leader of Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, told Drop Site News that if the U.S. ends its campaign of air strikes against Yemen, Houthi forces will commit to halting all attacks on U.S. ships in the region. “We do not consider ourselves at war with the American people,” said Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansar Allah’s political bureau and a longtime spokesperson for the Houthis. “If the U.S. stops targeting Yemen, we will cease our military operations against it.”

Since November 2023, in response to Israel’s war on Gaza, the Houthis have maintained a formidable naval blockade on the Red Sea, preventing commercial ships from traveling to Israel. The Houthis have also launched military attacks on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities throughout the course of the war, saying their naval and military operations would continue in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.

On March 15, President Donald Trump ordered a sustained bombing campaign against Yemen, ostensibly in the name of protecting international shipping lanes in the waters off the coast of Yemen—bombing the country almost every night. Dozens of civilians have been killed. “The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you,” Trump wrote in a post on TruthSocial on March 31. “Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come.”

Trump’s admonition was echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an interview with Fox News: “The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting” (continue reading here).