rainpizza

An aid convoy of about 10,000 Algerians, Egyptians, Libyans, Moroccans, Mauritanians and Tunisians left Tunisia on 9 June as it headed toward Gaza to break Israel's ongoing blockade. Organised by Tunisian civil society groups, the ‘Soumoud’ convoy, which means ‘steadfastness’ in Arabic, is transporting food, medicine and everyday supplies. It also has a political agenda: Defying what the organisers term the collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza.

Since October 2023, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, stripping it of electricity, water, fuel, and humanitarian aid. Israel’s onslaught and escalated siege have k*lled over 62,000 Palestinians, with the majority being women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The UN and international rights groups have repeatedly called for lifting the blockade and providing unbridled humanitarian access.

Convoy members include doctors, lawyers, students and human rights activists, who say they're stepping in where governments have failed. The convoy will attempt to access Rafah via Egypt, but no word yet on whether Egypt will allow entrance through its borders.

This convoy carrying a symbolic load of supplies for Gaza set off from Italy on the day Israeli forces seized a boat, the Madleen, of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). It carried 12 activists, including Sweden's Greta Thunberg. While Israel released her and a few activists, the others remain in Israeli custody.

This is not the first go-around for activists trying to defy Israel's occupation. In early May 2024, Israel struck another Gaza-bound FFC boat containing supplies. In 2010, Israel had k*lled 10 activists attempting to transport 10,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza. In 1988, the night before the al-Awda ('The Return' in Arabic) was set to sail to an Israeli port to highlight the plight of Palestinian refugees, a bomb destroyed and sunk the ship in a Cyprus harbour, k*lling no one.

Video/image credits: @landpalestine (IG) & @pal.actions_tn (IG)

Sources

https://conectas.org/en/noticias/international-community-calls-for-a-ceasefire-in-gaza/

https://www.euronews.com/2025/06/09/land-convoy-sets-off-for-gaza-from-tunisia-to-protest-against-israeli-blockade-of-strip

https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-170-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem

https://www.euronews.com/2025/06/09/land-convoy-sets-off-for-gaza-from-tunisia-to-protest-against-israeli-blockade-of-strip https://www.africanews.com/2025/06/09/land-convoy-leaves-tunisia-for-gaza-in-an-effort-to-break-israels-siege/

https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-170-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/12/un-chief-urges-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza-as-35000-palestinians-killed#%3A%7E%3Atext=The+United+Nations%27+Secretary-General%2Cbegan+in+October%2C+say+officials.

https://conectas.org/en/noticias/international-community-calls-for-a-ceasefire-in-gaza/ https://www.euronews.com/2025/06/09/land-convoy-sets-off-for-gaza-from-tunisia-to-protest-against-israeli-blockade-of-strip

Iran recently managed to obtain a wealth of secret documents from the Israeli regime.

I can't read this but if anyone can translate it please do!

Mass detentions of undocumented migrants began in Los Angeles on June 6, when citizens took to the streets in response to the raids NEW YORK, June 11. /TASS/. The number of US troops deployed in the Californian city of Los Angeles currently exceeds that in Iraq and Syria, ABC News reports.

"There are 4,800 activated Guard and Marine personnel in LA, compared to the 2,500 troops in Iraq and 1,500 in Syria," the broadcaster points out.

Mass detentions of undocumented migrants began in Los Angeles on June 6. By the evening of June 7, at least 44 people were already held on suspicion of immigration violations. Citizens took to the streets in response to the raids, with protests escalating into riots.

US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to the unrest without consulting California Governor Gavin Newsom, who later sued the US president and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for sending in troops without his permission.

The governments of Caracas and Beijing pledged to train militants in order to confront the “attacks of U.S. imperialism on both nations”.

In a meeting between the Secretary General of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, and the representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wu Hansheng, the parties agreed to cement collaboration to confront the “attacks of US imperialism on both nations”.

According to Cabello, the meeting allowed both authorities to address the importance of maintaining relations between the Chinese Communist Party and the PSUV. The leaders agreed to deepen the already existing agreements between China and Venezuela for the training of militants and to increase collaboration between their respective workers' movements.

Diosdado Cabello emphasized the need for this alliance, stating that “both China and Venezuela will continue to be under attack by the new US government and it is the task of both parties to face these attacks on the economies, workers and militancy, united as a single bloc”. For his part, Wu Hansheng congratulated the PSUV on its victory in the May 25 parliamentary and governors' elections, highlighting the strong bilateral relationship.

Hansheng and other Chinese officials arrived in Venezuela on Sunday, June 8 for a series of meetings with Venezuelan authorities. Caracas and Beijing maintain an extensive cooperation relationship that is reflected in more than 600 agreements signed within the framework of their High Level Joint Commission.

The bilateral relationship has experienced significant momentum in recent years. In December 2024, during a visit of Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to Shenzhen, both countries signed a cooperation agreement in the energy and financial fields.

Previously, in 2023, President Nicolás Maduro toured China, culminating in the signing of 31 new agreements in various areas such as energy, economy, trade, industry, mining, agriculture, infrastructure, health, telecommunications and tourism, further consolidating ties between the two nations.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Tuesday accused Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum of encouraging protests against the Trump Administration's raids and deportations in the city of Los Angeles, which entered their fifth day on Tuesday despite the militarization of the state of California.

During a press conference from the Oval Office with President Donald Trump, the official said that “Sheinbaum encouraged more protests in Los Angeles and I condemn her for that.”

He added that “people can protest peacefully, but the violence we have seen is not acceptable and will not happen in the United States”.

Initiated on Friday of last week, the protests erupted following violent raids in Los Angeles by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The demonstrations are mostly peaceful, although there have been reports of riots, vandalism of businesses and other violence. More than 100 people have been arrested.

On Monday, Sheinbaum condemned expressions of violence, wherever they come from. She reaffirmed the substantial contribution that migrants make to US society and made it clear that it is the duty of the Mexican State to protect its citizens abroad.

In addition, he asked the U.S. authorities to respect the rule of law in the immigration process. “With raids, migration is not addressed,” emphasized Sheinbaum, who like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) demands that the structural causes of migratory flows be addressed.

To quell the protests, the Police used tear gas, stun grenades and live ammunition. The demonstrations have been radicalized following the deployment in the city of some 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 members of the Marine Corps.

Instead of questioning its immigration policies, ICE abuses and police brutality as the source of the unrest, the U.S. administration - without consulting state authorities - ordered the military deployment claiming that a rebellion is underway.

Trump added that the city would have burned to the ground and that such measures are urgently needed to “liberate” Los Angeles from what he called an “immigration invasion,” a narrative that has been criticized as racist and authoritarian.

The Israeli military has carried out an airstrike against a group of Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip as the resistance combatants were preparing to launch an operation against Daesh-tied militants in the besieged territory, further exposing the nexus between the Tel Aviv regime and the Takfiri terrorists.

According to Hebrew-language i24NEWS channel, Hamas members engaged in an exchange of gunfire with members of the so-called Abu Shabab group at a Gaza neighborhood late on Monday.

The clashes intensified overnight, with both sides suffering a number of casualties.

It was when the Israeli army deployed an unnamed aerial vehicle to the scene, which fired a missile. Four fighters from the Hamas resistance movement were killed as a result.

The aerial attack marks the first of its kind by the Israeli military, whose sole purpose was to aid Daesh-linked Abu Shabab members.

Earlier this month, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that the regime has been arming and supporting a gang associated with Daesh terrorists in the Gaza Strip to "counter the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas."

The confession came after Avigdor Lieberman, a Knesset member and the regime’s former minister for military affairs, said Israel had transferred weapons to criminal gangs.

“What did Lieberman leak? That security sources activated a clan in Gaza that opposes Hamas? What is bad about that?” Netanyahu said in a video posted to social media.

“It is only good, it is saving lives of Israeli soldiers.”

The group Lieberman was addressing in his remarks was a local Bedouin tribe led by Yasser Abu Shabab.

The head of the Daesh-affiliated group has spent time in prison in Gaza, and his tribe chiefs have recently denounced him as an Israeli “collaborator and a gangster.”

Evidence of the group’s role in Israel’s campaign of genocide led elders and leaders of the prominent Abu Shabab family to announce their disavowal of the group.

Yasser Abu Shabab also has a known history of drug smuggling and has established a fortified base in an Israeli-controlled zone in Rafah under the regime's guidance.

He comes from the Tarabin Bedouin tribe, which spans from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to southern Gaza and the Negev Desert, and has been identified in an internal UN memo as “the main influential figure behind the widespread and organized looting” of aid convoys to Gaza.

Last year, the New Arab, a leading English-language news website, reported that Abu Shabab, among others, was working alongside hundreds of thieves under the protection of Israeli forces near the Karem Abu Salem crossing, the primary entry point for aid convoys.

Last week, Palestinian resistance fighters revealed the group's involvement in Israeli covert operations by releasing videos showing the Yasser Abu Shabab forces working alongside Israeli undercover units targeting Palestinians in Rafah.

Senior Israeli commanders have warned that the regime’s armed forces lack the manpower and resources to fulfill the goals in the besieged Gaza Strip. They say Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip even nearly two years into the campaign of genocide.

Israeli intelligence says virtually 20,000 Hamas fighters, including several commanders, remain active across Gaza.

A coalition of human rights groups and solidarity movements from over 32 countries, named “Global March to Gaza”, has departed for Gaza to break the all-out Israeli blockade and put an end to the regime’s genocidal war.

Thousands of activists are participating in the march, planning to reach the Gaza border via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to express their support for the Palestinians in the war-battered territory.

The participating convoys are scheduled to gather in the Egyptian capital Cairo on June 12, before setting off for the city of el-Arish in northeastern Egypt.

They will then continue on foot to the Rafah border crossing, where protest tents are planned to be set up, according to event organizers.

In Tunisia, hundreds of activists on Monday joined the land convoy heading towards Gaza to break Israel's siege on the Palestinian territory.

It came as Israeli forces attacked Madleen Gaza-bound aid ship and abducted the crew when the vessel was approaching the blockaded Palestinian territory on Monday morning.

The main coalition organizing the “Global March to Gaza” march stated that it has representatives in most countries in Europe, North and South America, in addition to Arab and Asian states, reflecting the growing international momentum in support of the Palestinian cause.

The Algerian “Resilience Convoy” led the participating convoys, setting off from the Algerian capital, Algiers, towards Tunis on Sunday, to join the Tunisian convoy, and from there to Libya, then Egypt, before arriving at the Rafah crossing.

Yahya Sari, head of the Algerian Initiative to Support Palestine and Aid Gaza, said in a statement that the convoy “is of a humanitarian nature, raising its voice loudly, along with the freedom-loving people of the world, to demand the removal of the brutal siege on our brethren and sisters in Gaza.”

Sari, who is also a prominent member of the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, added that the move “expresses Algeria's position in support of Palestine, and calls on international agencies to lift the siege and protect civilians from the brutal [Israeli] aggression.”

According to the organizers, the march seeks to end Israel’s systematic killing of Palestinians and the use of starvation as a weapon, and push for the immediate entry of food, water, medicine, and fuel into Gaza, especially through the Rafah crossing.

It also aims to break the Gaza siege, demand a permanent humanitarian corridor and the unconditional lifting of the blockade, expose the Israeli military’s crimes, and urge legal action against individuals and states involved in violations of international law.

At least 54,927 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 126,615 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged coastal territory.

Belarus is among the countries with the lowest utility bills, Komsomolskaya Pravda reports, citing Numbeo

Thus, according to the rating, Belarus was among the thirty countries with the lowest utility bills for the month. The rating took into account utility bills for apartments with an area of ​​85 square meters. The payment for electricity, heat and water supply to the home, and waste disposal were summed up. The prices were equalized in dollar equivalent.

As a result, the most expensive utilities are in Austria – about $375.5 per month. Germany is in second place – $344.61, and the UK is third – $320.54. Estonia follows – $312.54.

Belarus was ranked 97th, entering the top 30 countries with the lowest utility bills (27th place among low utility bills). According to researchers, Belarusians need to pay, on average, $53.31 for utilities per month. Iran is at the bottom of the rating, where you need to pay, on average, about $15.59 per month for housing and communal services.

In Belarus's neighboring countries, housing and communal services require much larger monthly payments: in Latvia - $299.7, Poland - $291, Lithuania - $232, Russia - $122.42, Ukraine - $94.55.

• Israeli commandos have intercepted the Madleen – in international waters – and forced everyone on board to turn off their phones.

• The Madleen ship, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, is en route to Gaza carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians starving because of Israel’s months-long total blockade.