Gaza

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On December 27, 2008, Israel Began One of the Bloodiest Attacks on Gaza Since 1948.

Throughout the conflict and its aftermath, Democracy Now! speaks with medics and UN Relief Workers on the Ground, civilians and journalists inside both Gaza and Israel, hosts debates between leading scholars and advocates on both sides of the conflict, and much more.

For further coverage of Gaza, Israel-Palestine relations, and the Middle East, search our website.

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    Israel Deports Democracy Now! Correspondent Jihan Hafiz; Most Gaza Flotilla Activists Still Detained

    November 08, 2011 | Story

    The Israeli government continues to detain a number of passengers seized in international waters Friday while trying to challenge the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza. The passengers were on two boats — one from Canada and the other from Ireland — as part of the "Freedom Waves" flotilla. Some 20 activists are believed to remain in custody after refusing to sign statements asserting they had entered Israel illegally. Flotilla organizers have accused the Israeli military of physically assaulting some of the activists and tasering at least one of them. Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz was among those detained despite her press credentials. Hafiz had been filing daily reports for Democracy Now! from the Canadian ship named "Tahrir." She spent three nights behind bars, where she was strip-searched and denied phone calls to relatives for 48 hours. She was finally deported Monday night and arrived in New York City just hours ago. Israel has not returned her equipment or footage. In a Democracy Now! exclusive, Hafiz joins us in our New York studio. "All of the [Israeli] commandos on all of these boats were heavily armed... It looked like they were taking on an army of a foreign country," says Hafiz, noting the masked soldiers pointed their guns at the heads of those on board. [includes rush transcript]

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    Exclusive: Video from Gaza Flotilla as Israeli Navy Prepares to Intercept Boats

    November 04, 2011 | Story

    Two Gaza-bound boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists are within 50 nautical miles of their destination, but reports are emerging that Israeli Navy ships have intercepted the "Freedom Waves to Gaza" flotilla. Communication with the boats has largely been cut off. Prior to losing contact, we received two exclusive video reports from aboard the "Tahrir," the Canadian ship. Speaking to Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz last night, passenger Ehab Lotayef said, "We are approaching the 100-nautical-mile point away from Gaza, which is usually the point where Israel declares—starts the blockade ... Will they try to come and board us? All these questions are now at the moment of truth. The major preparation we did is to prepare that we don’t want anybody to act in any violent way or in any way that can even induce violence by the Israelis." [includes rush transcript]

  • PHOTOS: Sailing Toward Gaza Aboard the Canadian Boat Tahrir With Freedom Waves Flotilla

    November 02, 2011 | Blog Post

    See photos of some of the activists aboard the Canadian boat, Tahrir, now sailing in international waters toward Gaza. One of two boats in the Freedom Waves Flotilla, its passengers include representatives from Australia, Canada, the United States, and Palestine.

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    Exclusive: Gaza-Bound "Freedom Waves" Flotilla Sets Sail from an Eastern Mediterranean Port

    November 02, 2011 | Story

    At the end of our live broadcast today, Democracy Now! received breaking news from a source aboard "The Tahrir," a ship involved in the "Freedom Waves to Gaza" flotilla. Without any public notice, the ship left from an undisclosed port in the eastern Mediterranean Sea earlier today which the participants say is bound for the Gaza Strip. The "Freedom Waves to Gaza" flotilla marks the latest attempt by international activists to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Earlier this year, Greece blocked the departure of several ships from another flotilla heading to the region. In 2010, Israeli forces killed nine activists, including a U.S. citizen, on an aid boat called the "Mavi Marmara," which was part of the first such international flotilla. Additional information on the "Freedom Waves" flotilla will be posted on our website, www.democracynow.org, once received.

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    Noam Chomsky on Israel-Palestine Prisoner Exchange, U.S. Assassination Campaign in Yemen

    October 18, 2011 | Story

    MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned linguist and political dissident, spoke Monday night at Barnard College in New York City about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just hours before Israel and Hamas completed a historic prisoner exchange. "I think [Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit] should have been released a long time ago. But there’s something missing from this whole story. There’s no pictures of Palestinian women, and no discussion, in fact, in the story of—what about the Palestinian prisoners being released? Where do they come from?" Chomsky says. "There’s a lot to say about that. So, for example, we don’t know—at least I don’t read it in the Times—whether the release includes the elected Palestinian officials who were kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel in 2007 when the United States, the European Union and Israel decided to dissolve the only freely elected legislature in the Arab world." Chomsky also discusses the recent U.S. assassination of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. "Almost all of the critics, of whom there weren’t many, criticized the action or qualified it because of the fact that Awlaki was an American citizen," Chomksy says. "That is, he was a person, unlike suspects who are intentionally murdered or collateral damage, meaning we treat them kind of like the ants we step on when we walk down the street. They’re not American citizens, so they’re unpeople, and therefore they can be freely murdered." [includes rush transcript]

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    Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer Raji Sourani on U.N. Statehood Bid, Peace Process, Gaza Siege

    September 27, 2011 | Blog Post

    As the United Nations Security Council considers the Palestinian bid for statehood, we speak with human rights lawyer, Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza and Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights.

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    Noam Chomsky: The U.S. & Israel Strongly Oppose "Rise of Any Meaningful Democracy" in Middle East

    September 19, 2011 | Story

    Earlier this month, Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and other senior diplomats after the release of a United Nations report on Israel’s attack on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla in 2010. The report accused Israel of "excessive and unreasonable force" in its attacks on the Gaza aid ship, Mavi Marmara, which killed nine people. But it also called on Israel to issue a statement of regret and compensate the families of the dead, as well as the wounded passengers. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refused to apologize. We talk to MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky about the relationship between Turkey and Egypt, long key allies for Israel, and how the deterioration of their relations "contributes very substantially to Israel’s isolation in the region." [includes rush transcript]

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    Noam Chomsky: U.S. to Veto Palestinian Statehood Bid Despite "Overwhelming International Consensus"

    September 13, 2011 | Story

    President Obama publicly confirmed Monday that the United States will oppose any attempt by the Palestinians to achieve statehood at the United Nations, but Palestinians leaders are still vowing to move ahead with their bid for statehood this week. What will the ramifications of a U.S. veto be? For more, we speak with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky. "If the Palestinians do bring the issue to the Security Council and the U.S. vetoes it, it will be just another indication of the real unwillingness to permit a settlement of this issue, in terms of what has been for a long time an overwhelming international consensus," Chomsky says. [includes rush transcript]

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    As Turkey Freezes Israel Ties, Critics Decry "Whitewashed" U.N. Report on Gaza Flotilla, Blockade

    September 02, 2011 | Story

    Turkey has downgraded diplomatic ties with Israel and frozen military cooperation ahead of a long-awaited United Nations report on Israel’s deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship in 2010. The report accuses Israel of "excessive and unreasonable" force in its attack—which killed nine people—on the Mavi Marmara ship, and says Israel should issue a statement of regret and compensate the families of the dead as well as wounded passengers. But it also chides passengers aboard the Marmara and the other flotilla ships for what it calls a "reckless" attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. In a major development with broader implications, the U.N. report concludes that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal under international law. We speak with Norman Finkelstein, author of several books on the Israel-Palestine conflict, including "'This Time We Went Too Far': Truth & Consequences of the Gaza Invasion." We are also joined by Huwaida Arraf, one of the organizers of the Free Gaza Movement. Both Arraf and Finkelstein blast the U.N. report, calling it a "whitewash" and "morally debased." [includes rush transcript]

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    Audacity of Hope: Inside Report Aboard U.S. Ship’s Dramatic Challenge to Greek Ban on Gaza Flotilla

    July 06, 2011 | Story

    A French boat carrying eight people as part of the 10-ship Freedom Flotilla to the Gaza Strip has left Greek waters, defying a ban imposed by Greece under heavy pressure from Israel and the United States. The small boat is the first to elude Greek authorities after two ships were stopped since Friday. Carrying humanitarian cargo, the ships are trying to reach Gaza just over a year after Israeli forces killed nine people aboard the first Freedom Flotilla. Democracy Now!’s Aaron Maté was on board the U.S.-flagged ship, The Audacity of Hope, when it became the first flotilla ship to defy the ban and make a break for Gaza, only to be intercepted by Greek authorities in a dramatic standoff at sea. He filed this report. [includes rush transcript]