20 dead and 100 injured: Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry accused Israeli troops of carrying out a brutal and “targeted” attack on “civilians awaiting humanitarian aid” in Gaza city, while the Israeli army blamed the gunmen of Hamas for the unexpected attack that killed 20 people and injured at least 100 people. , perhaps closer to 200.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “facilitated the passage of a convoy of 31 humanitarian aid trucks containing food and supplies intended for distribution to civilians in the northern Gaza Strip”, according to a military spokesperson.
“Approximately one hour before the convoy arrived at the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire as civilians in Gaza awaited the arrival of the humanitarian convoy,” the IDF said. “As the aid trucks were entering, the Palestinian gunmen continued shooting while crowds of Gazans began looting the trucks. Additionally, a number of Gaza civilians were hit by the trucks.”
In recent months, humanitarian convoys have been greeted by huge crowds flocking in the desperate hope of obtaining food. Just over two weeks ago, however, IDF forces Done they open fire on a crowd of Palestinians trying to get food in a similar situation, killing around 100 people. “Israeli officials acknowledged that their troops opened fire on a crowd in Gaza City on Thursday, saying they did so after the crowd approached in a threatening manner,” per NPR’s report, which the IDF semi-contradicted , declaring that “dozens were killed and injured from being pushed, trampled, and run over by the truck” (in a strange shift of blame). But again: it is very difficult to know what really happened, whether such threats actually existed, whether IDF forces exercised due restraint, and whether any officials in Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health are telling the truth. truth. Skepticism is warranted, again and again.
Trump trial delays: Prosecutors in the Donald Trump silence case have proposed a 30-day delay to the start of the trial since a new batch of evidence became available earlier this week. Trump’s lawyers had asked for 90 days (the norm for them), but now some sort of delay seems likely. “The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which accused Trump of covering up a sex scandal during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, said the delay will give Trump’s lawyers time to review a new batch of documents,” reports The New York Times. “The office sought the documents more than a year ago, but only recently received them from federal prosecutors, who years ago investigated the secret payments at the center of the case.”
And today a decision is expected regarding the Trump case in Georgia, whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will be disqualified, which would mean the appointment of a new prosecutor, which would lead to delays (Willis’ entire office would be expelled from the case). ). “Trump and others in the case are seeking to disqualify Willis after accusing her of benefiting financially by hiring her special prosecutor in her case, Nathan Wade, with whom she was romantically involved,” according to CNN.
“Defense lawyers argued that the relationship between prosecutors presented an untenable conflict of interest because Mr. Wade was paid more than $650,000 in public funds while at least partially paying for cruises and other vacations he took with the Mrs. Willis,” he reports The New York Times.
It’s an open question how these proceedings will affect Trump’s ability to get his proposal to voters before Election Day.
Scenes from New York: Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would deploy 1,000 National Guard and police officers to patrol the city’s subways. This week there was a shooting on the A train that left a man in critical condition.
On the northbound A train, around 4:45 p.m., a fight broke out between a 32-year-old man and a 36-year-old man that ended with one shooting the other while the train was still moving, leaving commuters trapped. inside. When the doors opened at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in downtown Brooklyn, passengers poured out and poured up the stairs.
It appears the 36-year-old man started the fight, shouting “I’ll beat you” and threatening the 32-year-old. At one point, the older man was stabbed (apparently by another passenger, who was working with the threatened man) and then pulled out a gun, which the 32-year-old man turned on him again, shooting the attacker.
It’s unclear whether bag checks – part of Hochul’s plan, which is legally questionable – would have prevented this (the gun was in his pocket), or that an increase in officers patrolling the stations themselves (versus actual subway trains , where all this leaked) would have helped a lot. There is already a transit police station at Hoyt-Schermerhorn, so officers apparently responded quickly once the train entered the station. But that doesn’t mean that Nothing would stop threats like these, to which New Yorkers are sadly accustomed: yelling about beating up an apparent stranger is deranged behavior, apparently just the kind of thing a seriously mentally ill person would start doing, yet mentally ill and homeless people routinely do to them railway carriages temporary shelters– the cops apparently know this and allow it, which is a deliberate political choice that could always be reversed.
QUICK SHOTS
- Zach Weissmueller and I hosted a very polarizing debate—Who is right about George Floyd?—between writer Coleman Hughes and investigative journalist Radley Balko that is receiving a lot of criticism online. For background: Hughes wrote a piece for The free press on Floyd’s death, the Derek Chauvin trial and the documentary, The fall of Minneapolis, to which Balko responded with a (very long) three-part series in his Substack. We invited both to clarify the matter and some chaos ensued.
- Hungary is “an ally that behaves differently from all others” and is “unique on the defining issue of European security of the last quarter century, Russia’s war in Ukraine,” said David Pressman, the US ambassador in Hungary, in a speech made yesterday on the issue of the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to NATO.
- “A recent pickup in inflation is not likely to shift Federal Reserve policymakers’ forecasts for three interest rate cuts this year and four in 2025,” he reports Bloomberg.
- Lobster emergency in Louisiana.
- Maybe we should do it fewer US-engineered regime changesnot more.
- You won’t believe these Canadian car theft prevention tactics:
Canadian police are advising homeowners to leave car keys outside so armed thieves can more easily steal them without confronting homeowners.
“They’re breaking into your house to steal your car. That’s all they want.”
Incredible. pic.twitter.com/H6jFUKltGk
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 14, 2024