Hamas has released American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander. He is en route to Ream in southern Israel, where his mother is waiting for him. His release comes after direct talks between Hamas and the US. The Palestinian group says the US citizen was released “a short while ago following contacts with the US administration”. “This comes as part of the efforts being made by mediators to achieve a ceasefire, open the crossings, and allow aid and relief to reach our people in the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement. Hamas also urged the US administration “to continue its efforts to end this brutal war waged by the war criminal Netanyahu against children, women, and defenceless civilians in the Gaza Strip”.

“"Israel's" large-scale airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday resulted in 492 deaths and 1,645 injuries, as thousands of people in the south of the country fled for safety.”

Was Hamas really created by "Isr*el"?

That's the argument which is often made in good faith by re-visiting the "Isr*eli" dealings with the precursor to Hamas, known as the Mujamma al-Islammiyah, yet is an oversimplification of history .

However, this assumption is rooted in some key misunderstandings about the Hamas origin story and is also why this argument is not often accepted by Palestinians who carry a greater understanding of the history.

While some elements of the corporate media have attempted to paint "Isreli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as being the "bad apple" in "Isrel", the narrative that Hamas was created by "Isrel" and sustained by the "Isreli" PM helps fuel this notion.

MintPress staff writer Robert Inlakesh debunks the myth that Hamas was a creation of "Isr*el"

While sweeping statements regarding the origins of Hamas miss nuance, a greater understanding of the national liberation movement of the Palestinians fills in the gaps.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4692590

"Today I speak to a friend serving as a doctor serving in the European Gaza Hospital as IDF bombing nears closer and closer to his hospital and find out what it's been like to be a doctor on the ground during this war."

"The moment the Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades handed over the fifth batch of Isr*eli female detainees"

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4436949

The red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), also called the Manchurian crane or Japanese crane (simplified Chinese: 丹顶鹤; pinyin: dāndǐng hè , the Chinese character '丹' means 'red', 顶 means 'crown' and 鹤 means 'crane'), is a large East Asian crane among the rarest cranes in the world. In some parts of its range, it is known as a symbol of luck, longevity, and fidelity.

Adult red-crowned cranes are named for a patch of red bare skin on the crown, which becomes brighter during the mating season. Overall, they are snow white in color with black on the wing secondaries, which can appear almost like a black tail when the birds are standing, but the real tail feathers are actually white. Males are black on the cheeks, throat, and neck, while females are pearly gray in these spots. The bill is olive green to a greenish horn, the legs are slate to grayish black, and the iris is dark brown.

Juveniles are a combination of white, partly tawny, cinnamon brown, and rusty or grayish. The neck collar is grayish to coffee brown, the secondaries are dull black and brown, and the crown and forehead are covered with gray and tawny feathers. The primaries are white, tipped with black, as are the upper primary coverts. The legs and bill are similar to those of adults but lighter in color. This species is among the largest and heaviest cranes, typically measuring about 150 to 158 cm (4 ft 11 in to 5 ft 2 in) tall and 101.2–150 cm (3 ft 4 in – 4 ft 11 in) in length (from bill to tail tip). Across the large wingspan, the red-crowned crane measures 220–250 cm (7 ft 3 in – 8 ft 2 in).Typical body weight can range from 4.8 to 10.5 kg (11 to 23 lb), with males being slightly larger and heavier than females and weight ranging higher just prior to migration. On average, it is the heaviest crane species, although both the sarus and wattled crane can grow taller and exceed this species in linear measurements.

On average, adult males from Hokkaidō weighed around 8.2 kg (18 lb) and adult females there averaged around 7.3 kg (16 lb), while a Russian study found males averaged 10 kg (22 lb) and females averaged 8.6 kg (19 lb); in some cases, females could outweigh their mates despite the males' slightly larger average body weight. Another study found the average weight of the species to be 8.9 kg (20 lb). The maximum known weight of the red-crowned crane is 15 kg (33 lb). Among standard measurements, the wing chord measures 50.2–74 cm (19.8–29.1 in), the exposed culmen measures 13.5–17.7 cm (5.3–7.0 in), tail length is 21.5–30 cm (8.5–11.8 in), and the tarsus measures 23.7–31.9 cm (9.3–12.6 in).

In the spring and summer, the migratory populations of the red-crowned crane breed in Siberia (far eastern Russia), Northeast China and occasionally in north-eastern Mongolia (i.e., Mongol Daguur Strictly Protected Area). The breeding range centers in Lake Khanka, on the border of China and Russia. Later, in the fall, they migrate in flocks to the Korean Peninsula and east-central China to spend the winter. Vagrants have also been recorded in Taiwan Province. In addition to the migratory populations, a resident population is found in eastern Hokkaidō, Japan. This species nests in wetlands, marshes and rivers. In the wintering range, their habitat consists mainly of paddy fields, grassy tidal flats, and mudflats. In the flats, the birds feed on aquatic invertebrates, and, in cold, snowy conditions, the birds switch to mainly living on rice gleanings from the paddy fields.

Here is a link so you can listen to this bird too.