Hello everyone, its 1 a. M. In the besieg gozo strip, youre watching press tv world news. Our top story is really massacre of palestinians in gaza continues to unfold as regime pounds a blockaded territory with air strikes and artillery fire. In a latest of strikes, regime bombed a residential building in der albalah, central gaza, killing at least two children. Similar strike in the area also left woman dead and many injured. The regime also fired artillery shells toward areas in southern and central gaza. Overall death tool now stands at nearly 29,900 since onslot began back on the 7th of october. This while International Aid agencies are raising the alarm over the humanitarian situation in gaza with the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs saying a quarter of the gaza. Population is, quote, just a step away from famon. In december, it was projected that the entire population of 2. 2 Million People in gaza would face high levels of acute Food Insecurity by february 2024. The highest share of people facing this level of food in security ever recorded worldwide. And here we are at. The end of february with at least 57600 people in gaza, one quarter of the population, one step away from famine, with one and six children under two years of age in northern gaza suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting, and practically the entire population of gaza left to rely on worfully inadequate humanitarian Food Assistance to survive. Programs also warned of what it calls inevitable widespread starvation in gaza. Wfp says fammon is eminent in northern gaza, where no humanitarian group has been able to provide aid since the 23rd of january. Agency says its ready to swiftly expand and scale up of operations if theres a sease fire in gaza. The un says this really forces are systematically blocking access to people in need. In gaza complicating the task of aid deliveries to the besieg territory, spokesman for the Un Humanitarian Agency says carrying out medical evacuations and aid deliveries in northern gaza has become impossible, yet zlark said humanitarian operations are becoming increasingly difficult in the south as well, humanitarian agencie is delivering aid to gaza, say even convoys cleared in advance by the israelis have repeatedly either been blocked or come under fire, according to the world health organization, all planned aid convoys into northern gazas trip have been denied by israeli authorities in recent weeks. Yes, Israel Genocide in gaza is displayed some 1. 7 Million People throughout the besieg sliver. Press tv has of spoken to some of those people who recount the trauma as a result of this war. Gaza ct because of hunger, we ate animal food, grasses, and plant leaves, we had meal every two days, our home was destroyed by israeli war planes, my mother and brother were killed at home and we were pulled out from under the rubble, we came here from gaza on foot, as we were heading to the south, the Israeli Forces stopped us for five hours under the sun, the tanks were moving around us and firing close to us, there was an old. Woman she was riding a donkey car, they forced her to get out of the card, although she said shes a Diabetic Patient and cant walk, they kidnapped the man there and stripped and humiliated them, i was displaced from gaza city alongside my daughter and my husband who was later killed in an israeli attack. I was sitting in the tent when all of sudden they told me that your siblings are here. The first thing they asked for was something eat as they didnt eat for several days. They told me a flow bag cost 100 inside gaza and the people there have nothing eat but animal food. Palestinians have demonstrated in several areas in the west bank. Fong a call by palestinian factions to declare tuesday a day of rage, they protested israely aggression against the besieg gaza strip and supported palestinian prisoners held in the regimes jails. Palestinians have taken to the streets across the occupied west bank to protest against the israeli genocide on the gaza strip as it nears 150 days. Despite the bad weather and heavy rain, protesters roam the streets of ramallah chanting for gaz. And demanding an end to israels war on the beside this trip, people here say that israel is using the war on gaza escalate its military measures in the west bank. Despite the israeli nonstop crimes against our people and attempts to break their will, the palestinians there in gaza are steadfast and the resistance is still fighting, wherever the palestinians are, they are facing the israeli illegal plans and violence and the killing that is everywhere, settlement expansion, judaization attempts and now the isready plan. Of eviction and attempts to break the resistance in gaza, the all palestinians are embracing. Also, amongst the demands of the Palestinian Protesters is to shed the light to the suffering of the thousands of prisoners incarcerated in israeli jails under inhumane condition. In addition to the fact that the Israeli Regime is using the illegal administrative detention that allows it to keep palestinians behind bars without charge or trial. Prisoners are being. Held under a disastrous situation in israeli jails. 7,300 were detained from the west bank and over 2 from the gaza strip since the 7th of october, and we should not forget that over 4,00 have already been imprisoned before, so were talking today about over 11,500 prisoners who are being tortured, humiliated and maltreated. Hundreds are in Serious Health condition and theyre facing slow death. With all ours are focused on the gaza strip, Israeli Regime continues stepping up its violence here in the occupied west bank. The Israeli Forces shot dead four palestinians in separate incidents in alfara refugee camp and to bos town northeast nablis and at mazmuria checkpoint near betlahem, bringing the number of palestinians killed in the west bank since the start of the war on gaza to 411. Protesters today are stressing that no one is getting used to the israeli genocide. In the beseged gaza strip at the time when the regimes atrocities against palestinians in the occupied west bank are on the rides, they say this is the least they can do to express their anger, to express their support to their fill palestinians in gaza and to show them that they are not alone. Mona khandiel for press tv, occupied dramallah. Yours foreign minister is called for a creation of a un Factfinding Mission to probe israely war crimes in gaza. Saying that the world body is at risk of being discredited all together. Irans minister made this remark in the meeting with un rights chief bulker turk in geneva. He said the Un Rights Council could move to probe israely war crimes and then prosecute the criminals. Iranian minister said the systematic violations of human rights in gaza has caused the catastrophe of this century. Un rights chief vowed that he will continue efforts and try to help the ease of the humanit crisis in gaza and promote peace. The region, he also stressed the need for a political solution to end the war, and press tvs gisu, misha ahmedi joined us earlier to brief us on the Iranian Foreign ministers meetings in geneva. It has actually been a trip jam packed with meetings um since we arrived in geneva, the foreign. Minister has held lots of bilateral meetings accounting up until now 12 bilateral meetings were held uh in the room that im standing right now, the foreign minister did address three different sessions, as you mentioned, one of them was the high level meeting of the human Rights Council yesterday, there was a disarmament meeting and also a sideline event where representatives that was from um almost all the countries around the world were present. There rallying support for palestine, the people in gaza, and of course demanding immediate cease fire, and the Iranian Foreign minister was one of the uh the first speakers to address that session and also there was the Saudi Arabian farm minister, the uh foreign minister of egypt and it was interesting to see these countries also coming together in order to form a united front demanding for immediate cease fire and of course to alleviate the situation of the palestinians, so considering the fact that the foreign minister has also held meetings with the head of the icrc, with antonio gutieresh himself, the un secretary general, and of course today with the high commissioner of human rights, well this definitely means something, and that last meeting in particular, media was not allowed to attend, but by the looks of things and the way these meetings are going on, we are very hopeful that the some kind of concrete action in supportive. Will come out of it. Iran once again condemns israels frequent attacks on syrian civilians and infrastructure as blatant violation of International Law. The ongoing israeli missile attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure further complicate the situation in syria, interrupt humanitarian activities and disrupt humanit. And excesses, we strongly condemned the Israeli Regime for such blatant violations. Hv was addressing a Un Security Council meeting on the situation in west asia, he lambassed presence of Foreign Forces in syria saying they are exploiting syrian soil as safe haven to carry out their heinous acts of terrorism. He further censured the west unilateral sanctions on syria which he said are hindering the countrys access to most needed humanitarian aid. Antarran has slamed germanys antiiran comments at the un human Rights Council as feudal attempt to cover up berlins support for the Israeli Regimes ongoing bloodshed in gaza. Irans for Ministry Spokesperson naser canani also censor berlins indifference to israels gross violations of human rights. He said germanys claimed. Defend human rights is bitter irony given countrys notorious record of allout support for human rights violators such as the regime of former iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his eight years of war against iran. Canany said that German Authorities only use human rights as a tool to interfere in other countries domestic matters and at the same time boost their economy by scaling of arms sales to war zones throughout the world. The iranian official. Will noted disastrous conditions in gaza and the occupied west bank and alarming situation of Palestinian Refugees in rafa is clear proof of the failure of such false claimants. Iran is preparing to hold two major elections this friday. Nation will be going to the polls to choose members of parliament and the assembly of experts in two separate polls. Nearly 15,000 candidates are competing this year, a Record Number since victory of the Islamic Revolution some 45 years ago. Fires ash reports out of tehran. Iranian people are preparing for the fridays elections in which will vote for their representatives in parliament and assembly of experts, thousands of candidates including women and the young generation are vying for the seats. Nearly 15, candidates are running for the election, these candidates 12 are women and 63 belong to the young generation, which includes young activists aged between 30 and 50 years old. Islami also mentioned different all of the countrys political spectrums including principalists, reformists and independents are among the candidates, a close contest is underway among them in the countrys different zones and cities. According to the law, the parties can support a list of candidates as well as introducing their intended candidates. In the meantime, 200 local. As the radio and social media, nearly 40 elections have been held in iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which is a symbol of peoples power and presence in the countrys sensitive occasions. Iranians across the country will participate in the elections as they see choosing their representatives both in the parliament and assembly of experts as a duty to maintain the basis of religious democracy in the. And earlier in our news review program, we are discussed the significance the elections have had in iran since victory of the Islamic Revolution. Uh, youre watching press tv news, time now for the news review. All right. Time now to allow me to invite a couple of guests to ask for their insight on this issue, so let me invite masujar political commentator and also hamid commentator both in tehran. Welcome to the show, gentlemen. Lets begin with this special status and significance that elections have had in iran after the victory the Islamic Revolution. The leader 40 elections have been held after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, this is the 13th, i believe the. The election for the parliament if im not mistaken and uh first of all what does this large number uh signif and do you believe that this time around the elections that we have around the corner on friday uh are they kind of more important than the previous ones at this juncture . Well i think every every election is important but overall is the whole process the fact that this has been going on for so long and the fact that this has been established, the democracy, the religious democracy has been established in iraq, and it become part and parcel of expectation of the people as a means of bringing change and moving forward. Now excuse me, now the the important aspect is that all the opponents of iraq, which are initiated by the western powers, by the israelis, by the americans and the the pro so callalled shah and so forth, they dont want democracy, they dont want democracy in iran, they dont want democracy in the whole region, and the fact of the matter is that the only democracy in the region ie in iran has come despite all the opposition by the american, by the israelis and so forth, mean it, its very clear the the nature of the opposition to the to the Islamic Republic, and you just have to look at the gatherings the ziners supporting the genocide, and you see the elements of the show supporters, elements of opposition and saying that they are in partnership with the genocidal establishment. Of designist a state, so really these people have got morality, no legitimacy, and indeed they want to destroy not just Islamic Republic, but the empowerment of the people in iran, and i think not just iranians should celebrate this sort of opportunity and the position of the establishment of the the democracy, religious democracy in iran, but i think the whole region needs to celebrate it, because it shows that despite the the will of the United States and the west who want to keep dictatorships in place in the region and everywhere else, people do have the ability to rise up and empower themselves, and so every time i think people are not just. Voting for their future, but theyre actually voting for alternative to the dictatorship that surrounds this picture. Okay, with much time, let me ask, ham another question, ham, we have one minute, if you could tell us about the turnout, its been so large in iran uh all around, compared to some countries like the western lets say states claiments of human rights and democracy, maybe 30 or not is a big one when you uh look at the statistics in some european. Countries and else around the world, but in iran its always been uh much greater than that, why . Because the Islamic Teachings actually and the basics of the. Islamic republic is is based on educating people, empowering people on letting people to know more and be more political, so the islamic establishment wants people more political and more active in their own destiny and their own country and their own politics and everything, so it tries to let people speak, let the people vote and let people, no one discuss, but on the other side of the story, the liberal democracy or lets say the capitalist. Capitalist liberal democracy, its something that wants people inactive and they want just a group of aliats to rule the countries and the rest of the people and the public be only serving those allies, so they dont want them to be aware of the politics, they dont want be very well informed about anything, any political issues and such things, so that is the main difference and thats why the Islamic Republic insists on on people to. Out to participate in the voting, even if they dont accept the islamic, even if they are angry for example with the government or some policies and some things, again the their destiny should be decided at the ballet box and by the voting, which is democrating and correct way of using the vote of people okay, appreciate the inside, masud shajar and political commentators both in tehran, thank you, i should also thank our viewers for watching this sort of the news review on press tv. Welcome back everyone. Now, while the uk government continues to support israels. Going Genocidal Campaign in gaza, its the people in britain who are bearing the cost of it. Saiza joins us with the story. Filling up the tank emptying out the pockets. Britains are again having to pay more for fuel. Petrol prices are up more than 3p per liter at the time of this report, while diesel has risen by 4p. That means the cost of filling up a typical family. Car in the uk has now increased, prices had supposedly bottomed out from the record highs in 22 in large part caused by the uk and other nato countries selfimposed sanctions on Russian Energy imports at the start of the ukraine war in the same year. So heres what happened this time around the value of what comes out of this little nozzle here is impacted by the price of oil on International Markets and by the value of the pound against the dollar, because oil is. In dollars, the new pump price increases have been brought about by a recent jump in the price of oil, and one reason for that can be sought in the Foreign Policy decisions by the uk and its allies in the energy rich middle east. Decisions such as supporting israels ongoing genocidal war on gaza, which has led yemens armed forces to launch attacks on israelbound ships including uk vessels. There is a rise obviously to do with the fact that the tankers are not able to go through the sewis canal because the insurance rates have gone through the roof if you try to do that, so theyre diverting the tankers around the you know cape horn um of africa and that is of course means that the shipping costs are getting higher because theres less ships available than normal and also you know transportation costs, labor and hiring the tankers. And for longer. The british chambers of commerce says more than half of the uk retailers and exporters have been affected by the disruption to the red sea trade, with a 300 increase in the price of shipping a single container from asia to europe. All this as the uk, us bombing of yemen continues, essentially adding fuel to the fire. Yemen is embracing, implementing International Law by trying to prevent a genocide. And its absolutely absurd for the uk government to go along with the us empire and actually bombing these yemen positions and uh actually as a result of that causing a situation where the cost of living is increasing in britain because of the ridiculous Foreign Policy that our politicians are embracing. So what we have here is the British Government tying the welfare of its own citizens to that of rogue regime intent on committing genocide. Saint poreza press tv. London, thats after this here on press tv everyone, thanks for tuning in and goodbye for now. This is my land and my country. It is not only. The 1948 or 1967 borders from the sea to the river, i am not ready to let go of a centimeter, israel is here like any for by the support of the europe, by the support of the United States, thats why they separate the land, well i was at the babo shams protest last week and i myself had my head banged against a bus by soldier. Illegally on illegal stolen land and they are arresting us, the palestinian. This is historical palestine. Information the first pr the successful outcome of this exercise has part of 24. Hello, im sean murray, and this is the conversation where we take an alternative look at political events and Current Affairs through annaries lands and this. Show we hope to pick, probe, investigate and uncover the stories that you want to hear, we go where mainstream wont go. This week we look at the 1981 hunger strikes and the legacy of the 10 men who died. How did this saismic event change the direction of the conflict, and what have we come to understand about its impact for gen reasons to come . My next guest is a former hunger striker who spent incredible 70 days without food. He joined the strike on the 29th of june 1981 after bobby and three other array prisoners had already died in h block prison, but before we speak to our next guest, lets get a quick overview of this weeks show