21 American soldiers were killed when the IDF suffered its biggest single day loss in Gaza at the hands of the Palestinian Resistance fighters, who killed a total of 24 soldiers of the invading IDF.
While precise number of American citizens fighting in Gaza is unknown, they are thought to be in their hundreds. Since the Israeli attack on Gaza started on 7 October, at least 10,000 people living in the US have received draft notices from the Israel army to report for duty. Many of them do have dual Israeli citizenship, making accountability for possible war crimes a tricky legal issue, despite America's Neutrality Act, dating back to the founding days of the US, making it illegal for any American citizen to take part in any foreign war, or establish a militia for that purpose. However, the Act has not been reinforced recently, as hundreds of Americans have participated in wars in Ukraine, in Libya in 2011 and, now, in Gaza.
Besides the US, foreign fighters joining the IDF come from at least five European countries, including Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. According to Italy's Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, there were some 18,000 Italian nationals working and living in Israel when the war started, among them 1,000 who work for the IDF.
Not a single Western government has, so far, taken any action to punish its citizens fighting for Israel as it carries out genocide in Gaza.
Israeli-Kurdish relationship
Israel has become the only country to openly support an independent Kurdish state, a result of good ties between Kurds and Jews.
In September 2017, Israel became the first and so far only country to openly voice support for "the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own," as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The Kurds have been and will continue to be reliable and long-term allies of Israel since they are, like us, a minority group in the region, according to Kurd-Israel analysts.
The relationship between Israel and PKK and also the Peshmerga forces of northern Iraq, is nothing new. One of the biggest supporters of Massoud Barzani's failed independence referendum in 2017 was Israel. While Israel was being established, many Jewish Kurds immigrated to Palestine. There are currently more than 200 thousand Jewish Kurds living in Israel. Mickey Levy, who was once elected as the Speaker of the Israeli Parliament, is one of them.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq has remained silent amid Israel's escalating war in Gaza. With delicate political and economic ties to the US, Israel and Iran, it's hoping to avoid being dragged into a regional conflict.
The Kurdistan Region is a pro-American island in a sea of anti-American sentiment. If the war escalates, there will be pressure on it from both sides.
The two main parties are the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the main political power lies with the KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who has studiously avoided commenting on the war in Gaza.
Although the KRG has no official ties with Israel, the two governments have economic ties and Israel has supported the establishment of an independent Kurdish state.
Should the Kurdish authorities take a pro-US and Israel tilt in the war on Gaza, Iran-backed parties in Baghdad could decide to turn up the pressure on the KRG, and for this reason the Kurds are trying to avoid taking a position.
They want to maintain a balance in the middle and appear neutral in the current war, while they will express sympathy for the Palestinians as a moral issue and consider the Kurdistan Region and its people to be uninvolved, say regional analysts.
In contrast, the Kurdistan Region's two Islamist parties -- the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and the Kurdistan Justice Group (KJG) -- have loudly condemned Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
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