'We share Israel's pain'

What does Israel’s declaration of war mean for Palestinians in Gaza?

Israeli PM says his country is at a war after deadly Hamas attacks, greenlighting a possible ground invasion of Gaza.

What does Israel’s declaration of war mean for Palestinians in Gaza? | Gaza News | Al Jazeera

Published On 9 Oct 2023 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday declared that his country was “at a war” after Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, sent dozens of its fighters into Israel in one of the deadliest attacks in decades.

“We are at war. Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war,” Netanyahu said, adding that “the enemy will pay an unprecedented price”.

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list of 4 items

list 1 of 4 Photos: Israeli strikes flatten buildings, mosques in Gaza

list 2 of 4 Photos: Israel declares state of war, attacks on Gaza intensify

list 3 of 4 ‘Where do we go?’: Gaza residents as Israel declares war, bombs homes

list 4 of 4 Israel announces ‘total’ blockade on Gaza

More than 700 Israelis, including dozens of soldiers, have been killed after Hamas fighters went on a rampage inside Israeli territory, taking many of them captive. Israel soon launched air strikes on Gaza killing more than 400 Palestinians.

Netanyahu has ordered mobilisation of more than 100,000 Israeli forces as it prepares for possible ground invasion of Gaza, which has remained under an Israeli air, land and sea blockade since 2007.

Since Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the besieged territory – home to two million people – has faced several rounds of deadly Israeli assaults. More than 2,000 Palestinians were killed in Israeli assaults in 2014. At least 73 Israelis, including 67 soldiers killed in the seven-week war.

What does the war declaration mean?

Israel has launched military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon before, without a formal declaration. The declaration now essentially greenlights Israel’s intensified military action against Hamas.

Mohammed Jamjoom, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in West Jerusalem, said the Israeli cabinet’s approval of Netanyahu’s declaration of war means: “The prime minister and the defence minister can essentially make decisions going forward without having to consult the cabinet when it comes to every specific action.”

“It essentially formalises it, legalises the war going forward,” he said.

Meanwhile, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has warned of a “dangerous” narrative about the Israel-Hamas conflict that ignores the history of violence against Palestinians.

Could a ground offensive follow?

In his war declaration, Netanyahu told Israelis: “We will bring the fight to them with a might and scale that the enemy has not yet known,” with observers suggesting a land invasion by Israel could be imminent.

On Monday, Israel said a “total blockade”, including a ban on admitting food and fuel, would be imposed on the Palestinian enclave raising concerns about the well-being of its residents who have been facing incessant bombardments in the past two days.

More than 120,000 people in the besieged Palestinian enclave have been displaced due to the intense bombardment.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, warned that the situation between Israel and the Palestinians “is going to get much worse” in the coming days, with the possibility of an Israeli ground operation coming to a head.

Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas leader, told Al Jazeera, they were ready for “the worst-case scenario”.

“We will continue to fight until we are rewarded with victory, freedom and independence,” he said.

“This is not a [hit-and-run] operation; we started an all-out battle. We expect fighting to continue and the fighting front to expand. We have one prime target: our freedom and the freedom of our holy sites,” he told Al Jazeera.

Al-Arouri said Palestinians have a right to freedom, to fight the Israeli occupation and to safeguard their holy sites.

Hamas does not recognise Israel and has been calling for Israel to end the 16-year blockade of Gaza. It wants the future Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders. Israel captured large swathes of Palestinian territories in that war.

How have other nations responded to the war?

The rest of the world does not need to recognise or respond to a declaration of war in order for war to happen. Western nations led by the US have stood in solidarity with Israel while being mute on the decades of Palestinian suffering under occupation.

The US rushed to support its ally by ordering its naval vessels the Ford carrier strike group, laden with warplanes, to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Regional countries have called for “an immediate halt to military operations in Gaza” and “the cycle of armed confrontation between the two sides” while China has urged both sides for “calm”.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Yassin Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City early Monday, October 9, 2023. [Adel Hana/AP Photo]

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Sunday met behind closed doors in an emergency session amid the war between Israel and Hamas but failed to achieve the unanimity needed for a joint statement. A statement needs to be agreed upon by consensus.

Diplomats said members led by Russia were hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, told The Associated Press that long-stalled negotiations between the two sides need to resume, whilst China’s ambassador, Zhang Jun, said it was important to come back to a two-state solution, where Israel and Palestine live side by side.

Saudi Arabia, a country that has been taking steps to normalise relations with Israel, also called for a peaceful two-state solution with an immediate cessation of the fighting.

Are all wars always officially declared?

No, since World War II, there have been very few declarations of war.

Previous assaults on Gaza and neighbouring Lebanon by Israeli forces have not been preceded by a declaration of war as is the case this time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has never declared a state of war with Ukraine, but instead referred to the 2022 invasion, that continues today, as a special military operation.

The US didn’t declare going to war in Vietnam, justifying it as helping one side in an already existing civil war. The UK also did not declare the Falklands War (against Argentina) as it was seen as an act of self-defence which is a legal right under the UN convention.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

PRESS RELEASES OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Bachelet alarmed by number of Palestinian children killed in latest escalation, urges accountability

11 August 2022

 

Bachelet alarmed by number of Palestinian children killed in latest escalation, urges accountability | OHCHR

 

GENEVA (11 August 2022) – UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet today expressed alarm at the high number of Palestinians, including children, killed and injured in the occupied Palestinian territory this year, including in intense hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza last weekend.

In the past week, 19 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territory, taking the death toll since the start of the year to 37. Seventeen children were killed during the Gaza hostilities from 5-7 August, and two more were killed on 9 August in Israeli law enforcement operations in the West Bank.

“Inflicting hurt on any child during the course of conflict is deeply disturbing, and the killing and maiming of so many children this year is unconscionable,” said Bachelet.

The civilian cost of the latest escalation in Gaza from 5-7 August was heavy. The UN Human Rights Office has verified that among the 48 Palestinians killed, there were at least 22 civilians, including 17 children and four women. The status of 22 fatalities remains undetermined. Of the 360 Palestinians reported injured, nearly two-thirds were civilians, including 151 children, 58 women and 19 older people. In a number of incidents, children were the majority of casualties.

A number of Israeli strikes hit prima facie civilian objects, causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian objects.

“International humanitarian law is clear. Launching an attack which may be expected to incidentally kill or injure civilians, or damage civilian objects, in disproportionate manner to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited. Such attacks must stop,” said Bachelet. 

In violation of international humanitarian law, Palestinian armed groups also launched hundreds of rockets and mortars in indiscriminate attacks, causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian objects in Israel as well as in Gaza. According to the Israeli authorities, a total of 70 Israelis were injured. 

While the ceasefire for the latest escalation in Gaza is holding, tensions remain very high in the West Bank, where four Palestinians were killed and 90 others were injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces on 9 August. Among those killed was a 16-year-old boy, shot by Israeli soldiers during an arrest raid in Nablus which also left 76 injured. Another 16-year-old boy was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers after some Palestinians threw stones and fireworks at them at a checkpoint in Hebron.

Bachelet said the widespread use of live ammunition by Israeli forces in law enforcement operations across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2022 has led to an alarming increase in Palestinian fatalities. The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory has this year documented the killing of 74 Palestinians, including 20 children. In many incidents Israeli forces used lethal force in a manner that appeared to be in violation of international human rights law, she added.

The High Commissioner called for prompt, independent, impartial, thorough and transparent investigations into all incidents where any person was killed or injured.

“An almost total lack of accountability persists in the occupied Palestinian territory – whether for violations of international humanitarian law by all parties in hostilities in Gaza, or for recurring Israeli violations of international human rights law and the law of occupation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including incidents of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force,” Bachelet said.

“This climate of impunity, along with the long-standing violations, drives the cycle of violence and the recurrence of violations.

“The situation in Palestine is extremely fragile, and events such as in Nablus risk igniting further hostilities in Gaza. The utmost restraint is necessary to prevent further bloodshed, including by ensuring that firearms are used strictly in compliance with international standards,” the High Commissioner said.

ENDS

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PRESS RELEASES HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Council hears from Special Representatives on violence against children and on children in armed conflict

12 March 2014

Council hears from Special Representatives on violence against children and on children in armed conflict | OHCHR

Human Rights Council
AFTERNOON

12 March 2014

The Human Rights Council this afternoon held a clustered interactive dialogue with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence and against children, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict.
 
Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence and against children, said that there had been a clear increase in the number of countries with a policy agenda to prevent and address violence.  Nonetheless, progress had been too slow, too uneven and too fragmented for a genuine breakthrough to take place.  There was clearly no ground for complacency; instead the gains which had been made ought to be consolidated.
 
Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict, said that the intensity of armed conflict had a disproportionate and intolerable effect on children.  In all countries affected by armed conflict children formed the majority, or close to majority, of the population. If nothing was done to protect them, the future of those countries was in danger.  In crisis situations education was too often viewed as a secondary need – the essential and protective role that education could play in times of armed conflict had to be recognized.
 
In the ensuing dialogue speakers commended positive results in the demobilization of children in armed conflict through the work of the United Nations, regional organizations and other actors, as well as the new Children, not Soldiers campaign.  However, deep concerns were voiced about the devastating impact of armed conflict on children as well as the increasing trend of attacks on schools and hospitals. On delegation called for a panel discussion on violence against children to be held at the next session of the Council.
 
Speakers said that sexual violence against children deserved zero tolerance, whether in peace or in war time.  States had to live up to their commitment of providing education to all children – a fundamental right – including during conflict, speakers said.  A concerted approach to encourage States to ratify and implement relevant regional and international human rights instruments was called for, and States were urged to mainstream norms for protection of children into national laws and policies.
 
Speaking in the discussion were Ethiopia on behalf of the African Group, Yemen on behalf of the Arab Group, Costa Rica on behalf of Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, European Union, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Croatia in a joint statement with Austria and Slovenia, Algeria, Austria, Estonia, Paraguay, Montenegro, United Nations Children’s Fund, Romania, Portugal, Australia, Italy, Slovenia, Georgia, Norway, Latvia, Qatar, Sri Lanka, and Azerbaijan.
China and Saudi Arabia spoke in a right of reply.
 
Tomorrow, Thursday 13 March, the Council will hold its annual Full-Day Discussion On The Rights Of The Child, starting at 9 a.m.  The Council will also hold a meeting between noon and 3 p.m. in which it will conclude this clustered interactive dialogue with the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General on violence against children, and on children and armed conflict.
Documentation
 
The Council has before it the annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais (A/HRC/25/47).
 
The Council has before it the annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui  (A/HRC/25/46).
 
Statement by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children
 
MARTA SANTOS PAIS, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, said the recently issued Global Survey on Violence against Children was the first comprehensive review of progress since the 2006 United Nations Study on Violence against Children.  The Global Survey confirmed that children’s protection from violence was gaining increasing recognition on the international, regional and national agendas.  At the international level, there was an ever-growing ratification and incremental implementation of treaties on children’s protection from violence.  In that context, the 2013 United Nations Treaty Event was devoted to the rights of the child and provided a successful platform to promote accelerated progress in the ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Child-friendly versions of those two protocols had been issued in order to promote their dissemination and understanding among young people.
 
The Global Survey Special paid attention to normative, policy and institutional developments at the national level.  There had been a clear increase in the number of countries with a policy agenda to prevent and address violence, from 47 in 2006 to more than 80 today.  Nonetheless, progress had been too slow, too uneven and too fragmented for a genuine breakthrough to take place.  The risk of violence against children remained present in every setting, including those where children should be safest – in schools, in care and justice institutions and also within their homes.  Child maltreatments, exploitative work, early and forced marriages, and trafficking in children all remained worrying and wide-spread occurrences.  Vulnerable children, including disabled and children living on the street, were at special risk of exposure to violence.  There was clearly no ground for complacency; instead the gains which had been made ought to be consolidated.
 
Violence in the community, violence associated with criminal activities and violence perpetrated in the privacy of the home were all deeply interconnected.  Violence caused fear, insecurity and harm to families and communities, and particularly to children.  One of the most important lessons of the Millennium Development Goals’ review had been that countries affected by violence tended to lag behind: in those countries, people were more likely to be malnourished and to live in poverty, rates of child mortality were huge and children were three times more likely to be out of school.  The human dignity of children and their rights to protection from violence had to be at the heart of a global effort, just as they had to be at the core of national strategies.  In the year of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child it was an opportunity not to be missed.
 
Statement by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
 
LEILA ZERROUGUI, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict, said that less than a week ago the Security Council held a public debate on the fate of children in armed conflict.  That was evidence that the fate of those children called for a reaction from the international community and should be a source of concern for it.  The intensity of armed conflict had a disproportionate and intolerable effect on children.  In Syria, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and many more countries, thousands of children were recruited, killed, raped, mutilated and forced to commit atrocities.  Because of their association with armed groups they were often detained without guarantees of a fair trial.  In all countries affected by armed conflict children formed the majority, or close to majority, of the population.  If nothing was done to protect them, the future of those countries was in danger.
 
All hope was not lost.  Some countries that had experienced similar tragedies had been able to find a way out and found peace, reconciliation and development.  At field visits that had allowed direct contact with national authorities, every opportunity had been taken with donors to mobilize support for action plans, and also political support.  The campaign Children, Not Soldiers was launched last week, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund.  It was important to continue commitments to work with non-State armed actors to put an end to serious violations against children.  Multidimensional strategies could support that comprised political, military and judicial areas of work.  In crisis situations education was too often viewed as a secondary need and everything in our power had to be done to recognize the essential and protective role that education could play in times of armed conflict.
 
Clustered Interactive Dialogue
 
Ethiopia, speaking on behalf of the African Group, noted with satisfaction the positive results achieved in terms of the demobilization of children in armed conflict, notably through the synergies of the work of the United Nations, regional organizations and other actors.  The African Group was concerned about the recruitment and use of child soldiers, killing and maiming, and violence in school.  It called for a concerted approach including ratification and implementation of relevant regional and international human rights instruments.  Yemen, speaking on behalf on the Arab Group, said juvenile justice was an important issue which was unanimously accepted by organs around the world, but its implementation had to be tailored to national conditions of every country.  It drew the Council’s attention to the proposal presented by Algeria during the session to convene a discussion on violence against children.  Costa Rica, speaking on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) deplored the fact that the progress in fighting violence against children had been slow; good governance and management of good economy required grounding in national laws and strategies.  CELAC was concerned about the devastating impact of armed conflict on children and appealed on the international community to strengthen the international humanitarian law protection.
 
European Union was particularly concerned by the increasing trend of attacks on schools and hospitals.  It raised alarming situations in Syria, and the recruitment by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Great Lakes region and armed groups in the Central African Republic.  It asked about prospects for restorative justice programmes where rule of law, juvenile delinquency and deeply rooted social norms posed a serious challenge.  Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said that as the international community considered the future global development agenda beyond 2015, violence against children should be recognized as a priority and restorative justice mechanisms should be put in place.  Pakistan urged States to mainstream norms for protection of children into national laws and policies.  It noted progress in fighting violence against children in Syria, South Sudan, Congo and Yemen.
 
Croatia, in a joint statement with Austria and Slovenia, stressed that sexual violence against children deserved zero tolerance, whether in times of peace or war.  It was a widely under-reported crime, due to the stigma associated with sexual abuse.  Croatia, Austria and Slovenia thus firmly supported the United Kingdom’s Initiative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.  States had to live up to their commitment of providing education to all children, including during the conflict.  Algeria spoke about restorative justice and said it intended to submit a draft resolution calling for a panel discussion on violence against children at the next session of the Council, in June.  It asked about operational strategies to fight the use of schools for military purposes.  Algeria noted that its minimum age for recruitment to armed forces was 18.  Austria said it placed a strong focus on diverting juvenile offenders away from the justice system, and thanked Ms. Santos Pais for valuable recommendations in that regard.  Along with Thailand, Austria proposed an inter-governmental process to elaborate practical measures to prevent violence against children in crime prevention and criminal justice.
 
Estonia said sharing expertise through practical cases, which illustrated some of abusive practices, would help better address violence against children and promote the child-interest approach.  Estonia’s Plan for Reducing Violence 2010 to 2014 aimed to stop violence against children and the actions of juvenile offenders.  Estonia was glad to see the emphasized role of the International Criminal Court and other ad-hoc tribunals for children in armed conflicts.  Paraguay expressed its concern over the six grave violations of children’s rights in armed conflict, but was pleased to see the increasing number of States parties to the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Paraguay had signed the third Optional Protocol and started the process of ratification.  It was also increasing investments in children and adolescents to seven per cent of its gross domestic product.  Montenegro saw violence against children as a growing problem, which often went unseen, unheard and unreported.  Montenegro encouraged new ideas to focus on collective actions to ensure the rights of child to live free from violence, and had undertaken many steps in that regard.  There was a need to establish a mechanism for monitoring the number of cases and scope of abuse, negligence and maltreatment.
 
Australia welcomed the launch of the Children, Not Soldiers campaign to end recruitment and use of children by Government forces by 2016 and expressed concern that 46 non-State actors still used the practice.  Australia would use its term in the United Nations Security Council to strengthen the protection framework for children affected by armed conflict.  United Nations Children Fund said it would continue to work together to end and prevent child recruitment and use both by State forces and armed groups, to support children in their reintegration into their families and communities and to stop other grave violations against children.  United Nations Children Fund subscribed to the Special Rapporteur’s eight key steps for accelerating progress in the protection of children from violence and welcomed her emphasis to place children at the centre of the post-2015 global development agenda.  Romania was deeply concerned that in many countries in the world there were still children living in exceptionally difficult conditions and that all forms of violence against children persisted on a large scale. 
 
Portugal appreciated the work on preventing and eliminating violence against children in the justice system and on developing the concept of restorative justice and its ability to rehabilitate and reintegrate young offenders.  Italy expressed concern about the spread of sexual violence committed against children in armed conflict and stressed that only the certainty of accountability for perpetrators could significantly improve their protection and dissuade armed groups from recruiting child soldiers.  Slovenia welcomed the Children, Not Soldiers campaign: although much had been achieved, children were still recruited and used by armed forces and groups.  Slovenia asked the Special Rapporteur on violence against children how the Council could contribute to her efforts to make human rights education more available to children.
 
Latvia said violence against children had serious and longstanding consequences.  It was widely understood that every interaction a child had each day influenced the actions and decisions of the adult that the child would become.  Latvia was concerned about reports on continuous attacks on schools and the use of schools for military purposes.  Qatar condemned any form of violence against children and called for an end of all such violence, nationally or internationally. It highlighted the tragic situation of children in the occupied Palestinian territories.  Sri Lanka said notwithstanding the complexities and unpredictability of the protracted terrorist conflict, it paid particular attention to safeguarding the rights and needs of children by capacity building and mainstreaming local structures and services to children and pregnant mothers in conflict-affected areas, including some areas under the control of terrorists. 
 
Georgia said numerous cases of violations of the rights of children continued in occupied regions of the country.  The occupying regime deprived local populations of their native languages and teachers that disobeyed directions were often subject to harassment by the occupying regime.  The least that could be done was to establish a human rights monitoring mechanism on the ground.  Azerbaijan said that the promotion and protection of the rights of children, particularly in armed conflict, was highly sensitive and at the same time of high importance.  Azerbaijan asked for more attention to be paid to the atrocities committed in Azerbaijan, and made reference to Armenia.  Norway said the role of regional organizations had not been mentioned in this urgent cause, and asked what role they could play in a consolidated global effort to address and end violence against children.  Education was a powerful instrument for preventing children’s interaction with armed groups.

Right of Reply
 
China, speaking in the right of reply, categorically rejected the point made today by Canada that it had sanctioned representatives of Falun Gong in relation to abducting followers and removing their organs for sale.  The Government had always seen the people who had been deceived by those sects as victims and fully protected their rights with greatest patience.  Medical institutions had to have the permission of the owners for transplantation of organs.
 
Saudi Arabia, speaking in the right of reply, responded to the statement made today by Canada on the freedom of religion.  It said its Kingdom professed the Muslim religion, and as guardians of the two most holy sites in the world, exercised that function with great care and caution.  Residents in Saudi Arabia were free to exercise their religion, including the many pilgrims and the labour-force of diverse beliefs.  They were only asked to respect the law.  It was prohibited to build places of worship other than Muslim ones, because Saudi Arabia supported more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
_________

For use of the information media; not an official record

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‘No place safe for children in Gaza’: UNICEF

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c2vdnvdg6xxt 

LIVE UPDATES,

 

Israel-Hamas war live: Al-Shifa cardiac ward destroyed – Health officials

• Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital has been caught in Israel’s ground offensive and health officials said its cardiac ward has been destroyed.
• Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has announced that al-Quds Hospital is no longer operational due to a lack of fuel and a power outage.

650 patients in danger at al-Shifa Hospital: Director general

The director general of hospitals in Gaza has warned that the lives of hundreds of patients are at risk due to the catastrophic situation at al-Shifa Hospital.

About 650 patients, including 36 children, have their lives in danger, Muhammad Zaqout said at a press conference, calling on Egypt to save their lives.

Zaqout also confirmed the presence of “about 1,500 displaced people in the al-Shifa Medical Complex,” warning that “accumulation of garbage and medical waste, lack of water, and power outages threaten everyone’s life”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied that his country has any plans to reoccupy Gaza

Games, YouTube, hugs: How Gaza mothers calm terrified kids amid Israel war

Parents are turning to the internet and WhatsApp for ways to nurture their kids’ mental health.

 

 Games, YouTube, hugs: How Gaza mothers calm terrified kids amid Israel war | Israel-Palestine conflict | Al Jazeera

Palestinian mother Sajeda Abdu and her children look at a mobile phone, as another round of violence intensifies mental health crisis for Gaza children, in Gaza City, August 9, 2022

By Aseel Mousa Published On 16 Oct 202316 Oct 2023

Gaza City – As another Israeli air raid thundered, eight-year-old Pretty Abu-Ghazzah stood shell-shocked, while her five-year-old twin brothers rushed to their mother Esraa’s arms. Pretty’s youngest sibling, aged two, cried loudly.

To escape the heavy bombardment in their neighbourhood of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Esraa brought her children to her in-laws’ house in a less-targeted area. But there is no escaping the mental health effects of the raid.

“I can’t bear to see my children trembling and their faces pale with terror. It’s too painful. Pretty vomited several times today due to panic and fear,” the 30-year-old mother said.

Making up nearly half of the 2.3 million people trapped in Gaza, children are suffering from the mental and emotional fallout of years of blockade and violence. According to a 2022 study by the non-profit Save the Children, four out of five children in the enclave grapple with depression, grief and fear.

Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, which it launched following the October 7 attacks by the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, has killed at least 2,382 Palestinians and wounded 9,714 others so far. Hamas’ attacks on Israel killed more than 1400 people.

The conflict has also left parents in Gaza scrambling to keep their kids alive and mentally healthy through what they describe as the fiercest attack they have faced in years.

After Israel cut off the electricity in Gaza last Monday, residents now live in the dark amid dwindling fuel supplies, which are needed to operate generators. Many parents use what limited internet access they have to seek advice for comforting their children on platforms like YouTube and WhatsApp support groups.

Esraa has been observing her children’s reactions to the air attacks with growing concern. In addition to vomiting, they have been suffering from involuntary urination, a symptom she said is recent and highlights heightened fear.

“None of my children had faced issues with involuntary urination before,” she said.

In the 2022 Save the Children report, 79 percent of caregivers in Gaza reported an increase in bedwetting among children, compared with 53 percent in 2018. The last Israel-Hamas war was in 2021. Symptoms like increased difficulties in speech, language and communication as well as an inability to complete tasks also increased in children since 2018.

“None of my children had faced issues with involuntary urination before,” she said.

In the 2022 Save the Children report, 79 percent of caregivers in Gaza reported an increase in bedwetting among children, compared with 53 percent in 2018. The last Israel-Hamas war was in 2021. Symptoms like increased difficulties in speech, language and communication as well as an inability to complete tasks also increased in children since 2018.

A Palestinian boy watches news on his phone at his house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, May 10, 2023 [Bassam Masoud/Reuters]

Engaging their minds

From the online resources, Esraa learned about keeping children entertained and engaged during conflict. One way was easing restrictions on screen time. “I usually limit my children’s iPad usage but given these distressing circumstances, I allow them to watch cartoons to keep themselves entertained. I make sure to keep my iPad or cellphone charged while they watch [in case of an emergency],” she explained. Esraa also reads stories to her children.

According to Palestinians in Gaza and sources at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency — the UN agency for Palestinian refugees — and Red Crescent, the Israeli Air Force has not been issuing warnings before shelling residential units, unlike during previous attacks sending families racing for their lives.

In its Humanitarian Needs Overview 2022, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that 678,000 children across Palestine need mental health and psychosocial support services. More than half of the children in Gaza are in need of such support. However, available mental healthcare has not been sufficient to address the significant need, especially during recurring times of distress. This leaves parents – who are facing their own mental health and emotional issues – to find ways to soothe their frightened children.

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Esraa recalled that her children’s playtime now often revolves around war and imitating their mother’s phone calls to loved ones. “My children look up to me and pretend to have phone conversations, asking each other: ‘What’s happening in your area?’ They mimic me when I call my family members who live in different parts of Gaza, just to make sure they are okay,” Esraa explained.

Palestinian children look at the building of the Zanon family, destroyed in Israeli air attacks in Rafah, Gaza Strip, October 14, 2023 [Hatem Ali/AP Photo]

Expressing themselves

Rawan, another mother in her 30s, said her three daughters are struggling with the reality of the violence they are confronting.

“This is the fifth war I’ve experienced as a mother and each time, I turn to YouTube and online articles to enhance my understanding of how to support my daughters during times of conflict,” Rawan said.

However, her eldest daughter is experiencing accentuated symptoms. “My daughters, Aysel, 9, Areen, 6, and Aleen, 4, are profoundly affected by the terrifying sounds of bombings, especially Aysel. She’s now old enough to understand the implications of war. She has stopped eating and drinking. I’ve also noticed an increase in her heart rate,” she said.

Aleen, too, has displayed signs of food aversion and frequent trembling due to fear, Rawan said.

To ease their anxiety, Rawan tries to engage her daughters in group games and activities.

For guidance, Rawan has been turning to YouTube and awareness messages sent by her daughters’ teachers to help mothers support their children’s mental well-being. Among such advice is to monitor children closely for signs of anxiety that they may have difficulty expressing verbally. In this situation, mothers are advised to encourage their children to express themselves creatively, through writing stories or drawing as an outlet to process their feelings.

Like many people in Gaza seeking a safe haven from the shelling, Rawan and her family spent the first three days of the Israeli attack in their home in the al-Nasr neighbourhood of Gaza City. However, after the bombings intensified near their residence, they relocated to the Nuseirat refugee camp near Deir el-Balah in the heart of the Gaza Strip.

As with Esraa’s children, the relocation has not eased the mental unrest of Rawa’s children. “They stick close to me at all times, even when I’m preparing meals. I constantly embrace and comfort them,” she said in a helpless tone.

When her daughters ask about the ongoing war, Rawan tries to divert their attention by showing them photos and videos of happier times or engaging them with games, reading together and cuddling.

Unlike Esraa, Rawan feels compelled to limit her kids’ use of mobile phones and iPads for entertainment, since these devices are essential for emergencies. She has also tried to restrict their exposure to news by turning off the television during war-related coverage.

Mental health support

Some mental health professionals have been providing free resources on social media. In a Facebook post, the Palestinian Counseling Center announced the formation of a national emergency team to provide “free psychosocial support via phone calls and WhatsApp” to those who need it. The post includes a list of names and contacts of professional mental health and social work specialists across Palestine who are available to jump on calls. The page has shared a number of tips on how to assist children under fire.

 Palestinian children, who fled their houses due to Israeli attacks, play as they shelter in a United Nations-run school, in Gaza City, October 12, 2023 [Arafat Barbakh/Reuters]

“Children are unavoidably influenced by the consequences of Israeli aggression, the rising levels of violence, the widespread dissemination of images depicting casualties and devastation, and the continuous sounds of explosions,” Muayad Jouda, a Gaza-based psychiatrist explained.

He said that children might display symptoms such as intense anger, incessant crying and prolonged fits of screaming. They may continuously discuss the ongoing war and even engage in playing games with violent themes.

Ansam, a mother of two, said that she has seen these behaviours in her two daughters, aged two and four. “I hug them and comfort them because that’s a motherly instinct and because as a mother and a human, I’m terrified. But amidst the massacres we’re living through and witnessing, mental well-being is a luxury. All we want is for them to come out alive,” she said.

If you or someone you know is in Gaza and needs mental health support, the Palestinian Counseling Center may be able to help.

This article was produced in collaboration with Egab.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks surpasses 11,100: Health Ministry

The number of deaths in the ongoing Israeli military attacks since October 7 has surpassed 11,100, including more than 8,000 children and women, the government media office in Gaza said on Sunday.

“Due to the targeting of hospitals and the prevention of entry of any of the bodies or wounded, the Ministry of Health was unable, on Saturday, to issue accurate statistics for the numbers of dead and injured during the past hours,” the media office said in a statement.

“We recall that the occupation [forces] committed more than 1,130 massacres, and the number of casualties reached more than 11,100 dead, including more than 8,000 children and women, and the number of wounded was more than 28,000,” it said.

Earlier this week, Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told a House panel that the number of those killed in Gaza is likely “higher than is being cited”.

An unidentified Palestinian man carrying an injured child away from the site of an Israeli airstrike at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images

HOME  NEWS

Why Israel's push into Gaza is killing so many children

Lila Hassan and Mattathias Schwartz  Oct 31, 2023

• Israel-Hamas violence has killed more than 3,000 children. Almost all are Palestinians hit by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
• Children account for a startlingly high share of Palestinians reported killed in Gaza — roughly 41%.
• Gaza's demography, geography, and IDF military tactics have contributed to the high death toll.

https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-gaza-hamas-civilian-casualties-children-deaths-airstrikes-palestinian-2023-10

 

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-gaza-hamas-civilian-casualties-children-deaths-airstrikes-palestinian-2023-10

 

 An unidentified Palestinian man carrying an injured child away from the site of an Israeli airstrike at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images

 

The monthlong Israel-Hamas fighting is killing children at a rate faster than almost every other armed conflict in decades.

The overwhelming majority of the children — a reported 3,542 as of October 30, as compared with more than 30 children reported killed on the Israeli side — have been Palestinians in Gaza.

The only comprehensive statistics for civilian casualties in Gaza come from the Palestinian Health Ministry, an agency of Gaza's Hamas-run government whose credibility has come under scrutiny after it blamed an explosion at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Israeli forces — a claim disputed by numerous open-source researchers and the assessment of the US intelligence community. After President Joe Biden publicly doubted the accuracy of its casualty statistics, the Health Ministry released a list that it said contained the names, ID numbers, and ages of every person killed by Israeli airstrikes. Insider was unable to verify the list, which has been endorsed by officials from the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

Out of every 10 people listed as killed by the Health Ministry, four were children. That proportion of child deaths exceeds all other recent armed conflicts, including Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Israeli warplanes have relentlessly bombarded the 25-mile-long strip since Hamas' October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, which killed an estimated 1,400 people. More than 200 people were taken hostage, including an estimated 30 children. Many were tortured.

More children killed in Gaza this year so far than in Israel and Ukraine Combined

The IDF’s bombing of Gaza has been unusually deadly for children, as compared to other recent conflicts and previous Israeli offensives.

 

Adults killed Gaza 5K

 

Children killed Gaza 3.2K

 

Adults killed Ukraine  600 

 

Children killed Ukraine 6.9K

 

 

Adults killed Israel 1.4K

 

Children killed Israel  30

Chart: Annie Fu/Insider  Source: Gaza: Gaza Ministry of Heath, Oct. 30, 2023; Ukraine: United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, Israel: Media Reports

 

More children killed in Gaza this year so far than in Israel and Ukraine Combined

The IDF’s bombing of Gaza has been unusually deadly for children, as compared to other recent conflicts and previous Israeli offensives.

On Sunday, the international humanitarian organization Save The Children said the number of children killed in Gaza in three weeks had surpassed the total number of children killed in all global conflict zones since 2019. To find a comparable death toll, one would have to go back to the Syrian civil war, which killed 27,126 children over a period of more than 10 years, or the ongoing Yemeni civil war, in which 3,774 children have died in seven years of fighting, according to the UN.

The current Israel-Hamas conflict, by comparison, is less than a month old and continues to intensify as Israel begins ground operations in Gaza. Neither Syria nor Yemen saw children accounting for such a large share of civilian deaths.

Geography, demography — and a relentless air assault

Several factors contribute to the elevated death toll among children, experts told Insider. Demographics and geography play a role — nearly half of Gaza's 2.1 million residents are 18 or younger. In addition to being one of the most densely packed areas in the world, Gaza's terrain is mostly flat, increasing the effective range of bombs and explosives.

And Hamas, which sparked this most recent round of violence with the brutal and indiscriminate October 7 attacks on Israeli civilians, operates beside and beneath an urban environment from which it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for residents to escape.

But the Israeli strategy of assailing Gaza with wave after wave of airstrikes is also to blame, according to Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. Sheltering in UN-operated refugee camps, schools, and hospitals creates risks for more civilian casualties because people are congregated in areas under attack, Shakir said.

"The intensity of the bombardment they've carried out carries a foreseeable risk to civilian harm," Shakir said. "We're seeing that at a different degree of intensity. The significant death toll is in line with the intense type of bombardment."

 

Palestinian children walking toward a destroyed home on Monday, the day after an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. Mohammed Abed

 

"The 6,000 bombs that Israel said it dropped on Gaza during the first week is an incredible number," said Brian Finucane, a former State Department advisor on the law of war, now at the International Crisis Group. "That's more than the US coalition against ISIS would drop in an entire month."

And, Finucane added, there are reasons to doubt whether Israel has an accurate picture of exactly whom those bombs are falling on. "Israel's failure to anticipate the atrocities of October 7 calls into question the quality of intelligence about any preplanned targets," he said. "Whether or not they remain lawful military objectives, and whether Israeli intelligence regarding collateral civilian harm is up to date."

'A growing stain on our collective conscience'

Children constitute 41% of the 8,525 Palestinians whom the Palestinian Health Ministry has reported killed in Gaza. On the Israeli side, the United Nations says more than 30 children were killed in Hamas' attacks.

Neither statistic has been independently verified. The UN has historically found the reporting of civil authorities in Gaza to be reliable.

UNICEF, which has called for an immediate cease-fire days before Israel expanded its ground-invasion operations in Gaza, said the "staggering" death toll of children was "a growing stain on our collective conscience."

Shortly after Biden's comments casting doubt on Palestinian casualty figures, HuffPost reported that 20 State Department "situation reports" had cited the Health Ministry's numbers internally. In one of those reports, on October 21, an official wrote that the numbers were "likely much higher," attributing the discrepancy to the UN and nongovernmental organizations on the ground.

On October 13, Israel issued an evacuation order to 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza, asking them to move south.

But those Palestinians who followed the instructions of the Israeli government and relocated to the south did not escape the threat of Israeli airstrikes. Some Israeli planes continued to target southern Gaza after the evacuation order. Among those killed were family members of Al Jazeera Arabic's Gaza bureau chief, including his wife, daughter, son and grandson; another young daughter was badly injured.

Gaza is already crowded, and Israel's evacuation orders have packed the civilian population into even smaller areas. Shakir, HRW's Israel and Palestine director, attributes much of the disproportionate effect on children to the scale of the offense in this shrinking, overcrowded space.

Israel says its attacks are highly regulated and reviewed by lawyers

In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said they were adhering to the law of armed conflict, which requires combatants to balance military necessity against the protection of civilian life. The IDF has "a highly-regulated, multi-tiered process for approving pre-planned attacks against military objectives," the spokesperson wrote, adding that military lawyers "are on hand at all levels of command to ensure that strikes comply with international legal obligations, including proportionality."

The IDF's professed adherence to international law stands in contrast to statements made during the conflict by Israel's political leaders, who have promised to deliver no-holds-barred vengeance for the Hamas attacks. "We will cripple them mercilessly and avenge this black day they have brought upon Israel and its citizens," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "Residents of Gaza, get out now. We will be everywhere and with all our might."

Yoav Gallant, Israel's minister of defense, said he was removing "all restraints" from Israel's response and characterized his targets as "human animals."

"It is an entire nation out there that is responsible," Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. "It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved. It's absolutely not true."

Herzog later said he did not mean to imply that Palestinian civilians were legitimate targets. Nevertheless, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari reportedly said airstrikes on Gaza would prioritize "damage, not accuracy."

In a follow-up email, Insider asked the IDF spokesperson whether Israel had imposed any special measures to protect the lives of children. The spokesperson said Israel was operating "in stark contrast" to "Hamas' barbaric attacks." "The IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm," they wrote, without providing specifics.

The International Criminal Court has been investigating Israel on suspicion of war crimes since 2019

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Karim A.A. Khan, said on Sunday that Israel, by impeding aid, could face further war-crime investigations. Collective punishment and starving civilians are banned by the laws of war.

"It's alarming to see the bodies of young children that could be our own children being dragged, baked in dust, still, silent, motionless because they're dead — or with injuries and blood — being rushed to medical facilities that may not have the means to fix them and give them a chance to breathe the air and see the sun of tomorrow," Khan said in Cairo. Khan's remarks appeared to suggest that Hamas as well as Israel could find themselves prosecuted by the ICC. Since 2019, the court has had an open investigation into whether Israel has committed war crimes.

 

Tahani Mustafa, the senior Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the high death toll, disabling injuries, and "undignified" ways in which children's families, friends, and neighbors had been killed in Israeli airstrikes would also cause surviving children deep psychological trauma and physical pain.

"They are seeing their entire world get destroyed," Mustafa said. Given the blockade imposed by Israel, which for a time completely stopped the flow of food and water into Gaza, and continues to cut off fuel, children are also witnessing the way they have had to store bodies, including in ice-cream trucks. This kind of trauma and violence, Mustafa said, "does nothing for political inclination for these young people."

Historically, many Palestinians who have taken up arms against Israelis "have been victims of these sorts of violence," Mustafa said. "Never mind the deep psychological trauma and physical pain. Politically, this serves neither side."

Abandoning 'roof knocks'

During past Gaza offensives, Israel sometimes warned civilians inside targeted buildings with phone calls, leaflets, or by deploying low-yield munitions on buildings in advance of a major strike, a practice known as "roof knocking." An IDF officer told The New York Times that the Israeli Air Force was too busy dropping bombs on targets to use the tactic this time. Instead of roof knocks, Israel is issuing mass evacuation orders and flyers stating that "anyone who is near Hamas fighters will put their lives in danger."

The volume of the current bombing campaign, combined with the lack of specific warnings, has killed far more children and at a much faster rate than previous Israeli offensives in Gaza. During Operation Protective Edge, in 2014, 521 out of the 1,483 civilians killed were children — 35% — according to the United Nations. That campaign went on for 50 days. Already, operating on the same terrain, the current Israeli offensive is believed to have killed more than six times the number of children in roughly half the time.

---

Lila Hassan is a freelance investigative reporter covering extremism and immigration. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mattathias Schwartz is chief national security correspondent at Insider. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Read next

News

What is happening in Israel and Gaza? A look at the war with Hamas

A look at three days of conflict after an offensive was launched from Gaza to Israel.

What is happening in Israel and Gaza? A look at the war with Hamas | News | Al Jazeera

Israel on Monday threatened to track down and punish Hamas fighters while announcing a “total blockade” of the Gaza Strip following a surprise weekend attack by the armed Palestinian group.

Here is what you need to know about the recent developments:

KEEP READING

list 1 of 4 Israel-Hamas war updates: Israeli bombing rocks Gaza through the night

list 2 of 4 ‘Israel doesn’t care about collateral damage’: Bunker busters used in Gaza

list 3 of 4 Is ‘total’ Gaza blockade a collective punishment against Palestinians?

list 4 of 4 Photos: Dozens killed and wounded in Israel air raids on Gaza refugee camps

What happened  between Israel and Hamas on Saturday?

About 6:30 am (03:30 GMT), many Israelis woke up to sirens after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said it launched 5,000 rockets in an initial barrage. Israel’s military said 2,500 rockets were fired.

The strength, sophistication and timing of the morning attack apparently surprised Israel, which has one of the world’s most high-tech intelligence set-ups. Hamas fighters crossed from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel with motorcycles, pick-up trucks, para-gliders and speed boats and attacked 22 locations.

Hamas military commander Muhammad Deif called the operation Al-Aqsa Storm. Hamas spokesperson Khaled Qadomi told Al Jazeera that the group’s military operation was carried out in response to a spate of provocations by Israeli politicians and settlers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, among Islam’s holiest sites, and to decades of violence and discrimination suffered by Palestinians at the hands of Israel.

How did Israel respond?

In response to the attack, Israel launched what it called Operation Swords of Iron, with its jets bombing the Gaza Strip.

“We are at war, and we will win,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement on Saturday. He said the military would use all of its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities. But he warned: “This war will take time. It will be difficult.”

“Get out of there now,” he told Gaza Strip residents, who have no way to leave the tiny, overcrowded Mediterranean territory of 2.3 million people, which is blockaded by Israel by air, sea and land.

Air strikes intensified after nightfall, flattening residential buildings in giant explosions, including a 14-storey tower in central Gaza City.

Israel formally declared war on Sunday and on Monday announced that it would stop the supply of electricity, food, fuel and other essential commodities to the Gaza Strip, a decision that under international law amounts to a war crime.

The eruption of violence comes at a time when Israel has been facing the biggest protests in its history against Netanyahu’s proposal to reform the Supreme Court in ways that critics say weakens the institution. He is doing so while he is on trial for corruption.

Israel’s military also faces harsh questions for the country’s worst intelligence failure in 50 years.

Operation Al Aqsa Flood: Hamas launches major offensive against Israel

What does the declaration of war mean?

Mohammed Jamjoom, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in West Jerusalem, said the Israeli cabinet’s approval of Netanyahu’s declaration of war means “the prime minister and the defence minister can essentially make decisions going forward without having to consult the cabinet when it comes to every specific action.”

“It essentially formalises it, legalises the war going forward,” he said.

The army has called up about 300,000 reservists.

Israel has hit more than 1,000 targets in Gaza as of Monday, its military said.

Israel says it's sending military reinforcements to southern Israel

What is the current situation in Gaza?

Reporting from the Israeli coastal city of Ashdod, about 35km (20 miles) from the border with Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said the enclave is enduring enormous bombardment by Israeli forces with consecutive air raids.

“It is a massive, constant bombardment,” Stratford said.

He added that there is a huge Israeli military build-up near the border of the Gaza Strip, which “would suggest that there is going to be some sort of ground invasion”.

More than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced and thousands have taken shelter in United Nations schools. Buildings, mosques and offices have been targeted in the Israeli strikes.

Officials in Gaza’s Ministry of Health said hospitals were expected to run out of fuel needed to power lifesaving equipment in two weeks.

How many people have been killed?

As of Monday, 560 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health officials, and more than 800 Israelis have also been killed, according to Israeli medical services.

Could a ground offensive follow?

In his declaration of war, Netanyahu told Israelis: “We will bring the fight to them with a might and scale that the enemy has not yet known,” and observers suggest a land invasion by Israel could be imminent.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, warned that the situation between Israel and the Palestinians “is going to get much worse” in the coming days.

Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas leader, told Al Jazeera the group was ready for “the worst-case scenario”.

“We will continue to fight until we are rewarded with victory, freedom and independence,” he said.

“This is not a [hit-and-run] operation. We started an all-out battle,” he told Al Jazeera.

Israel military drafts 300,000 soldiers

What has been the international response?

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the Ford Carrier Strike Group – which includes a host of ships and warplanes, including an aircraft carrier – to sail to the eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel.

The situation in Gaza is ‘very dangerous’

What has been the international response?

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the Ford Carrier Strike Group – which includes a host of ships and warplanes, including an aircraft carrier – to sail to the eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday about the situation. It took no immediate action on a US demand that its 15 members condemn the Hamas attack.

China’s ambassador said it was important to come back to a two-state solution, where Israel and an independent Palestine live side by side.

The European Union announced on Monday that it was “immediately” suspending hundreds of millions of euros in aid for Palestinian authorities.

Fighters with Palestinian factions in Lebanon said they are eager to open a second front against Israel if the Shia-backed group Hezbollah leads the charge.

“Wherever [Israel] is ready for [the fight] to happen, it will happen,” said Ahmed Habet, a member of the Palestinian party Fatah in Burj al-Barajneh, a refugee camp in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

 

 ‘No place safe for children in Gaza’: UNICEF

Palestinians in Lebanon disappointed that Hezbollah won’t escalate

Mat Nashed Reporting from Sabra and Shatila, Lebanon 

 

A week after a much-anticipated speech about Israel’s assault on Gaza that did not declare war on Israel, Hezbollah reiterated that message on Saturday.

While it would keep retaliating against Israeli attacks on south Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, the war with Israel would be long and victory would “take years”.

His message fell short for many Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp that sprawls out across two Beirut neighbourhoods.

“I wanted him to open up the war completely,” said Abdallah*, 25, one of the Palestinians who gathered anxiously at a sidewalk cafe in Sabra and Shatila to watch the speech.

He is one of nearly 250,000 Palestinians languishing in impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon since they were expelled from their homeland during the creation of Israel in 1948.

Read here their full story. 

Wounded treated at Nasser hospital after latest attacks on Khan Younis

 

 

Israel-Hamas war live: Al-Shifa cardiac ward destroyed – Health officials | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

Patients forcibly evicted from hospitals facing ‘inevitable death’: Minister

They're Killing Children In Gaza

The Song

Written and Recorded by the INL News Group

Verse One

The Israel Gaza War... Why is it happening ..

The Israel Gaza War...

supported by the major Western Powers..

Verse Two

All the Palestinians are having to flee from their homes

Before the Israelites drop more bombs and rockets on Gaza

All the sick are having to be moved from Gaza Hospitals

Before another Israel Rocket hits their beds..

Chorus

They're killing women and children.. In Broad Daylight..

They're killing women and children who are not even in the fight...

Two premature babies die in al-Shifa Hospital: Director

 

https://www.dni.gov › hamas_fto

 

An alternative to the Suez Canal is central to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians – Middle East Monitor

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231105-an-alternative-to-the-suez-canal-is-central-to-israels-genocide-of-the-palestinians/amp/ 

An alternative to the Suez Canal is central to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians

 Marwa A

 

A "Welcome to Egypt" sign can be seen across the Suez Canal on 30 March 2021 in Ismailia, Egypt 

 

I hate conspiracy theories and fake news. They degrade my profession as a journalist and incite fear, hate and tribulation with the deliberate intention of causing a public backlash. Naturally, there have been all sorts of speculation and rumour around the war in Gaza and the 7 October surprise Hamas attack on the occupation state.

It has been said that the attack was two years in the planning in Gaza, a tiny patch of land riddled with Zionist infiltrators and spies who cajole, bribe and threaten ordinary Palestinians to betray their comrades.

So the question many are asking, with some justification, is why there was such a catastrophic intelligence failure which meant that the attack caught the Israeli military sleeping on the job. In terms of access to eavesdropping technology and defence there is probably no better-equipped military in the world other than in the US, and the Americans maintain secret supply bases in the Zionist state. Israel’s Mossad has earned itself a reputation of being among the finest intelligence gatherers and infiltrators in the world. And yet 7 October saw Hamas fighters breach security fences, invade a music festival and local kibbutzim, and fly in on paragliders without a single challenge. How did this happen?

Some of Israel’s most brutal attacks on innocent Palestinians are made citing “national security” and Israel’s alleged right to defend itself. If it was being attacked by another nation state, fair enough. But an attack by people living under Israel’s brutal military occupation provides no such legal defence. It doesn’t exist.

READ: 41 children killed in West Bank since 7 October, charity says

A good contact and friend of mine who watches the region’s events closely told me simply: “Follow the money.” And that is how, after being nudged and pointed in a variety of directions with annoyingly vague clues, I found myself pouring over a network of paper trails that led to the National Archives, where British secrets lie unseen for at least 30 years and in some cases much, much longer.

By the time they surface, it’s usually far too late to do anything as the guilty have taken their secrets to the grave, but some disclosures do explain the terrible behaviour of governments and rogue politicians. Many of my colleagues are waiting with bated breath for the March 2030 deadline to pass to find out how the Iraq war came about, and if our suspicions about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s role are as bad as we believe.

The Ben Gurion Canal Project

 

This particular paper chase, though, took me to the origins of the Suez Canal, which opened with a grand ceremony on 17 November 1869, 154 years ago this month. Today, 10 per cent of the world’s cargo ships sail through this strategic route between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, heading to and from the Indian Ocean and connecting Europe and Asia.

Egypt owns, controls and operates the canal now, but it was once owned by French investors who held half of the canal company’s stock with Egypt’s ruler Sa’id Pasha holding most of the balance. In 1875, a cash crisis forced Sa’id’s successor, Isma’il Pasha, to sell the country’s shares to Britain. The Suez Company operated the canal until Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser tore up the concession in 1956 and transferred the canal’s operation to the state-owned Suez Canal Authority. There then followed the Suez Crisis, also known as the second Arab-Israeli war.

On the same day that the canal was nationalised Nasser also closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli ships. The crisis saw the UK, France, and Israel invade Egypt. According to pre-agreed plans prepared by Britain and France, Israel invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on 29 October 1956, forcing the Egyptians to engage its troops. This gave the excuse for the Anglo-French alliance to declare the fighting to be a threat to stability in the Middle East and enter the war, officially to separate the two forces but, in reality, to regain control of the Suez Canal and bring down the Nasser government.

What does it have to do with 7 October 2023? Well, it just so happens that Gaza is slap bang in the middle of the proposed path of a major second canal in the region.

READ: Only 27% of Israelis believe Netanyahu is suitable to head government

Gaza is currently being bombed to oblivion by the deranged Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu who wants to deliver The Ben Gurion Canal Project. Yes, Tel Aviv already has a name for the canal which was first proposed back in the Sixties. It would connect the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and would even be named after the first prime minister of Israel.

The canal would rival Egypt’s Suez Canal, causing a major financial threat to the country and this major trade artery. Remember the global trade disaster caused the huge container ship Ever Given got stuck in the famous canal in 2021? The Straits of Tiran and Suez Canal remained formally closed to Israeli vessels from the creation of Israel in 1948 and the Nakba until the Suez Crisis in 1956. When all land trade routes were blocked by Arab states, Israel’s ability to trade with East Africa and Asia, mainly to import oil from the Persian Gulf, was severely hampered. There have been other obstructions involving Israel forcing its closure in 1956-7 and 1967-75.

If it goes ahead, this new canal will be almost one-third longer than the 193.3 km Suez Canal, at around 292.9 km and an estimated cost of between $16 and $55 billion. Whoever controls the canal will have enormous influence over the global supply routes for oil, grain and shipping. With Gaza razed to the ground, it would enable the canal planners to literally cut corners and reduce costs by diverting the canal straight through the middle of the territory.

Around 12 per cent of the world’s trade passes through Suez on 18,000 ships a year, so you can imagine that a lot of countries will be lining up for a share of the deal. The Suez Canal is worth a staggering $9.4 billion to Egypt, which has enjoyed record-breaking revenues this year.

The only thing stopping the newly-revised project from being revived and rubber-stamped is the presence of the Palestinians in Gaza. As far as Netanyahu is concerned they are standing in the way of the project; a project which may earn him forgiveness in Tel Aviv for the intelligence and military shortcomings on 7 October. However, his treacherous sleight of hand will never by forgiven or forgotten by the people of Palestine given the horrors which have descended upon Gaza in the past few weeks.

READ: No evidence of Hamas seizing aid entering Gaza: US envoy

If this is all being done in the name of potential business deals then it compounds the political and diplomatic disgrace of the shameless Western governments who are complicit in the Palestinian genocide.

The biggest shame, though, belongs to Egypt. Already on the verge of bankruptcy due to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s profligacy, the emergence of a new canal would have a devastating impact on the Egyptian economy and its people. Heartless dictator Al-Sisi may come to regret putting his trust in Tel Aviv and Western governments above the interests and welfare of two million Palestinians in Gaza.

None of the Middle East leaders, Netanyahu, Biden and Sunak et al in the West emerge from the carnage in Gaza with any degree of integrity intact. Together, they are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, or at the very least are complicit in such awful crimes leading to genocide.

This didn’t all begin on 7 October; the bombing of Gaza is simply the latest stage of Israel’s slow genocide of the people of Palestine, which has now got up to speed again with the full backing of the Western sponsors of the apartheid state. If they think that killing innocent children and women will bring peace, they are deluded.

Unbridled neoliberal capitalism has destroyed many countries and killed millions of people, and peace and security have rarely been the result. I hope that the evil people responsible will burn in Hell for what they have done to the children of Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and numerous other countries around the world. The survivors need freedom and justice now.

OPINION: Like the fabled phoenix, Gaza will rise from the ashes

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Categories: Africa, Article, Egypt, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, Palestine

 

Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasralah said on Friday in his first speech since the conflict broke out last month between Israel and Hamas..

" What is happening in Gaza today is not like any other previous war...

Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P1A

... is not like any other previous war...

Israel-Hamas War - Hezbollah Leader Threatens All-Out War

In Bayrout Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah  has made his first comments on the Israel Hamas War ..

 

Nasraĺlah said Hezbollah not deterred by US warnings to stay out of war.

 

He praised Hamas for attacking Israel and talking hostages, and said his malitia are already enhaged in cross border fighting in  Israel of the Lebanon Border...

 

But he also threatened to escalate the attacks ..

Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P1b 

...  it's unlike anything that has happened before..

Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P2

.... It's not just another battle ... it's a decisive and historic one...

Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P3

.. What unfolds after it will differ significantly from what was before..

Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P4

"Regarding our Lebonese front, as some were saying: 

IsraelGazaConflictEuroNews7thNovember2023_P5

.. 'His eminence is going to announce joining the battle ....

 well we entered the battle on October 8th 2023.'

Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P6

IsraelGazaConflictEuroNews7thNovember2023_P6A

IsraelGazaConflictEuroNews7thNovember2023_P6B

Irish Independent

Fierce fighting in Gaza as US says Palestinians must govern Gaza post-war

Story by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maytaal Angel  

Fierce fighting in Gaza as US says Palestinians must govern Gaza post-war (msn.com)

Israeli forces battled Hamas militants through shell-blasted buildings in Gaza City on Thursday as some 80 countries and organisations met in Paris to coordinate humanitarian aid and find ways to help wounded civilians escape the siege.

Residents in Gaza City said Israeli were fighting Hamas and other militants and that tanks were stationed around the city. They said Israeli forces were moving closer to two hospitals where thousands of displaced Palestinians were seeking shelter.

The Israeli military said its troops had advanced into the heart of Gaza City, Hamas' main bastion and the biggest city in the Palestinian coastal enclave, while the Islamist group said its fighters had inflicted heavy losses.

Hamas' armed wing on Wednesday released a video that appeared to show intense street battles alongside bombed out buildings in Gaza City.

Israeli tanks have met heavy resistance from Hamas fighters using underground tunnels to stage ambushes, according to sources with Iran-backed Hamas and the separate Islamic Jihad militant group.

As the Israel-Hamas war enters its second month, the United States said when the war does end Palestinians must govern Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday outlined Washington's red lines and expectations for the besieged coastal territory, pushing back at Israeli comments that it would be responsible for security in Gaza indefinitely.

There should be "no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza," Blinken said at a press conference in Tokyo.

While Blinken said there may be a need for "some transition period" at the end of the conflict, but that post-crisis governance in Gaza must include Palestinian voices.

"It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority."

The Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, says the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has ruled since 2007, is an integral part of what it envisions for a future Palestinian state.

Israeli officials have clarified they do not intend to occupy Gaza after the war, but they have yet to articulate how they might ensure security without maintaining a military presence. Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza in 2005.

Israel launched its military assault on Gaza in response to a cross-border Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Palestinian officials said 10,569 people had been killed as of Wednesday, 40% of them children. Israel says 33 of its soldiers have been killed.

SEA LANES FOR AID AND WOUNDED

A conference in Paris on Thursday, attended by Arab nations, Western powers, G20 members and NGO groups such as Doctors Without Borders will discuss measures to alleviate the suffering in Gaza, but without a pause in fighting expectations are low.

"The object is really to work with all the participants and also with Israel ... to allow improved access," a French presidential official told reporters ahead of the conference 

Among the options discussed will be setting up a maritime corridor to use sea lanes to ship humanitarian aid into Gaza and see how ships could be used to help evacuate the wounded.

Thousands of Palestinian civilians trudged in a forlorn procession out of the north of Gaza on Wednesday seeking refuge from Israeli air strikes and fierce ground fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.

The exodus took place during a four-hour window announced by Israel, which has told residents to evacuate encircled northern parts of Gaza or risk being trapped in the violence. But the central and southern parts of the enclave also came under fire again.

Huge numbers of displaced people from among Gaza's 2.3 million population are already crammed into schools, hospitals and other sites in the south.

Thousands of others remain in the north, including at Gaza City's main Al Shifa hospital.

Israel has blamed Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza, saying that it is using them as human shields and hiding arms and operations centres in residential areas.

"As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue to rise due to intensified hostilities, intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious diseases," the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.

WHO said that more than 33,551 cases of diarrhoea had been reported since mid-October, the bulk of which was among children aged under five.

Macron calls on Israel to stop killing Gaza's women and babies

Macron calls on Israel to stop killing Gaza's women and babies - BBC News

By Katya Adler & Toby Luckhurst BBC News, Paris

 

Israel must stop killing babies and women in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron has told the BBC.

In an exclusive interview at the Élysée Palace, he said there was "no justification" for the bombing, saying a ceasefire would benefit Israel.

While recognising Israel's right to protect itself, "we do urge them to stop this bombing" in Gaza, he said.

But he also stressed that France "clearly condemns" the "terrorist" actions of Hamas.

 

France - like Israel, the US, the UK, and other Western nations - considers Hamas a terrorist organisation.

When asked if he wanted other leaders - including in the US and the UK - to join his calls for a ceasefire, he replied: "I hope they will."

After a month of Israeli bombardment and nearly two weeks after Israel launched a major ground offensive into the territory, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that 11,078 people had been killed, while 1.5 million had fled their homes.

Israel says it attacks military targets in line with international law and takes steps to reduce civilian casualties, like issuing warnings ahead of strikes and calling on people to evacuate.

Speaking the day after a humanitarian aid conference in Paris about the war in Gaza, Mr Macron said the "clear conclusion" of all governments and agencies present at that summit was "that there is no other solution than first a humanitarian pause, going to a ceasefire, which will allow [us] to protect... all civilians having nothing to do with terrorists".

"De facto - today, civilians are bombed - de facto. These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop."

He said it was not his role to judge whether international law had been broken.

'We share Israel's pain'

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded quickly to Mr Macron's comments, saying nations should condemn Hamas, not Israel.

"The crimes that Hamas [is] committing today in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York and anywhere in the world," a statement from Mr Netanyahu's office read.

In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the first day of an annual Paris Peace Forum, President Macron also discussed:

• Fears of violence spilling over from the Middle East into France, urging citizens of all faiths to be "united against antisemitism"
• Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying it was France's "duty" to help Ukraine - but suggesting there may come a time for "fair and good negotiations" with Moscow
• Extremism online, saying Facebook's parent company Meta and Google "just don't deliver" on moderation
• And the dangers of climate change, saying it was pushing people around the world toward "terrorism".

Starting by discussing Gaza, Mr Macron said France "clearly condemns" Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October which sparked the war. Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage in its unprecedented cross-border assault it launched that day.

"We do share [Israel's] pain. And we do share their willingness to get rid of terrorism. We know what terrorism means in France." But he said there was "no justification" for the ongoing bombing of civilians in Gaza.

"It's extremely important for all of us because of our principles, because we are democracies. It's important for the mid-to-long run as well for the security of Israel itself, to recognise that all lives matter."

When asked, he refused to say that Israel had broken international law in Gaza. "I'm not a judge. I'm a head of state," he said, adding it would not be right to criticise Israel in this way - "a partner and a friend" - just a month after it was attacked.

 

But Mr Macron said he disagreed that the best way for Israel to "protect [itself] is having a large bombing of Gaza", saying it was creating "resentment and bad feelings" in the region that would prolong the conflict.

Israel has said it will start daily four-hour military pauses in parts of northern Gaza as it continues its offensive. Its defence minister however stressed the pauses would be "localised" and would "not detract from the war fighting".

Condemn antisemitism 'without ambiguity'

Ahead of a march against antisemitism on Sunday which a large section of France's political class will attend, President Macron called on all French citizens to condemn antisemitic acts "without ambiguity".

He said France had probably Europe's biggest Muslim community and a big Jewish community too, and with France and the rest of Europe seeing a big rise in antisemitism, all French citizens had to be united against antisemitism, and had to "share the pain or the compassion of Palestinians".

Analysis: Macron condemns rising antisemitism and Israeli bombing of civilians

Mr Macron then moved on to other global issues, including Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

He said if Russia were allowed to win its war, "you will have a new imperial power" in Europe, that could threaten other former Soviet states like Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the whole continent.

"Because, definitely, it's imperialism and colonialism that Russia is doing [in Ukraine]," he said.

The French president said it was the "duty" of his country and all countries to support Ukraine in its defence. But he also said the next month would be critical, as it struggles to retake lost land in counteroffensive operations.

He said it was "not yet" time for Ukraine to come to the table, and stressed the decision to negotiate was Kyiv's alone. But he added there may come a time to "have fair and good negotiations, and to come back to the table and find a solution with Russia".

Mr Macron also discussed online extremism - a key topic at the Paris Peace Forum. He singled out Facebook's parent company Meta and Google, saying the companies "simply don't deliver" on promises they made to moderate hate speech on their platforms.

He said many online platforms lacked sufficient moderators for French language content, calling it a "shame", and promising to "push them" on the issue - although he said TikTok had improved the number of moderators for its French language content.

And he said that climate change was causing terrorism in parts of the world, specifically mentioning the effects of global warming in lower water levels at Lake Chad in West Africa.

"As a consequence of climate change, a lot of families living as fishermen [suffered]... A lot of species just disappeared. And it created politics [that] pushed a lot of people to terrorism."

But when asked if he ever felt depressed by the sheer number of issues facing the world, Mr Macron said he saw it as "a chance and an honour to have responsibilities [as head of state]".

"We need international cooperation [to tackle global issues]... This is a unique chance."

More on Israel-Gaza war

• Follow live: Latest updates
• From Gaza: 'Most of the children in my family photo are dead'
• From Israel: How much closer is Israel to its goal in Gaza?
• Explained: The faces of hostages taken from Israel
• History behind the story: The Israel-Palestinian conflict

THE END OF GAZA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBOURHOOD

 The end of Gaza's most beautiful neighbourhood (bbc.co.uk)

By Alice Cuddy | BBC News, Jerusalem

Around noon on Friday 20 October, the residents of the upscale Gazan neighbourhood of al-Zahra stood in front of the rubble and dust that used to be their homes. 

Fridays were supposed to be special: the Islamic day of prayer marks the start of the weekend and in al-Zahra it meant falafel and hummus, coffee and tea, all served in spacious family apartments or villas by the Mediterranean Sea. Residents here knew they were luckier than most in Gaza.

But overnight, Israeli bombs had flattened 25 apartment blocks, home to many hundreds of people. Israel had been bombing Gaza for days in response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October, but al-Zahra had not been hit until now. 

Some of those who lived here - among them doctors, lawyers, academics, fashion designers and entrepreneurs - tried to stay and survive in the ruins, but most packed up what little they could salvage and dispersed across the Gaza Strip. 

Hana Hussen, who grew up in al-Zahra, followed the news with horror from hundreds of miles away in Turkey, where she had moved two years ago. In a hurried phone call that day, she rang her family to check they were safe. 

She told them she loved them.

Then the line went dead.

OVERNIGHT, ISRAELI BOMBS HAD FLATTENED 25 APARTMENT BLOCKS, HOME TO MANY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE.

The residents of the destroyed apartment blocks had been sheltering from the bombs in a nearby university thanks to the efforts of local dentist Mahmoud Shaheen who led a mass evacuation of his neighbours. The BBC told the story earlier this week of how he received a dawn phone call from an Israeli intelligence agent warning him that the blocks would be bombed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told us it was “unable to answer specific operative questions” when asked about its decision to strike al-Zahra’s residential blocks. Hamas was attacking Israel from across the Gaza Strip and had “embedded itself in civilian infrastructure”, it added. It has not named any Hamas operative killed in the strikes on al-Zahra, and it is believed that nobody died. 

Israel says its strategy has been to root out Hamas which it accuses of operating in the heart of civilian communities - and that it takes steps to mitigate civilian casualties, such as the phone call we reported Mahmoud had received instructing him to evacuate the neighbourhood.  

The agent who had called the dentist also told him: “We see things you do not see.” 

Mahmoud’s neighbours may have escaped alive but they did not all survive what was to come. 

The BBC has spent two weeks talking to several families from the area, both established residents as well as younger, ambitious newcomers. 

They told us about how they had grabbed whatever they could from their homes, watched those homes explode in front of their eyes, and then dispersed around Gaza to an uncertain fate. From makeshift shelters and temporary homes across the strip, residents wanted to tell the story of the life and demise of a neighbourhood they loved.

Our communications have been over broken calls - sometimes with bombs sounding in the background - and sporadic WhatsApp messages. People cut conversations short to run or seek shelter. In some cases, we have lost contact for days at a time.

After a recent communications blackout during intense Israeli strikes on the strip, one al-Zahra resident eventually left a short message: “Thank you for asking. We are still alive.”

Our conversations show that not everyone who left al-Zahra survived. Among those reported killed are a young body-builder from a local gym whose last words to a friend, according to social media posts, were: “It’s all gone.”

The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, over a third of them children. 

The Gaza Strip is densely populated with high levels of poverty and tight controls on entering and leaving. But al-Zahra was a neighbourhood of large homes and bright outdoor spaces, of groves with almonds and figs, of sports grounds and parks. 

Al-Zahra was established in the 1990s by the late Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat as a place for staff and supporters. Locals say it still had strong connections with the PA, which is based in the occupied West Bank and is a bitter rival of Hamas.

It sits just north of the Wadi Gaza river - a point that Israel ordered civilians to move south of on 13 October. This followed days of bombing, Israel’s response to hundreds of Hamas gunmen rampaging across the border killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians including many children, and taking more than 200 hostages. The brutality of the attacks in southern Israeli villages and the massacre of young people gathering at a music festival has traumatised the nation. 

Everyone we spoke to insisted that, to their knowledge, this area was as far removed from Hamas and its operations as it is possible to be in Gaza, which Hamas has ruled since 2007. “There was no military here,” one told us. “I don’t even think there were Hamas supporters living here.”

For Nashwa Rezeq, who had lived in al-Zahra for 18 years, it was the “greatest city of all”.

Heavily involved in neighbourhood committees and a local youth council, Nashwa has also been one of the keepers of a community Facebook group for more than a decade. If you ask her about a particular resident, she is likely to know them and perhaps even their phone number.

The Facebook page has about 10,000 followers. On the eve of the war there were posts about a billiards tournament at a local cafe and a message of congratulations to a graduating student.

Now the Facebook group is where they share updates on the destruction of their neighbourhood and mark the deaths of those who lived there. It has never before kept Nashwa this busy. 

A recent post mourns a family killed in a strike that hit their Italian restaurant. 

When war was declared, Nashwa headed south with her husband and four children, as the family always did during escalations. She gave her neighbour a key, asking them to tend her beloved house plants while she was gone. 

Two days after the first bombings, her own building - the tallest in al-Zahra - was destroyed at dawn.

“Somebody called me and said ‘I just walked by your tower and it’s all on the ground’,” she recalls. 

She describes her fifth-floor home as being “very big and spacious”. Her family bought it and improved it over the course of a decade - they had recently bought a new air conditioning unit, a television and furniture. 

“A lot of people say it’s only money, but to me my home was my soul.”

Now in southern Gaza, she says her family are still in danger. “Three days ago, they bombed the house next to us. The smoke from that bombing suffocated us.”

Nashwa Rezeq with her son

“A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY IT’S ONLY MONEY, BUT TO ME MY HOME WAS MY SOUL.”

Her children keep asking why they couldn’t have brought the new air conditioning unit and television with them when they fled al-Zahra. They also keep asking when they can go home and collect their toys.

For Nashwa, it’s her houseplants: “I loved all of them.”

University professor Ahmed Hammad, who lived in a building close to Nashwa, was another established member of this community. He was one of those who chose to stay after the strikes.

A media and communications professor in his 50s at a university to the north of the neighbourhood, Ahmed is eager to send his research papers to us and talks proudly about his six children, aged eight to 27.

“One of them is a dentist, one of them works in IT, one of them studied English literature at university. The other three are still at school,” he says.

When we spoke on the phone last month, Ahmed and his family were sheltering at their al-Zahra home, now without doors or windows. No longer able to go to work or school, they spent their time searching for wood to burn so they could cook. They stayed as they were too frightened to evacuate, worrying that they would be caught in strikes while moving south.  

But on the night of 27 October, Israel intensified air strikes and expanded its ground operations - and we lost contact with Ahmed. Days later, he got in touch to say they had left their neighbourhood after a “very, very tough night” and even worse morning.

He describes dodging “continuous bombing” on the journey south.

“Every time a bomb landed, we lay on the ground.”

HE DESCRIBES DODGING CONTINUOUS BOMBING ON THE JOURNEY SOUTH.

Back in Turkey, Hana stayed glued to her phone waiting for an update from her family.

As she waited, she told us stories about what she called “the most beautiful, warmest place in the world”. 

Residents of al-Zahra congregated on the beach and filled the main street leading there at sunrise and sunset. On Fridays, Hana and her friends would go there to share jokes and stories from the week, she says.

In a sign of how much the war changed life here, Hana says that she started receiving “haunting” messages from those same friends - one asking if Hana would look after her children if she died, others asking for advice on “alternative options for feminine hygiene products”. Another wished they had clean water to drink. 

After many days of waiting, Hana finally made contact with her family, including her brother Yahya, who she describes as her soulmate.

Yahya was among a new generation of entrepreneurs in al-Zahra. The 30-year-old fashion designer prefers to talk about his former life instead of his current overcrowded accommodation just south of the neighbourhood, where he walked with his family over several hours after their home was destroyed. 

He remembers the sound of birds as he looked out over the neighbourhood from the roof of his family’s apartment building.

 

“OUR HOME IS THE STREET NOW. EVERYTHING WAS DESTROYED.”

People often posted videos from al-Zahra’s rooftops. Some show spectacular colours as the sun set.

“All those things made us feel delighted,” Yahya says via WhatsApp.

Listing some of his favourite things about his neighbourhood, Yahya writes in a string of messages: “The lights at night. The sea. It’s a peaceful and elegant city.”

Now, he sometimes ends WhatsApp conversations abruptly. “Can I go now because ther [sic] bomb near of me,” he says in one message.

He left al-Zahra with two bags containing an iPad, documents, a hoodie, a water bottle, his passport, chocolate, and a first aid kit. He was forced to leave his intricately crafted designs - his fabrics, dresses and skirts - behind. 

Cousins Ali and Mohamed, 25, are also young entrepreneurs in the city, and had busy jobs in al-Zahra as a pastry chef and cafe owner respectively. Both lived in the row of buildings destroyed on 19 and 20 October. 

They had invested a lot of money in building a life there. Ali got married earlier this year, and spent $6,000 on new furniture that was being kept at the family home, where he and his pregnant wife were staying. 

His family moved here from Gaza City during the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel, thinking it was “the safest place“ to be.

Last month they prepared bags with two sets of clothing in, ready to grab if they needed to flee. “One bag for my mum, one bag for my brother, one bag for my wife,” he says.

On 19 October, the family picked up those bags and left everything else behind. When bombs hit their building, Ali says all of the losses were doubled - he and his wife’s new furniture was destroyed alongside his parents’ possessions. Two fridges, two washing machines, two sofas.

Mohamed says his dad had only recently made the final payment on their home, when they too evacuated that night. “He finished the payment for the flat and now the flat is gone,” he says.

He now spends his days looking for water: “There is no time to rest.” 

He misses the cafe he ran on the grounds of the university, with its pool table and painting of US rapper Tupac Shakur on the wall. He misses going to the gym every day. But mostly he misses his friends. “We’d be joking, laughing. We’d sit together until midnight.”

Journalist Abdullah al-Khatib says his extended family also lost four homes in the strikes. 

He says his son keeps asking when he’ll be able to go home and play with his friends in the park. But he may never be able to return.

“Our home is the street now. Everything was destroyed,” he says.

Mahmoud, the dentist who took the evacuation call, is now volunteering at a medical centre in central Gaza.

“I smell the most horrible smells. You are not washing and there are 130 people with you,” he says.

Mahmoud says he feels fortunate to have enough money for the inflated prices of everyday items. One of Mahmoud’s close friends has remained in a villa in al-Zahra, and the dentist recently sent flour to him so he could make bread. 

But those same items are in increasingly short supply.

“Today I went to all the shops looking for lentils… and I don’t want to exaggerate, I entered at least 40 shops to ask for lentils and I couldn’t find any,” he says. “One shopkeeper told me, ‘Don’t waste your time.’”

Mahmoud says he hopes to go back to al-Zahra after the war is over. “I hope God will let us survive and then we will try to fix things.”

The IDF says Hamas continues to operate from across the Gaza Strip. It added: “As part of the IDF's mission to dismantle the Hamas terrorist organisation, the IDF has been targeting military targets across the Gaza Strip. Strikes on military targets are subject to relevant provisions of international law, including the taking of feasible precautions to mitigate civilian casualties.”

Hana last went to al-Zahra five months ago, not knowing it would be the last time she would see her home.

“If I had known, I would have… bade farewell to the walls of my room, which I love, and which have witnessed moments of joy and sorrow in my life. 

“I would have taken many of my belongings that carry memories of dear moments,” she says.

“They left us with nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“THEY LEFT US WITH NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

More on Israel-Gaza war

• From Israel: Pain still raw a month after Hamas attacks
• Kibbutz Be’eri: Hamas attack captured by mothers’ WhatsApp group
• Watch: The devastating effects of war on Gaza’s children
• More on al-Zahra: Gazan tells BBC about most terrifying call of his life
• Explained: Who are the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel?
• History behind the story: The Israel-Palestinian conflict

EXPLAINER News|Israel-Palestine conflict

What has the UN done and said on the Israel-Palestine conflict?

The UN’s chief is at the centre of diplomatic tension with Israel, but all sides have been critical of the global body’s struggles in the continuing conflict.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/25/what-has-the-un-done-on-the-israel-palestine-conflict

While the UN chief has made diplomatic efforts to de-escalate violence, the UN does not have a comprehensive method to enforce international law [Mohammed Asad/AP]

Published On 25 Oct 202325 Oct 2023

 

Israel and the United Nations are locked in a bitter spat, after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday night said that the Hamas attacks of October 7 “did not happen in a vacuum”.

Guterres’s comments, at a UN Security Council meeting., sparked outrage from Israel, whose ambassador, Gilad Erdan asked the UN boss to resign, accusing Guterres of justifying terrorism. Israel has since said it will refuse visas to UN officials.

While Guterres condemned the Hamas attacks, he added, “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

So what has the UN’s role been in the war that broke out on October 7? Here’s a snapshot:

Diplomatic:

• Tuesday’s Security Council meeting was not the first time Guterres demanded a ceasefire in the region.
• On October 7, Guterres condemned the Hamas attacks. He expressed concern for the civilians and urged that all diplomatic efforts are made to avoid an escalation of violence.
• He repeated this on October 9, appealing to end “the vicious cycle of bloodshed, hatred and polarisation.”
• He further urged both sides and other bodies that are involved on October 11 to avoid further conflagration. He also called for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
• He reiterated his appeal for the release of hostages and additionally requested that Israel allow humanitarian aid access into the Gaza Strip on October 15, adding that these actions should not become bargaining chips.
• On October 18 after the bombing of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in the region, condemning the collective punishment of Palestinians. On October 20, the UN chief visited the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
• Tuesday marked the fourth meeting of the UN Security Council, where 15 ambassadors of countries convened to discuss the violence that escalated starting October 7.
• Two resolutions proposed in these four meetings have failed: the first one was proposed by Russia which did not get enough votes whereas the second one drafted by Brazil was vetoed by the US.

Refuge

• Thousands of Gaza residents have fled their homes and have sought refuge in 64 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools.
• Due to their affiliation with the UN, these schools were considered safe spaces for refuge.
• However, schools are no longer safe. According to UNRWA, at least several schools in Gaza have suffered damage from Israeli bombing.

Aid

• The UN’s World Health Organization has been involved in getting medical supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip through the Rafah border.
• But the aid entering Gaza is not enough for the residents, experts have said, and has been facing delays since Israel is inspecting it.
• The aid does not include fuel and the fuel shortage is especially alarming as it threatens the functioning of hospitals and UNRWA in Gaza.
• Guterres has called the aid “a drop of aid in an ocean of need”.

International law

• Guterres has said on multiple occasions that international humanitarian law was being violated in the war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas.
• These statements have been echoed by several world leaders.
• China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that while every country has the right to self-defence, they should adhere to international law and protect civilians.
• Chilean President Gabriel Boric echoed this while condemning the Hamas attack.
• In a statement, Venezuela said the conflict is a result of Palestinian people being unable to find their space in international law, urging the UN to fulfil its role as the guarantor of international peace.
• The UN has not yet devised a comprehensive way to enforce international humanitarian law and has had a poor track record of success.
• There is also a history of the US blocking UN resolutions critical of Israel through its veto power.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

 

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  • 90-year-old Nakba survivor displaced from her home in Gaza City

    About 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced by the Israel-Hamas war over the past month, according to the United Nations.

    They include a 90-year-old woman who survived the Nakba, the name given to the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948.

    She walked 5km (3 miles) on foot to seek shelter from Israel’s air and ground attacks in northern Gaza.

     

     

     
  •  

    Number of arrests at London’s pro-Palestinian, right-wing protests rises to 126

    London’s Metropolitan Police has raised to 126 the number of people arrested during Saturday’s “National March for Palestine” and right-wing counter-demonstrations.

    Police said most of those arrested were right-wing protesters who gathered to oppose the pro-Palestinian march taking place on Armistice Day, which commemorates British soldiers killed in World War I and subsequent conflicts.

    Violent clashes broke out between police and far-right demonstrators near the Cenotaph war memorial in the capital.

    Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the violence demonstrated by the right-wing protesters was “extraordinary and deeply concerning.”

    Twist said a group of about 150 people wearing face coverings had also broken away from the main pro-Palestinian march and fired fireworks that hit officers, leading to several arrests.

    He said police were also investigating a small number of hate crimes and incidents of supporting proscribed organisations.

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the “violent, wholly unacceptable scenes” involving the right-wing counter-protestors as well as “Hamas sympathisers” at the main rally “signing antisemitic chants and brandishing pro-Hamas signs and clothing on today’s protest”.

     
  •  

    Attacks intensify in northern Gaza

     

    

     
  •  

    It’s 12:45am (22:45 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, so let’s bring you up to speed with the latest developments:

    • Israeli tanks are just 20 metres (65 feet) away from al-Quds Hospital and firing at the facility with about 14,000 displaced people sheltering inside.
    • Al-Shifa Hospital’s director says two premature babies have died after being taken out of incubators because of power outages. He says the medical complex is “completely cut off, any moving person targeted” by Israeli forces.
    • Israeli troops conducted a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. At least one person was killed while another was shot dead in Arraba, a nearby town, according to the health ministry.
    • Arab and Muslim leaders concluded an emergency summit of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation where they condemned Israeli “aggression” on Gaza and demanded a ceasefire.
    • In his second speech since October 7, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the armed group used new types of weapons and struck new targets in Israel, and pledged the front against Israel would “remain active”.
    • Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of London demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
    • At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. In Israel, after a downward revision, the death toll now stands at more than 1,200. 

       

  •  

    The world’s television screens, newspapers and online media have been filled with pictures of Israel’s war on Gaza.

    Modern technology means there’s more media coverage than ever before but some of it has been criticised – by journalists themselves. Hundreds of them have signed a letter accusing Western media of biased reporting of the Gaza war.

    Are the allegations fair?

     

     
     

    US not utilising leverage over Israel ‘effectively’: Analyst

     

    Sahar Khamis, a professor at the University of Maryland, says there has been growing sentiment in the US to save the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.

    “Atrocities” being committed by Israeli forces are now available for everyone to see on social media, she noted.

    But despite growing pressure, the Biden administration has not responded in a way that is “firm, decisive, strong, or satisfactory to meet these demands”, Khamis said.

    While the US has leverage over Israel, it is not being used “sufficiently or productively” to put an end to Israel’s attacks, she added.

    Her comments come as diplomats in the US State Department have been criticising US policy on the war on Gaza. 

     

    In Pictures: From Paris to Karachi, protesters rally in support

    Across the world, demonstrators call for an immediate ceasefire and urgent humanitarian action in Gaza.

    Major cities, including New York, London, Paris, Baghdad, Karachi, Berlin and Edinburgh, witnessed large marches on Saturday.

    See all the images here.

    

     

     
     

    Five Israeli soldiers killed in heavy fighting: Military

     

    The Israeli army says five soldiers were killed during battles in the Gaza Strip.

    The Israeli Ynet news website cited a military statement saying four soldiers were killed in a booby-trapped tunnel in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza while the fifth died in fighting elsewhere.

    The number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of ground operations on October 27 rose to 43.

    The army is facing fierce battles from armed Palestinian groups in different areas across Gaza.

    

     
     

    ‘Don’t make the mistake’: Netanyahu warns Hezbollah

    Israel’s leader issued a stark warning to Lebanon’s Hezbollah after the defence minister did the same earlier in the day.

    “Don’t make the mistake of going to war. That would be the mistake of your life… Your entry into the war will seal the fate of Lebanon,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.

    Hezbollah leader Nasrallah earlier said the armed group used new types of weapons and struck new targets in Israel, and pledged the front against Israeli would “remain active”.

     

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   Arab-Islamic summit rejects justifying Gaza war as Israeli self-defence | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

   

  Published On 11 Nov 202311 Nov 2023

  An Arab-Islamic summit hosted by Saudi Arabia called for an end to the war in Gaza and rejected justifying Israel’s actions against Palestinians as self-defence.

  The summit on Saturday condemned “Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, war crimes and barbaric and inhumane massacres by the occupation government”, a final communique said.

  It also called for an end to the siege on Gaza, allowing humanitarian aid into the enclave and halting arms exports to Israel, following the meeting in Riyadh.

  The leaders demanded that the UN Security Council adopt “a decisive and binding resolution” to halt Israel’s “aggression” in Gaza.

  Originally, only the 22 members of the Arab League were expected to participate, but the meeting was later expanded to include the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a wider association of 57 mostly Muslim-majority states to which the Arab League countries belong.

  Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said that without consensus among the summit attendees, its outcomes are useless.

  “People do understand that the Israelis don’t really care about what is happening at this summit between the OIC and Arab League leaders. When you look at the communique you get a sense that the Arab and Muslim leaders do not have a mechanism to push a ceasefire and humanitarian corridor,” Ahelbarra said.

  “This summit was just for the sake of a semblance of unity … in the Arab and Muslim world. It’s a watered-down statement. Not all Arab leaders decided to attend this summit because of the huge differences and divisions among the key players of the summit. That’s why they put this vaguely worded statement for public consumption,” he added.

  In the opening remarks, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) called for an immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza and the release of all captives and prisoners.

  “This is a humanitarian catastrophe that has proved the failure of the international community and the UN Security Council to put an end to Israel’s gross violations of international humanitarian laws, and prove the dual standards adopted by the world,” he said.

  “We are certain the only cause for peace is the end of the Israeli occupation and illegal settlements, and restoration of the established rights of the Palestinian people and the establishment of the state on 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” MBS added.

  Turkish President Recep Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel was taking revenge on Gazan babies, children and women, as he renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire.

  “What is urgent in Gaza is not pauses for a few hours, rather we need a permanent ceasefire,” he added. “We cannot put Hamas resisters defending their homeland in the same category as the occupiers.”

  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas highlighted that besides Gaza, Israeli forces’ raids in the occupied West Bank have also escalated and called on the United States to put an end to “Israel’s aggression, the occupation, violation and desecration of our holy sites”.

  “No military and security solutions are acceptable as they have all failed. We categorically reject any efforts to displace our people from Gaza or the West Bank,” Abbas added.

  Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani questioned for how long the international community will treat Israel as if it is above international law.

  “The international world remains immune in front of all these scenes. Who could have imagined that hospitals could be publicly shelled in the 21st century?” he asked.

  ‘A unified collective position’

  Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the joint Arab League and OIC meeting was being held “in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in the Palestinian Gaza Strip as countries feel the need to unify efforts and come out with a unified collective position”.

  The OIC includes member states from across the Islamic world, including the Palestinian territories’ neighbours Egypt and Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

  Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt, emphasised that the policy of “collective punishment” by killing, siege and forcible transfer, is unacceptable.

  “This cannot be interpreted as self-defence and must be stopped immediately”.

  With Iran repeatedly warning that the scope of war will expand if Israel does not stop its attacks, President Ebrahim Raisi also attended the meeting in Riyadh, marking the first visit by an Iranian president in 11 years.

  “Blind bombardment against Gaza must stop,” Raisi said, adding that “Islamic governments should designate the army of the occupying and aggressor regime [Israel] as a terrorist organisation”.

  Raisi highlighted that Washington is supporting Israel in the United Nations and vetoes resolutions that prevent the killing of Palestinians.

Caitlin Johnstone Caitlin Johnstone Nov 12 What Would It Look Like If You Were Standing On The Wrong Side Of History?

 

Caitlin Johnstone What Would It Look Like If You Were Standing On The Wrong Side Of History? Caitlin Johnstone Nov 12 Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): What would it look like to be on the wrong side of history? If there were a mass atrocity taking place presently which history will end up judging harshly in the future, and you were supporting the wrong side of it, what signs might you expect to see that that’s the case? Well, I imagine you’d probably be seeing terrible news about what’s happening coming out every day that under normal circumstances would cause you to cry out in horror, but then you’d be getting a bunch of words and stories from your side explaining why those self-evidently terrible things are actually not what they appear to be. If you found out thousands of children were being violently killed by your side in this mass atrocity, for example, you’d normally view that information as self-evidently terrible by itself, but then a bunch of narrative framing would come in explaining to you why that information isn’t damning for your side. Blame for the deaths of those children would be placed on other parties. If your side was undeniably responsible for their deaths, their deaths would be framed as accidental tragedies which are the unavoidable consequence of military action, and are still indirectly attributable to the actions of the other side. You’d see the raw data of what’s happening, and then an overlay of narrative would be rolled out on top of what you’re seeing to alter your perception of that data. And every time, the unaltered data would make your side look bad, while the data filtered through the narrative overlay would make your side look much better. Over and over again you’d see this take place: information which at a glance makes it look like you’re on the wrong side of history, then a deluge of narratives helping you to understand that your eyes deceived you at first actually, and you’re on the right side of history after all. Day after day after day this would happen: new terrible information that would normally make you feel bad about your position, followed by narrative framing which makes you feel better about your position. We may be sure we could expect to see this because we live in a civilization that is dominated by narrative control. Powerful manipulators figured out a long time ago that because human consciousness is dominated by mental stories, if you can control the stories in their heads, you can control the humans. They do this via propaganda and spin, with the wealthiest and most powerful people having the ability to exert the most control over the dominant narratives in our society. In a sense this leaves us living in two worlds: the real world and the narrative world. The world of unfiltered sensory input controlled by no one, and the world of easily-manipulated mental stories controlled by the rich and powerful. Maturity is waking up out of the narrative world and learning to perceive reality as it’s actually happening. Because the powerful are continuously working to insert narratives about the world into our minds and manipulate our stories about what’s happening, it’s a safe assumption that if something terrible was being done by powerful people and we were on the wrong side of it, we’d be experiencing a continuous feed of narratives readjusting our perception and understanding of the thing that is happening. This would ensure that we remain supportive of the agendas of those powerful people, even if it leaves us on the wrong side of history. Anyway, that’s just something to keep in mind in case you see anything like that happening in the future. Or who knows? Maybe even in the present. “It has paved the way for Israel to kill more, to bombard more and to shell more.” Hold Israel ‘accountable’ Israel has not relented in its attacks on the Gaza Strip despite increasing calls for an immediate ceasefire, especially from the Arab and Islamic worlds. The non-stop air raids and ground assaults – which came in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas which killed about 1,200 Israelis – have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Israel has significantly ramped up its attacks on hospitals in recent days, and the UN has said the lives of one million children in Gaza are “hanging on by a thread”. The Arab League consists of 22 countries, including Syria, which was earlier this year accepted back after Arab leaders restarted talks with President Bashar al-Assad following a decade of civil war in the country The bloc’s Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki said this week that it aims to demonstrate “how the Arabs will move on the international scene to stop the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation, and hold it accountable for its crimes”. The joint summit comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity across the region and beyond. Saudi Arabia had hosted an African-Saudi summit in Riyadh on Friday, where MBS called for an end to the war. Leaders of Russia, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan convened in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Thursday for talks that included the situation in Gaza. From: The Inside Story PodcastDo Russia, China and India support Israel in the war on Gaza?The United States has been Israel's strongest backer in the war on Gaza. The European Union and United Kingdom have also v... play   From: The Inside Story PodcastDoes Israel pose a nuclear threat to the world?It's widely seen as one of the Middle East's worst-kept secrets - Israel's nuclear programme. Believed to have originated ...   Israel Gaza: Children must be off limits, says father of abducted kids - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67292422    Yoni says his children love to draw and often pretended to cook for him "They're the ones who got kidnapped. They [Hamas] are taking advantage [of] them in a cynical and the lowest way possible, in order to make some kind of psychological battle." At 37 years old, Yoni has known the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians his entire life. His parents knew it before him. But for him, 7 October is obviously the worst moment. "It's one day of Holocaust," he tells me, as he pauses to choose his words. "I know it's a harsh word. But that day was the worst that was seen in the history of the Jewish people and the Israeli people." Does he think Israel can ever get over its collective trauma? "We have no other choice. It's like my own personal case. It's either fight or be dropped," he says. "We have to recover. It will be very difficult. But I believe in the long term, our nation will recover." For now though, all Yoni can do is wait, hope and tell his family's story.   A doctor, tailor, and bride-to-be: Stories of those killed in Gaz Published 3 November    A doctor, tailor, and bride-to-be: Stories of those killed in Gaza - BBC News By Ethar Shalaby BBC Arabic   The death toll in Gaza is rising as Israel presses on with its war against Hamas, following the attacks on 7 October in which 1,400 people were killed in Israel.     The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the war began. Because of safety concerns, there are relatively few journalists in Gaza to document the human cost of the fighting. But the BBC has been speaking to a number of families and eyewitnesses who have told us stories of loved ones who have been killed in recent days. Yusof Abu Mousa The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the war began. Because of safety concerns, there are relatively few journalists in Gaza to document the human cost of the fighting. But the BBC has been speaking to a number of families and eyewitnesses who have told us stories of loved ones who have been killed in recent days. Yusof Abu Mousa   With serious power supply issues in the Gaza Strip, Yusof and his two older siblings - sister Jury, 13, and nine-year-old brother Hamed - felt quite lucky. Their father, Mohamed Abu Musa, a radiographer at the Nasser hospital in the city of Khan Younis, had installed solar panels at their house, so the children could watch their favourite cartoons on TV.   They were settling down in front of the television on 15 October when, their father says, their home was hit by an Israeli air strike. Jury and Hamed somehow survived, but Yusof was killed when the roof of their house collapsed. He was seven years old. Mohamed was working a 24-hour shift at the hospital when his wife, Rawan, entered, screaming in search for their youngest son. She had been able to find Hamed, while rescue teams helped pull Jury out of the rubble. Jury had suffered head injuries but her parents say she is "improving". A video showing Rawan asking at the hospital for her "handsome and curly-haired son" circulated widely on social media. But Mohamed would later find his son's body in the hospital morgue.   "The last time I saw Yusof alive was when he ran to hug me on the doorstep of our home, just before I left for work," Mohamed recalls. "He kissed me and said goodbye after I had given him some biscuits and bananas. He wanted to be a doctor, maybe because he always saw me going to hospital for work." Dr Midhat Saidam On the evening of 15 October, Dr Saidam needed a rest. The 47-year-old surgeon had not left the al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza City for more than week. He told his colleagues he was going home for the night. But a few hours later he was killed in a strike at his home. "This calm, funny and kind-hearted man came back to the hospital the next morning, but as a lifeless body," his colleague Dr Adnan Albursh explained. Dr Albursh, who had known the surgeon for more than 20 years, added that his late colleague had been nicknamed "the relentless surgeon" by his peers for his dedication to the job.   A veteran of the operating room, Dr Saidam was also known as a great mentor to younger doctors. "If any of the doctors faced any difficulties, they knew Dr Saidam was the one who would sort it out," agreed Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, the head of the plastic surgery department at al-Shifa Hospital. "His death is a huge loss not only to this hospital but also to the medical profession," he added. Nour Yousef al-Kharma Seventeen-year-old student Nour was killed on 11 October when an Israeli air strike hit her family home in the town of Deir al-Balah, 14km south of Gaza City, according to her uncle. Mohammed al-Kharma said his niece wanted to relocate because of the bombing and stay with relatives elsewhere. "Her father asked her to stay in her house, which was bombed the very next morning. It was her fate," he said. Nour was killed alongside her nephew Yazan. The pair had been playing in the living room. Her elder sisters, Ola, and Huda, who were preparing breakfast with their mother, Jamalat, survived. Nour was in her last year of high school and always wanted to be a doctor. Her uncle said his family pulled her school bag from under the rubble. It contained books and a diary, and in one of the pages she had written: "I want to make my family proud of me and I will get high grades by the will of Allah." Lurin Azzam Abuhalima In her last communication with her fiance Khaled al-Masry, Lurin said she was exhausted from moving from place to place in search of safety from the war. The 30-year-old had just arrived at the Nusairat refugee camp, in the centre of the Gaza Strip, to stay with her aunt. Lurin had survived two strikes, including one on 16 October that flattened the building where she lived with her parents in Gaza City. "She told me she was going to have a shower, pray and rest," Khaled recalls. According to her fiance, who lives and works in Cyprus, she was praying in a room when the house she was in was hit. "She was killed while she was praying," he says. Lurin and Khaled had postponed their wedding a couple of times due to the unstable situation in Gaza. They were planning finally to get married in December and move to Cyprus. A devastated Khaled said: "She is now resting forever. She used to wear a white dress, but now is wearing a white shroud." Fekriya Hassan Abdul A'al People in Gaza City's Radwan district who needed women's formal clothing would head straight to Fekriya Hassan Abdul A'al's place. "I remember when we used to have our house full of brides-to-be and bridesmaids who would come to my mother's place to have a fitting. She was exceptionally talented," Fekriya's daughter Nevine says. The 65-year-old tailor was killed along with two of her siblings, two of her children and two of her grandchildren, after the house they were sheltering in was hit by an air strike on 23 October. Nevine, who was taking cover at a friend's house, says that Fekriya was devoted to her family and would host large weekly gatherings. But Nevine says her mood had been severely affected by the escalation in the conflict: "She told me in our last phone call: 'I'm very depressed and exhausted from what seems to be an endless war'." Mazen and Ahmed Abu Assi Brothers Mazen, 17 and Ahmed, 13 were among those killed by the explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital on 17 October. Palestinian officials say the blast was caused by an Israeli air strike. But the Israeli military say it was the result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad - an accusation the group rejected. Arafat Abu Massi, the father of Mazen and Ahmed, said the two brothers were "very close to each other" but had very different personalities. Arafat and his wife had undergone IVF therapy for eight years to have Mazen, who was at high school and wanted to become a dentist. "He was the brightest of all my children," he says. While Ahmed was described by his father as "the strongest and bravest in the family" - and the entrepreneurial one. "He used to sell toys and school supplies in a small booth near our house," Arafat said. His only remaining child now is three-year-old Faraj, who, according to Arafat, keeps crying and asking where his siblings are. "I told him that God has chosen them to stay in heaven. That is a better place for my two young smart gentlemen." Salam Mema   Salam Mema, a 32-year-old Palestinian journalist, was killed on 10 October when her house in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, was hit by an Israeli air strike, her friend told the BBC. Her husband, their two-year-old daughter Sham, their seven-year-old son Hadi, and other members of the family, were also killed, leaving their five-year-old son Ali as the sole survivor. As of 31 October, Salam was one of 31 journalists confirmed killed on both sides, since the Israel-Hamas conflict began. Safaa Nezar Hassouna The 26-year-old pharmacist was killed in an air strike in the southern city of Rafah, on 17 October. She was sleeping beside her three-month-old baby girl Elyana, and her husband. Safaa's uncle and a retired medical doctor based in the UK, Omar Hassouna, said her parents managed to survive the strike but are in shock and devastated by her death. Omar said the last time he saw his niece was in January, during his holiday in Gaza. "Safaa was polite, helpful, and loved by everyone. "I have lost a lovely niece. Her death is unfair, as all the deaths of all of the civilians in Gaza have been." "I would prefer to be in Gaza with them right now, I feel so hopeless here." More on Israel-Gaza war Follow live: Latest updates Analysis: Jeremy Bowen's five new realities after four weeks of war From Gaza: Stories of those killed in Gaza Watch: Breaking down videos from Gaza's secret tunnels Explained: Ros Atkins on... Calls for a ceasefire in Gaza History behind the story: The Israel-Palestinian conflict

Netanyahu says not seeking to ‘occupy’ Gaza but ‘demilitarise’ it

Israeli leader says ‘civilian government’ should rule enclave after Hamas is defeated.

 Netanyahu says not seeking to ‘occupy’ Gaza but ‘demilitarise’ it | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied that his country has any plans to reoccupy Gaza

10 Nov 2023

Ex-Israeli justice minister: ‘Premature’ to speak about Israeli presence in post-war Gaza

US ‘humiliated every day’ in its relationship with Israel: AJ analyst

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country does not intend to “occupy” or govern Gaza after the end of its war with Hamas, but the enclave must be “demilitarised, deradicalised and rebuilt”.

In an interview with Fox News aired on Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel would need to find a “civilian government” to govern the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2006, without specifying who would form such a body.

“We don’t seek to govern Gaza, we don’t seek to occupy it. But we seek to give it and us a better future … and that requires defeating Hamas,” he said. “I’ve set goals, I didn’t set a timetable because it can take more time.”

Gaza, however, is already viewed as an occupied territory because Israel has full control of its borders, airspace and territorial waters despite having formally withdrawn its forces and settlers from the enclave in 2005. In 2007, Israel began enforcing a suffocating blockade on the territory which it had captured along with other Palestinian territories – occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank – in the 1967 War.

While Israel has argued that the 2005 withdrawal marked the end of the occupation, experts in international law such as former UN special rapporteur Michael Lynk maintain that it never ended as the Israeli military continues to exercise “effective control” over the territory.

In his interview, Netanyahu said that a “credible force” would be needed to enter Gaza as necessary to “kill the killers” and “prevent the re-emergence of a Hamas-like entity”.

Netanyahu’s comments come days after he said Israel would take responsibility for Gaza’s security for an “indefinite period” after the end of its war with Hamas, prompting pushback from the United States.

On Tuesday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that President Joe Biden did not believe that reoccupying Gaza would be the “right thing to do”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that the conditions for “durable peace and security” would include “no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends”.

Israeli officials have said that Netanyahu’s comments about managing Gaza’s security did not suggest Israel would assume administrative control of the enclave, but conflicting statements by senior members of the government, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have created confusion about its plans.

US officials have previously suggested that the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza after the war, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said would only be possible under a political solution that returns territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Netanyahu on Thursday reiterated his opposition to a ceasefire with Hamas, as the Biden administration announced that its ally had agreed to daily four-hour pauses in fighting to allow civilians to flee hostilities.

“A ceasefire with Hamas means a surrender to Hamas, surrender to terror,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel’s military was performing “exceptionally well” and would continue its campaign “however long it takes.”

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  Israel-Hamas war live: Hospital patients face ‘inevitable death’ – Minister

   

  By Mersiha Gadzo, Virginia Pietromarchi, Priyanka Shankar, Lyndal Rowlands and John Power

  Published On 12 Nov 202312 Nov 2023

  Israel-Hamas war live: Hospital patients face ‘inevitable death’ – Minister | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

   

  • Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila says Israeli forces “are not evacuating people from hospitals; instead, they are forcibly evicting the wounded and patients onto the streets, leaving them to face inevitable death”.
  • Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital has been caught in Israel’s ground offensive and health officials said its cardiac ward has been destroyed.

  Read more

  US does not want to see firefights in Gaza hospitals: Report

   

  The US does not want to see firefights in hospitals in the Gaza Strip where civilians get caught in the crossfire, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said.

  “The United States does not want to see firefights in hospitals where innocent people, patients receiving medical care, are caught in the crossfire and we’ve had active consultations with the Israeli Defense Forces on this,” Sullivan told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program.

  ‘A failed policy’

   

  Rami Khouri, a distinguished public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on his intention to maintain security control in post-war Gaza reflect the limit of Israel’s approach towards the Palestinian issue.

  “Israelis feel that by using their military power, and by being protected by the US, they can do anything they want to achieve their goal which is dominating the Palestinians. And so they focus on military control,” Khouri said.

  “This is a continuation of a failed policy,” Khouri said, adding that such an approach has caused the emergence of armed resistance such as Hamas. “Israel uses security control as the main instrument of interaction with Palestinians which can only guarantee future perpetual conflict,” he said.

  On top of these, Khouri noted, Netanyahu is unlikely going to stay in power for much longer once the conflict is over considering his plummeting popularity. “So we should not take these [statements] too seriously,” he added.

  Potential for miscalculation ‘increasing’ at Israel-Lebanon border

   

  The exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon has been continuous and intense for the last five weeks, said Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson of the UN Interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

  Speaking to Al Jazeera, Tenenti said that even one of their peacekeepers was injured due to the fighting and an investigation regarding who launched the attack is ongoing.

  Tenenti also highlighted that amid the fighting, “the potential for miscalculation is increasing and could trigger a wider conflict.”

  “UNIFIL has kept dialogue with the Lebanese authorities and the Israeli army ongoing to prevent dangerous misunderstandings,” he said.

  ICU at al-Shifa badly damaged for a second time: Ministry

  The Intensive Care Unit in al-Shifa Hospital has been badly damaged by Israeli army bombing for a second time, the Gaza Health Ministry has said.

  Palestinians with life-threatening bullet wounds in abdomen, legs: Doctors Without Borders

  Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a French humanitarian healthcare organisation, says the majority of young Palestinians it received at Jenin Hospital in the occupied West Bank had life-threatening bullet wounds in their abdomens and lower thighs.

  “Most of the patients we receive have been shot in the abdomen and legs,” Dr Pedro Serrano, head of the hospital’s intensive care unit that is supported by MSF or Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement posted on the social media platform X.

  “Some have had their liver and spleen shattered, while others have severe vascular injuries,” Serrano said.

  “We had one very sad case of a guy who was walking just outside the hospital entrance when he was shot in the head by a sniper,” he added, noting that “the violence is ongoing and most patients we receive have life-threatening injuries”.

  Up to 40 West Bank raids happening every day: Palestinian Authority

  650 patients in danger at al-Shifa Hospital: Director general

   Al Shifa hospital doctor warns hospitals without electricity are mass graves

  The director general of hospitals in Gaza has warned that the lives of hundreds of patients are at risk due to the catastrophic situation at al-Shifa Hospital.

  About 650 patients, including 36 children, have their lives in danger, Muhammad Zaqout said at a press conference, calling on Egypt to save their lives.

  Zaqout also confirmed the presence of “about 1,500 displaced people in the al-Shifa Medical Complex,” warning that “accumulation of garbage and medical waste, lack of water, and power outages threaten everyone’s life”.

  Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza wait on a road near Cairo

  

  

  

  ‘Enough’, says Pope Francis, calling for the war to end

  Pope Francis has called for the fighting between Israel and Hamas to end.

  

  Pope Francis delivers the Angelus noon prayer in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday 

  “May the weapons fall silent, they will never bring peace, and let the conflict not spread. Enough, enough brothers, enough!” he said while offering prayers at the Vatican.

  The Pope also said that the injured in Gaza should be helped and more humanitarian aid should be sent to the besieged enclave.

  He added that the people taken as captives by Hamas on October 7 should also be released.

  “Every human being, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or whatever religion, every human being is sacred, is precious in the eyes of God, and has the right to live in peace,” he said.

  Patients forcibly evicted from hospitals facing ‘inevitable death’: Minister

  Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila says Israeli forces “are not evacuating people from hospitals; instead, they are forcibly evicting the wounded and patients onto the streets, leaving them to face inevitable death”.

  “This is not evacuation but expulsion under the threat of arms,” she said in a press release, as cited by Palestinian news agency Wafa.

  “There is a catastrophe unfolding in hospitals, with patients now dying without receiving their treatments, such as children and adults with kidney failure who are perishing at home without undergoing dialysis sessions.”

  She said all 3,000 cancer patients who were receiving treatment at al-Rantisi and Turkish hospitals had been abandoned to face imminent death after Israeli forces forcibly evicted them.

  Hezbollah claims responsibility for attack on Israel-Lebanon border

  Lebanese group Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Israel-Lebanon border we reported earlier.

  This exchange of fire comes hours after Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant visited Israeli soldiers in the north and warned Hezbollah not to provoke Israel at this point.

  Israel sees 'sign of life' in Gaza hostage video

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67373461

  • Israel-Gaza war
  • 

  • By Robert Plummer BBC News

     

    The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group has posted videos of two Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

    The group said it was prepared to release a 77-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy for humanitarian and medical reasons, but only if "appropriate measures" were met.

    Israel described the videos as an important sign of life, but declined to say whether they would be released.

    That would play into the captors' "psychological terror", it said.

    In the video, the two hostages are seen addressing the camera.

    The woman, Hanna Katsir, a woman in her 70s, is seen sitting in a wheelchair. She was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October, when Hamas attacked Israel. 

    The second is a teenage boy from the same community.

    Both hostages sharply criticise Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. It is unclear whether they are reading from a script.

    The BBC will not be broadcasting the clip itself, which is more than three minutes long. Prisoners of war and hostages are protected under international humanitarian law, and the BBC does not broadcast material which may have been filmed under duress.

    Earlier, the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, dismissed reports that a deal to free some of the hostages held in Gaza might be imminent.

    • Who are the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel?

    The Israeli military says that 242 people are being held hostage in Gaza. Four hostages have been released and another was freed by Israeli forces.

    Hamas says it has hidden the hostages it holds in "safe places and tunnels" within Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have previously said the hostages include 20 children and between 10 and 20 over-60s.

    Mr Herzog said on Thursday he had not seen any substantial information on the subject of possible releases.

    He spoke as the Qatari prime minister hosted a meeting in Doha with the heads of the CIA and Mossad, during which they reportedly discussed the possible terms of a deal for more hostages to be freed.

    Meanwhile two senior Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal, arrived in Cairo, where reports suggested they met the head of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamel.

    Qatari and Egyptian networks have both said that the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is expected to visit Cairo tomorrow.

     

    'We walked into a wasteland' - BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Gaza with Israeli forces - BBC News

    'We walked into a wasteland' - BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Gaza with Israeli forces

    
    

    

     

    The BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen has travelled with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into Gaza.

    While the BBC had editorial control of the report, the section with the IDF has been viewed by them.

    The IDF showed the BBC what they said was a Hamas weapons factory, below a home in which children lived. 

    'We walked into a wasteland' - BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Gaza with Israeli forces

    The BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen has travelled with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into Gaza.

    Watch: Massive crowds in London demand ceasefire

    Watch: Massive crowds in London demand ceasefire - BBC News

    While the BBC had editorial control of the report, the section with the IDF has been viewed by them.

    The IDF showed the BBC what they said was a Hamas weapons factory, below a home in which children lived.

    Pro-Palestinian march: Missiles thrown and chants of 'send them home' by counter-protesters

     

    Pro-Palestinian march: Missiles thrown and chants of 'se 

     

    France's Macron urges Israel to stop killing Gaza's women and children

     

    France's Macron urges Israel to stop killing Gaza's women and children - BBC News 

    France's President Macron, in an exclusive interview with the BBC, has urged Israel to stop killing women and babies in Gaza, reiterating his call for a ceasefire in the war.

    He said there was no reason for vulnerable people to be bombed and killed, and that Israel's actions had no "legitimacy".

    He called on the US and the UK to support a ceasefire.

    But he also stressed that France "clearly condemns" what he called the "terrorist" actions of Hamas.

    He was speaking to the BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler.

    nd them home' by counter-protesters - BBC News

    France's Macron urges Israel to stop killing Gaza's women and children - BBC News

    US says Israel to begin daily four-hour military pauses in Gaza

    US says Israel to begin daily four-hour military pauses in Gaza - BBC News

    • Israel-Gaza war
      By David Gritten BBC News

       

      Israel will begin to implement daily four-hour military pauses in areas of northern Gaza, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

      However Israel's defence minister stressed they were only "localised and pinpoint measures" that would "not detract from the war fighting".

      President Biden said there would be two "humanitarian passages" allowing people to leave areas of fighting.

      On Thursday heavy fighting was reported around two big hospitals in Gaza City.

      Meanwhile, pictures once again showed thousands of Palestinians fleeing south from the city and other northern areas.

      Mr Biden also said the US was trying to increase humanitarian supplies and assistance to Gaza. He said he was aiming for 150 trucks of aid per day to enter the territory.

      However the UN said the amount of aid entering Gaza was only meeting "a fraction" of people's needs and the humanitarian situation was "intolerable". A conference in Paris earlier heard repeated appeals for a ceasefire in Gaza.

      Israel has been bombarding Gaza for over a month and began a major ground offensive almost two weeks ago with the objective of destroying Hamas, which it, the US and other Western powers consider a terrorist organisation.

      The war began after an unprecedented cross-border assault on southern Israel by Hamas gunmen on 7 October, in which 1,400 people were killed and 240 others taken hostage.

      Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 10,800 people have been killed in the territory since then, while 1.5 million have fled their homes.

      Mr Biden said Israel was "fighting an enemy embedded in the civilian population, which places innocent Palestinian people at risk" but that Israel had "an obligation to distinguish between terrorists and civilians and fully comply with international law".

      On Thursday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had raided Hamas's "military quarter" near Al-Shifa Hospital and killed 50 "terrorists".

      A witness said he had also seen tanks opening fire near Al-Quds Hospital.

      About 2,000 patients and 50,000 displaced people are said to be inside Al-Shifa Hospital, which is located in Gaza City's northern Rimal neighbourhood and is the largest medical complex in Gaza.

      Its director, Mohammed Abu Selmia, told the Associated Press that Israeli troops were about 3km (2 miles) away and that conditions there were "disastrous in every sense of the word".

      In footage filmed inside the hospital on Thursday, a man who was accompanied by two children tells a journalist that they had been walking on a street, trying to flee south, when an Israeli tank opened fire at them.

      "The remains of seven or eight martyrs were left at the scene," he says.

      An unverified video posted on social media overnight also purportedly showed a number of people being helped after being hit by shrapnel from a shell on a street close to Al-Shifa.

      The IDF has previously alleged that Hamas is also operating underground command centres beneath Al-Shifa itself. Hamas and hospital staff have denied the accusation.

      Fierce battles were also reported on Thursday around Al-Quds hospital, which is 2.3km (1.4 miles) to the south-west in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood.

      Hamouda Musa, 34, told the BBC he and his neighbour had escaped from a building opposite the hospital after he saw four tanks and a bulldozer advancing from the coast, 1km away to the north.

      "They were firing intensely towards a nearby residential building," he said. "We fled under a barrage of bullets via a back street. We miraculously came back from the dead."

      On Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that areas in close proximity were struck, injuring patients and displaced people, and damaging buildings.

      The hospital also said on Wednesday that its main generator had been shut down because of a shortage of fuel, forcing it to close its surgical ward, oxygen generation plant and MRI ward.

      Analysis: How long will Hezbollah’s Nasrallah hold back against Israel? | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

      As Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told the world in his latest speech on Saturday, there will be no big war.

      Supporters of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group raise their fists in salute as they listen to a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah via video link in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon, Saturday, November 11, 2023 [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]

      By Zoran Kusovac

      Published On 11 Nov 202311 Nov 2023

       

      For the first four weeks of Israeli assault on Gaza, Syed Hassan Nasrallah was conspicuously silent. When he finally spoke, a week ago, the world listened anxiously: Would the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the strongest militia in the region, declare a full-scale war on Israel?

      It was much ado about nothing. In his well-known fiery style, Nasrallah reiterated Hezbollah’s views on regional issues and warned Israel.

      There was no big announcement, and the speech was not followed by fighters storming into Israel or even a token salvo of missiles. The standoff continued as usual: tension, skirmishes, and occasional flare-ups, all measurable and containable.

      Not the time to declare war

      His second speech, delivered Saturday, was much of the same. At least two things indicated that Saturday’s speech would also not be a significant declaration of war on Israel.

      First, its timing was led not by current events but those of some 40 years ago: Saturday is Hezbollah Martyrs Day, commemorating one of the first and most venerated suicide bombers who blew himself up amid Israeli troops in southern Lebanon in 1982, killing at least 80.

      Hezbollah supporters hold pictures of their relatives who died fighting with Hezbollah as they listen to the speech  [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]

      The second indicator was that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is attending the Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza in Riyadh on Saturday, his first trip to Saudi Arabia since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations in March.

      Now, Tehran has said on several occasions that it does not want direct war with Israel, aware that it would easily become a wider conflict and drag in the United States. For its part, Washington sent the same message.

      

      But between doing nothing and “direct engagement”, Iran had and still has a middle-of-the-road option: engaging by proxy, through Hezbollah and the Houthis who would gladly show Israel their teeth.

      If Arabs will not go to war, if Iran will not go alone, the question on many people’s minds was whether its proxies might go, saving everyone’s face.

      The answer was always: Yes and no. Or rather, no and yes.

      Hezbollah never wanted to mount a full-scale land attack — and the Houthis could not do it across 2,000 kilometres (about 1,250 miles), even if they wanted to.

      But the two groups remain tied to Tehran, which provided them with initial training, equipment, and the know-how for indigenous production of weapons much more sophisticated than the homemade rockets both started with.

      The arsenal

      Hezbollah’s arsenal is an eclectic mix of old and new, Eastern, Western, Iranian and locally produced weaponry. Some of it was demonstrated in an “open day” the group staged on May 21 in southern Lebanon.

      We had seen many of these weapons already, but the mix was interesting. Electronic rifles, shoulder-fired missiles, and lightly armed quadbuggies can tell us a lot about how Hezbollah would fight.

      At least two types of electronic anti-drone guns were demonstrated — believed to be useful in blocking smaller tactical drones, causing them to drop dead.

      Anti-aircraft shoulder-fired missiles — like the Chinese SK-18, also known as QW-18 — are a potent deterrent against low-flying aeroplanes and helicopters, although drones are difficult for them to hit.

      Rather than cumbersome, well-armoured vehicles, Hezbollah showed a fleet of practical four-wheel all-terrain lightly armed quad buggies that are fast, mobile, and can deploy on any terrain in northern Israel. Some carry machine guns, others anti-tank missiles like the Kornet or its Iranian copy, Dehleviyeh. Those teams can set up ambushes unnoticed and escape quickly.

      Against naval targets, Hezbollah has the Noor, an Iranian version of a Chinese anti-ship cruise missile it used to hit and nearly sink an Israeli corvette in 2006. Reliable sources have said the militia now also has the Russian-made Yakhont, which is much more potent and has a longer range.

      

       Supporters of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group listen to Nasrallah’s speech during a ceremony marking the ‘Hezbollah Martyr Day,’ in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov.ember11, 2023 [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]

      Finally, a recent Houthi demonstration of firepower gives us a clue about Hezbollah’s. The Yemeni group shot down one of the biggest US armed reconnaissance drones, MQ-9 Reaper, allegedly using a local modification of the old Soviet AA-10 Alamo air-to-air missile. If they can convert the AA-10 to be fired from the ground and tracked to the target, Hezbollah must be able to.

      Will they, or won’t they?

      Hezbollah is certainly ready and capable of a careful dose of escalation with Israel to a point just short of a full war, at any time.

      How long and how much it will remain politically held back from such action may depend on Iran and Nasrallah, who does not need to go into the nitty-gritty of military action. He can content himself with words, warnings, and threats. The military wing of Hezbollah would do the rest.

      So far, most of the fighting has been by drones, missiles, and artillery, and limited small-unit incursions on the ground, penetrating a few kilometres into enemy ground and then retreating — typical reconnaissance in force. Casualties have been contained, if the loss of more than 60 militiamen can be called that.

      Using its Burkan short-range rockets – which carry up to 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of explosives — and Iranian suicide drones, Hezbollah damaged or destroyed Israeli observation towers built on high ground along the border to reconnoitre into Lebanon.

      To date, the first real escalation came from Israel, not Hezbollah: On Saturday, its combat drone hit a vehicle in Zahrani, 45km (28 miles) inside Lebanon, as well as other yet unidentified targets deep in the region of Tyre.

      Hezbollah is certain to retaliate, most probably by sending some of its formidable long-range rockets deep into Israel, targeting cities beyond the reach of Hamas rockets. But, as Nasrallah told the world on Saturday, there will be no big war.

      SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

      

      

      

      

      

       

      Opinions|Israel-Palestine conflict

      Israel is bombing hospitals in Gaza with Israeli doctors’ approval

      We, Palestinian doctors in Israel, are forced to watch in silence massacres unfolding, which some of our Israeli colleagues are encouraging.

      Suad Hadi A pseudonym for a Palestinian doctor in Israel.

      • Layla Aswad A pseudonym for a Palestinian doctor in Israel.
        
        
        Samir Shami A pseudonym for a Palestinian doctor in Israel.

      Israel is bombing hospitals in Gaza with Israeli doctors’ approval | Israel-Palestine conflict | Al Jazeera

       

       

      Israeli bombardments targeted several hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip on November 10, 2023

       

      “The residents of Gaza, who saw fit to turn the hospitals into terrorist nests in an attempt to take advantage of Western morality, are the ones who brought their destruction upon themselves – terrorism must be eliminated everywhere and in any way. Attacking terrorist headquarters located inside a hospital is the right, and even the duty of the IDF.”

      Upon initial examination, one might think these are sentences written by extremists or fanatics, giving an army permission and encouragement to bomb hospitals. What is shocking is not only the statement itself, but that it is signed publicly by dozens of Israeli doctors and shared widely on various social media platforms.

      Instead of immediate outrage and condemnation, the statement resulted in what some called a “legitimate” public debate within the Israeli medical community, to bomb or not to bomb Palestinian hospitals.

      We, six Palestinian physicians working within the Israeli healthcare system, are sickened to our core by the statements made by some of our colleagues, Israeli doctors we work with, calling on the Israeli army to bomb hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

      Regrettably, we cannot say we were surprised. As doctors trained and practising in this system, we are all too aware of its embedded racism, militarism and hypocrisy covered up by a false image of a medical sector where Arabs and Jews work together in harmony and respect.

      The recent letter by our Israeli colleagues issued at a time of an unfolding massacres is a telling example of what the Israeli health system is really like. It is a system where some doctors, shamelessly and publicly, adopt the role of consultants to the army.

      They use their position and profession, not to save lives, not to preach about the devastating effects of war on civilians on both sides and the necessity of finding a peaceful political solution, but actually to validate attacks on medical facilities, knowing full well that this means the killing of fellow doctors and patients.

      At the same time, this health system has adopted a distinctly McCarthyist witch hunt approach towards us, Palestinian physicians. As a result, we cannot engage in any intellectual or moral conversation about the war. We are expected to condemn Hamas and join the patriotic Israeli military frenzy, while watching silently our Jewish colleagues cheering for the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians and endorsing the tightening of the blockade

      We drive to work every day, listening to the devastating news about the death toll and destruction in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. When we arrive, we put on that mask of “everything is fine” and endure the daily loyalty test and scrutinising eyes of our colleagues. During coffee breaks, we are forced to listen with a straight face to our Israeli colleagues casually dropping phrases like “flattening Gaza” and discussing the merits of displacing its people.

      We are also seeing our Palestinian colleagues being interrogated, fired and shamed without a valid reason. We are very aware of how the hospitals and clinics we work in have become disciplining arenas. In a “normal” place, we would be in the streets, demanding an end to the war and massacres and advocating for a peaceful solution. We would use our profession and position to denounce the inhumane attacks on healthcare workers, facilities and civilian infrastructure.

      We are deeply aware that the situation is much more complex than choosing sides and we know that every life lost is a tragedy, whether it is Israeli or Palestinian. But precisely because of this, we also know that history did not begin on October 7 and that our people have been displaced, killed, injured and humiliated for decades, with the full endorsement and involvement of our fellow Israeli doctors.

      We come to work every day, knowing that our people are killed, tortured and maimed by illegal Israeli settlers and the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank land. However, we also know that we cannot ask our fellow Israeli doctors “Do you condemn?”

      We have been forced to live in a coercive environment where Palestinian death is normalised and often celebrated, but Israeli Jewish death is seen as a tragedy that cannot be accepted and necessitates revenge.

      This is the reality, where Israeli national security is of high value but Palestinian national security is a dark joke. It is Jewish supremacy in life and death that is so normalised, particularly at such tragic times when it explodes to uncover the true face of our Israeli colleagues and sadly also of the Western world and its medical institutions.

      The normalisation of Palestinian dehumanisation reflects the complicity of the entire world in the massacres which are taking place in the Gaza Strip.

      The medical profession has a long and rich history of opposing war and its devastating effects on health. It has stood up against racism, colonialism and imperial expansion, which have driven deadly wars.

      We can vividly remember the massive organising of doctors against the US wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. We saw how doctors in the US, in the aftermath of 9/11, organised to oppose and lobby against the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, knowing it would lead to more deaths and not security.

      But we are also aware that the majority of our fellow Israeli Jewish colleagues are on the opposite side of this urge to protect civilians, as the entire Israeli health system has been mobilised to join the war effort and support it.

      The Israeli health system not only does not oppose Israel’s war, occupation and apartheid but also prevents Palestinian doctors living in Israel from speaking up and organising against them.

      In this tragic and regrettable environment we live and work in, we need to hide our names and write anonymously to state the obvious, following our professional duty and oath. We have reached such a level of demoralisation and dehumanisation that we are forced to watch massacres, with Palestinian children burned by Israeli phosphorus bombs and entire populations starved of food and water, without batting an eye, as if everything is just “normal”.

      Not only are we barred from volunteering to provide medical aid to the innocent Palestinian civilians, but we are also not allowed to speak up against those state crimes without risking our jobs and safety.

      We want this letter to serve as an apology to our Palestinian people and colleagues in the Gaza Strip, exposing our profound powerlessness and complete impotence.

      We and the world have failed you.

      We can only hope that in future calmer days, we can bear witness and speak and write about the conditions that have allowed for massacres to unfold and to take part in healing those who survived.

      Editor’s note: Suad, Layla and Samir are pseudonyms. This op-ed has been written by them along with three other Palestinian doctors working in Israel. They are writing anonymously for fear of physical and professional retribution.

      The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

      News|Politics

      Indonesian President Joko Widodo heads to US amid Gaza tensions

      Widodo is under pressure over the war, which has killed more than 11,000 in a month, but is likely to take a low-key approach.

      Indonesian President Joko Widodo heads to US amid Gaza tensions | Politics News | Al Jazeera 

      Analysts say Indonesia's President Joko Widodo is unlikely to want to rock the boat in his talks with US President Joe Biden

      By Aisyah Llewellyn Published On 13 Nov 2023

       

      Medan, Indonesia – Indonesian President Joko Widodo is in the United States this week for a summit with President Joe Biden at the White House, and later to attend the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, amid the continuing Israel-Gaza war.

      The visit has prompted questions about whether Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, will call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

      The issue is particularly heated as the Indonesia Hospital, located in north Gaza, has been encircled by Israeli forces.

      The hospital was built in 2011 with donations from Indonesian citizens and organisations, including the Indonesian Red Cross Society and the Muhammadiyah Society, one of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisations. It was officially inaugurated in 2016 by the then-Indonesian vice president, Jusuf Kalla.

      Three Indonesian volunteers with the Indonesian humanitarian organisation the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), which organised the donations to build the hospital, are currently based in north Gaza.

      However, despite the grim situation in the besieged enclave, experts told Al Jazeera that Widodo was likely to use the visit to the White House to discuss a wide range of issues.

      “He will likely discuss several matters related to investment and trade, especially related to the relocation of the capital and critical minerals such as nickel, downstreaming and the production of electric vehicles in Indonesia,” said Ahmad Rizky M Umar, an associate lecturer at the University of Queensland.

      Trade and investment

      As an outgoing president whose second, and final, term in office will end next year, Widodo is likely to be concerned with securing his legacy and shoring up current projects already in the works, such as plans to relocate 1.5 million of Jakarta’s 11 million residents to East Kalimantan under the new capital city project estimated to cost some $32bn.

      Umar added that Widodo would probably also discuss Indonesia’s membership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which might make it more attractive to investors given the organisation’s commitment to best practices, as Southeast Asia’s biggest economy looks to lure more US entrepreneurs.

      “He will also probably discuss the elevation of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and the United States into a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’,” Umar said.

      According to the White House, the theme for this year’s APEC is “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All” with the aim of building “an interconnected, innovative and inclusive” region and advancing “a free, fair and open economic policy agenda that benefits US workers, businesses and families”.

      APEC was established in 1989 and has 21 members including Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United States and Vietnam, comprising nearly 3 billion people and contributing 62 percent to the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), while controlling almost half of all global trade.

      Indonesia itself is also a major emerging economy which some estimate could rank in the top five economies globally by the middle of the century.

      Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer in international relations at Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani in Bandung, told Al Jazeera that, while Widodo might mention Palestine, it would not be the main topic of conversation.

      The US has backed Israel since Hamas launched a surprise wave of attacks on October 7 killing at least 1,200 people and taking at least 200 more captive.

      After the assault, Israel declared war on Hamas and has subjected Gaza, home to some 2.3 million people, to relentless bombardment.

      More than 11,000 people have been killed.

      “I think he will focus on the economy and wider Indonesian relations with the United States. He is not the kind of leader who will get on his soapbox with America. He will want to make sure that relations with the United States are running smoothly,” he said.

      “He will be focused on what Indonesia can gain from the visit and not spend too much time on other issues. It will be a transactional meeting.”

      An open letter to Widodo

      However, much as Widodo may want to focus on economic matters, the thorny issue of the Indonesia Hospital is likely to be difficult to ignore.

      “I suspect he will talk about Palestine, especially regarding humanitarian aid and a ceasefire, because Israel itself has accused the Indonesia Hospital of being a Hamas hideout,” University of Queensland lecturer Umar said.

      Last week, Israel accused the Indonesia Hospital of harbouring Hamas fighters in tunnels under the building.

      Indonesia’s foreign ministry rejected the allegations, saying that the Indonesia Hospital was to “fully” serve Palestinians.

      Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country with 207 million of its 270 million people following Islam. The country does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel and there is no Israeli embassy in Indonesia.

      Indonesian citizens and the government have long been seen as sympathetic to the Palestinian cause – hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets of Jakarta in recent weeks to call for a ceasefire – but there have been periodic attempts to thaw relations with Israel, including under former President Abdurrahman Wahid.

      On November 11, MER-C issued an open letter to Widodo, calling on him to use his visit to the White House to “save the Indonesia Hospital”.

      “Today marks the 36th day of the world witnessing indiscriminate aggression, murder, and mass slaughter of civilians in the Gaza Strip, the majority of whom are women and children […] all hospitals in the Gaza Strip, have fallen victim to the brutality of the Israeli military,” the letter said.

      It added that the Indonesia Hospital was trying to operate amid total darkness and a shortage of medications.

      MER-C continued that it hoped that Widodo would raise the issue of the hospital during his meeting with Biden, and “exert pressure on the world, especially the United States, to immediately initiate a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and save the Indonesia Hospital from Israeli attacks”.

      “Will the world and our Indonesian nation continue to remain silent in the face of this?” the letter said.

      SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

       

      More than 180,000 join marches against anti-Semitism in France

      Prominent politicians join rally in Paris following surge in anti-Semitic incidents since start of war in Gaza on October 7.

      More than 180,000 join marches against anti-Semitism in France | Protests News | Al Jazeera

      More than 180,000 people across France, including tens of thousands in Paris, have joined marches to condemn a surge in anti-Semitism amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

      As of Saturday, the interior minister said there had been 1,247 anti-Semitic acts since the war began on October 7, nearly three times as many as in the whole of 2022

      Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, former Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Holland, representatives of several parties on the left, and conservatives and centrists from President Emmanuel Macron’s party attended Sunday’s march in the French capital amid tight security.

      Macron did not attend but expressed his support for the protest and called on citizens to rise up against “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism”.

      Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, also stayed away, saying that the march would be a meeting of “friends of unconditional support for the massacre” in Gaza. He also questioned the attendance of Marine Le Pen given her party’s roots in anti-Semitism. The party was founded by her father who was convicted of Holocaust denial.

      Police said 105,000 people had joined the Paris march, while interior ministry figures put the nationwide figure at 182,000. More than 70 events took place across the country, including in major cities Lyon, Nice and Strasbourg.

      

      Some 105,000 people joined the rally in Paris, according to the authorities

      “Our order of the day today is… the total fight against anti-Semitism, which is the opposite of the values of the republic,” said Senate Speaker Gerard Larcher, who organised the rallies with lower house Speaker Yael Braun-Pivet, as the marchers set off.

      No major incidents were reported.

      ‘I feel less alone’

      Holding a French flag, Robert Fiel said marching against anti-Semitism was “more than a duty”.

      “It’s a march against violence, against anti-Semitism, against all [political extremes] that are infiltrating the society, to show that the silent majority does exist,” the 67-year-old said.

      “We had grandparents who escaped being transported to the concentration camps, luckily they aren’t here to see that [anti-Semitism] is back,” said Laura Cohen, a marcher in her 30s.

      France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, numbering about 500,000 people.

      “Everyone should feel like it’s their business” to combat anti-Jewish feeling, France’s chief rabbi Haim Korsia told broadcaster Radio J.

      Tensions had been rising in the French capital – home to large Jewish and Muslim communities – since the war began a month ago when the armed group Hamas launched a shock attack on Israel killing about 1,200 people and taking some 240 people captive.

      In response, Israel began a bombardment on the densely-populated Gaza Strip that has so far killed at least 11,000 people.

      

      Some of France’s most prominent politicians led the rally

      Family members of some of the 40 French citizens killed in the initial Hamas attack, and of those missing or held captive, also took part in the march.

      Patrick Klugman, a lawyer and a member of the “Freethem” committee working to obtain the captives’ release, said the large participation in the march was meaningful and symbolic in reassuring Jewish communities in France.

      “I am very proud of my country because of this mobilisation,” Klugman said. “I feel less alone than in the past weeks and days.”

      Among the recent anti-Semitic acts, Paris prosecutors are investigating an incident on October 31, when buildings in the city and suburbs were daubed with dozens of Stars of David.

      The graffiti, which brought back memories of the Nazi occupation of Paris during World War II and the deportation of Jews to death camps, was widely condemned.

      Sunday’s march took place following a number of pro-Palestinian rallies in Paris calling for an immediate ceasefire.

      Macron has recently also joined calls for a ceasefire, urging Israel to stop bombing Gaza.

      SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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      Why are Israel and Hamas at war? A basic explainer.

      By Leo Sands November 9, 2023 

      Why is Israel at war with Hamas in Gaza? A basic explainer. - The Washington Post

      An Israeli military vehicle drives along the Israel-Gaza border fence as Palestinian protesters gather on the Gaza side on Sept. 22

      At Kibbutz Beeri, the scene of some of the deadliest fighting in the Hamas incursion that began on Oct. 7.

       

      Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, “is not functioning” after days without power, water or reliable internet, the World Health Organization said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday defended his military’s assault on the enclave. Understand what’s behind the Israel-Gaza war.

      Hamas launched an invasion into southern Israel on Oct. 7. The U.S.-designated terrorist group governs the Gaza Strip. (Video: Joe Snell/The Washington Post)

      WHAT TO KNOW

      • What started the latest war between Israel and Hamas?
      • Why are Israel and Hamas fighting?
      • What are Israel’s military objectives in Gaza?
      • What is the situation for people in Gaza?
      • What could happen next in the Israel-Gaza war?

      srael and Hamas have been at war for more than a month. At the four-week mark, more than 10,000 Palestinians had been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 1,400 Israelis were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. 

      Here is a basic explainer of the reasons behind the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.

      What started the latest war between Israel and Hamas?

      Return to menu

      On Oct. 7, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel. In a highly organized stealth assault, they bulldozed the border fence in multiple places, caught Israel’s security apparatus off-guard and overtook overwhelmed military defenses. Surprised by the lack of resistance, the attackers turned the operation into a bloody and chaotic rampage through civilian areas.

      How Hamas’s carefully planned Israel attack devolved into a chaotic rampage

      Militants took captives from a swath of territory more than 20 miles wide, reflecting the broad sweep of the incursion across Gaza’s border with southern Israel. The majority of the captives identified by The Washington Post were civilians, including women and young children. At the site of a dance festival just three miles from the border fence, more than 260 bodies were recovered. Israeli officials said 5,400 people were injured in the attack. At least 32 U.S. nationals have died.

      Hamas, a militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has said the aim of the attack was “to free Palestinian prisoners, stop Israeli aggression on al-Aqsa Mosque, and to break the siege on Gaza.”

      Israel that same day declared war on Hamas. On Oct. 9, Israel cut off electricity, food and fuel to the enclave. Some aid has since resumed, but far below prewar levels. Since then, Gaza has been bombarded with Israeli air and artillery strikes, killing thousands and injuring more than 26,400 people, many of them children, according to its Health Ministry.

      The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A chronology

      Why are Israel and Hamas fighting?

      Return to menu

      The roots of the latest fighting predate the establishment of the state of Israel 75 years ago and the founding of Hamas in 1987. Palestinians and Israelis alike consider the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea as their own.

      Periodic bouts of violence, armed conflict and displacement followed. Before Oct. 7, there were 6,407 Palestinian and 308 Israeli fatalities in the past 15 years, according to U.N. data.

      Most recently, Israel has coexisted uneasily with Hamas — cycling between bloody escalations and periods of relative peace, including times when Gazans were able to work in and export goods to Israel.

      Hamas — which has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization since 1997 — won elections in Gaza in 2006, defeating Fatah, the main Palestinian party that still controls the Palestinian Authority, the U.S.-backed government based in the West Bank, the second Palestinian territory. In 2007, Hamas expelled the Palestinian Authority from Gaza and seized full control of the enclave. Elections have not been held in Gaza since. Hamas has committed to using violence in its aim of replacing Israel with a Palestinian state and, unlike the Palestinian Authority, does not acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. The group, supported by Iran, has used explosives and rockets, along with suicide bombings and kidnappings, to target Israel since gaining control of Gaza.

      The Gaza Strip and its history, explained

      Israel has retaliated with its superior military force and a punishing blockade, restricting imports and exports and the movement of civilians in and out of the strip, which has a population of about 2 million, in a strategy that rights groups have decried as collective punishment and a violation of international law.

      The power imbalance and lack of movement toward peace and Palestinian statehood have kept tensions simmering. In May 2021, Israeli attempts to evict families from a Palestinian neighborhood in favor of Jewish Israelis in East Jerusalem led to violent clashes, prompting Hamas to launch rockets at Israeli cities.

      This April, Israeli forces stormed al-Aqsa Mosque, a sacred Muslim site in Jerusalem. The following month, a five-day conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad, another armed Palestinian faction, killed at least 22 people in Gaza and two in Israel. It was a rare summer of quiet in the Gaza Strip — until late August, when Israel halted new work permits and barred workers with permits from entering the country, blaming Hamas for a string of attacks on Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

      What is Hamas, and why did it attack Israel now?

      What are Israel’s military objectives in Gaza?

      Return to menu

      Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who formed a unity government with a political rival, has vowed to end Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military has said a key target will be the militant group’s leadership. Israel’s National Security Council chief, Tzachi Hanegbi, has said “we will not only collapse Hamas military and governmental capabilities, but ensure that they will not be able to revive themselves afterward.”

      Who are the Hamas leaders behind the attacks on Israel?

      Previous ground offensives by Israel into Gaza in 2014 and 2019 were more limited in aim — intending to punish and degrade Hamas but not remove it completely. More than 1,000 Palestinians were killed during the 2019 campaign; the death toll in 2014 exceeded 1,500, including more than 500 children.