Sea route for Gaza aid gains momentum, Canada to restore UNRWA funding

Sea route for Gaza aid gains momentum, Canada to restore UNRWA funding

Post By World Gaza attack, Humanitarian aid, humanitarian corridor

All the latest from the Israel-Hamas war.

The US military confirmed early on Saturday that humanitarian airdrops into the Gaza Strip carried out by other countries into the Gaza Strip killed civilians.

The military’s Central Command, which oversees the Mideast, issued the statement on X, formerly Twitter.

It did not identify the countries involved.

“We are aware of reports of civilians killed as a result of humanitarian airdrops,” the statement read. “We express sympathies to the families of those who were killed. Contrary to some reports, this was not the result of U.S. airdrops.”

The US military airdropped food on Friday from a U.S. C-130, the equivalent of 11,500 meals donated by Jordan, into the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Earlier, Palestinian officials said five people were killed and several others injured when airdrops malfunctioned and hit people and landed on homes.

Canada to restore funding to UN Agency for Palestinian refugees

Canada will restore funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, weeks after the agency, known as UNRWA, lost hundreds of millions of dollars in support following Israeli allegations against some of its staffers in Gaza.

Canada has been reassured after receiving an interim report from the UN investigation of Israel’s allegations, said Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s minister of international development.

The Canadian government is due to contribute €16.8 million to UNRWA in April and did not miss a payment as a result of the pause.

Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attacks. In response, more than a dozen countries including Canada suspended funding to UNRWA worth about €411 million, almost half its budget for the year.

Israel now alleges that 450 UNRWA employees were members of militant groups in Gaza, although it has provided no evidence.

US military to deploy 1000 troops to transport and build floating pier off Gaza shore

The US military will deploy about 1,000 troops to transport and build a floating pier on the Gaza shore in order to get critically needed food and aid delivered to citizens there.

The Pentagon press secretary told reporters on Friday that it will take weeks for this to come together, but that the US is working as quickly as possible to get troops and equipment deployed and the pier constructed.

There will not be any US forces on the ground in Israel, Ryder said, adding that details about who will be taking the supplies ashore from the causeway are still being worked out.

Troops will build an offshore pier where large ships can offload food and supplies. Then smaller military vessels will transport that aid from the floating pier to a temporary causeway that will be driven into the ground at the shoreline.

He added that the US is also talking with allies and others about the food distribution and other elements of the operation.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has welcomed the aid corridor, but says the plan “will take months to stand up” in its entirety.

Britain is due to help the US build a temporary port on the Gaza coast and has already sent maritime surveyors.

UN rights office says Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas amount to a “war crime”

The UN human rights office says the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem amount to a war crime.

Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

The creation and expansion of settlements amount to the transfer by Israel of its own population into territories that it occupies, “which amounts to a war crime under international law,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk’s office said in a statement.

Türk presented the report to the Human Rights Council on Friday. It covers the one-year period from 1 November 2022, to 31 October 2023, when it says roughly 24,300 housing units in existing settlements in the West Bank were “advanced” — the highest number in a year since monitoring began in 2017.

Expanded settlement activity and an upsurge in violence in the West Bank in recent months have been largely overshadowed by war and displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. The international community, along with the Palestinians, considers settlement construction illegal or illegitimate and an obstacle to peace.

Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva, which regularly accuses Türk’s office of overlooking violence by Palestinian extremists against Israelis, said Friday’s report “totally ignored” what it said was the deaths of 36 Israelis and injuries of nearly 300 others in attacks due to “Palestinian terrorism” last year.

Israel says Palestinian from the West Bank can visit Jerusalem holy site during Ramadan

Israel reiterated on Friday that it will allow Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to visit and pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound during the holy month of Ramadan.

Palestinians from the territory have been unable to visit Jerusalem following travel restrictions put in place by the Israeli government immediately after the 7 October Hamas attack.

Friday’s news was confirmed by COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs. Shani Sasson, COGAT’s spokesperson, gave no details on what restrictions would remain in place.

Ramadan is expected to start on Sunday evening but that depends on the sighting of the crescent moon.

President Biden increasingly frustrated with Israeli counterpart over Gaza aid

President Joe Biden said in an exchange with a Democratic lawmaker and members of his Cabinet that he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will need to have a “come to Jesus meeting.”

The comments by Biden captured on a hot mic as he spoke with Senator Michael Bennet on the floor of the House chamber following his Thursday night State of the Union address.

In the exchange, Bennet congratulates Biden on his speech and urges the president to keep pressing Netanyahu on humanitarian concerns in Gaza. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg were also part of the brief conversation.

Biden then responds, “I told him, Bibi, and don’t repeat this, but you and I are going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting.”

An aide to the president standing nearby then speaks quietly into the president’s ear, appearing to alert the president that microphones remain on as he worked the room.

“I’m on a hot mic here,” Biden says after being alerted. “Good. That’s good.”

Biden has become increasingly public about his frustration with the Netanyahu government’s unwillingness to open more land crossings for critically needed aid to make its way into Gaza.

Israeli probe says troops shot at some people around Gaza aid convoy who were advancing towards them

The Israeli military on Friday said a review of the bloodshed surrounding an aid convoy last week that killed 118 Palestinians in northern Gaza showed that Israeli forces shot at some people in the crowd who were advancing toward them.

Israeli officials had initially said only that their troops had fired warning shots toward the crowd.

A large number of people met a pre-dawn convoy of trucks carrying aid to the war-wracked region on 29 February and began scrambling to grab the food. Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire on them.

The military said on Friday that about 12,000 people had gathered around the trucks as they were traveling toward distribution centres and began grabbing the food aid off them.

The military review of the incident showed the troops did not fire on the convoy itself, “but did fire at a number of suspects who approached the nearby forces and posed a threat to them,” the military said.

The military said many of the casualties were caused by a stampede over the food and people being run over by the aid trucks.

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Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu will fight to ‘very end’ amid truce calls

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza attack, Hamas, Hostages, Israel Hamas war, Israel-Palestine Peace Process

The latest developments from the Israel Hamas war.

Communications partially restored in Gaza after three days of outage

Telecommunications have been partially restored in the Gaza Strip after three days of outage, the Palestinian operator Paltel announced.

The company reported in a press release the “gradual recovery” of the network, down since Thursday, in the centre and south of the territory.

UN aid trucks entering Gaza from Israeli territory – reports

The Egypt Red Crescent are reporting that UN aid trucks trucks have started to enter Gaza.

They say the trucks will go into the enclave as of Sunday for the first time since the war broke out.

The Israeli government body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, explained that trucks would all undergo security checks. They’ll also be transferred directly to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The crossing, which has borders with Israel-Gaza and Egypt-Gaza, has been closed since Hamas’s attacks on 7 October.

Israel’s security cabinet approved the reopening of the crossing for Gaza aid on Friday, following increased pressure from the US during a visit from White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Israeli army says it has discovered ‘largest tunnel’ dug under the Gaza Strip

The Israeli army has claimed to have discovered “the largest tunnel” that Hamas dug under the Gaza Strip.

An AFP photographer who was authorised to go there noted that it was of sufficient size to allow small vehicles to circulate.

“This massive network of tunnels, which divides into several branches, extends for more than four kilometres and arrives only 400 metres from the Erez crossing point” between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli armed forces said in a statement.

The tunnel is said to be equipped with a pipeline system, electricity, ventilation, sewers, communication networks and rails. Its floor is made of beaten earth and its walls are made of reinforced concrete, except at its outlet, reinforced by a metal cylinder approximately one and a half centimetres in diameter.

The Israeli army claims to have discovered a large number of weapons there ready to be used in the event of an attack by Hamas.

Nicknamed “the Gaza metro” by the Israeli military, the maze of galleries was first used to circumvent the blockade imposed by Israel after Hamas took power in the territory in 2007.

Hundreds of galleries have been dug under the border with Egyptian Sinai to move people, goods, weapons and ammunition between Gaza and the outside world.

In a study published on 17 October, the Institute of Modern Warfare at the American Military Academy West Point estimates the existence of some 1,300 galleries over 500 kilometres.

Colonna calls for ‘immediate and lasting truce’ in Gaza

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs has called for a “new immediate and lasting truce” in the Gaza Strip, saying she was “concerned” by the humanitarian situation and the fate of the hostages after more than two months of war.

“Too many civilians are being killed,” Catherine Colonna said after a meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, in Tel Aviv.

She stressed that the first week-long truce ended on 1 December had allowed the release of hostages – 105 of the 250 taken by force by Hamas during the 7 October attack – as well as an increase in humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza while evacuating injured people.

Colonna reiterated that three French people remain “detained, missing or hostages in the Gaza Strip” and that France is sparing no effort to free them.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen rebuffed her claims, calling any call for a ceasefire as an “error” and a “gift for Hamas”.

Netanyahu says Israel will fight ‘to the very end’ as ‘accidental’ killing of hostages adds to concern over wartime conduct

Israel pressed ahead with its Gaza offensive on Sunday after a series of shootings, including of three hostages who were shirtless and waving a white flag, raised questions about its conduct in a weeks-old war that has brought unprecedented death and destruction to the coastal enclave.

Speaking at a press conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the killing of the three captives – branded a ‘mistake’ – “has broken my heart, it has broken the entire nation’s heart.”

He claimed the remaining hostages held by Hamas would soon return home, but the distance between victory and disaster is “tiny”.

Hitting back on growing international pressure to stop the fighting, Netanyahu said, “we are determined to continue all the way to the very end” until “there will be no authority that will continue training for terror” in Gaza.

“After we have eradicated Hamas and Gaza will be demilitarised under the control of Israel there will be no-one who will educate their children to annihilate Israel,” he added.

UK and Germany call for ceasefire – marking a significant attitude shift

The UK’s foreign secretary David Cameron and his counterpart in Germany, Annalena Baerbock, have called for a “sustainable ceasefire” in Gaza – joining an increasing list of global powers putting pressure on Israel to stop the fighting.

In a joint article published in Welt am Sonntag and The Sunday Times, they wrote: “too many civilians have been killed”, adding that a ceasefire “leading to a sustainable peace” was needed.

“The sooner it comes, the better. The need is urgent,” Baerbock and Cameron wrote.

The move is particularly significant for the UK, whose Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has previously only lent his support to “humanitarian pauses” in the conflict – but his government has so far stopped short of calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in United Nation votes.

‘Mistake’ shootings draw scrutiny from the top of Israel’s government

Military officials said on Saturday that the three hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops had tried to signal that they posed no harm. It was Israel’s first such acknowledgement of harming hostages in a war that it says is largely aimed at rescuing them.

The three hostages, all in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas. An Israeli military official said the soldiers’ behaviour was against the army’s rules of engagement and was being investigated at the highest level.

Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields. But Palestinians and rights groups have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of recklessly endangering civilians and firing on those who do not threaten them, both in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, which has seen a surge of violence since the start of the war.

Israel on Friday said it was opening a military police investigation into the killing of two Palestinians in the West Bank after an Israeli rights group posted videos that appeared to show troops killing the men – one who was incapacitated and the second unarmed – during a raid.

Anger over the mistaken killing of the hostages, though, is likely to ramp up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more of the remaining captives for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Hamas has said there will be no further hostage releases until the war ends, and that it will demand the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.

Hamas released over 100 of more than 240 hostages captured on 7 October in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners during a brief cease-fire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors. Israel has successfully rescued one hostage.

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Israel Hamas war: Israel widens evacuation orders as strikes intensify

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza attack, Hamas, Israel Hamas war, Kamala Harris, Palestine

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel’s military has ordered more areas in and around Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate, as it shifted its offensive to the southern half of the territory where it says many Hamas leaders are hiding.

Heavy bombardments were reported overnight and into Sunday in the area of Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, as well as parts of the north that had previously been the focus of Israel’s blistering air and ground campaign.

Many of the territory’s 2.3 million people are crammed into the south after Israeli forces ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the 2-month-old war.

With the resumption of fighting, hopes have receded that another temporary truce could be negotiated. A weeklong cease-fire, which expired on Friday, had facilitated the release of dozens of Gaza-held Israeli and foreign hostages and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

“We will continue the war until we achieve all its goals, and it’s impossible to achieve those goals without the ground operation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on Saturday night.

UK to carry out flights over Gaza to locate hostages

The United Kingdom will carry out surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza to help locate hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the British Ministry of Defence has announced.

“Since the terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, the British government has been working with partners across the region to secure the release of hostages, including British nationals, who were kidnapped,” the ministry wrote in a statement.

“The safety of British nationals is our top priority,” it adds.

“To support hostage rescue operations, the UK Ministry of Defense will carry out surveillance flights over the Eastern Mediterranean, including airspace over Israel and Gaza,” the statement said.

These planes “will not be armed” and “will not have a combat role”. Their sole mission will be to locate the hostages. “Only information relating to the release of hostages will be transmitted to the competent authorities responsible for the release of hostages.”

Some 240 people were kidnapped on 7 October during Hamas’ unprecedented deadly attack in southern Israel, then taken to the Gaza Strip.

A seven-day truce allowed the release of around a hundred hostages in the hands of Hamas and 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

But nearly 140 people are still detained in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli authorities.

Evacuation orders step up

On Sunday, the Israeli military widened evacuation orders in and around Khan Younis, asking residents of at least five more areas and neighbourhoods to leave for their safety.

Residents said the Israeli military dropped leaflets ordering residents to move south to Rafah or to a coastal area in the southwest.

“Khan Younis city is a dangerous combat zone,” the leaflets read.

UN monitors said in a report issued before the latest evacuation orders that the residents who were told to leave make up about one-quarter of the territory of Gaza. The report said that these areas were home to nearly 800,000 people before the war.

Ahead of a resumption of fighting, the United States, Israel’s closest ally, had warned Israel to avoid significant new mass displacement.

New targets hit by IDF

The Israeli military said on Sunday that its fighter jets and helicopters “struck terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including terror tunnel shafts, command centres and weapons storage facilities” overnight, while a drone killed five Hamas fighters.

In northern Gaza, rescue teams with little equipment scrambled Sunday to dig through the rubble of buildings in the Jabaliya refugee camp and other neighbourhoods in Gaza City in search for potential survivors and dead bodies.

“They strike everywhere,” said Amal Radwan, a woman sheltering in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp. “There is the non-stop sound of explosions around us.”

Mohamed Abu Abed, who lives in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City, also said there were relentless airstrikes and artillery shelling in his neighbourhood and surrounding areas.

“The situation here is imaginable,” he said. “Death is everywhere. One can die in a flash.”

US Vice President condemns death toll rise

The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Saturday that the overall death toll in the strip since the 7 October start of the war had surpassed 15,200 – a sharp jump from the previous count of more than 13,300 on 20 November.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but it said 70% of the dead were women and children. It said more than 40,000 people had been wounded since the war began.

US appeals to protect civilians came after an offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza.

The territory itself, bordering Israel and Egypt to the south, is sealed, leaving residents with the only option of moving around within Gaza to avoid the bombings.

“Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating,” US Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters on Saturday during the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said Israel was making “maximum effort” to protect civilians and the military has used leaflets, phone calls, and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to move from specific areas. He added that Israel is considering creating a security buffer zone that would not allow Gazans direct access to the border fence on foot.

Israel say they are targeting Hamas hideouts, allegedly among civilians

Israel says it targets Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel says at least 78 of its soldiers have been killed in the offensive in northern Gaza.

Bombardments on Saturday destroyed a block of about 50 residential buildings in the Shijaiyah neighbourhood of Gaza City and a six-story building in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya on the northern edge of the city, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

More than 60 people were killed in the Shijaiyah strikes and more than 300 buried under the rubble, the monitors said, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said rescuers lack bulldozers and other equipment to reach those buried under the rubble, confirming the Red Crescent estimate of about 300 people missing. He said the block had housed over 1,000 people.

“Retrieving the martyrs is extremely difficult,” he said in video comments from the site of the attack.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in a meeting that “under no circumstances” would the US permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders, according to a US summary.

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Israel-Hamas war: Bombing of Gaza intensifies as death toll grows

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza attack, Hamas, Israel Hamas war, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestine

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

Further truces are unlikely to go ahead – reports

In the clearest sign yet that a return to negotiations for further truces is unlikely, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed negotiators to return to Israel from Qatar.

They had been continuing discussions in Qatar on a new truce with Hamas but were called back to Israel because the dialogue was “at an impasse”, according to Netanyahu’s office.

Kamala Harris speaks out on ongoing conflict

US Vice President Kamala Harris, in Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, has said in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that “under no circumstances” would the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza or redrawing of its borders.

Harris was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to “put Palestinian voices at the centre” of planning the next steps for Gaza after the conflict, according to the White House. President Joe Biden’s administration has emphasised the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

Israelis call for Benjamin Netanyahu to resign

Thousands of Israeli protesters in Caesarea are protesting outside the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for him to step down.

Over the past few weeks, demonstrators have been gathering in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Caesarea to protest what they believe is Netanyahu’s mishandling of the case of hostages being held in Gaza.

On Saturday, at the same time the demonstration was going on outside Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, another was taking place in Tel Aviv, also demanding that the Israeli prime minister resign his post.

Gaza says fatalities surpass 15,200 – 70% of them women and children

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza has announced the death toll has surpassed 15,200 and that 70% of those killed were women and children.

The figure was announced on Saturday by ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra, who did not provide further details.

The previous toll given by the ministry was more than 13,300 dead. Al-Qidra did not explain the sharp jump. However, the ministry had only been able to provide sporadic updates since 11 November amid problems with connectivity and major war-related disruptions in hospital operations. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

More than 40,000 people have been wounded, al-Qidra said.

Aid trucks enter Rafah crossing for first time since truce ended

A fresh batch of aid trucks has entered through the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing for the first time since the seven-day truce in Gaza ended, the Palestinian Red Crescent has announced.

“The Palestine Red Crescent crews have now received aid trucks through the Rafah crossing from our partners in the Egypt Red Crescent,” PRCS posted on X – formerly Twitter.

No aid trucks were able to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday as Israel immediately renewed its attacks on the besieged enclave following the conclusion of the truce.

Israel resumes heavy bombing post-truce

Israel has been pounding targets in the southern Gaza Strip, intensifying a renewed offensive that followed a weeklong truce with Hamas and giving rise to renewed concerns about civilian casualties.

At least 400 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed on Friday morning, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, even as the United States urged ally Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians.

“This is going to be very important going forward,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday after meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai, wrapping up his third Middle East tour since the war started. “It’s something we’re going to be looking at very closely.”

Many of Israel’s attacks on Saturday were focused on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, where the military said it had struck more than 50 Hamas targets with airstrikes, tank fire and its navy.

Leaflet drops resume – but nowhere for Gazans to go

The IDF dropped leaflets on Friday warning residents to leave but, as of late on Friday, there had been no reports of large numbers of people leaving, according to the United Nations.

“There is no place to go,” lamented Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.

“They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south.”

Israel’s military said it also carried out strikes in the north, and hit more than 400 targets in all across the Gaza Strip.

Some 2 million people – almost Gaza’s entire population – are currently crammed into the territory’s south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war’s start.

Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre area.

UN criticises IDF’s evacuation ‘plan’

In response to US calls to protect civilians, the Israeli military released an online map, but it has done more to confuse than to help.

It divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels, sometimes across roads or blocks, and asks residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation.

“The publication does not specify where people should evacuate to,” the UN office for coordinating humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territory noted in its daily report. “It is unclear how those residing in Gaza would access the map without electricity and amid recurrent telecommunications cuts.”

Egypt has expressed concerns the renewed offensive could cause Palestinians to try to cross into its territory. In a statement late on Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the forced transfer of Palestinians “is a red line.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to “put Palestinian voices at the centre” of planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict, according to the White House. US President Joe Biden’s administration has been emphasising the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

What will become of the remaining hostages?

The renewed hostilities have also heightened concerns for 136 hostages who, according to the Israeli military, are still held captive by Hamas and other militants after 105 were freed during the truce. For families of remaining hostages, the truce’s collapse was a blow to hopes their loved ones could be the next out after days of seeing others freed.

The Israeli army said on Friday it had confirmed the deaths of four more hostages, bringing the total of known dead to seven.

During the truce, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released from both sides were women and children.

A halt on humanitarian aid

Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza to Khan Younis and other parts of the south earlier in the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that has left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.

Since the resumption of hostilities, no aid convoys or fuel deliveries have entered Gaza, and humanitarian operations within Gaza have largely halted, according to the UN

The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will “wipe out even the minimal relief” provided by the truce and “prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians.”

Up until the truce began, more than 13,300 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s assault, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since 11 November.

The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the rubble.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighbourhoods. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

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‘No childhood for them’: The desperate situation for children in Gaza

Post By World Gaza attack, Gaza City, Israel Hamas war, refugee children, save the children, united nations

More than a hundred children have been killed on a daily basis since the conflict in Gaza began on 7 October and, for many, a happy childhood is little more than a distant dream.

When Gaza’s southern border crossing opened up, briefly, a few thousand of the enclave’s 2.3 million people were recently able to escape to safety.

“My daughter asked me about the people leaving through the Rafah crossing,” says Raida, a mother of three who lives in Gaza.

“I explained to her that they have citizenship from other countries. She ran to get her piggy bank, which had 50 shekels [about €11] in it, and begged me to buy her a citizenship.”

“I am exhausted,” she says.

The heartbreaking story underscores just how desperate people are in Gaza, and how the deadly conflict has impacted children particularly hard.

“A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Gaza, with unimaginable and unnecessary suffering,” Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Country Director in occupied Palestinian territory tells Euronews.

It’s a desperate picture in the region, more than a month on from the start of the conflict.

Upwards of 4,000 children have been killed so far – a hundred each ady – and countless more injured, often seriously.

“This number is still rising,” Lee adds, “For those children who survive the bombs and ground operations, many will die from disease, starvation, and dehydration if humanitarian aid continues to be weaponised”.

On Thursday, the United States announced that Israel had agreed to a four-hour humanitarian pause every day to get much-needed aid into the besieged Gaza strip.

Toby Fricker of UNICEF, the United Nation’s wing responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children, says that those pauses will be crucial as the conflict rages on.

“Medical facilities and hospitals are in dire need of aid deliveries to bolster their resources,” he told Euronews, “They’re under such strain, especially when it comes to helping women who are giving birth, babies who are in incubators, children who are living with cancer, children who need dialysis, to name just a few examples.”

Aid workers on the ground in Gaza say that, due to the circumstances of the war, hundreds of thousands of people are forced to live in extremely close confines together.

Existing in such a way runs the risk of outbreak of disease, not least because the sanitation conditions are very challenging, especially when it comes to toilet facilities and massively overstretched water resources.

Before the conflict began on 7 October, UNICEF were already working with thousands of children, struggling with the pressures of living somewhere as unstable as the Gaza strip.

“Around half the child population, some 500,000, needed some form of mental health or psychosocial support,” Fricker explains, “They were living through fairly regular escalations of hostilities. They were living in a heightened sense of anxiety day in, day out, with fear of what could happen.”

Clearly, then, many of the children of Gaza had already experienced significant blows to their mental and physical well-being.

Fricker adds that the unprecedented escalation means children are now purely “struggling to survive”.

On top of the thousands of young people killed in the fighting, an estimated 300,000 children are currently suffering from various forms of malnutrition.

As the days go by, authorities are warning that this figure could rapidly grow, as well as the likelihood of an increase in waterborne diseases, children getting dehydrated after drinking contaminated or salty water – often the only liquid available – and those who aren’t able to get the vaccines they so desperately need to keep healthy.

Even before these afflicted children are even born, life is already a struggle for them.

In Gaza, there are an estimated 50,000 pregnant women requiring maternal health services and around 5,500 births each month.

20-year-old Bayan is seven months pregnant. When approached by UNICEF, she explained that, instead of the joyful anticipation that should accompany pregnancy, she is filled with an overwhelming terror.

“In my darkest moments, I wonder how I will ever get to the hospital when the roads are damaged, and transportation is non-existent. And even if I somehow make it to the hospital, will they be able to deliver my precious baby safely? The hospitals are overflowing with the injured and the dead,” Bayan says.

Even after these children are born, Fricker told Euronews “there’s no childhood for them”.

While UNICEF and other charities and aid workers on the ground are attempting to provide psychosocial support for these children and provide them with a safe space to simply be young, it’s a near-impossible task.

Many of them are sheltering in schools they should be attending. In relatively peaceful moments, Fricker says workers “try to give children an hour of childhood so that they can temporarily forget about the horrors around them”.

“Of course, it’s not enough,” he adds.

There have been countless reports of children resorting to self-harm – ripping hair out of their heads and scratching their skin until they bleed.

Many have panic attacks and early signs of PTSD, terrified over what will happen to them and their families.

According to international law, governments are responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children – something that is proving concerningly hard in the Gaza conflict.

When asked about the future for these children living in what amounts to a hellscape, Fricker told Euronews: “right now no child, no family, no parent inside the Gaza Strip can even think of the future. UNICEF staff members on the ground speak about living not just day by day, but second by second.”

“The immediate needs for young people in Gaza are so acute that it’s very, very difficult to even think past the next hour, past the next day and certainly not, say, a year ahead. We don’t know when the conflict will end so, for now, part of the international community’s priority is to try to resume some sort of childhood for these youngsters wherever possible,” he added.

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Israel-Hamas war: Hostage release talks fail as Netanyahu again dismisses calls for ceasefire

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza attack, Hamas, Israel Hamas war, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Gaza Strip

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight and into Sunday as ground forces battled Hamas militants near the territory’s largest hospital, where health officials say thousands of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped with no electricity and dwindling supplies.

In a televised address on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected growing international calls for a cease-fire unless it includes the release of all the nearly 240 hostages captured by Hamas in the 7 October rampage that triggered the war, saying Israel was bringing its “full force” to the battle.

Israel has vowed to end Hamas’ 16-year rule in Gaza and crush its military capabilities, while blaming the militants for the war’s heavy toll on the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in the besieged territory.

Israel has come under mounting international pressure, even from its closest ally, the United States, as the war enters a sixth week.

A 57-nation gathering of Muslim and Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia on Saturday called for the war to end, and an estimated 300,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully through London – the biggest demonstration in the city since the war began.

Israel-Hamas hostage release talks break down over Shifa hospital situation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has raised the possibility of a potential deal to free hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip during an interview with NBC.

Netanyahu was asked about the possibility of an agreement concerning the women, children and elderly people taken hostage.

“Is there a potential agreement?” the journalist asked him. “There could be,” he replied, “but the less I express myself on the subject, the more I increase the chances that it will materialise,” he added, specifying that things were progressing thanks to Israeli military pressure.

Hamas, though, say they have suspended hostage negotiations over Israeli forces’ handling of Shifa hospital, according to a Palestinian official briefed who spoke to Reuters news agency.

There are 239 hostages still being held in Gaza – and Israel has refused to call a ceasefire until they are released.

Officials at the Shifa hospital say they have been forced to suspend operations dure fierce fighting in the area.

Palestinian authorities also say that 12 people – including babies – have died due to a lack of supplies and electricity.

Netanyahu has maintained that Israel offered fuel to the hospital but Hamas refused to receive it – a claim which has not yet been verified.

Gaza hospital patients ‘forced’ onto streets

Patients “are in the streets without care” after the “forced evacuations” of two paediatric hospitals, the director of hospitals in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip has said, while the Israeli army claims it has “secured” passages for civilians.

“The forced evacuations of al-Nasr and al-Rantissi paediatric hospitals have left sick people on the streets without care” in Gaza City, Mohammed Zaqout said. “We have completely lost contact with the caregivers” at the two hospitals, he added.

Across Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu has assured that troops would assist in moving babies to safety on Sunday and that the IDF was in contact with hospital staff.

The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, though, has denied claims of evacuees and safe corridors.

Gaza deputy health minister: Israeli strike destroys Shifa hospital building

The deputy health minister of the Hamas government in Gaza has told AFP that an Israeli airstrike had “completely destroyed” the heart disease department building at Shifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip shelled and besieged by Israel.

“The two-story building of the heart disease department was completely destroyed in an airstrike,” said Youssef Abou Rich, blaming the strike on the Israeli army.

The AFP was not able to confirm this strike on site but at least one witness present in the hospital confirmed raids and damage.

The Israeli army has not immediately reacted

“There was a new strike on the surgery department and the outpatient surgery department,” added the Palestinian official, reporting “five shells fired since the morning into the complex.”

“The (Israeli) tanks are completely besieging the Shifa hospital,” he said while the Israeli army describes as “false” the reports according to which its troops are “surrounding and hitting” al-Chifa.

“They shoot at everyone who tries to leave all the buildings in the hospital complex,” Abou Rich also claimed.

Erdogan calls for Washington to stop Israeli offensive

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the United States to stop Israel’s offensive in Gaza, while stressing that there would be no agreement until Washington considers the territory as Palestinian land.

“We should talk with Egypt and the Gulf countries and put pressure on the United States,” Erdogan told Turkish journalists aboard his flight back from the Riyadh leaders summit.

“The United States should increase its pressure on Israel. The West should increase its pressure on Israel… It is vital for us to achieve a ceasefire,” he said.

“The most important country that needs to be involved is the United States, which has influence over Israel,” Erdogan insisted.

However, he clarified that he would not call on US President Joe Biden.

“We cannot agree with Mr. Biden if he approaches [the conflict] by considering Gaza as the land of the occupying settlers or of Israel, rather than the land of the Palestinian people,” he said.

“The European Union thinks exactly the same thing as Israel regarding Hamas. But we do not think like them,” Erdogan continued.

“I consider Hamas to be a political party that won the elections in Palestine. I don’t see things the same way as them,” he added.

Meeting at a summit in Riyadh, the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries condemned on Saturday the “barbaric” actions of Israeli forces in Gaza, but refrained from announcing punitive economic and political measures against Israel.

The results of the summit, bringing together the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), highlighted regional divisions over how to respond to the conflict, amid fears of an escalation in the region.

Evacuations from Gaza to Egypt have resumed, 500 dual nationals evacuated

Some 500 foreigners and dual nationals, as well as wounded Palestinians, have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, reports from both sides of the border confirm.

“Five hundred foreign passport holders from 15 different countries entered Egypt,” an Egyptian security service official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Alqahera News channel reported that “seven injured Palestinians” had also been authorised to cross the terminal, which was closed on Friday and Saturday.

The authority in charge of the borders within the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip had called on Saturday evening “all holders of foreign passports and people registered on the evacuation lists” to present themselves at the terminal, located at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip and which leads towards the Egyptian Sinai.

Since 1 November, dozens of wounded Palestinians have been evacuated to Egyptian hospitals. Hundreds of dual nationals and foreigners, notably Americans, French, and Germans have also crossed through Rafah.

The terminal, however, has not been able to open every day, with Hamas demanding security guarantees for ambulances carrying wounded people to be evacuated after the bombing of one of them by the Israeli army.

Among the people evacuated on Sunday from Gaza via Rafah were Poles whose number was not specified as well as 101 Romanians and 60 Russians.

UN agency announces ‘significant number’ of casualties in strike on Gaza headquarters

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has announced “a significant number of deaths and injuries” in the “bombing” late on Saturday of its headquarters in Gaza City, evacuated by its employees and now occupied by hundreds of displaced Palestinians.

“The ongoing tragedy of civilian deaths and injuries trapped in this conflict… must end,” the UNDP said in a statement. “Civilians, civilian infrastructure and the inviolability of UN premises must be respected and protected at all times.”

AFPTV images on Sunday also show a crater in the middle of the courtyard of a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA announced on Friday that more than 100 of its employees had died in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.

Civilians injured after shooting from Lebanon – army

Several civilians have been injured in Israel by an anti-tank missile that fell in the north of the country, the Israeli army has announced, saying they responded by targeting the origin of the missile in southern Lebanon.

According to the army, it hit a vehicle near the border town of Dovev and “a number of civilians were injured”.

“The artillery hits the source of the fire,” it added in a statement.

Israel Electric Corporation said the missile “hit workers” who were repairing power lines damaged by other recent strikes in the area.

Exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and armed groups in Lebanon have been almost daily for weeks, while on the country’s southern border, Israeli troops are waging war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Quds Hospital no longer operational – Palestine Red Crescent Society

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has announced that al-Quds Hospital in Gaza city is no longer operational due to a lack of fuel and a power outage.

“PRCS holds the international community and signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention accountable for the complete breakdown of the health system and the resulting dire humanitarian conditions,” PRCS wrote on X – formerly Twitter.

The situation in and around Shifa hospital worsens

In Gaza City, residents reported heavy airstrikes and shelling overnight, including in the area around Shifa Hospital. Israel, without providing evidence, has accused Hamas of concealing a command post inside and under the hospital compound, allegations denied by Hamas and hospital staff.

“We spent the night in panic waiting for their arrival,” said Ahmed al-Boursh, a resident taking shelter in the hospital. “They are outside, not far from the gates.”

The hospital’s last generator ran out of fuel on Saturday, causing the death of a premature baby, another child in an incubator and four other patients, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

It says another 37 babies are at risk of death because there’s no electricity.

Health Ministry under-secretary Munir al-Boursh said Israeli snipers have deployed around Shifa, firing at any movement inside the compound. He said airstrikes had destroyed several homes next to the hospital, killing a doctor, his son and son-in-law.

“There are wounded in the house, and we can’t reach them,” he told Al Jazeera television in an interview from the hospital.

Israel’s military had earlier confirmed clashes outside the hospital and said that on Sunday, troops will assist in moving babies to a safer location. The military says it is in contact with hospital staff.

The Health Ministry says there are still 1,500 patients at Shifa, along with 1,500 medical personnel and between 15,000 and 20,000 people seeking shelter. Thousands have fled Shifa and other hospitals that have come under attack, but physicians said it’s impossible for everyone to get out.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli tanks were 20 metres (65 feet) from al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, causing “extreme panic and fear” among the 14,000 displaced people sheltering there.

Netanyahu rejects US post-war vision

Benjamin Netanyahu has said the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas. Israel has long accused the group, which operates in dense residential neighbourhoods, of using civilians as human shields.

The Israeli military said that during a battle in Gaza City, its forces helped clear a corridor for civilians to exit a building before coming under fire. The troops returned fire, killing the militants, it said.

On Saturday, Netanyahu began to outline Israel’s postwar plans for Gaza, which contrast sharply with the vision put forth by the United States.

Netanyahu said Gaza would be demilitarised and that Israel would retain security control, with the ability to enter Gaza freely to hunt down militants. He also rejected the idea that the Palestinian Authority (PA), which currently administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would at some stage control Gaza. Hamas drove the PA’s forces out of Gaza in a week of street battles in 2007.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US opposes an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and envisions a unified Palestinian government in both Gaza and the West Bank as a step toward Palestinian statehood. Even before the war, Netanyahu’s government was staunchly opposed to that prospect.

In another sign of international frustration with Israel, Saudi Arabia welcomed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday in the first such visit since the two countries mended ties this year. Israel views Iran as its main enemy and had sought to normalise relations with Saudi Arabia before the outbreak of the war.

Evacuation windows – but still no pauses

Israel’s allies have defended the country’s right to protect itself after the Hamas attack, which killed at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians. But now into the second month of war, there are growing differences over how Israel should conduct its fight.

The US has pushed for temporary pauses which would allow for wider distribution of badly needed aid to civilians in the besieged territory where conditions are increasingly dire. However, Israel has only agreed to brief daily periods during which civilians can flee the area of ground combat in northern Gaza and head south on foot along two main north-south roads.

Since these evacuation windows were first announced a week ago, tens of thousands of civilians have fled the north. Israel is still striking what it says are militant targets across central and southern Gaza as well, often killing women and children.

The war has displaced over two-thirds of Gaza’s population, with most fleeing south. Egypt has allowed hundreds of foreign passport holders and medical patients to exit through its Rafah crossing. It has also allowed hundreds of trucks loaded with food and medicine – but no fuel – to enter, but aid workers say it’s nowhere near enough to meet the mounting needs.

More than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing and are thought to be trapped or dead under the rubble.

Forty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began, and Palestinians have continued firing rockets into Israel. Hamas is still holding 239 captives – men, women and children – after releasing four women last month. A fifth captive was rescued by Israeli forces.

Late on Saturday, thousands of Israelis participated in a rally in Tel Aviv, calling for the return of hostages. In Caesarea, hundreds of protesters gathered near Netanyahu’s home, calling for his removal from office.

About 250,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate from communities near Gaza and along the northern border with Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have traded fire repeatedly.

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Israel-Hamas war: Gaza hospitals at breaking point as Iran says Israel is ‘terrorist organisation’

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza attack, Gaza City, Hamas, Israel Hamas war, Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran asks Muslim countries to label Israeli army a ‘terrorist organisation’

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called on Muslim countries to qualify the Israeli army as a “terrorist organisation” because of its armed operations in the Gaza Strip.

In a speech to Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in the Saudi capital, Raisi also asked Muslim countries to “arm the Palestinians” if “the attacks continue” in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian march under heavy surveillance in London

Hundreds of people began to gather in London for a pro-Palestinian march organised under heavy police surveillance on this weekend of commemorations of the First World War armistice.

The police said they expected the presence of more than 100,000 demonstrators in the capital, who came to demand a ceasefire, five weeks after the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned London police chief Mark Rowley that he will hold him “responsible”, particularly if protesters disrupt Armistice Day commemorations, planned at the same time in the capital.

“It is thanks to those who fought for this country and for the freedom we cherish that those who wish to demonstrate can do so, but they must do so in a respectful and peaceful manner,” Downing Street said in a statement.

The route of the march carefully avoids the Whitehall area, where the main Armistice ceremony is due to take place.

Nearly 2,000 police officers were mobilised to ensure the security of both the commemorations and the demonstration. The Metropolitan police stressed that this weekend would be “particularly tense and difficult”.

Fighting intensifies around Gaza hospitals – reports

Israel is facing increasing calls to protect civilians in Gaza, as fighting with Hamas intensified around hospitals in the small Palestinian territory where residents are seeking refuge to escape intense bombardment.

On the 36th day of the conflict triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, half of the 36 hospitals in Gaza which have been constantly bombed since 7 October are no longer functioning “at all” according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

On Saturday morning, clouds of smoke rose into the sky over Gaza City and numerous gunshots could be heard.

The al-Chifa hospital, located in Gaza City, was the target of fire according to its director. “Al-Chifa was targeted all night by intense artillery fire, like other hospitals in Gaza City,” Mohammed Abou Salmiya said.

The director specified that the ambulances had not been able to pick up “dozens of dead” and “hundreds of injured” because of “the strikes and projectiles”.

According to Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, “one person was killed and many others were injured in strikes on the intensive care building of al-Shifa hospital” on Saturday morning, the day after a bombing which left 13 dead in this same hospital complex, according to Hamas.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on these claims. On Friday, they said they would “kill” Hamas fighters “who shoot from hospitals” in Gaza and said in the evening that they had eliminated “around 150 terrorists.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli snipers fired on al-Quds hospital on Friday.

Arab and Muslim leaders will demand end to violence in Gaza

Arab leaders and Iran’s president will meet in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a joint summit that is expected to highlight the urgency of ending Israel’s attacks on Gaza before conflict engulfs the region.

Emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are being held in Riyadh, five weeks after the start of the war.

Since then, Israel has relentlessly bombed the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, killing more than 11,000 people, including at least 4,500 children, according to the Hamas government’s Health Ministry.

The Arab League and the OIC were initially scheduled to hold their meetings separately, but the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced early on Saturday that the two summits would be held jointly.

The Arab League will discuss “the way forward on the international stage to end the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation and hold it accountable for its crimes,” the deputy secretary general of the Arab League said.

Islamic Jihad, Hamas’ ally in Gaza, said, however, that it expected “nothing” from this meeting. “We do not place our hopes in such meetings” which have never produced results, Mohammad al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of the group, said on Friday at a press conference in Beirut.

“The fact that this conference is being held after 35 days (of war) is a clear indication,” he added.

Israel and its main ally, the United States, have so far rejected demands for a ceasefire, a stance that is expected to draw sharp criticism at Saturday’s meetings.

According to Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian, fingers should not only be pointed at Israel, but also those who “make it easier… that is to say essentially the United States and the West” .

The differences in position were clearly displayed during the latest visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region, and that of British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Thursday in Riyadh, where he met some of his counterparts.

“What we have said is that it is understandable to ask for a ceasefire, but we also recognize Israel’s right to take measures to ensure its own stability and security,” Cleverly said.

Red Cross: ‘Point of no return’ for hospitals in North Gaza

Hospitals, healthcare workers and patients in northern Gaza must be protected as intense fighting rages, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has said.

“Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return risking the lives of thousands of wounded, sick and displaced people,” the organisation said.

The statement, which did not specifically name either the Israeli military or Palestinian militants, came after several reported strikes on or near at least four hospitals in northern Gaza. Tens of thousands of people had crowded into hospital grounds, believing they would be safe.

The ICRC noted that children’s hospitals had sustained major damage from the fighting. The Nasr Hospital was heavily damaged by fighting and Rantisi Hospital had to completely shut down, the statement said. It also added that Al-Quds Hospital is fast running out of supplies.

Macron ‘urges Israel to stop’ bombings killing civilians in Gaza

French President Emmanuel Macron “urges Israel to stop” the bombings killing civilians in Gaza, in an interview with the BBC.

“We share (Israel’s) pain. And we share their desire to get rid of terrorism.” But “de facto, today, civilians are being bombed. These babies, these women, these elderly people are being bombed and killed.” There is “no justification” and “no legitimacy for this. We therefore urge Israel to stop,” he stressed.

The Hamas Ministry of Health announced that 11,078 people, including 4,506 children, have been killed in Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip since the start of the war triggered by the bloody attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israel on 7 October.

This “reaction in the fight against terrorism, because it is led by a democracy, must be consistent with the international rules of war and international humanitarian law,” said the French president.

Asked about a possible violation of international law by Israel, Emmanuel Macron stressed that he was “not a judge”, but “a head of state”.

He also expressed concern that the “massive bombing” of Gaza would create “resentment” in the region.

“There is no other solution than a humanitarian pause first” to move towards a “ceasefire, which will protect all civilians who have nothing to do with the terrorists,” he insisted.

“It is impossible to explain that we want to fight against terrorism by killing innocent people,” the French president further underlined.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to Macron’s remarks by emphasising that “responsibility for any harm done to civilians lies with Hamas”, which started the war with the massacres of 7 October and which uses civilians as “human shields”.

More than 250 attacks on Gaza health care system – WHO

The World Health Organisation has verified more than 250 attacks on hospitals, clinics, patients and ambulances in Gaza since Hamas’ incursion into Israel on 7 October – as well as 25 attacks on health care in Israel.

In Gaza, the “health system is on its knees” and the situation on the ground “is impossible to describe,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

“As we speak, there are reports of firing outside the al-Shifa and Rantisi hospitals,” he said, adding that Palestinian health workers were still saving lives despite being “directly in the firing line.”

Last week saw attacks on five hospitals in one day in Gaza, Ghebreyesus said, and in the past 48 hours four hospitals with some 430 beds were put out of action.

He said half of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary health care centres are not functioning, and facilities that are functioning “are operating way beyond their capacities.”

Israel lowers 7 October death toll to 1,200 people

Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the official death toll in Hamas’ 7 October cross-border attack into Israel has been lowered to 1,200 people.

Israeli officials have previously estimated the death toll at 1,400.

The ministry gave no reason for the revision. But an Israeli official said the number had been changed after a painstaking weeks long process to identify bodies, many of which were mutilated or burned.

The official said the final death toll could still change. He said a number of bodies have not been identified and it is unclear whether all of the nearly 240 hostages believed to be held by Hamas are still alive.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official government announcement.

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Warplanes strike Gaza refugee camp as Israel rejects U.S. push for a pause in fighting

Post By World Gaza attack, Gaza death toll, gaza news, israel gaza attack, israel gaza conflict, Israel Hamas war, Israel vs Palestine, Israel-Palestine conflict

November 05, 2023 08:15 pm | Updated November 06, 2023 01:55 am IST – DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip

Israeli warplanes struck a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens, health officials said. The strike came as Israel said it would press on with its offensive to crush the territory’s Hamas rulers, despite U.S. appeals for a pause to get aid to desperate civilians.

Also read | Israel-Hamas war, Day 30 updates

The soaring death toll in Gaza has sparked growing international anger, with tens of thousands from Washington to Berlin taking to the streets Saturday to demand an immediate cease-fire.

Israel has rejected the idea of halting its offensive, even for brief humanitarian pauses proposed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his current tour of the region. Instead, it said that Hamas was “encountering the full force” of its troops.

“Anyone in Gaza City is risking their life,” Israel’s Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant said.

Large columns of smoke rose as Israel’s military said it had encircled Gaza City, the initial target of its offensive. Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 9,700 Palestinians have been killed in the territory in nearly a month of war, and that number is likely to rise.

Airstrikes hit the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza overnight, killing at least 40 people and wounding 34 others, the Health Ministry said. It said first responders and residents were still digging through the rubble, hoping to find survivors.

An Associated Press reporter at a nearby hospital saw eight dead children, including a baby, who had been brought in after the strike. A surviving child was led down the hospital corridor by an adult holding her hand, her clothes caked in dust, an expression of shock on her face.

Arafat Abu Mashaia, who lives in the camp, said the Israeli airstrike flattened several multi-story homes where people forced out of other parts of Gaza were sheltering.

“It was a true massacre,” he said early Sunday while standing on the wreckage of destroyed homes. “All here are peaceful people. I challenge anyone who says there were resistance (fighters) here.”

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The camp, a built-up residential area, is located in the evacuation zone where Israel’s military had urged Palestinian civilians in Gaza to seek refuge as it focuses its military offensive on the north.

Despite such appeals, Israel has continued its bombardment across Gaza, saying it is targeting Hamas fighters and assets everywhere and accusing it of using civilians as human shields. Critics say Israel’s strikes are often disproportionate, considering the large number of women and children killed.

Mr. Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, a day after meeting with Arab foreign ministers in neighbouring Jordan. Abbas has had no authority in Gaza since Hamas routed forces loyal to him in 2007.

Mr. Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, who insisted there could be no temporary cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released.

Arab leaders have called for an immediate cease-fire. But Mr. Blinken said that “would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7,” when the group launched a wide-ranging attack from Gaza into southern Israel, triggering the war.

He said humanitarian pauses can be critical in protecting civilians, getting aid in and getting foreign nationals out, “while still enabling Israel to achieve its objective, the defeat of Hamas.”

Egyptian officials said they and Qatar were proposing humanitarian pauses for six to 12 hours daily to allow aid in and casualties to be evacuated. They were also asking for Israel to release a number of women and elderly prisoners in exchange for hostages, suggestions Israel seemed unlikely to accept. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press on the discussions.

Swaths of residential neighbourhoods in northern Gaza have been levelled in airstrikes. The U.N. office for humanitarian affairs says more than half the remaining residents, estimated at around 300,000, are sheltering in U.N.-run facilities. But deadly Israeli strikes have also repeatedly hit and damaged those shelters.

Israeli planes dropped leaflets urging people to head south from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Few appear to have heeded a similar order the day before.

An Israeli airstrike overnight struck a water well in Tal al-Zatar in northern Gaza, cutting off water for tens of thousands of people, the Hamas-run municipality in the town of Beit Lahia said in a statement early Sunday.

The U.N. said about 1.5 million people in Gaza, or 70% of the population, have fled their homes. Food, water and the fuel needed for generators that power hospitals and other facilities is running out.

The war has stoked tensions across the region, with Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group repeatedly trading fire along the border.

In the occupied West Bank, at least two Palestinians were shot dead during an Israeli arrest raid in Abu Dis, just outside of Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The military said a militant who had set up an armed cell and fired at Israeli forces was killed during the raid.

At least 150 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war, mainly during violent protests and gun battles during arrest raids.

Thousands of Israelis protested outside Mr. Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem on Saturday, urging him to resign and calling for the return of roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas. Mr. Netanyahu has refused to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed more than 1,400 people. Ongoing Palestinian rocket fire has forced tens of thousands of people in Israel to evacuate their homes.

In another reflection of widespread anger in Israel, a junior government Minister, Amihai Eliyahu, suggested in a radio interview Sunday that Israel could drop an atomic bomb on Gaza. He later walked back the remarks, saying they were “metaphorical.” Netanyahu issued a statement saying the Minister’s comments were “not based in reality” and that Israel would continue to try to avoid harming civilians.

Among the Palestinians killed in Gaza are more than 4,800 Palestinian children, the Gaza Health Ministry said, without providing a breakdown of civilians and fighters.

The Israeli military said 29 of its soldiers have died during the ground operation.

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Israel Hamas war: Gaza comms remain down as UN warns ground offensive could cause even ‘more pain’

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza attack, Gaza City, Hamas, Israel, Israel Hamas war

All the latest developments from the Israel Hamas war.

UN chief ‘surprised’ by Israel’s ‘unprecedented’ bombardment of Gaza

UN Secretary-General António Guterres says he was surprised by Israel’s massive overnight airstrikes on Gaza amid a communication blackout across the besieged strip.

Writing Saturday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Guterres said he previously had felt encouraged by an apparent growing consensus on the need for a humanitarian cease-fire.

“Regrettably, instead I was surprised by an unprecedented escalation of bombardments, undermining humanitarian objectives. This situation must be reversed,” he said.

Guterres called President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt on Saturday, and the two discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to deescalate the war between Israel and Hamas, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

EU diplomacy chief calls for ‘pause in hostilities’

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, has called for a “pause in hostilities” to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, hit by intense Israeli bombardments.

“Gaza is completely without power and completely isolated as intense bombardment continues,” Borrell said on social media. “Far too many civilians, including children, have been killed. This is contrary to international humanitarian law,” he wrote, adding: “A pause in hostilities is urgently required to allow humanitarian access.”

Erdogan: the West is the “main culprit” of the massacres in Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the West of being “the main culprit of the massacres in Gaza”.

“The main culprits of the massacres in Gaza are the Westerners. With the exception of a few consciences who raised their voices, (these) massacres are totally the work of the West,” the head of state said.

He made the remarks during of a “meeting in support of Palestine” which brought together several hundred thousand people at the former Atatürk airport in Istanbul.

In a virulent speech against them, the Turkish head of state challenged Western powers of “creating an atmosphere of crusade” against Muslims.

“Everyone knows that Israel cannot take a step without them,” he said, criticising Western powers for failing to call for a ceasefire.

“You mourned the children killed in Ukraine, why this silence in the face of the children killed in Gaza?” he said.

Saying that a “million and a half people” attended the meeting, he accused Israel of “war crimes”.

“Israel, we declare you before the whole world a war criminal,” he said: “Israel, you are the occupiers, the invaders.”

“Of course every country has the right to defend itself, but where is the justice? What is happening in Gaza is not self-defence but a massacre,” continued the Turkish president.

President Erdogan did also add that it was important for Israelis not to “minimise the Turks’ feelings of pity”: “Listen to our calls for dialogue, take a step in the right direction for you and your children. We believe that there will be no losers in a just peace,” he added.

Israeli Defence Minister: the war with Hamas ‘has entered a new phase’

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has announced that the war against the Palestinian movement Hamas had “entered a new phase” after a night of intense bombings and an incursion by the Israeli army into the Gaza Strip.

“We have entered a new phase in the war. Yesterday, the earth in Gaza shook,” Mr. Gallant said in a video published by the ministry.

Israel’s latest military action takes pain in Gaza to ‘new level’ – UN human rights chief

The UN human rights chief has said Israel’s overnight intense air and ground bombardment has taken the crisis in Gaza to “a new level of violence and pain.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk’s comments came as Gaza remains cut off from the outside world following a communication blackout.

He said the blackout has added to the misery and suffering of civilians in the Palestinian territory, with ambulances and civil defence teams no longer able to locate the wounded.

“The humanitarian and human rights consequences will be devastating and long-lasting,” Turk said.

“Given the manner in which military operations have been conducted until now, in the context of the 56-year-old occupation, I am raising alarm about the possibly catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza and the potential for thousands more civilians to die,” he added.

Elon Musk guarantees Starlink connection of ‘recognized’ organisations

Billionaire Elon Musk has assured that his Starlink satellite internet access service would support the connectivity of “internationally recognized aid organisations” in Gaza, cut off from the world since Friday due to the shutdown of telecommunications and Internet.

“Starlink will support the connectivity of internationally recognized aid organisations in Gaza,” wrote Elon Musk on the social network X (formerly Twitter), which he also owns.

He responded to a message from a Democratic representative in the American House of Representatives, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who on Saturday deemed the shutdown of telecommunications in the Palestinian territory “unacceptable”.

Palestinian killed by Israeli settler in West Bank – Palestinian ministry

A Palestinian was killed Saturday by an Israeli settler in the Nablus area of the northern occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said.

Bilal Abou Salah, 40, is reported to have been “killed by a gunshot to the chest by a settler” in the village of Sawiya near Nablus, the ministry said in a statement.

The mayor of Sawiya, Mahmoud Hassan, told AFP that Bilal Abou Salah was killed while picking olives with other members of his family on their land located not far from the village’s security fence.

“They were attacked by four settlers and one of them, armed with an M16 rifle, opened fire on them without warning. Abu Salah was hit in the chest and he was martyred in front of his family and his children,” the ministry added.

The Israeli army has not yet made any comment.

Hamas Ministry of Health announces death toll of 7,703 in Gaza

The Hamas Health Ministry announced on Saturday that 7,703 people had been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war with Israel.

According to the ministry, more than 3,500 children are among the deaths recorded since the start of the war on October 7. The latest report communicated on Friday showed 7,326 deaths.

Israel set to expand its ground operation in Gaza even further

Israel has announced it is expanding its ground operation in Gaza with infantry and armored vehicles backed by “massive” strikes from the air and sea, including the bombing of Hamas tunnels – a key target in its campaign to crush the territory’s ruling group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.

The Israeli military released grainy images of tank columns moving slowly in open areas of Gaza and said warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers.

“The forces are still on the ground and are continuing the war,” the army spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said on Saturday, indicating that the next stage has begun in what is expected to evolve into an all-out ground offensive in northern Gaza.

Days ago, Israel had already amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border. Until now, troops have conducted brief nightly ground incursions before returning to Israel.

Hagari said the ground forces were backed by what he described as massive strikes from the air and sea. He said two more key Hamas military commanders were killed overnight, arguing that Israel was facing a “weakened” enemy. There was no immediate confirmation of that claim from Hamas.

Hundreds of buildings ‘completely destroyed’ in Gaza in latest Israeli raids

Hundreds of buildings were “completely destroyed” in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments overnight, the Gaza Civil Defence service has announced.

“Hundreds of buildings and houses have been completely destroyed and thousands of other homes have been damaged,” Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP, adding that the intense bombardments of the night had “changed the landscape” of the northern Gaza Strip.

Communications still cut off in the Gaza Strip

Phone and internet service in the Gaza Strip was cut off by Israeli bombardment late on Friday evening and the issue is continuing into Saturday, with hundreds of thousands of people uncontactable. Services were cut Friday evening, following a heavy round of Israeli airstrikes that lit up the night sky over the darkened territory.

Rights groups and journalists say they have lost contact with colleagues in the enclave and

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, says the agency is still unable to reach its staff and health facilities in the region.

“I’m worried about their safety,” he wrote on X – formerly Twitter.

“Evacuation of patients is not possible under such circumstances, nor to find safe shelter. The blackout is also making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured,” he added.

Bombings in Gaza: families of hostages demand explanations

The families of mostly Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip have expressed their “concern” and demanded explanations from the government after intense military operations in the Palestinian territory.

“Families are worried about the fate of their loved ones and are waiting for explanations. Every minute seems like an eternity. We demand that Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and members of the war cabinet meet with us this morning,” at the end of “a night of immense anguish”, according to a press release from the association bringing together the families of more than 220 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October.

The Forum expresses its “enormous anger that none of the members of the war cabinet took the trouble to meet the families of the hostages to explain one thing to them: does the ground operation endanger the 229 hostages” identified by the authorities.

Authorities have identified 229 hostages, according to the latest figures released on Friday by the Israeli army.

An American woman and her daughter as well as two Israeli octogenarians were released by Hamas after Egyptian-Qatari mediation.

Erdogan asks Israel to ‘stop this madness’ and ‘end the attacks’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday asked Israel to “immediately stop this madness” and “put an end to its attacks” in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“Israeli bombings that intensified last night on Gaza once again targeted women, children and innocent civilians and deepened the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Israel must immediately stop this madness and end its attacks,” he added.

Israeli army targets Hamas underground network

The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it had targeted the Hamas tunnel network by striking “150 underground targets” in the north of the Gaza Strip, during a night of intense bombardment.

Israel is convinced that the Palestinian Islamist movement directs and organises its operations from this gigantic network of underground tunnels and stores its arsenal there.

“Overnight, IDF warplanes struck 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, including tunnels used by terrorists, underground combat sites and other underground infrastructure. Several Hamas terrorists were killed,” the statement claimed.

The Israeli army also claims to have killed a Hamas official who was in charge of “paramotors, drones, detection equipment and air defence”.

“Asem Abu Rakaba took part in organising the massacre in the communities bordering the Gaza Strip on October 7… he led the terrorists who infiltrated Israel with paramotors and was responsible for the attacks of drones on IDF surveillance posts,” the statement said.

“We are bombing the Gaza Strip with unprecedented intensity. From the air, on the ground and underground – the IDF will eliminate any terrorists, whether major or secondary, and (destroy) the entire Hamas terrorist infrastructure,” it added.

Global protests calling for an end to the war ramp up

Thousands of protesters across the globe have been demanding an end to the ongoing conflict.

In New York City, hundreds of protesters in black T-shirts filled the city’s iconic Grand Central Terminal during the evening rush hour on Friday to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Many of the protesters were detained by police and taken out of the station, their hands zip tied behind their backs. The NYPD could not immediately say how many were taken into custody.

Inside the main concourse, protesters wore shirts that read “cease-fire now” and “not in our name” chanted, with some holding banners in front of the list of departure times.

In Indonesia, more than 3,000 protesters marched to the heavily guarded US Embassy in Jakarta on Saturday to demand an end to the war and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Waving Indonesian and Palestinian flags, the protesters, many wearing white Islamic robes, filled a major thoroughfare in downtown Jakarta running outside the embassy. About 1,000 police were deployed around the compound, which is blocked off by concrete road barriers.

The protesters, organised by the Indonesian Ulema Council, known as MUI, chanted “God is Great” and “Freedom for Palestine” during the noisy but peaceful protest. Banners and placards proclaimed, “We stand with Gaza,” and slammed the Israeli government while denouncing the staunch US support of Israel.

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Israeli tanks carry out targeted raids in northern Gaza

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza attack, Hamas, Israel, Israel Hamas war

All the latest developments from the Israel Hamas war.

Israeli tanks raid Gaza

Israel’s army says it has carried out an operation in northern Gaza in preparation for the next stages of combat.

In a post on social media site X, it said IDF tanks and infantry struck “numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile posts.”

Soldiers are said to have returned to Israeli territory.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed his country was preparing a ground invasion of Gaza, and that “we are working against the clock” in preparations to destroy Hamas.

“We are in a war for our sovereignty, for our existence, and we have set ourselves two fundamental objectives: to eradicate Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities and to do everything possible to bring the hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group back home,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.

UN fails to pass resolution on Israel Hamas war – again

The UN Security Council has failed to address the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, rejecting rival United States and Russian resolutions.

Washington’s resolution reaffirmed Israel’s right to self-defence, urged respect for international laws — especially protection of civilians — and called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza.

10 countries on the 15-member council voted in favour, three were against and two abstained. The resolution was not adopted because Russia and China cast vetoes.

The Russian resolution called for an immediate “humanitarian cease-fire”, and unequivocally condemned Hamas’ 7 October attack on southern Israel and “indiscriminate attacks” on civilians in Gaza.

Four countries voted in favour, two against and nine abstained. The resolution did not pass because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes.

Under UN charter, the Security Council is charged with maintaining international peace. But Wednesday’s votes, following the rejections last week of a Russian resolution and Brazilian proposal, leave the council divided and paralyzed over the Israel-Hamas war.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of submitting its text with no consultations and “in bad faith.” Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called Washington’s draft a “politicised” proposal to shore up Israel.

A compromise resolution could be drafted.

Biden condemns attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank

The US President spoke out against retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank in the aftermath of Hamas’s surprise assault on 7 October.

Joe Biden said the attacks by “extremist settlers” were “pouring gasoline” on already raging fires in the Middle East since the attack, which killed 1,400 people.

“It has to stop. They have to be held accountable. It has to stop now,” he said at the start of a news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was visiting Washington.

Settler violence against Palestinians has intensified in recent weeks, with Palestinians killed by settlers.

Rights groups say settlers have torched cars and attacked several small Bedouin communities, forcing them to evacuate to other areas.

The violence threatens to open another front in the two-week-old war, which has already split into other areas, including southern Lebanon and Syria.

It also puts pressure on the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, though is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in large part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters.

The West Bank Protection Consortium, a coalition of nongovernmental organisations and donor countries, including the European Union, says hundreds of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced in the West Bank due to settler violence since 7 October.

That’s on top of the more than 1,100 displaced since 2022.

Fighting could threaten already fragile Middle Eastern economies

Economic crises are rippling through countries bordering Israel, raising the possibility of a chain reaction from the war with Hamas.

The fallout could further worsen the financial health and political stability of Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon and create problems beyond.

All three countries face differing economic pressures that led the International Monetary Fund to warn in September that their “sociopolitical stability” was at risk.

That warning came shortly before the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, which could easily cause economic chaos.

The possible fallout is now starting to be recognised by world leaders and policy analysts.

For a Biden administration committed to stopping the Israel-Hamas war from widening, the conflict could amplify the economic strains and possibly cause governments to collapse.

If the chaos went unchecked, it could spread across a region that is vital for global oil supplies – with reverberations around the globe.

“The more unstable things are economically, the easier it is for bad actors in the region to stir the pot,” said Christopher Swift, an international lawyer and former Treasury Department official.

“The notion that you can divorce politics from economics is a little bit myopic, and naive. Politics, economics and security go together very closely.”

France’s Macron pushes for coalition to fight Hamas

French President Emmanuel Macron is promoting, with little success so far, an international coalition to fight the armed Palestinian group Hamas.

He pitched the idea during a two-day trip to the Middle East that started in Israel.

Leaders he met with in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt didn’t publicly address the issue.

The first response to the devastating Israel-Hamas war is “the fight against terrorism,” Macron said Wednesday after his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

“The right response is to cooperate, to draw lessons from the international coalition against the Islamic State group” that intervened in Iraq and Syria, he added.

Macron first proposed the idea Tuesday after his meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mentioning a “regional and international coalition” against Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu did not specifically comment on the proposal.

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The US military confirmed early on Saturday that humanitarian airdrops into the Gaza Strip carried out by other countries into the Gaza Strip killed civilians.

Canada to restore funding to UN Agency for Palestinian refugees

US military to deploy 1000 troops to transport and build floating pier off Gaza shore

UN rights office says Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas amount to a “war crime”

Israel says Palestinian from the West Bank can visit Jerusalem holy site during Ramadan

President Biden increasingly frustrated with Israeli counterpart over Gaza aid

Israeli probe says troops shot at some people around Gaza aid convoy who were advancing towards them

Communications partially restored in Gaza after three days of outage

UN aid trucks entering Gaza from Israeli territory – reports

Israeli army says it has discovered ‘largest tunnel’ dug under the Gaza Strip

Colonna calls for ‘immediate and lasting truce’ in Gaza

Netanyahu says Israel will fight ‘to the very end’ as ‘accidental’ killing of hostages adds to concern over wartime conduct

UK and Germany call for ceasefire – marking a significant attitude shift

‘Mistake’ shootings draw scrutiny from the top of Israel’s government

UK to carry out flights over Gaza to locate hostages

Evacuation orders step up

New targets hit by IDF

US Vice President condemns death toll rise

Israel say they are targeting Hamas hideouts, allegedly among civilians

Further truces are unlikely to go ahead – reports

Kamala Harris speaks out on ongoing conflict

Aid trucks enter Rafah crossing for first time since truce ended

Israel resumes heavy bombing post-truce

Leaflet drops resume – but nowhere for Gazans to go

UN criticises IDF’s evacuation ‘plan’

What will become of the remaining hostages?

A halt on humanitarian aid

Israel-Hamas hostage release talks break down over Shifa hospital situation

Gaza hospital patients ‘forced’ onto streets

Gaza deputy health minister: Israeli strike destroys Shifa hospital building

Erdogan calls for Washington to stop Israeli offensive

Evacuations from Gaza to Egypt have resumed, 500 dual nationals evacuated

UN agency announces ‘significant number’ of casualties in strike on Gaza headquarters

Al-Quds Hospital no longer operational – Palestine Red Crescent Society

The situation in and around Shifa hospital worsens

Netanyahu rejects US post-war vision

Evacuation windows – but still no pauses

Iran asks Muslim countries to label Israeli army a ‘terrorist organisation’

Pro-Palestinian march under heavy surveillance in London

Fighting intensifies around Gaza hospitals – reports

Arab and Muslim leaders will demand end to violence in Gaza

Red Cross: ‘Point of no return’ for hospitals in North Gaza

Macron ‘urges Israel to stop’ bombings killing civilians in Gaza

More than 250 attacks on Gaza health care system – WHO

Israel lowers 7 October death toll to 1,200 people

UN chief ‘surprised’ by Israel’s ‘unprecedented’ bombardment of Gaza

EU diplomacy chief calls for ‘pause in hostilities’

Erdogan: the West is the “main culprit” of the massacres in Gaza

Israeli Defence Minister: the war with Hamas ‘has entered a new phase’

Israel’s latest military action takes pain in Gaza to ‘new level’ – UN human rights chief

Elon Musk guarantees Starlink connection of ‘recognized’ organisations

Palestinian killed by Israeli settler in West Bank – Palestinian ministry

Hamas Ministry of Health announces death toll of 7,703 in Gaza

Israel set to expand its ground operation in Gaza even further

Hundreds of buildings ‘completely destroyed’ in Gaza in latest Israeli raids

Communications still cut off in the Gaza Strip

Bombings in Gaza: families of hostages demand explanations

Erdogan asks Israel to ‘stop this madness’ and ‘end the attacks’

Israeli army targets Hamas underground network

Global protests calling for an end to the war ramp up

Israeli tanks raid Gaza

UN fails to pass resolution on Israel Hamas war – again

The UN Security Council has failed to address the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, rejecting rival United States and Russian resolutions.

Biden condemns attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank

Fighting could threaten already fragile Middle Eastern economies

France’s Macron pushes for coalition to fight Hamas