Israel-Hamas war: Further hostage swaps expected as ceasefire holds

Israel-Hamas war: Further hostage swaps expected as ceasefire holds

Post By World Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas, Hostages, Israel Hamas war, Palestine, The Gaza Strip

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

PRCS: Palestinian killed in refugee camp Gaza despite truce

The Palestine Red Crescent (PRCS) says a Palestinian farmer has been killed and another injured in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza strip.

It appears they were targeted by Israeli forces but there has been no immediate comment from Israel about the incident.

The death comes during an ongoing four-day truce deal agreed by Hamas and Israel, which began on Friday.

That day, at least two Palestinians are thought to have been killed by Israeli forces while they were making the journey to northern Gaza.

Israel tells Palestinians not to move north in Gaza amid truce

Israel’s military has asked Palestinians not to move to the north of the Gaza Strip during the ongoing four-day truce.

Following its start on Friday, the IDF took to social media to warn civilians that they must not move to the north of the Strip, but tells them they are “allowed to move south”, specifically south of Wadi Gaza.

The IDF also added that both getting within one kilometre of the Israeli border is also prohibited as is entering the sea.

Hamas confirms death of top military leader and three commanders

The armed wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas has announced the death of the military commander of the Northern Gaza Brigade and three other senior figures during the Israeli offensive on the Palestinian territory.

Ahmed al-Ghandour was also a member of the Hamas Military Council and was considered a “terrorist” by American authorities. Among the three other executives named in the press release is Ayman Siam, Hamas’ head of the rocket firing array.

New exchange of hostages for prisoners planned for the third day of truce

A new exchange of Hamas hostages for Palestinian prisoners is planned for Sunday, the third day of the truce between Israel and the Islamist movement in power in Gaza, after two previous swaps.

As a sign of the fragility of the truce, Saturday’s releases were delayed by several hours, with Hamas accusing Israel of not respecting the terms of the agreement concluded on Wednesday with the backing of Qatar and the support of the United States and Egypt.

The Israeli government said it had a list of those kidnapped who were to be released on Sunday, but did not reveal their identity, number or expected time.

Israeli forces kill at least 8 Palestinians in surging West Bank violence – despite truce

Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank have killed at least eight Palestinians in a 24-hour period, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday, as a fragile pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip entered its third day.

Violence in the West Bank has surged in the weeks since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.

Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians and arrested hundreds in the West Bank. Jewish West Bank settlers have also stepped up attacks.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that five Palestinians were killed in the militant stronghold of Jenin, while three others were killed in separate areas of the West Bank since Saturday morning – despite the truce. One of those killed, in al-Bireh in the central West Bank, was a teenager, the ministry said.

The Israeli military said forces entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli father and son at a West Bank car wash earlier in the year. In its statement on Sunday, the military made no mention of clashes, nor of the Palestinian deaths, but said forces were still operating in the area.

Second day of hostage swap goes ahead in tense exchange

Hamas militants have released 17 hostages – including 13 Israelis – from captivity in the Gaza Strip, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage of a four-day cease-fire.

The late night exchange on Saturday was held up for several hours after Hamas accused Israel of violating their agreement. The delay underscored the fragility of the cease-fire, which has halted a war that has shocked and shaken Israel, caused widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip, and threatened to unleash wider fighting across the region.

The ceasefire, brokered by Qatar and the United States, is the first extended break in fighting since the war began. Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners. All are women and minors.

Israel has said the truce can be extended by an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed, but has vowed to quickly resume its offensive and complete its goals of returning all hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

The plight of the hostages has gripped the Israeli public’s attention. Thousands of people gathered in central Tel Aviv on Saturday in solidarity with the hostages and their families. Many accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not doing enough to bring the hostages home. The releases have triggered mixed emotions: happiness, coupled with angst over the scores of hostages who remain in captivity.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced early on Sunday that it had received a new list of hostages slated to be released later in the day in the third of four scheduled swaps.

In the West Bank, hundreds of people burst into wild celebrations for a second night as a busload of Palestinian prisoners arrived early Sunday. Teenage boys released in the deal were carried on the shoulders of well-wishers in the main square of the town of Al Bireh. But the mood of celebration was dampened by scenes of destruction and suffering in Gaza.

The start of the pause brought quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, who are reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel also went silent.

The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 litres (about 35,000 gallons) of fuel – just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume – as well as cooking gas, a first since the war began.

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Israel-Hamas war: Ceasefire continues, more hostages to be exchanged

Post By World Hostages, Israel Hamas war, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestinians, The Gaza Strip

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel-Hamas war: Fewer hostages to be swapped on Saturday – IDF

Hamas is set to release 13 Israeli hostages on Saturday, bringing the number down from the planned 14.

That’s according to an Israeli military spokesman who was speaking to France’s BFMTV.

In return, Israel will release 39 Palestinian prisoners in return..

Those figures are the same as the amount of hostages released on Friday.

Under this new agreement, Hamas will likely continue to release one Israeli hostage for every three Palestinian prisoners freed.

London march: Protester arrested for ‘carrying placard with Nazi symbols’

London’s Metropolitan Police have announced they have arrested a protester in the capital on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

Thousands of people are taking to the streets of London for the National March for Palestine, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

In a statement posted on X – formerly Twitter – the Met wrote: “We have arrested a man on suspicion of inciting racial hatred near the start of the protest. Officers spotted him carrying a placard with Nazi symbols on it.”

The announcement comes as police have been handing out leaflets to protesters – telling them how to avoid “ending up in our cells”.

Red Crescent delivers ‘largest’ batch of aid to north Gaza since war began

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) have announced that it has delivered a convoy of 61 trucks carrying aid to “Gaza [City] and the North governorates”.

Posting on X – formerly Twitter – they say it’s the largest such delivery since the war began on 7 October.

Also on the social media platform, PRCS added that the trucks were “loaded with food and non-food items, water, primary health care medicines, and emergency medical supplies.”

London’s police force sends ‘clear message’ to pro-Palestine demonstrators

London’s Metropolitan Police have sent what they are calling a “clear message” to protesters ahead of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the capital today.

In a video clip shared on X – formerly Twitter – the Met listed a number of actions, including supporting Hamas or any other banned organisation, inciting hatred and promoting acts of terror, which would result in the perpetrators being arrested.

Tens of thousands of people will likely descend on London for the rally and the met have deployed some 1,500 officers ahead of time.

Israeli-owned ship was targeted in suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean

A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an American defence official said on Saturday.

The attack on the CMA CGM Symi comes as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weeks-long war that threatens to become a wider regional conflict – even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The defence official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew.

“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the official said. The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the US military gathered to assess Iran was behind the attack.

Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that an Israeli ship had been targeted in the Indian Ocean. The channel cited anonymous sources for the report, which Iranian media later cited.

CMA CGM, a major shipper based in Marseille, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the vessel’s crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship faced a threat.

The ship had its Automatic Identification System tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analysed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. It had done the same earlier when travelling through the Red Sea past Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

During the conflict, the Houthis have seized a vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea off Yemen. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also have launched attacks on American troops in both Iraq and Syria during the war, though Iran itself has yet to be linked directly to an attack.

Hostage swap to go ahead on Saturday

Fourteen hostages held in Gaza by Hamas will be released on Saturday in exchange for 42 Palestinian prisoners, on the second day of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement which includes a truce in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli officials.

The slated swap comes on the second day of a ceasefire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.

On the first day of the four-day ceasefire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war, while Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison.

Those freed from captivity in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and a citizen of the Philippines.

During the four days, Hamas is set to release at least 50 Israeli hostages – and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel has said the truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed – something United States President Joe Biden said he hoped would come to pass.

The start of the truce on Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and levelled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.

The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys on 21 October.

It was also able to deliver 129,000 litres (34,078 gallons) of fuel – just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume – as well as cooking gas, a first time since the war began.

For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive. A UN convoy delivered flour to two facilities sheltering people displaced by fighting.

The UN said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City, where much of the fighting has taken place, to a hospital in Khan Younis.

The relief brought by the ceasefire has been tempered, however, for both sides – among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the brevity of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume.

Israel has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.

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Israel-Hamas war: Killing, chaos and catastrophe in the Gaza Strip

Post By World Armed conflicts, Hamas, Israel, The Gaza Strip

In this episode of Witness, we head into the Gaza Strip to hear harrowing accounts of death, destruction and desperation from those living inside the besieged territory.

Israel continues its bombing campaign in Gaza night and day, in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas terror attack.

As of mid-November, Gaza health officials said that more than 14,000 people had been killed, including 5,600 children.

Ambulances and civilians rush to the scene, hoping to rescue who they can. A scene that repeats itself every day.

Residents of Gaza dig through the rubble of this destroyed building. They carry out those injured and those who didn’t make it.

“We thought we were the only ones hit, but we went outside the house and saw bodies on the ground that flew from over 40 metres from the Al-Ghoul family home,” said Abu Ibrahim, a resident of the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.

“There were about seven girls, and some bodies and body parts were over the roof of a public market. Later, a fire caused by the airstrike set the bodies on fire.”

Gaza hospitals reach breaking point

Into the night, injured Gazans continue to be rushed to hospitals. Inside, doctors and nurses frantically scrambled to save injured children and adults.

Israeli planes dropped millions of leaflets over Gaza City, urging residents to flee to the south a few days before the start of Israel’s ground offensive on 27 October.

After entering Gaza, Israeli troops slowly and methodically began to encircle Gaza, completely cutting it off from the rest of the strip.

According to the United Nations, more than half of Gaza’s hospitals were forced to close since Israel declared war after its own civilians were murdered or taken hostage by Hamas.

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip has meant that basic medicines and fuel to power generators are quickly running out. In the few hospitals that still operate, nurses, and doctors are overwhelmed.

“The health situation in the Gaza Strip has collapsed. We can’t even describe it. Most of the hospitals are out of service or not working at all,” said Dr Ahmad Moghrabi, the head of plastic surgery at Nasser Hospital.

Dr Moghrabi is the head of plastic surgery at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. His staff includes doctors from the international NGO, Doctors Without Borders.

Doctors face impossible decisions due to the lack of medical supplies. They must choose who to treat, and essentially, who gets to live.

The staff at Nasser Hospital have resorted to using vinegar and shampoo to disinfect wounds. They even perform some surgery without anaesthetics.

“We receive wounded people who are not a priority for surgery, but we don’t have space in hospital beds, so we put them in corridors and on balconies until their turn for surgery comes. But the urgent cases, we try to treat them as soon as we can, but sometimes they are late being treated, and their situation becomes catastrophic,” Dr Moghrabi told Euronews.

A perilous choice: To flee or remain?

Each day, the Israeli army opens up one road for several hours to allow civilians to flee to the south.

Yet the road was not totally safe for the Al-Nimnim family. An Israeli strike hit the truck they were travelling in, killing 36 members of the family. Only three survived. The survivors are being treated in a tent provided by the European Union International Aid Agency at al-Aqsa Hospital.

“What have my children done to be torn to shreds? They became body parts, I found six of their bodies intact, while the rest were body parts in a plastic bag,” said Nabeel al-Nimnim, a resident from the north of Gaza and a survivor of an Israeli attack.

With nearly half of Gaza damaged or destroyed, many had no choice but to flee south.

But others thought the evacuation road was too dangerous. Some decided not to abandon their homes. 81% of Gazans are in fact refugees and descendants of refugees who were displaced during wars with Israel.

“Where would we go?” asked Abu Ibrahim, a resident of the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. “There is no way to leave our houses. I won’t leave, even if it means my death. This is my homeland, and I won’t abandon it.”

Still by mid-November, the great majority of the one million Palestinians living in northern Gaza had safely fled south, according to Israel. Most were forced to walk, carrying what little they could on their back.

Even in so-called safe zones, civilians are not safe. On one block, at least 45 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp on 5 November, according to Gaza health officials.

The Maghazi camp lies in the zone where Israel’s military had urged Palestinian civilians to seek refuge. An Israeli army spokesperson said he was checking whether Israeli forces were operating in the area.

Aid and essential goods remain in short supply

Meanwhile, in the south of Gaza – overflowing with new refugees from the north – basic necessities such as bread, fuel, and water are in scant supply. Every day, people queue for hours, hoping to get what little they can.

“We lived with dignity in our homes. But we have been humiliated ever since we were displaced,” cried one displaced Palestinian woman in the south of Gaza.

“Provide us with bread and repair the sewage systems in the schools. We are likely to contract diseases, and the coronavirus may affect our children. Have mercy on us!”

Refugees from the north of Gaza have set up new refugee camps further south. The tents offer little in the way of protection from the elements and the camp has no basic services – not even a toilet.

Only a trickle of aid now reaches Gaza. Each truck can only bring a small fraction of the supplies that are needed. On the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, hundreds anxiously check the posted schedules – waiting for their chance to get out.

A limited number of foreign nationals have been allowed to leave Gaza. Many are stuck waiting. One such person is German national Katya Miess, who arrived one week before the war began to visit her Palestinian husband.

“People are suffering, they are crying. People are afraid. All day, every day, there are bombs and missiles,” she told Euronews.

“People don’t know where to go. We feel that we have been abandoned by our own country. We don’t know what is going to happen. Every day, people fear for their lives. It’s not normal.”

As Gaza’s health system disintegrates, ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians crossed into Egypt while the border was still open.

It is, however, not open for fuel coming into Gaza. The lack of this essential supply has limited the ability of hospitals to perform even basic services, putting many people, including premature babies, at risk.

“If the situation continues like this; in a few days, we won’t be able to carry on, we are going to witness massacres and crimes that history hasn’t seen before,” explained Dr Ahmad Moghrabi.

On 15 November, Israel’s army took control of Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, claiming Hamas fighters use it as their main base.

By the time of our broadcast, Hamas’ command centre had not been found.

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Censorship and safety: How the Israel Hamas war is affecting schools

Post By World Israel, Israel Hamas war, Jews, The Gaza Strip, United Kingdom

Euronews was told that pro-Palestinian views were being suppressed inside schools, with some Jewish pupils in a “dark zone of depression”.

Amy* is a teacher at a school in London.

Like many other schools in Britain, a majority of the pupils come from Muslim or Arab backgrounds.

Sympathies for Palestine run high in her classroom, amid the devastating war between Israel and Hamas.

Since the violence erupted on 7 October, younger students have often drawn the Palestinian flag on their hands, doodled it on their books or displayed Palestinian flag pins on their uniform in what she called “child-like expressions of solidarity”.

“They’re really deeply upset and worried about Palestine,” she told Euronews.

Initially, Amy said the school let the pupils express their support for those in Gaza and the West Bank.

But it has since begun cracking down on these acts under the guise of violations against uniform policy, threatening to punish the kids if they refuse. Staff have also been told not to wear the Palestine pin.

“There is a double standard,” she claimed, pointing out that students were encouraged to support Ukraine when Russia invaded in February 2022 and that staff are still allowed to display symbols and signs of other political causes, like LGBT+ rights or the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It’s presented as impartially, but in reality is deeply ideological.”

Under government rules, schools in the UK are legally bound to prohibit the promotion of partisan political views and should take steps to ensure the balanced presentation of opposing views on political issues when they are brought to the attention of pupils.

In advice issued to schools in October, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan wrote: “We know that young people may have a strong personal interest in these issues, which could lead to political activity.

“Schools and colleges should ensure that any political expression is conducted sensitively, meaning that it is not disruptive and does not create an atmosphere of intimidation or fear for their peers and staff.”

Alongside “alienating” pupils from the teachers, who often feel “insulted” when they are told to wash the flag off their hands, Amy claimed impartiality rules were “being used to silence the Palestinian crisis and prevent students from having an opinion about a genocide happening in Gaza.”

Hamas’ deadly assault on southern Israel sparked the current conflict, killing 1,400 people and taking several hundred hostage. While 2022 was the deadliest year on record for Palestinians, according to the UN, 2023 was already set to overtake that record even before Israel began relentlessly bombing Gaza.

Israeli retaliation has killed at least 11,500 people so far, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Teacher Amy placed the school’s policy towards the Israel-Hamas war against a broader “depoliticisation” of teachers and a shift towards focusing on behaviour, rather than provoking critical thinking.

“We should be having different conservations about topics related to the conflict, like how criticism of Israel is not anti-semitic, the existence of Jewish peace activists in Israel and understanding war crimes. There’s not much space for the kids to think and be curious,” she told Euronews.

Amy added that she felt “nervous about how much more repression the school community may face as the situation [in Israel and Gaza] develops.”

‘Things could get a bit lively’

Still, the teacher said many students were pushing back against the school’s policies which were becoming a “point of rebellion.”

“Things could get a bit lively. Kids are getting told off about things they weren’t getting told off about before. They feel it’s an injustice.”

The bloodshed has sparked a number of issues for Britain’s Jewish schools and pupils, too.

David Meyer, CEO of the Partnership for Jewish Schools, told Euronews that a “significant challenge” was “nervousness and discomfort” amongst Jewish pupils, especially those in non-Jewish schools.

“The enormity of the attack that took place in Israel, the shock of what happened there, immediately made anybody who’s Jewish around the world feel insecure,” he said. “That has then been coupled with a tsunami of antisemitism.”

Hate crimes against Jewish people in London have risen by 1,350%, the Metropolitan police said in October. Islamophobic offences in the UK capital increased by 140%.

Both Jewish and Muslim communities have previously complained of feeling unprotected by the authorities.

‘Very, very complex’

Student wellbeing was also an issue said Meyer, with children exposed to “absolutely horrendous” footage of the Hamas “terrorist attack”.

“We are very worried about the impact on children’s mental health. Some are constantly thinking about the hostages, worrying about them. We are trying to help the children understand how to compartmentalise things in their lives so that they are not constantly in this dark zone of depression.”

Some 240 people were taken hostage by Hamas and brought to Gaza when it attacked southern Israel in early October, according to Israeli authorities. A few have been freed, while the Palestinian militant group claims several others have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. The fate of the rest is unknown.

Amid a surge of what he called “ignorance” and “misinformation” around the conflict, Meyer said it was vital to educate students, especially on the “dangers of social media”.

For him, it was “vital to ensure children are given a proper informed and balanced education so that they understand actually what is going on.”

He said the “history of Israel” and the “different narratives” and “perspectives” within that were “very, very complex”.

“Being able to educate children around this and for them to understand the difference between having open and honest conversations, disagreements and a disparity of views, and a recognition of that is healthy.

One obstacle he cited is that schools in England are blocking lessons on the Middle East, such as the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In November, the Observer newspaper reported that fewer than 2% of GCSE history students in England studied a module on the Middle East in 2020, and experts estimate that only 27 schools in England currently teach it.

It claimed schools were concerned about “bad publicity” or afraid of being accused of bias.

“It’s absolutely true that the students have [to be] taught different narratives to really try and interrogate those to find sensible solutions,” Meyer added.

*The teacher’s name has been changed as she was not authorised to talk directly to the media and was concerned about repercussions from her employer.

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Israel-Hamas war: IDF demand hospital evacuation as death toll rises

Post By World Fuel, Humanitarian aid, Israel, Israel Hamas war, The Gaza Strip

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel announced that it will allow two tanker trucks of fuel into Gaza each day for the United Nations and communication systems. That amount is half of what the UN said it needs for lifesaving functions including powering water systems, hospitals, bakeries and the trucks delivering aid.

At least 11,470 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and children — have been killed since the war began, according to Palestinian health authorities. About 2,700 people are reported missing.

IDF order Gaza’s Shifa hospital to evacuate ‘within an hour’

Israeli soldiers carrying out a raid on the Shifa hospital in Gaza for the fourth consecutive day have ordered its evacuation via loudspeaker “within an hour”, according to an AFP journalist on site.

Currently, according to the UN, 2,300 patients, caregivers and displaced people are in this establishment and international concern is growing for their fate. Israel assures that Hamas, in power in Gaza, uses this establishment as a military base.

The AFP journalist present in the hospital heard the message broadcast in Arabic early on Saturday morning.

The Israeli army also called the director of the Mohammed Abou Salmiya hospital to demand “the evacuation of patients, the wounded, the displaced and the caregivers and that everyone go on foot to the coastal corniche” which borders the hospital, west of Gaza City, within an hour, this chief doctor reported to AFP.

For days, Israeli soldiers have entered the Shifa complex to question the people inside and make searches.

The hospital director had already refused this week a previous evacuation order received by telephone, citing in particular the complexity of the operation.

The electricity stopped working there several days ago and its department heads report that several dozen patients have died “because vital medical equipment stopped working due to the power outage.”

In recent days, Israeli tanks have tightened their grip on Gaza City and more particularly its hospitals, notably Shifa which it accuses Hamas of using as a military base, which the Islamist movement denies.

Limited internet and phone access returns to Gaza

The Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel has announced that phone and internet services were partially working again across Gaza after fuel was delivered to restart generators that power the networks.

NetBlocks, a group tracking internet outages, confirmed that “internet connectivity is being partially restored” in the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, Paltel announced that all communication services, including landline connection, mobile network and Internet connection, dropped due to a lack of fuel.

The next day, Israel agreed to allow two tanker trucks of fuel, equaling 60,000 litres, into Gaza each day.

A US State Department official said 10,000 litres of the daily intake will be used to power the enclave’s communications network.

Before this week, Israel had completely prohibited fuel from entering Gaza, fearing it could be commandeered by Hamas and used against them.

Israel says ‘dire’ conditions in Shifa hospital

More than two days after Israeli soldiers stormed Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, doctors said they were amputating limbs to avoid infection and spoke of wounds festering with maggots, while Israel’s military said it was still searching for evidence to back up its allegations that Hamas used the hospital as a command centre.

Hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia told Al Jazeera television that 52 patients have died since fuel ran out — up from 40 reported dead before Israeli troops entered the compound on Wednesday. More patients were on the verge of death as their wounds were “open with maggots coming out of them,” another doctor, Faisal Siyam, told the Qatar-run TV network.

Abu Selmia said Israeli troops should either bring them fuel to power equipment or allow an evacuation.

Israel has delivered food and water to patients, said Col. Elad Goren, the head of civil affairs at COGAT, the defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs. Abu Selmia said the amount was far too little for the nearly 7,000 people in the compound.

The Israeli military said on Friday that it was searching the hospital for Hamas infrastructure, but acknowledged it was taking a long time and that patients in the hospital were suffering.

“We’re aware that the situation is dire,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesperson, told reporters on Friday.

Since entering Shifa earlier this week, the Israeli army said it has found weapons and military equipment hidden around the hospital and in a vehicle outside, as well as the laptop it says belonged to a Hamas militant. It also released videos of what it says is a tunnel, which is still being studied. The military’s claims could not be independently verified.

But Israel has yet to present proof of a Hamas command and control centre it previously said is underneath the hospital.

International criminal court is gathering info on alleged crimes

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan says that his office has received “a significant volume of information and evidence” about alleged crimes committed during the Israel-Hamas war.

Khan did not elaborate on the nature of the information his office has received.

He commented in a written statement on Friday confirming that South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, and Djibouti had made official state referrals to the court about the “Situation in the State of Palestine,” which his office has been investigating since March 2021. South Africa announced the referral on Thursday.

The ICC investigation dates back to the last major Israel-Hamas war in 2014 but also includes the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Khan says his prosecution office “will continue its engagement with all relevant actors, whether national authorities, civil society, survivor groups or international partners, to advance this investigation.”

He also says he will “continue my efforts to visit the State of Palestine and Israel to meet with survivors, hear from civil society organisations and engage with relevant national counterparts.”

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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: the point of no return?

Post By World Hamas, Israel, Terrorism, The Gaza Strip

Our Senior International Reporter Valérie Gauriat travelled to Israel and the West Bank to hear from members of the Israeli and Palestinian communities which are more divided than ever by the unprecedented conflict.

On 7th October 2023, the world awoke to the news of a lighting terror attack by Hamas militants who stormed from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel killing more than 1,400 people and taking at least 240 hostages.

In retaliation, Israel launched an unprecedented military offensive on the Gaza Strip, vowing to destroy Hamas.

In the first two weeks of Operation Iron Swords, thousands of Palestinian civilians were killed, and more than a million displaced. For many, the war has also sentenced to death any hope of future cohabitation.

Our Senior International Reporter Valérie Gauriat brings you first-hand accounts of both Israeli and Palestinian families and communities living through the conflict.

The horrifying aftermath of the Hamas attack

A few days after the Hamas terror attacks, Israeli troops were gearing up for the announced ground offensive on the Palestinian enclave. Tens of thousands of reservists were called to service.

The sadly notorious kibbutz Be’eri was one of the hardest hit by the Hamas terrorists. 10% of its 1100 inhabitants were killed.

The teams of the Israeli Zaka forensics organisation were still in shock at the atrocities they found, after the village was recaptured by the Israeli army.

“The first house that we went in, we saw a couple, father and mother, hands tied to the back, tortured, and missing body parts while they were alive,” revealed Yossi Landau, ZAKA’s Southern Israel Commander.

“And on the other side, two children, a six-year-old and a seven-year-old boy and girl, in the same position. Tortured.

“We go into the next house. A pregnant lady lies on the floor, face down. We turn her over. She’s butchered open. In her stomach, a baby. An infant. An unborn infant that is still connected with the cord. I could see the baby. It’s a mature baby. It’s just stabbed. And she was shot in the back.”

Many more accounts of alleged torture and abuse on civilians, including rapes and beheadings, would follow.

Families search desperately for missing loved-ones

More than one hundred Be’eri residents were taken hostage or reported missing. Yarden Roman Gat, a dual Israeli-German citizen, and her sister-in-law Carmel are among the civilians missing from Be’eri.

Their families and friends are working relentlessly to find them. Yarden was visiting her in-laws in Be’eri with her husband and their daughter when they were captured by the assailants.

They escaped the car taking them to Gaza and fled to the woods while being shot at by four Hamas gunmen. The young woman handed the child over to her husband, who managed to get away. But she did not run fast enough. Yarden and Carmel have not been heard of since. But Yarden’s mother-in-law was killed by the terrorists.

“How do you tell a three-year-old that her grandmother was murdered by the ‘bad people’ that got to her home? She saw them. She understands,” explained Liri Roman, Yarden’s brother.

The family has called Germany and the international community for help.

“I don’t even want to think about how they treat them, what they do with them. That’s going to be the new terror. That’s going to be everywhere in the world. Today it’s Israel. But tomorrow, who knows?” Liri added.

One week on: Tension and death toll mounts

A week after the launch of Israel’s offensive, the Hamas health ministry reported that more than 1500 people, nearly half of whom were children and women, had been killed, and thousands more injured in the Gaza Strip, under constant bombing.

The thunder of war echoed in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Security had been hyped up in the Old City of Jerusalem, where some 2500 police and military forces were deployed for the first Muslim Friday prayers since the 7th October. Activity was at a standstill, and security checks were constant.

“The situation for us in the last week, because of the war, has been very hard in the Old City,” said Ali Jaber, a resident of East Jerusalem. “They have orders, a green light to shoot and to beat us.”

Meanwhile, a mass exodus had started from northern Gaza, after Israel’s military gave more than one million people 24 hours to evacuate to the southern part of the Hamas-controlled territory. The United Nations warned the world that an unprecedented human catastrophe was unfolding.

Hamas rockets kept pounding southern and central Israel, also under fire from Lebanese Hezbollah in the north. More than 120,000 people were displaced. The country was under alert.

“They [Hamas] don’t want just the South, they want Tel Aviv, and Jaffa, and Haifa and everywhere,” said one Israeli woman.

“We say to the civilians, go! Save your life. Go from the Hamas,” an Israeli man told Euronews, adding that, “Europe, they don’t understand this! You’re next! They will not finish in Israel!”

Anger turns towards the Israeli government

For some in Israel, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s government policies contributed to the current situation. On the first Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, since the Hamas attacks, hundreds had come to protest against the government in front of the Israeli defence ministry in Tel Aviv.

They rallied with families of hostages, demanding their immediate release.

“This is my daughter, Liri Elbag. She was kidnapped in her pyjamas. Early morning, to Gaza. And I want her back now!” said Liri’s mother Shira Elbag.

“She’s 18 years old. She doesn’t want to fight! I believe also in Gaza they don’t want to fight. Nobody wants to fight. Everybody just wants to live!”

“To be against Hamas does not mean that we have to kill one child in Gaza,” stressed Ronit Chitayat Kashi, a human rights activist at the protest.

The West Bank takes up arms

Violence was soaring in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians were arrested. According to the United Nations, more than 50 Palestinians were also killed in clashes with the Israeli army or with settlers, in the space of ten days. A figure that would more than triple in the following weeks.

The city of Beitar Illit, a few kilometres south of Jerusalem, is one of the biggest of the Gush Etzion bloc of Jewish settlements and home to some 70,000 people.

Fear of attacks from the nearby Palestinian villages ran high among the population, after a Hamas rocket fired from Gaza hit the town, on the 9th October.

Residents welcomed the move from the Israeli government to provide 10,000 free weapons to West Bank settlers and relax rules on gun licences. The municipality also organised self-defence training programmes.

Firearms sales have reached record highs since the 7th October Hamas attack. Scores of civilians were also coming to train at a shooting range at Israel’s largest self-defence training centre near Beitar Illit. Many had never handled a gun before.

“As a first responder, my number one thing that I want to do is save lives. And I don’t want to hurt people,” said Kalanit, an Emergency Medical Technician.

“But sometimes you don’t have a choice. It’s either kill or be killed. And it’s horrific. I hope to never, ever, need to use my gun!”

Divisions deepen in Israel’s mixed cities

In the mixed cities of Israel, communities were more divided than ever. Freedom of movement and expression was restricted for the two million Palestinians holding Israeli citizenship.

Like in one of the mixed cities close to Tel Aviv: Lod for Israelis, Lydd, for Palestinians. Those who call themselves the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the Jewish people call the Israeli Arabs, represent 20% of the population of Israel.

Yet in the mixed cities, people feel that their fate is more than ever compromised.

Ghassan Monayer, a human rights activist and social worker, is one of the rare Palestinian citizens of Israel in Lydd to have agreed to talk to us

“People are afraid to say anything that might get them arrested. We, the Palestinian citizens of Israel, we are in a very delicate situation. Because we see and hear both sides. In Israel, we know, we acknowledge that innocents were killed and we are against it. But there are 2.2 million people in Gaza. They need hope! They need liberation! They cannot live in a cage.”

Talking to us is also a risk for Maha Nakib, a women’s rights activist we meet near a wall separating an Arab neighborhood from a Jewish one in Lod. Her husband lost 20 family members, killed in the bombings in Gaza.

“We are now in that circle of hate and war, we have to stop that!” she cries out.

We need a real solution for two people! I don’t care if it’s going to be a solution of two states or one state, equal for all people. But it has to be a political solution.”

A solution in which Chani Luz, a religious Jewish Orthodox activist no longer believes. Relations between communities in her neighbourhood were hard hit by the violence that erupted in Lod and other mixed cities of Israel in May 2021, she says. And any trust that was regained was crushed by the 7th October attacks.

“The pogrom that we had in the heart of the country brings back scenes and memories of the Holocaust. You cannot live with a society that coins death as there as their slogan. Death for the Jews, is not something that a Jew can live with.”, she stated.

“There’s no justification for the terror and horrific atrocities they did. And there’s no way that we can continue living with them as our neighbours. So please, Arab nations, take your Gaza brothers in! If you’re really scared that they’re going to be killed by the Jews and if you care for your Arab brothers, open the gates and take them in!”

At the time of our broadcast, Israel’s air and ground offensive on Gaza was in full blow.

The Gaza health ministry said the death toll was over 10,000, among which at least 4,000 children.

Demanding the unconditional release of all hostages, Israel rejected growing international calls for a humanitarian truce.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and Israel’s army continued to exchange fire along the countries’ shared border, leaving the world to dread a regional conflict.

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White House says Israel agrees to four-hour daily pauses in Gaza

Post By World Hamas, Israel, The Gaza Strip

The latest developments from the Israel Hamas war.

The White House says Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza starting on Thursday, as the Biden administration said it has secured a second pathway for civilians to flee fighting.

President Joe Biden had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to institute the daily pauses during a Monday call.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the first humanitarian pause would be announced Thursday and that the Israelis had committed to announcing each four-hour window at least three hours in advance.

Israel, he said, also was opening a second corridor for civilians to flee the areas that are the current focus of its military campaign against Hamas, with a coastal road joining the territory’s main north-south highway.

Biden also told reporters that he had asked the Israelis for a “pause longer than three days” during negotiations over the release of some hostages held by Hamas, though he said there was “no possibility” of a general cease-fire.

Asked if he was frustrated by Netanyahu over the delays instituting humanitarian pauses, Biden said, “It’s taken a little longer than I hoped.”

Kirby told reporters Thursday that pauses could be useful to getting the remaining 239 hostages held by Hamas back to their families.

Palestinians killed by Israeli army in West Bank

Eight Palestinians were killed Thursday during an Israeli army raid in Jenin, north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry announced.

Intense fighting continued in the early afternoon, according to an AFP journalist who witnessed the bombing, several large explosions and small arms fire.

Al Jazeera report that Israeli forces have been going from house to house in the city looking for armed fighters.

Video footage shared online shows thick black smoke rising above the city, a stronghold of armed groups in the West Bank, occupied since 1967 by Israel.

Fourteen people were also injured, according to the Palestinian Authority.

The Israel Hamas war has caused violence in the West Bank to spike, already at historically high levels before fighting broke out.

Erdogan accuses West of ‘weakness’ over Gaza

Turkey’s president has denounced Western states’ “weakness” in the face of civilian deaths in Gaza and called on Muslim nations to unify against Israel.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, made the comments on Thursday at a meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organisation in Uzbekistan.

Erdogan said governments and organisations in the West are observing these “massacres by Israel” from afar but are “too weak to even call for a ceasefire, let alone criticise child murderers.”

“If we, the Economic Cooperation Organization, as Muslims, are not going to raise our voices today…when will we raise our voices,” he added.

Erdogan also said Turkey would continue with its diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire and prevent the conflict from spreading.

The Economic Cooperation Organisation is a collection of five Central Asian nations as well as Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Negotiations underway for short ceasefire in Gaza

Talks are taking place to strike a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a dozen hostages held by Hamas.

That’s according to two officials from Egypt, one from the United Nations and a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deal could allow more aid, including fuel, to enter the besieged territory, as conditions facing the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there grow increasingly dire.

It is being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, according to the officials.

If an agreement is reached, the same formula could be revisited for more pauses and releases, one official added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said any ceasefire is contingent on Hamas releasing some of the hostages it took during the 7 October attack on southern Israel.

Israel says around 240 people were taken captive by the Palestinian militant group.

A three day ceasefire would allow much-needed humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, with fuel potentially allowed in for the first time since the war. It would be distributed to hospitals and bakeries under UN supervision.

Israel has barred fuel shipments to Gaza since fighting broke out, arguing Hamas would divert them for military use.

Over the past month, only a trickle of aid, such as medicine, food and water, has entered Gaza. Aid workers say it’s not nearly enough to meet mounting needs.

Under the proposed truce deal, Hamas would release a dozen civilian hostages, most of them foreign passport holders, and provide a complete list of hostages to mediators, according to the officials. The International Committee of the Red Cross would be allowed to visit the hostages.

The diplomat said the talks are complex because of the involvement of different parties in the region and in Western capitals.

Israel tightens noose around Gaza

The Israeli army is strengthening its grip on northern Gaza, as thousands of Palestinians flee south in the hope of finding safety and shelter.

“They are leaving because they understand that Hamas has lost control of the north and that the situation is more secure in the south,” said Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Wednesday evening.

He added that an evacuation “corridor” open for a few hours each day since November 5 towards the south of Gaza would be operational again on Thursday.

More than a month of relentless Israeli bombing and the siege has created a dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, with electricity and water cut off.

Civilians have been hit by Israeli strikes even in the south, where they were ordered by Israel to seek safety.

On Wednesday, nearly 50,000 residents left Gaza City, says the Israeli army.

That brings the total number of people who have left the Palestinian enclave’s largest city to 72,000, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).

However, hundreds of thousands of people remain in northern Gaza “in a disastrous humanitarian situation”, it added.

“They struggle to obtain the minimum quantities of water and food necessary for their survival,” the international organisation said.

France hosts Gaza humanitarian summit for Gaza

France is hosting a “humanitarian conference” on Thursday aimed at securing aid for Gaza, made almost impossible by Israel’s incessant bombings.

Israel will not attend the summit initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Netanyahu on Tuesday and will speak to him again afterwards.

Macron also had telephone conversations on Tuesday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose countries play a key role in delivering aid to Gaza.

But Arab countries will also not be represented at the highest level.

The Palestinian Authority will be represented by its Prime Minister. Egypt, which controls the only border crossing with Gaza not held by Israel, will send a ministerial delegation.

The conference will, however, be closely followed by humanitarian organisations, who are tirelessly denouncing the lack of aid and the impossibility of providing more, amid Israel’s devastating strikes.

Gaza turned into ‘living nightmare’ – UN official

The UN human rights chief has said Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and their forced displacement, as well as atrocities committed by Hamas groups on 7 October and their continued holding of hostages, amount to war crimes.

Volker Türk, standing in front of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing into Gaza, told reporters on Wednesday: “These are the gates to a living nightmare.”

“We have fallen off a precipice. This cannot continue,” he said later in Cairo, Egypt’s capital.

Türk said international human rights and humanitarian law must be respected to help protect civilians and allow desperately needed aid to reach Gaza’s beleaguered population.

He said the UN rights office received reports in recent days about an unspecified orphanage in northern Gaza with 300 children who need urgent help, but communications were down and access was impossible.

“We cannot get to them,” he said.

“I feel, in my innermost being, the pain, the immense suffering of every person whose loved one has been killed in a kibbutz, in a Palestinian refugee camp, hiding in a building or as they were fleeing,” Türk said.

“We all must feel this shared pain — and end this nightmare.”

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Netanyahu: Israel to take ‘security responsibility’ for Gaza after war

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

The latest developments from the Israel Hamas war.

Netanyahu vows to take responsibility for Gaza after war

Israel will take “overall security responsibility” in Gaza indefinitely when its war with Hamas ends, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

It is the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to maintain control over the Palestinian enclave one month into a conflict that has already claimed thousands of lives and levelled whole neighbourhoods.

In an interview with ABC News, Netanyahu expressed openness to “little pauses” in the fighting to allow aid into Gaza or the release of some of the 240 hostages seized by Hamas in its 7 October attack on Israel.

But he ruled out any general ceasefire without the release of all the hostages.

The White House said there was no agreement on US President Joe Biden’s call for a broader humanitarian pause after a phone call between the leaders.

The war has come at a staggering cost. Airstrikes have reduced entire city blocks to rubble, and around 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes.

Many have heeded Israeli orders to head to the southern part of the besieged territory, which is also being bombed.

A senior Hamas official has previously said the Islamist movement would not accept “a Vichy government” in Gaza, referring to the French collaborationist regime under Nazi occupation during World War II.

In silence and tears, Israel commemorates the 7 October attack

Israel on Tuesday paid tribute to the victims of Hamas’ unprecedented attack exactly one month ago, which has traumatised the nation.

At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, more than a thousand people, mainly students and teachers, observed a minute of silence together, then prayed and sang the national anthem.

“The atrocities have left a terrible scar, trauma on a personal level but also on a national level,” said Asher Cohen, the president of the university, several graduates of which were killed.

“But there is hope, there will be a rebirth,” he added.

More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas militants on 7 October, one of the deadliest attacks on Israeli soil, according to Israel.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “annihilate” Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s army has battered the Palestinian enclave, killing more than 10,000, including more than 4,000 children, say Hamas.

Blinken urges G7 to speak with ‘one voice’ on Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on the G7 group of nations to “speak with one clear voice” on the Israel Hamas war at a meeting in Tokyo.

“This is a very important moment when the G7 must come together in the face of this crisis and speak with one clear voice,” he said before the gathering of foreign ministers from Japan, UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

Top diplomats from the G7 will meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Japan to try and find common ground on the situation in the Middle East, while reaffirming their support for Ukraine. Other issues in the Caucasus and Asia Pacific will be discussed.

However, the G7 may struggle to find unity when it comes to a ceasefire or humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Security Council itself cannot achieve either of these things for the moment. Meanwhile, Israel remains opposed until those kidnapped by Hamas have been released.

Jewish man dies after clashes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators

California police said on Monday they were investigating the death of a Jewish man following a fray between supporters of Israel and Palestine.

Clashes broke out Sunday between demonstrators at two rallies – one pro-Palestinian and the other pro-Israeli – in Thousand Oaks, northwest of Los Angeles, according to local police.

At the scene, officers found the victim, 69-year-old Paul Kessler, had “suffered from head trauma,” the statement said. “Witnesses indicated that Kessler was involved in a physical altercation with one or more demonstrators” from the pro-Palestinian camp.

“During the altercation, Kessler fell backwards and hit his head on the ground,” the statement added.

He died Monday as a result of his injuries, according to the same source.

Suspend arms to Israel and Palestinian armed groups – HRW

Allies of Israel and backers of Palestinian armed groups should suspend arms transfers given the real risk they will be used to commit grave abuses, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

“Providing weapons that knowingly and significantly would contribute to unlawful attacks can make those providing them complicit in war crimes,” it added in a press release.

Data shared with Euronews by several organisations last week showed that multiple European states have supplied Israel’s army with key weapons and equipment it is likely using on the ground in Gaza.

HRW urged Israel’s “key allies” – which it listed as the US, UK, Canada and Germany – to “suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit widespread, serious abuses amounting to war crimes against Palestinian civilians with impunity.”

It also called on Iran and other governments to cease providing arms to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, “so long as they systematically commit attacks amounting to war crimes against Israeli civilians.”

Both sides have been accused of committing serious abuses and war crimes during the current hostilities.

HRW pointed to the deliberate killing of hundreds of civilians in Israel on 7 October by Hamas and other Palestinian militants.

Israel then cut electricity, fuel, food and water to Gaza’s population and severely curtailed life-saving humanitarian aid, all of which are acts of collective punishment, it continued.

“Civilians are being punished and killed at a scale unprecedented in recent history in Israel and Palestine,” said Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at HRW. “The United States, Iran and other governments risk being complicit in grave abuses if they continue to provide military assistance to known violators.”

Jewish activists demand ceasefire

Hundreds of Jewish activists in the US peacefully occupied the Statue of Liberty on Monday to demand a ceasefire from Israel and an end to the “genocidal bombing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”

Dressed in black t-shirts emblazoned with the slogans “not in our name”, demonstrators held banners “the whole world is watching” and “the Palestinians should be free” at the foot of the emblematic monument in New York.

“The famous words of our Jewish ancestor [19th-century American poet and activist] Emma Lazarus engraved on this monument compel us to act to support the Palestinians of Gaza who aspire to live free,” said Jay Saper from the Jewish Voice for Peace.

“As long as the people of Gaza are screaming, we must scream louder, whatever the attempts to silence us,” added photographer Nancy Goldin, also at the demo.

The US megalopolis, a mythical world city for immigration and multiculturalism, has been shaken for a month by demonstrations in favour of Israel and Palestinians.

Populated by some two million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Muslims, New York has so far escaped violence but tensions are palpable, particularly on university campuses like Columbia.

Part of a progressive American Jewish youth – with Jews voting overwhelmingly for the Democratic Party – is fiercely critical of Israel, which they accuse of perpetrating “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.

They also denounce President Joe Biden’s military and diplomatic support for the Jewish state.

Organisations like the Jewish Voice for Peace gathered tens of thousands of demonstrators in Washington on Saturday to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, while criticising US policies supporting Israel.

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Israel-Hamas war: Palestinian leader Abbas decries Gaza ‘genocide’ as Israel says no cease-fire

Post By World israel defense forces IDF, Israel Hamas war, Palestine, The Gaza Strip

The latest developments from the Israel-Hamas war.

Internet and telephone lines cut again in Gaza – telecoms company

Telephone and internet lines in the Gaza Strip were cut on Sunday evening by Israel, for the third time since the start of the war on 7 October, the Palestinian operator Paltel has announced.

“We regret to announce the complete shutdown of communications and internet services in Gaza after the Israeli side disconnected the servers,” Paltel said in a statement.

Netanyahyu reiterates no cease-fire until hostage freed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Ramon Air Force base in southern Israel on Sunday and reiterated his opposition to a cease-fire in Gaza.

Addressing pilots, Netanyahu said, “There will be no cease-fire without the return of our hostages.”

“We say this to both our enemies and our friends. We will continue until we beat them,” he added.

Weapons cache found in Gaza, Israeli troops claim

The Israeli military has said that it discovered an extensive stash of weapons in a home in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip as it searched the area. It claims rifles, grenades, explosives, suicide drones and missiles in the residence were found. Officials say they brought some of the weapons back to Israel to inspect them. The military said that forces had also destroyed a nearby explosives lab.

Relatives of Scotland’s First Minister return home from Gaza

Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf says his in-laws have returned home after being allowed to leave the Gaza Strip. The parents of his wife, Nadia El-Nakla, were visiting relatives when the conflict erupted on 7 October, trapping them in Gaza.

Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla were among about 100 British nationals permitted to pass through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on Friday. They have had to leave behind Maged El-Nakla’s mother, son and grandchildren.

“We are, of course, elated. But my father-in-law said, ‘My heart is broken in two,’” Yousaf said on X, formerly Twitter. “He then broke down telling me how hard it was saying goodbye to them.”

Yousaf has regularly shared updates on his in-laws’ plight including that they had to drink sea water. He said his brother-in-law is a doctor treating the wounded in Gaza.

The past four weeks had been “a living nightmare for our family,” Yousaf said on Friday. He said he and wife will continue to call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.

“Although we feel a sense of deep personal relief, we are heartbroken at the continued suffering of the people of Gaza,” the couple said in a statement on Friday.

Turkey: police disperse pro-Palestinian demonstration near military base

Turkish police have dispersed a pro-Palestinian rally organised in front of the Incirlik military base housing American forces with tear gas.

The move came just a few hours before the planned arrival in Ankara of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The demonstration, in front of the air base, was organised by the Turkish NGO Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). In 2010, it chartered a flotilla to try to reach Gaza under Israeli blockade, leading to an Israeli raid which left ten people dead.

There have been reports of police intervening when the crowd began moving towards the base after holding a peaceful rally in Incirlik.

Images posted on social media show several hundred people waving Palestinian flags, pursued by police who also used a water cannon.

No injuries or arrests have been reported at this stage. American authorities made no immediate comment.

Incirlik Air Base is owned by NATO member Turkey but is used by the US Air Force – and occasionally the British Royal Air Force – providing strategic access to large areas of the Middle East.

Antony Blinken is expected in Turkey later on Sunday after visiting the West Bank and Cyprus. He is due to meet his Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, in Ankara on Monday to discuss the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.

Nearly a thousand people also gathered on Sunday in front of the American embassy in Ankara, according to reports.

Turkey has been the scene of major demonstrations in support of the Palestinians in recent weeks.

White House: more than 300 Americans or US residents evacuated from Gaza

More than 300 Americans or American residents and members of their families have been evacuated in recent days from the Gaza Strip, the White House confirmed.

“We have successfully evacuated more than 300 Americans, legal permanent residents and their family members,” Jonathan Finer, a national security adviser, said in an interview with CBS on Sunday.

The evacuations took place “during the last few days” and were made possible by “intensive negotiations with all parties involved in this conflict,” he said.

“We believe that there are still a number of Americans inside Gaza… and we will continue to work until all Americans who want to leave can do so,” he added.

President Joe Biden announced Thursday the evacuation of 74 dual nationals holding American passports.

Several hundred wounded, foreigners and dual nationals have been able to leave Gaza towards Egypt since 1 November via the Rafah border post.

Mahmoud Abbas denounces ‘genocide’ carried out by Israel in Gaza

The President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas has denounced the “genocide” carried out in the Gaza Strip by Israel.

Abbas was speaking during a meeting with the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Once again, we meet in the harshest conditions possible, I have no words to describe the war of genocide and the destruction suffered by our Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of the military apparatus of Israel, without any respect for the principles of international law,” Abbas said in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, where he received the American official.

The meeting comes at a time when the international community fears that the war between Israel and Hamas could extend to the West Bank and beyond.

This is the first time that the American Secretary of State has visited the occupied West Bank since the start of the war on 7 October triggered by the bloody attack by Hamas on Israeli soil, after having made several trips to Israel and in Jordan.

Hamas Health Ministry announces death toll has risen to 9,770

The Palestinian Hamas Health Ministry has announced that at least 9,770 people, including 4,800 children, had been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war with Israel.

According to the ministry, 2,550 women are also among these deaths recorded since 7 October.

Israeli minister suspended after saying dropping nuclear weapon on Gaza ‘an option’

An Israeli minister has been suspended from his post after suggesting that dropping a nuclear weapon on Gaza may be one of the country’s military options.

The Times of Israel reported that far-right heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu said “this is one of the possibilities” when asked during an interview with Radio Kol Berama whether an atomic bomb should be dropped on the war-torn region.

Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition in Israel, took to X – formerly Twitter – and called the comment a “shocking and crazy statement by an irresponsible minister”, calling for his immediate firing.

Eliyahu later tried to justify the comment, saying it was simply “metaphorical”.

Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the minister’s words were “not based in reality”.

Hamas government says at least 45 killed in Israeli bombing of refugee camp

At least forty-five people have been killed and a hundred others injured in an Israeli bombardment on Saturday evening against the Maghazi refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

That’s according to a new report published on Sunday by the Ministry of Health of Hamas.

“The number of martyrs in the Maghazi massacre has risen to 45,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qudra, initially reported “more than 30 martyrs” were transported to hospital “after the massacre committed by the occupation in the Maghazi camp.”

The majority of victims “are children and women”, the ministry added, claiminng that houses had been directly targeted.

An Israeli army spokesperson said he was checking whether Israeli forces were operating in the Maghazi camp area.

On Saturday, one of the Israeli bombings hit, according to Hamas, a UN school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing 15 people. Hamas also reported on Friday evening a strike on a school transformed into a makeshift shelter for displaced people in the north of the Gaza Strip, leaving 20 dead and dozens injured.

Israel continues to refuse a humanitarian pause in Gaza despite mounting international pressue

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 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his current tour of the region. Instead, it said that the besieged enclave’s Hamas rulers were “encountering the full force” of its troops.

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

Large columns of smoke rose as Israel’s military said it had encircled Gaza City, the initial target of its offensive against Hamas. Gaza’s Health Ministry has said more than 9,400 Palestinians have been killed in the territory in nearly a month of war, and that number is likely to rise as the assault continues.

Early Sunday, airstrikes hit the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 33 people and wounding 42, said Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesman for the Health Ministry.

He said first responders, aided by residents, were still searching the rubble for dead or possible survivors.

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 focused its military offensive in the northern areas.

Despite such appeals, Israel has continued its bombardment across Gaza, saying it is targeting Hamas fighters and assets everywhere. It has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Arab leaders push for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire now

Blinken met with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan on Saturday after talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted there could be no temporary ceasefire until all hostages held by Hamas are released.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Arab countries want an immediate cease-fire, saying “the whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come.”

Blinken, however, said “it is our view now that a ceasefire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 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.”

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told reporters in Beirut that Blinken “should stop the aggression and should not come up with ideas that cannot be implemented.” The spokesman of the Hamas military wing, who goes by Abu Obeida, said in a speech that fighters had destroyed 24 Israeli vehicles and inflicted casualties in the past two days.

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Cart

PRCS: Palestinian killed in refugee camp Gaza despite truce

Israel tells Palestinians not to move north in Gaza amid truce

Hamas confirms death of top military leader and three commanders

New exchange of hostages for prisoners planned for the third day of truce

Israeli forces kill at least 8 Palestinians in surging West Bank violence – despite truce

Second day of hostage swap goes ahead in tense exchange

Israel-Hamas war: Fewer hostages to be swapped on Saturday – IDF

Red Crescent delivers ‘largest’ batch of aid to north Gaza since war began

London’s police force sends ‘clear message’ to pro-Palestine demonstrators

Israeli-owned ship was targeted in suspected Iranian attack in Indian Ocean

Hostage swap to go ahead on Saturday

Gaza hospitals reach breaking point

A perilous choice: To flee or remain?

Aid and essential goods remain in short supply

‘Things could get a bit lively’

‘Very, very complex’

IDF order Gaza’s Shifa hospital to evacuate ‘within an hour’

Limited internet and phone access returns to Gaza

Israel says ‘dire’ conditions in Shifa hospital

International criminal court is gathering info on alleged crimes

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

The horrifying aftermath of the Hamas attack

Families search desperately for missing loved-ones

One week on: Tension and death toll mounts

Anger turns towards the Israeli government

The West Bank takes up arms

Divisions deepen in Israel’s mixed cities

Erdogan accuses West of ‘weakness’ over Gaza

Negotiations underway for short ceasefire in Gaza

Israel tightens noose around Gaza

France hosts Gaza humanitarian summit for Gaza

Gaza turned into ‘living nightmare’ – UN official

Netanyahu vows to take responsibility for Gaza after war

In silence and tears, Israel commemorates the 7 October attack

Blinken urges G7 to speak with ‘one voice’ on Gaza

Jewish man dies after clashes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators

Suspend arms to Israel and Palestinian armed groups – HRW

Jewish activists demand ceasefire

Internet and telephone lines cut again in Gaza – telecoms company

Weapons cache found in Gaza, Israeli troops claim

Relatives of Scotland’s First Minister return home from Gaza

Turkey: police disperse pro-Palestinian demonstration near military base

White House: more than 300 Americans or US residents evacuated from Gaza

Mahmoud Abbas denounces ‘genocide’ carried out by Israel in Gaza

Hamas Health Ministry announces death toll has risen to 9,770

Israeli minister suspended after saying dropping nuclear weapon on Gaza ‘an option’

Hamas government says at least 45 killed in Israeli bombing of refugee camp

Israel continues to refuse a humanitarian pause in Gaza despite mounting international pressue

Arab leaders push for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire now