Israel - Palestinian militants launch massive attack, 7 Oct 2023 #10

[Brightchaser47]

For the 6th consecutive day, the @IDF opened an evacuation corridor to allow 50,000 Gazans to move south for their safety.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1723051465726366086

A wonderful sight, seeing all those civilians moving to safety. I know they resent having to do it (I would, too), but they do have safe passage, and there  will be a rebuilding.

 

[Vern]

Columbia University is suspending Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) as official student groups through the end of the fall term. This decision was made after the two groups repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday afternoon that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.

Suspension means the two groups will not be eligible to hold events on campus or receive University funding. Lifting the suspension will be contingent on the two groups demonstrating a commitment to compliance with University policies and engaging in consultations at a group leadership level with University officials.

Statement From Gerald Rosberg, Chair of the Special Committee on Campus Safety

Columbia is suspending two student groups for repeatedly violating University policies that culminated in an unauthorized event that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.

news.columbia.edu

So they gathered despite the Uni saying, "no" ... I imagine they will continue to gather depite the fact they Uni has disbanded them.

How about Uni's start evicting out the students and groups preaching and participating in hate marches? Why are those students facing zero accountability for using threatening and intimidating actions against fellow students?

 

[JennieM]

Situation around Gaza City hospitals remains tense​

Rushdi Abualouf
Reporting from Khan Younis, Gaza

It is now evening here in Gaza and tension remains at the four main hospitals in Gaza City, with Israeli troops drawing close.

The unease is especially felt in the territory's largest hospital – Al-Shifa.
People inside say they can hear explosions and firing around the hospital and that Israeli tanks are about 100m (328ft) away.

I spoke to the director of the hospital, who says around 15,000 people remain there, including those who have fled from a nearby refugee camp that has been surrounded by Israeli tanks.

Those who remain at Al-Shifa are largely the elderly and sick, who cannot make the journey further south to where Israel has promised greater safety.

The hospital’s director says they are overwhelmed by the number of injured people and are having to treat people in corridors and on the floor.

Meanwhile, the fighting around Al-Quds hospital has also intensified tonight. We understand an Israeli navy ship was involved as well as tanks, which have surrounded the hospital.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67364296

 

[JennieM]

NEW

'Inevitable' civilians trapped in hospitals will be caught up in fighting​

Paul Adams
Reporting from Jerusalem

The Israeli's believe - and they have published what they say is evidence - that Hamas is operating in, near, or in the case of Al-Shifa hospital, underneath hospitals.

The Israelis agree that a hospital should be protected under international law, but say that if somebody attacks you from that hospital, it then becomes a legitimate military target (provided you still give advance warning that you plan to attack).

Given what the Israelis say about the way Hamas is using such places, it was always inevitable troops entering Gaza City would turn their attention towards some of these key hospitals.

I think they’re trying to force the remaining civilian population to leave the hospital compounds and move south, to give themselves more freedom to deal with Hamas.

The problem now is that the situation in Gaza is so chaotic, so dangerous, that I think people are afraid to leave. We saw what happened outside al-Nasser hospital, where a crowd waving white flags tried to leave but had to retreat into the compound as volleys of gunfire rang out.

The gun battles suggest that Israel and Hamas are exchanging fire right around those hospitals. In such volatile circumstances, it seems inevitable that more civilians will be caught up in the violence and that more of them will die.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67364296

 

[Momoffourboys]

Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر
@emilykschrader

The people of Gaza are being blocked from getting to safety by Hamas. Watch this Gaza man’s testimony before the cameraman cuts him off for criticising Hamas!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1722999867570618799

 

[JennieM]

2m ago

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking to the UN security council on Friday, said he understood the suffering and horror being experienced in Gaza today, having lived through war as a child and a parent himself. He said:

I understand what the children of Gaza must be going through because as a child, I went through the same.

He recalled the sounds of tracer bullets, gunfire and “the smell and images” of war. “I know what war means,” he said.

The WHO director general said the best way to support the organisation is to provide what health workers need to save lives.

He said about 63 tonnes of aid had been sent to Gaza, but that unfettered access is needed to reach civilians.

10m ago

WHO chief says a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza​

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has described the situation on the ground in Gaza, from hospitals conducting operations without anaesthetics to the fact that a child is killed every 10 minutes.

“Nowhere and no one is safe,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the UN security council on Friday.

Gaza’s health system “is on its knees”, he said. He said there have been more than 250 attacks on health centres in Gaza and 25 in Israel since the start of the conflict last month. More than 100 UN colleagues have been killed.

Half of the 36 hospitals in Gaza and two-thirds of its primary healthcare centers were not functioning, he said. Those that were operating were way beyond their capacities, he said.

WHO says a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza – as it happened

Head of World Health Organisation says Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’. This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

19m ago

Maya Yang

Islamophobia and antisemitism are seeing sharp increases across the US after war between Israel and Hamas erupted last month.

According to a new report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization received a total of 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias between 7 October and 4 November.

Cair, which has called the spike “unprecedented”, revealed that the recent increase in Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment across the US mark a 216% increase over the previous year. In an average 29-day period in 2022, Cair received only 406 complaints.

Cair’s research and advocacy director, Corey Saylor, said that “American Muslims are facing the largest wave of Islamophobic bias that we have documented” since Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate, called for a Muslim travel ban in December 2015.

Meanwhile, Jewish communities say they are also facing record-high levels of antisemitism after Israel launched war on Hamas after Hamas’s 7 October attack.

On 25 October, the Anti-Defamation League reported a nearly 400% increase in antisemitic incidents reported year over year. From 7 to 23 October, the ADL recorded a total of 312 antisemitic incidents, 190 of which were directly linked to the violence in Israel and Gaza. During the same time last year, the ADL received preliminary reports of 64 incidents, including four that were Israel-related, the advocacy group reported.

According to monthly crime statistics released this week by the New York police department (NYPD) and reviewed by the Hill, the city saw a 214% rise in reported hate crimes against Jews in October.

WHO says a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza – as it happened

Head of World Health Organisation says Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’. This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

1h ago

'Water is scarce and fear is pervasive' in Gaza: UN rights chief repeats urgent call for ceasefire​

The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, has reiterated increasingly urgent calls for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow lifesaving relief to reach Gaza.

Türk, speaking to journalists in Amman on Friday, also called for the release of all hostages taken from israel and a “sustainable” end to the “nightmarish” situation for those trapped in Gaza.

“Water is scarce and fear is pervasive” in Gaza, he said as he wrapped up a five-day visit to the Middle East which included Rafah, Egypt.

He spoke about his visit to el-Arish hospital, where he saw young children who had been seriously injured in Gaza. “These were the ‘lucky’ children who suffered terribly but are still alive and receiving proper medical treatment,” he said.

The UN rights chief reiterated that while civilians should be protected under international law “wherever they are”, right now “nowhere in Gaza is safe”. He added:

Stop the violence, guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers, provide safe access to ensure that humanitarian assistance can be delivered to all those in need, make sure people have enough to eat, clean water to drink and medical care and shelter, free the hostages, serve accountability and bring to justice in line with international humanitarian law the perpetrators of serious violations.

WHO says a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza – as it happened

Head of World Health Organisation says Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’. This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

1h ago

The head of an Israeli media advocacy group that suggested four of the world’s biggest news organisations had prior knowledge of Hamas’s deadly assault on Israel on 7 October have accepted their vigorous denials as “adequate”.

The Associated Press, Reuters, the New York Times and CNN issued robust statements in response to the suggestion that they were tipped off about the 7 October attacks.

The suggestion appeared in an article by HonestReporting, which describes itself as an organisation devoted to fighting media disinformation about Israel and Zionism. It was taken up by two senior Israeli politicians, who said any journalists with prior knowledge of the assault should be treated as terrorists.

Gil Hoffman, HonestReporting’s executive director, later admitted there was no evidence to back up the article’s suggestions, but said “they were legitimate questions to be asked”.

Speaking to Reuters on Friday, Hoffman said he was “so relieved” when the four media organisations said they did not have prior knowledge.

We raised questions, we didn’t give answers. I still very much think that the questions were legitimate and the answers were adequate from the media organisations themselves.

He also distanced himself from Israeli government accusations that were sparked by its article, adding:

There are those who took our story and pretended that they knew the answers – the Israeli government, cabinet ministers, various Twitter personalities – we didn’t claim to know.

WHO says a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza – as it happened

Head of World Health Organisation says Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’. This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

2h ago

Summary of the day so far​

It’s nearly 11pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• The number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 11,078, including 4,506 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry on Friday. Another 27,490 Palestinians in Gaza have been wounded, it said.
• Israel has revised downwards the death toll from last month’s Hamas attacks in the south of the country from 1,400 to about 1,200, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. The revision is “due to the fact that there were lot of corpses that were not identified and now we think those belong to terrorists … not Israeli casualties,” they said on Friday.
• The largest hospital in Gaza, where up to 50,000 people are sheltering, is facing bombardment, the World Health Organization has said. Palestinian officials said Israel launched airstrikes on or near four hospitals and a school on Friday, killing at least 22 people. Graphic daytime videos posted online appeared to show screaming and bloodied people, including children, in the grounds of al-Shifa hospital in the heart of Gaza City. A WHO spokesperson said 20 hospitals in Gaza were out of action and that there was “intense violence” at al-Shifa.
• The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PCRS) said Israeli forces opened fire on the intensive care unit at al-Quds hospital in Gaza City on Friday. One person was killed and 28 others – most of them children – were wounded in sniper fire by Israeli forces at the hospital, the organisation said.

[…]

WHO says a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza – as it happened

Head of World Health Organisation says Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’. This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[Momoffourboys]

Embassy of Israel to the USA | #IsraelUSA75



@IsraelinUSA


Devorah Idan, whose son Tzachi was kidnapped into Gaza and granddaughter Maayan was murdered by Hamas, describes to the European Parliament (tag) seeing the atrocities on Facebook Live.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1723105754092376273

 

[katydid23]

Moo...is forced evacuation of another country legal? I have not noticed it happening in Ukraine or Russia.
I have sat and seriously thought about, if it was demanded I leave, with nothing but what I can carry, to go to a refugee camp, how would I feel?
I am resentful just thinking about it. Moo

If there were munitions and tunnels full of terrorists holding hostages in your basement, would you resent having to relocate?

 

[JennieM]

52s ago
Erum Salam

Outrage continues to grow over a public comment made by a Florida state Republican lawmaker calling for all Palestinians to die.

In the speech during a debate in the state legislature about calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Democratic Florida state representative Angie Nixon said: “We are at 10,000 dead Palestinians. How many will be enough?”

“All of them,” Michelle Salzman called in reply.

Nixon acknowledged the interruption and said: “One of my colleagues just said, ‘All of them.’ Wow.”

The Florida state house later voted 104-2 to reject Nixon’s resolution.

The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair-Florida), the US’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said in a statement that Salzman’s remarks were a “chilling call for genocide” and a “direct result of decades of dehumanization of the Palestinian people by advocates of Israeli apartheid and their eager enablers in government and the media”.

Michelle Salzman, a Florida state representative, in Tallahassee last year. Photograph: Phelan M Ebenhack/AP

The news comes on the heels of the censure of the Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in the US Congress, after Tlaib echoed a popular rallying cry for Palestine that some have called antisemitic but others say is a call for Palestinian civil rights.

The censure resolution, which was supported by 22 Democrats, punishes Tlaib for allegedly “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel” and “promoting false narratives” about the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.

WHO says a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza – as it happened

Head of World Health Organisation says Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’. This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

UK​

Police brace for largest pro-Palestinian protest and impose Cenotaph exclusion zone​

The Metropolitan Police is preparing for an unprecedented security operation ahead of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday.

The force expects the march - which coincides with Armistice Day - to be the largest yet, and has warned there is a risk of clashes.

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathering near the Cenotaph can be arrested under sweeping measures announced by the Met.

Rishi Sunak has repeated his view the timing of the march is "disrespectful".

He urged protesters to be "mindful of the fear and distress in Jewish and Muslim communities" when they gather on Saturday, and said he had been given assurances police had taken all steps to ensure Remembrance services would be "safeguarded".

In a statement on Friday, Mr Sunak said: "It is because of those who fought for this country and for the freedom we cherish that those who wish to protest can do so, but they must do so respectfully and peacefully.

"Remembrance weekend is sacred for us all and should be a moment of unity, of our shared British values and of solemn reflection."

The Met has said it will deploy 1,850 public order officers on duty on Saturday, and another 1,375 on Sunday, as part of a "huge" security operation in order to reassure local communities.

It expects Saturday's demonstration to be the largest since weekly pro-Palestinian marches began in early October, and warned the situation in the capital could be "challenging" and "tense".

An exclusion zone will be in place around the Cenotaph and a large swathe of Whitehall, which the Met says will "in effect" ban pro-Palestinian protesters from these locations and goes further than the security measures usually deployed around the key Remembrance site.

A dedicated 24-hour police presence is already in place around the Cenotaph, which will remain until after Sunday's ceremony.

[…]

Police brace for largest pro-Palestinian protest and impose Cenotaph exclusion zone

Hundreds of thousands are due to take part in the march, while elsewhere commemorations take place for Armistice Day.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[JennieM]

UK

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has organised the march, has repeatedly stressed their route does not go past the Cenotaph, and has rejected the Met's public appeals to postpone.

No major protest is scheduled to take place on Remembrance Sunday. The demonstrations have taken place on successive Saturdays.

No major protest is scheduled to take place on Remembrance Sunday. The demonstrations have taken place on successive Saturdays.

But on Friday the force reiterated concerns about disruptive splinter groups, saying their "behaviour has been escalating and becoming more violent and distressing to the public" as the weekly protests have continued.

Other security measures announced by the Met include:

• Exclusion zones around the US and Israeli embassies
• Extra powers to stop-and-search, and compel people to remove masks
• Plans to prevent a "convoys of cars" carrying pro-Palestinian protesters, which is expected to arrive from elsewhere in the UK, reaching Jewish communities
• Working with British Transport Police to protect poppy sellers at stations
• A "dispersal zone" in a busy central London area, preventing breakaway groups from gathering later in the day

[…]

Police brace for largest pro-Palestinian protest and impose Cenotaph exclusion zone

Hundreds of thousands are due to take part in the march, while elsewhere commemorations take place for Armistice Day.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[JennieM]

36 min ago

Israel lowers its estimated death toll from Hamas attacks on October 7 to 1,200​

From CNN staff

Israel now believes around 1,200 people were killed by Hamas in a series of brutal attacks on Israeli communities and gatherings near Gaza on October 7.

The new figure is a downward revision from the government's previous figure of 1,400. It includes foreign workers and other foreign nationals killed in the attack, Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said.

The new number reflects “the fact there were a lot of corpses that were not identified and which we now think belong to terrorists … not Israeli casualties,” Haiat said, according to the Times of Israel.

The current estimate of 1,200 is not a final number, Haiat emphasized, because some of the bodies are yet to be identified.

November 10, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave one of his most direct condemnations yet of the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying "far too many Palestinians have been killed."

edition.cnn.com

 

[JennieM]

2 hr 44 min ago

About 200,000 people have lost homes in Gaza, where 45% of housing is damaged or destroyed, UN office says​

From CNN's Renée Rigdon and Annette Choi

People search through rubble after Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza, on Friday. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

At least 45% of Gaza’s housing has been destroyed or damaged as of November 4, and as many as 200,000 people no longer have homes, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world, with more than 500 people per 100 square meters in many areas, according to the European Commission.

Israel has carried out multiple airstrikes about a kilometer from the Rafah crossing — the only way in and out of Gaza that isn’t controlled by Israel. The crossing, which is controlled by Egypt, has been mostly closed since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

Northern Gaza has had no electricity or fuel since October 11. One-third of hospitals have had to close, and those that remain open are often operating with limited electricity and without anesthesia or clean water, the UN humanitarian office said. All bakeries in the north have had to close, either due to damage or lack of fuel.

Gaza’s sole power plant is out of fuel, and the seawater desalination plant in the north is also down. Drinking water is running out for hundreds of thousands of civilians. Most sewage pumping facilities are not operating. UN officials report that 14 hospitals and 71% of primary care facilities across Gaza are closed.

November 10, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave one of his most direct condemnations yet of the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying "far too many Palestinians have been killed."

edition.cnn.com

 

[JennieM]

3 hr 17 min ago

Top US diplomat brings notable shift in language toward Israel as pressure mounts​

From CNN's Paul LeBlanc

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the press in New Delhi on Friday. Jonathan Ernst/Pool/Reuters

When United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken lamented the civilian death toll in Gaza on Friday, it marked a subtle but notable shift in US language toward the Israeli government.

For weeks, the Biden administration has strongly backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military offensive following Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, but a rising death count in the besieged enclave, enormous pro-Palestinian protests across the globe and increasing discomfort inside the White House has put considerable strain on the US’ posture.

“Far too many Palestinians have been killed. Far too many have suffered these past weeks,” the top US diplomat said in New Delhi. “We want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them.”

“To that end, we’ll be continuing to discuss with Israel the concrete steps to be taken to advance these objectives,” Blinken added.

Administration officials argue they have had success in some areas as they work to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The White House said Thursday that Israel had agreed to move forward with daily four-hour pauses of military operations in areas of northern Gaza.

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 has surpassed 11,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, drawing from sources in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The ferocity of the military operation shows no sign of letting up. On Friday, Israeli tanks surrounded a Gaza hospital, its director told CNN, as the territory’s largest healthcare facility came under a reported “bombardment.”

[…]

November 10, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave one of his most direct condemnations yet of the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying "far too many Palestinians have been killed."

edition.cnn.com

 

[JennieM]

4 hr 16 min ago

More than 100 UN workers killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, agency says​

From CNN's Lauren Kent

At least 101 employees of the main United Nations agency working in the Palestinian territories have been killed in Gaza since October 7, the agency said Friday.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was "devastated" by the deaths of more than 100 colleagues in a post on social media Friday.

"Mothers, fathers, teachers, nurses, doctors, guards, logisticians, support staff, all at the service of their community," UNRWA said. "We honor their memory and their service."

Earlier Friday, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini also said he was "devastated" by the deaths of colleagues and called for a humanitarian ceasefire.

The UN agency has more than 10,000 people working in its Gaza Field Office, according to the UNRWA website.

November 10, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave one of his most direct condemnations yet of the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying "far too many Palestinians have been killed."

edition.cnn.com

 

[JennieM]

6 hr 18 min ago

About a dozen children with cancer or blood disorders evacuated from Gaza, WHO says​

From CNN’s Pierre Meilhan in Atlanta and Zeena Saifi in Jerusalem

Roughly 12 children with cancer or blood disorders have been evacuated with their relatives from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan to continue their treatment safely, the World Health Organization said Friday.

More children are expected to be evacuated for cancer treatment as part of this initiative, the WHO said in a statement.

Jordan’s Prime Ministry announced on Tuesday that children with cancer would arrive in Jordan soon to receive treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center.
The WHO and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital worked in coordination with Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian and American officials to facilitate the evacuation of the children from Gaza, the United Nations agency said.

The two specialized hospitals that offer care to cancer patients in Gaza have been “overwhelmed, undersupplied, exposed to attacks and, due to insecurity, forced to close," according to the WHO statement, adding that the conflict between Israel and Hamas has severely restricted the entry of essential medical supplies, including chemotherapy.

CNN previously reported that Gaza’s leading cancer hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital, stopped operating due to Israeli bombardment and fuel shortages, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health said in a statement on November 1. Israel's military denied striking the hospital.

Before Israel’s war with Hamas, about 100 patients per day were referred for treatment outside of Gaza, according to the WHO.

“This show of desperately needed humanitarian action should serve to motivate increased access to life-saving care to all people affected by this conflict, both inside Gaza where needs are greatest today, and beyond. I pray this initiative can inspire all parties to put health and peace first,” WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

November 10, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave one of his most direct condemnations yet of the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying "far too many Palestinians have been killed."

edition.cnn.com