Israel - Palestinian militants launch massive attack, 7 Oct 2023 #6

[cottonweaver]

Too bad this is paywalled. Very informative article:

How to Navigate a Hostage Situation Like No Other​

Opinion | When it Comes to the Hostages, Israel Has Only a Few Options
Gershon Baskin is the Middle East director of the International Communities Organization, a human rights advocacy group and is an Israeli citizen.

He has contact with Hamas. Had a family member who was a hostage and was killed in 2005.
Proposed trade of 33 Palestinian women and 170 Palestinian minors currently in Israeli prisons. Hamas rejected it.
They want a complete cease fire.

Qatar is speaking with Hamas and the United States is speaking with Qatar and Israel.
There need to be direct talks between Israel, Qatar and Hamas, and no one else.
The US should not be involved in these talks. (His opinion)

re Gershon Birkin

This is unpaywalled, I posted it a few days ago. He may have done more recent interviews

 

[JennieM]

In Israel, dozens of civilians - including children and the elderly - have been taken hostage.

Attacks on health have been reported in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, killing and injuring health workers and patients, and damaging health facilities and ambulances.

WHO is working with partners to address the most urgent health needs, including through the provision of life-saving medical supplies.

WHO urges all parties to protect health and ensure safe access to health care for their populations.

Conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory

WHO urges all parties to protect health workers and ensure safe access to health to their populations.

www.who.int

 

[Vern]

But can it handle large convoys and pedestrians at the same time?

Are there separate gates for pedestrians and vehicles?

A small border can operate with one gate, but probably alternates between vehicles and pedestrians.
Right now, this border is probably having much more vehicle traffic than usual.

I don't know the answers to those questions.

But, I do know they haven't let a single foreigner or dual Palestinian-Foreign citizen through it since 7/10 ... even when trucks were not getting through so ...

I'll caveat this post with a perhaps they've let through 2 persons ... those being the recently released hostages as I believe they were released to somewhere in Egypt for onward return to Israel.

 

[PommyMommy]

8:01 pm

IDF chief: Gaza readying surprises, but so are we​

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks to Golani commanders at an undisclosed military base, October 21, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The chief of the Israel Defense Forces tells commanders in the Golani infantry brigade that they should expect surprises prepared by terror groups when they enter the Gaza Strip in the upcoming ground offensive, but that the IDF has also prepared some of its own.

“We will enter the Gaza Strip. We will begin an operational and professional mission to destroy the Hamas operatives, the Hamas infrastructure, and we will also keep in our minds the images, scenes and the fallen from Shabbat two weeks ago,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says, referring to the Hamas massacres on October 7.

“Gaza is complex, Gaza is dense, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there, but we are preparing things for them as well,” Halevi adds.

 

[Cedars]

It is astounding to me, still, that all the atrocities perpetrated on these civilians should now be fading into the media background, and instead the message is mainly about the hungry Gazans.

It is called "news" for a reason. They report on the "latest news", on what is "new", happening "now".

 

[PommyMommy]

8:02 pm

Rocket sirens sound in Ashkelon​

Rocket sirens are sounding in Ashkelon, as well as the communities of Zikim and Karmia closer to the Gaza border north of the Strip.

The launches appear timed to coincide with Israel’s prime time 8 p.m. news broadcasts, a tactic thought employed by Gazan terror groups for maximum exposure of their acts.

 

[JennieM]

46s ago

The Qatari foreign minister said on Saturday that Qatar is coordinating with the US and other international partners to release hostages and reduce escalation in the Gaza.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani spoke to his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Strikes on Gaza to increase from today, Israeli spokesperson says – as it happened

Israeli Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said: ‘We will deepen our attacks to minimise the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war.’ This blog is now closed

www.theguardian.com

 

[cottonweaver]

It is called "news" for a reason. They report on the "latest news", on what is "new", happening "now".

The 24 hours news cycle is very unforgiving

 

[PommyMommy]

Live updates: First humanitarian trucks enter Gaza as Israel-Hamas war rages (cnn.com)
16 min ago

Analysis: If Israeli troops move into Gaza, what comes next?​

Tal and Zak have no idea how long they’ll be deployed in what the Israelis call “the Gaza envelope,” the area in southern Israel that was attacked by Hamas terrorists two weeks ago.

It could be weeks, it could be months, they said. “It’s the same for everyone. No one knows,” Zak told CNN at a military camp not far from the Gaza border. The two young soldiers, whose surnames CNN isn’t revealing for security reasons, serve in an artillery unit of the Israel Defense Forces that was moved into the area after Hamas militants killed 1,400 people and kidnapped about 200 on October 7.

Their unit is part of a massive buildup of Israeli troops and military material on the Gaza border. On top of its regular force, the IDF has also called up 300,000 reservists who reported to their bases within hours. Across Israel, highways in the vicinity of major bases are lined with thousands and thousands of cars, abandoned by reservists rushing to take up arms.

[...]

“There is a consensus that any other option than to totally eliminate Hamas would be terrible, not just for Israel, but for the entire area, and then even globally,” said Harel Chorev, senior researcher in Middle Eastern studies at the Tel Aviv University.

[...]

“The concern, within Egypt especially, is that Israel’s strategy of making the humanitarian situation very difficult in Gaza is ultimately meant to force a mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza into the Egyptian Sinai,” Alhasan said, adding that Egypt has the backing of all of the Arab states in that it would not allow this.

“The Jordanians are also concerned that if we see a mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, that this would create a precedent and that Israel’s right-wing government would attempt to solve the Palestinian issue once and for all by expelling them en masse from Gaza into Egypt and from the West Bank into Jordan,” he added.

Read more here.

 

[Vern]

8:01 pm

IDF chief: Gaza readying surprises, but so are we​

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks to Golani commanders at an undisclosed military base, October 21, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

...

RSBM,

I can't help but look at their faces to see if I recognize any of them as the children I met when stationed up on the border there as a UN military observer ... they are the same age range as those kids would be today.

 

[JennieM]

UPDATE: OPT/Israel​

20 October 2023

With over 3,700 people killed in Gaza and 1,000 more presumed under the rubble, as well as 1,300 people killed in Israel, and a further one million Palestinians – half of them children – reportedly displaced, we implore all parties to allow the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for all civilians in need, wherever they are.

At the same time, we remain very concerned that Israeli Forces’ heavy strikes are continuing across Gaza, including in the south. The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the south, appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there.

We are also concerned about continued indiscriminate rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel.

We also reiterate that all civilians captured and held by Palestinian armed groups must be released immediately and unconditionally. The taking of hostages is prohibited by international law.

We are extremely alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied West Bank and the increase in unlawful use of lethal force.

Since 7 October, our Office has received reports that 69 Palestinians, including at least 15 children and one woman, have been killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank. Yesterday, 14 Palestinians were reportedly killed, most of them in a drone strike. Settler violence has also further increased: six Palestinians have been killed by armed settlers, and a number of Palestinian communities have been forced from their land.

There has also been an increase in arbitrary arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and of Arab Israelis in Israel, including Palestinian activists and Palestinian workers that were previously working in Israel, with reports of ill-treatment and lack of any due process. This must cease.

For the past 13 days, many Palestinians in the West Bank have been denied freedom of movement, including being prevented from reaching hospitals to receive life-saving care. Restrictions on freedom of movement must be necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate aim.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stresses that it is of paramount importance that all parties must respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law. In the conduct of hostilities, the principles of necessity, distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack must be respected at all times by everyone.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/10/update-optisrael

 

[PommyMommy]

8:20 pm

Blinken to Lebanese PM: Consider how entering war would affect your people​

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated to Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in a phone call earlier today “the importance of respecting the interests of the Lebanese people, who would be affected by Lebanon being drawn into the conflict instigated by Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel,” the State Department says.

Blinken notes growing concern over tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border and expresses “his condolences to the families of Lebanese civilians who have tragically lost their lives as a result of the conflict, underscoring continued US support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, the sole legitimate guarantors of Lebanon’s stability and territorial integrity,” according to a US statement.

 

[PommyMommy]

Israel-Hamas war live updates: Relief over hostage release; aid crosses into Gaza from Egypt (nbcnews.com)
2m ago / 10:23 AM PDT

Red Cross says Gaza needs far more humanitarian support​

The International Committee of the Red Cross expressed support for the U.N. brokered deal that brought a convoy of 20 trucks with humanitarian aid into Gaza, calling it a “welcome step.”

Still, the needs in Gaza require far more than 20 trucks, a spokesperson told NBC News.

“We need a steady stream of aid into Gaza as well as a pause in the fighting to work safely and effectively to meet the needs,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also stressed the need for medical staff including war surgeons and first responders to gain entry to Gaza. The Red Cross has been able to deliver fuel in “small batches,” but hospitals and water treatment plants need a constant flow to function.

 

[cottonweaver]

Defence Editor of The Economist ( link attached to thread)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1715639356436762982

 

[PommyMommy]

IDF thermal footage shows failed rocket launches from Gaza, landing short in the Strip. According to the IDF, more than 550 rockets have fallen short since Oct. 7.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1715780320639799547

 

[fred&edna]

As a 67 year old the last person I want to hear from about any war is a 20 year old that protest too much.

Jmo

RSBM

I'm nearly tempted to borrow this as my signature !!

 

[Friday Fan]

Hunted for a picture, this is how the border looks today. Barriers have been put up around the guard access station. The pedestrian doors are walled off. I assume the barriers are to protect inspectors and guards and prevent unauthorized pedestrians from trying to get through.

Aid trucks enter Egypt's border crossing with Gaza

The first humanitarian aid convoy to be sent to the besieged Gaza Strip since war broke out there...

www.katherinetimes.com.au

 

[SouthAussie]

I suppose in the tunnels, but if they can get in and out in the tunnels, then why can't they get supplies that way? If they can get supplies that way then where are the exits at and why aren't those bombed?

I think the Israeli bombings are focusing on those tunnels, the Hamas hierarchy, and Hamas weaponry. I don't think the tunnels are being ignored. The IDF are very aware of the tunnels, where they go - they actively look for the entry/exit points.

https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/the-hamas-terrorist-organization/everything-you-need-to-know-about-hamas-underground-city-of-terror/

 

[PommyMommy]

8:27 pm

IDF claims over 550 rockets fell short in Strip since outbreak of war​

The Israel Defense Forces releases thermal footage showing failed rocket launches from Gaza landing inside the Strip.

According to the IDF, more than 550 rockets fired at Israel have fallen short since October 7, killing Palestinians in the failed strikes.

Earlier today, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said one-fifth of the rockets launched at Israel yesterday fell short inside Gaza.

 

[PommyMommy]

We’ll say it again for those of you who need a reminder.

Hamas=ISIS.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1715774603472080971