US senators ask Biden administration to clarify Israel’s ‘strategy in Gaza’
Twenty-six senators signed the letter to the Joe Biden administration, including more than half of all Democratic lawmakers in the Senate, stressing a growing push from Congress for more clarity on the US policy towards Israel.
A vast bipartisan majority in the both the US House of Representatives and Senate continue to support Israel’s offensive in Gaza, however.
The legislators said they support continued US aid for Israel, but asked for the Biden administration’s “assessment of the viability of Israel military strategy in Gaza” and if there is an “achievable plan” to govern Gaza after the fighting ends.
The letter also asked for information “about what specific mechanisms you are putting in place to ensure that Israeli military operations conducted inside Gaza are carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law and to ensure that any US-provided equipment is used in a manner consistent with US law”.
19 killed in Israeli air strike on Jabalia refugee camp: Interior ministry
The interior ministry said an Israeli air attack targeted an “inhabited home, near al-Yemen al-Saeed hospital” in the middle of the refugee camp in northern Gaza.
It also reported several injuries in a separate attack in Jabalia.
A home belonging to the Khalil family also was struck in the centre of the refugee camp, the ministry added.
NATO allies support ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza: Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the pauses would allow aid to reach the territory.
He also stated it is important to prevent the war from escalating into a regional conflict.
“Iran, Hezbollah and other groups must not escalate,” Stoltenberg added.
‘Dire’ situation at Gaza’s al-Quds Hospital amid lack of fuel, food, water: PRCS
Gaza’s al-Quds Hospital has been relying on a “small” generator and has suspended its surgery unit amid a severe lack of fuel, said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
The station for oxygen generation also has been shut down and the hospital is relying on oxygen cylinders, Farsakh told Al Jazeera.
In each of the hospital’s three buildings – where some 14,000 people are sheltering – electricity is available for only two hours.
This is meant to allow those sheltering “to do the minimum … like cooking and charging their phones”, Farsakh continued, adding that food and water are also running low.
“All the roads leading to al-Quds Hospital are closed due to the bombardment,” she stated, explaining that paramedics now face an “impossible mission” to leave and bring wounded people back to the facility.
“The situation is dire.”
Houthis claim shot down US drone in Yemeni territorial waters
The Yemeni group’s spokesperson has stated the drone had been used by the US to support Israel.
“We shot down an American plane in Yemeni territorial waters and as part of the US military support for the Israeli entity,” the group said on Telegram.
“Hostile moves will not discourage our forces from continuing to carry out military operations against the Israeli entity,” it added.
The Houthis have fired rockets and drones at Israel in recent weeks, with some shot down by US Navy assets in the region.
Israeli army says one more soldier killed in Gaza
The Israeli army confirmed on Wednesday one more soldier, Sergeant First Class Jonathan Chazor, was killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.
So far, at least 33 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 260 injured since Israel launched its ground operations into Gaza.
‘Tragedy for journalism’: One journalist a day killed in Israel-Palestine war
A total of 41 journalists have so far been killed in the Israel-Palestine war which began on 7 October, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement on Wednesday.
Among them are 36 Palestinian reporters killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.
“Nowhere is safe for journalists in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.
“The Israeli authorities have repeatedly said that their armed forces are ‘not targeting journalists’, but they have not hidden their lack of interest in protecting them either,” RSF added.
More than 50 sites used by the media have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip is a tragedy for journalism,” said Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF’s Middle East desk.
“With their arbitrary air strikes, the Israeli armed forces are eliminating journalists one after the other without restraint, all while their unacceptable comments betray an open contempt for international humanitarian law,” Dagher added.
One journalist has been killed in Lebanon by Israeli air strikes, while four Israeli journalists were killed during the 7 October attacks by Palestinian fighters led by Hamas.
Gaza death toll tops 10,500
The spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr Ashraf al-Qudra, has announced the latest death toll in Gaza:
- At least 10,569 people have been killed since 7 October
- Of those, 4,324 were children, 2,823 women, 649 elderly
- Another 26,475 people were wounded
- At least 2,550 people are missing, including 1,350 children. Most of these people are believed to have died and are currently buried under rubble
UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal has called the Israeli authorities’ order to evacuate Gaza residents from the north to the south of the enclave an “international crime.”
The expert pointed out that “core international human and humanitarian law norms are brazenly breached” by Israel ordering to evacuate more than a million people from the northern part of the Gaza Strip to the southern part under a blockade and without providing adequate housing and humanitarian aid.
“These actions by Israel constitute international crimes,” Rajagopal said.
“Carrying out hostilities with the knowledge that they will systematically destroy and damage civilian housing and infrastructure, rendering an entire city – such as Gaza city – uninhabitable for civilians is a war crime,” the expert noted.
He recalled that the systematic or large-scale bombing of residential buildings and civilian objects is strictly prohibited under international law.
“Such acts amount to war crimes and when directed against a civilian population, they also amount to crimes against humanity,” the special rapporteur stressed.
Rajagopal recalled that “attacks by Israel on targets within Gaza have destroyed or damaged 45% of all housing units in the Gaza Strip”. He pointed out that “civilian housing in Israel is also not a military object – launching indiscriminate rocket attacks on them from Gaza or elsewhere is a war crime.”
The Gaza Strip cannot be administered by the radical Hamas movement or Israel in the future, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated.
“Gaza cannot be continued to be run by Hamas. That simply invites repetition of October 7. It’s also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza. Now, the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict,” Blinken said.
He pointed out that discussions are underway on how to secure and establish Palestinian state control over Gaza and the West Bank.
The top US diplomat emphasized that he realized during the talks that Israel “has no intent to reoccupy Gaza”. However, he also allowed for the possibility that the situation might not return to the status quo before tensions escalated on October 7.
Another Israeli soldier killed in Gaza ground operation, death toll rises to 31
An Israeli soldier was killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, bringing the death toll in the Israeli ground operation in the blockaded enclave to 31 since Oct. 27, the army announced on Wednesday.
A military statement said the soldier, from the Artillery Corps, was killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. Two more soldiers were seriously injured.
Israel confirmed 31 soldiers have been killed and 260 others injured since it began expanded ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27.
Number of Israelis injured since start of war rises to 7,262: Health ministry
The number of Israelis injured since the start of the armed conflict with the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 has risen to 7,262, the Israeli Health Ministry announced Wednesday.
“The number of wounded people staying in hospitals now is 342, including 51 in serious condition, and 152 of them are in rehabilitation departments,” it added.
The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is nearly 1,600, according to official figures.
G7 nations call for ‘humanitarian pauses’, end to West Bank violence
Top diplomats from the G7 leading industrial democracies have announced a unified stance on the Israel-Gaza war after meetings in Tokyo, condemning Hamas, supporting Israel’s right to self-defence and calling for “humanitarian pauses” to speed aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the nations sought to balance criticism of Hamas’s attacks against Israel and a push for “urgent action” to help civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave in need of food, water, medical care and shelter.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy emphasised that they “support humanitarian pauses to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and release of hostages”.
There was also condemnation of “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians”, which the ministers said is “unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace”.
Death toll in Jabalia attack rises
Medical sources have confirmed that the number of people killed in the Israeli air attack on Jabalia refugee camp located in the northernmost part of the Gaza Strip has now risen to at least nine.
The death toll from overnight air raids is continuing to rise this morning, as Israeli bombings are reported across the Gaza Strip.
In recent days, Jabalia saw a series of massive bombings that killed many people.
Renewed bombardment hits Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp
Israeli aircraft renewed their bombardment of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip at dawn on Wednesday, resulting in several deaths and injuries, according to Wafa news agency.
Local sources told Wafa that the Israeli forces hit the residence belonging to the Wahba family in Nuseirat.
Those killed and injured were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the centre of the Gaza Strip, even as the surrounding areas continue to endure another night of intense bombardment.
The same local sources also told Wafa that there are residents still trapped under the rubble of the destroyed residential building.
Palestinian rights groups warn against Gaza mass displacement
Three Palestinian rights groups have warned that people in Gaza are facing imminent genocide along with mass forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the besieged coastal enclave.
“The Israeli military offensive has caused the largest mass displacement of Palestinians in such a short period of time since the 1948 Nakba: around 1,500,000 Palestinians, or about 65 percent of Gaza’s population, are now internally displaced inside Gaza,” Al Mezan, Al-Haq, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said in a statement.
The groups added the displacement has been caused by Israeli “evacuation orders” and relentless bombardments, with Israel’s military offensive causing “the largest mass displacement of Palestinians in such a short period of time since the 1948 Nakba”.
“As we write, the threat of mass forced displacement into Egypt and ethnic cleansing of more than two million Palestinians lingers imminent,” they warned.
“It is imperative that the international community take immediate action to stop Israel’s revengeful military campaign against Gaza [and] prevent the attempted forced displacement of Palestinians.”
Israel killing Palestinian children at unprecedented rate: Rights group
Israeli forces have killed twice as many Palestinian children in the besieged coastal enclave over the past month, according to Defense for Children International-Palestine.
That is more than the total number of Palestinian children killed in the West Bank and Gaza combined since 1967, the group said.
DCI-Palestine added that in additional to children killed in Gaza, about 1,350 children are missing under the rubble, “most of whom are presumed dead”.
Israel thinks it can ‘kill any and every Palestinian in Gaza’: Ambassador
Israel believes it can “kill any and every Palestinian in Gaza”, stated Ambassador Majed Bamya, the State of Palestine’s deputy permanent observer to the UN.
In a post on social media, Bamya said that Israel believes it has a freehand to kill people in Gaza as it has labelled all Palestinians as “either terrorists, terrorist sympathizers or human shields”.
“Anyone accepting this argument has no shred of humanity, no sense of morality and no knowledge of legality,” he wrote.
Palestinian mission to UN blasts Israeli slaughter of Gaza’s children
Israel has killed twice as many Palestinian children in the past month alone than all the Palestinian children killed in the occupied West Bank and Gaza since 1967, the State of Palestine’s mission to the United Nations said on social media.
At least 4,237 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military onslaught against the besieged enclave began on October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
An additional 1,350 children are reported as missing and most are presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza.
That combined death toll means that some 180 children are being killed each day in Gaza, according to child rights group Defense of Children International – Palestine.
ICRC decries shooting of its humanitarian convoy
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced it’s “deeply troubled” that its humanitarian convoy of five trucks and two ICRC vehicles carrying lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities in Gaza City came under fire on Tuesday.
Two trucks were damaged and a driver was lightly wounded in the Israeli attack, it said in a statement.
“These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work,” stated William Schomburg, head of the ICRC delegation in Gaza.
“We are here to bring urgent assistance to civilians in need. Ensuring that vital assistance can reach medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law.”
Saudi Arabia to host summits to discuss Gaza conflict
The Reuters news agency ireported that Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab, Islamic and African nations in coming days to discuss Israel’s war on Gaza.
“We will see, this week, in the next few days Saudi Arabia convening an emergency Arab summit in Riyadh,” Saudi investment minister Khalid Al-Falih said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
“You will see Saudi Arabia convening an Africa-Saudi summit in Riyadh, and in a few days you will see Saudi Arabia convening an Islamic summit,” he added.
“In the short term, the objective of bringing these three summits and other gatherings under the leadership of Saudi Arabia would be to drive towards peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
US says still not drawing any red lines for Israel
The United States has said it was still not drawing any red lines for Israel, which has killed upwards of 10,000 people during a yet-ongoing war against the Gaza Strip.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby made the remarks at a press briefing on Tuesday.
In late October, the official had said that the US administration was not drawing any red lines for Israel despite mounting civilian fatalities from the war.
Kirby was asked during the presser, “Is that still the case that the administration has no red lines?” to which he answered, “That’s still the case.”
“It’s also true that airstrikes continue, and it’s also true that civilians keep dying from these airstrikes,” he added.
European commissioner warns of ‘apocalypse’ in Gaza
The current catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip threatens to decline further, European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic warned on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Lenarcic stressed the need for a cease-fire in the ongoing conflict in Gaza for humanitarian aid to enter into the Palestinian enclave as it faces Israeli bombardment, blockade, and ground attacks.
“Otherwise, the catastrophe in Gaza may turn into apocalypse,” he continued.
Since the beginning of the conflict, only 500 truckloads of aid have entered Gaza, he noted, adding that this was the amount Gaza received daily before the current conflict began.
As such, Lenarcic remarked, a pause of at least a couple of days is needed to resupply Gaza with humanitarian aid.
He emphasized that fuel was particularly needed in Gaza.
“Bakeries, water pumps, hospitals cannot function without fuel. It’s also badly needed for humanitarian associations and their workers there,” Lenarcic stressed.
All bakeries closed, no flour for sale in north Gaza: UN
The UN has confirmed that all bakeries in the north of Gaza have now closed due to “lack of fuel, water and wheat flour” as well as damage to many of the bakeries.
The UN added that wheat flour is no longer available in the market in the north and that aid organisations have been unable to deliver any food there for seven days.
In the south of Gaza, the UN said that only nine bakeries are still “intermittently” open, providing bread to shelters when flour and fuel are available.
The update from the UN’s relief agency in the occupied Palestinian Territories comes after Gaza’s interior ministry said all bakeries in Gaza City and north Gaza had closed on Monday.
Ambulance attack should be investigated as ‘possible war crime’: HRW
An Israeli army strike on an ambulance outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on November 3 “should be investigated as a possible war crime”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has announced.
HRW, an international human rights organisation, said in a statement that it has verified video footage and photographs taken “shortly after the strike” and interviewed a witness to the attack.
It found the video and photographs “show a woman on a stretcher in the ambulance and at least 21 dead or injured people in the area surrounding the ambulance, including 5 children”.
HRW, added that it “did not find evidence that the ambulance was being used for military purposes”, a claim made by an Israeli army spokesperson in a video posted on X after the attack.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has announced that a medic and ambulance driver were among the people injured in the strike.
CIA director discussed hostage release effort with IDF chief of staff during Israel visit: IDF
The CIA is working with Israeli intelligence on plans to rescue hundreds of hostages from Hamas, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
CIA Director Bill Burns discussed the hostage release effort with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Tuesday as part of the CIA director’s visit to Israel, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters.
Israel is Burns’ first stop as he travels to multiple countries in the region to meet with intelligence counterparts.
Intelligence materials, operational planning as well as other efforts to help with the hostages’ release were presented during the meeting between Burns and Halevi.
“Each hostage has their own intelligence file that’s being monitored,” Hagari told reporters Tuesday.
“We’re making our efforts along with the ISA (Israeli Security Agency), the Mossad, we’re together assessing the situation every day to see what we need to adjust, change and plan, in order to fulfill our task – to bring them (hostages) home,” Hagari added.
The IDF estimates 240 Israeli hostages are being held by Hamas in Gaza, including civilian men, women and children.
The group has released just four hostages – two elderly Israeli women and an American mother and daughter – while the IDF last week claimed troops had rescued an Israeli soldier.
Israel has insisted there will be no ceasefire until the hostages are freed.
US VP tell Israel’s president to hold violent settlers accountable
US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke late on Tuesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog as the war in Gaza reached the one-month mark.
Harris stressed the importance of protecting civilian life and respecting international law.
“The Vice President emphasized the importance of protecting civilian lives and respecting international humanitarian law. She emphasized the imperative to further increase the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” Harris said, according to a readout from the White House.
Harris also raised concerns about Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank, adding there is a need to “hold extremist settlers accountable for violent acts”.
While the US vice president called for protecting civilians and respecting international law, Washington has given unconditional support to Israel’s response to the 7 October attack by Hamas.
Israel will “retain complete freedom of action” in Gaza after war: DM
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel will “retain complete freedom of action to respond to any situation in the Gaza Strip” once the war ends.
Speaking at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday, Gallant stated that “at the end of this ‘campaign’, Hamas, as a military organization or governing body in Gaza, will cease to exist”.
“There will be no security threat to Israel from Gaza, and Israel will retain complete freedom of action, to respond to any situation in the Gaza Strip that poses any kind of threat,” Gallant added.
Gallant’s comments echo those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Monday said in an interview with ABC News that Israel will have the “overall security responsibility” in Gaza for an “indefinite period” after the war ends.
Taken together, the comments shed light on the Israeli government’s plans for post-war Gaza. Government officials have not yet elaborated on how Gaza would be governed should they succeed in eliminating Hamas.
US President Joe Biden warned Israel last month that re-occupying Gaza would be a mistake.
Gallant also stated that the war’s top priority was to “eliminate this phenomenon called Hamas”, and that he was personally focused on “victory in the war” and returning Israeli hostages home.
Israeli FM: ‘We don’t want to govern Gaza’
Israel’s foreign minister has said neither Hamas nor Tel Aviv would govern Gaza when the current conflict comes to an end.
“We don’t want to govern Gaza,” Eli Cohen said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We don’t want to run their lives. We just want to protect our people,” the minister added.
He stated that instead an international coalition comprised of the US, the European Union and Muslim majority countries, or local political leaders in Gaza, would take power.
Over 600 foreign nationals, 15 wounded Palestinians leave Gaza for Egypt on Tuesday
A total of 637 foreign nationals were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday, an Egyptian border official told a journalist working for CNN in Rafah.
The total is the highest daily number since the evacuations began last week. The Rafah crossing had been closed since the war began last month, but was opened last week as part of a deal brokered by Qatar between Israel, Hamas and Egypt, in coordination with the US.
In addition, 15 wounded Palestinians arrived in Egypt for treatment through the crossing, the official added.
According to a CNN tally, this brings the total number of wounded Palestinians with severe injuries sustained from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza who have been transferred to Egypt to 116.
89 United Nations staff members killed since war began: UN chief
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said 89 staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began a month ago.
More UN aid workers “have been killed in recent weeks than in any comparable period in the history of our organization,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“I join in the mourning of 89 of our UNRWA colleagues who have been killed in Gaza – many of them with members of their family,” he added.
UNRWA also announced on Tuesday that at least 26 members had been injured.
“We are beyond devastated. Our colleagues will be greatly missed, and they will not be forgotten. We share this grief with each other and with the families,” the agency said on X.
All 140 evacuated Palestinians receiving treatment in Egypt are in serious condition: Health ministry
The medical condition of 140 injured people transferred from Gaza to Egypt to receive treatment is “serious”, Egyptian health ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told Egyptian government-affiliated ON TV on Tuesday.
The tally includes 55 children under the age of 18, plus 35 women, Abdel Ghaffar said.
More than 30 surgical operations are conducted daily, and some cases need several specialties to treat burns and other injuries, he added.
The number of injured people evacuated is “undoubtedly low,” the spokesperson said.
“We are ready in terms of medical teams and hospitals to receive higher numbers, but this is what we have received so far,” he added.
On Saturday, the Egyptian Minister of Health Khaled Abdel Ghaffar stated that numerous children have suffered extensive burns, with some cases involving burns covering up to 60% of their bodies.
Some doctors performing operations without anesthesia in Gaza: WHO
Some doctors in Gaza have been performing operations, including amputations, without anesthesia, a World Health Organization spokesperson stated Tuesday.
“Nothing justifies the horror being endured by civilians in Gaza,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said during a press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, stressing their “desperate need for water, fuel, food and safe access to health care to survive.”
Lindmeier reiterated the United Nations’ calls for “unhindered, safe and secure access” for some 500 trucks of aid a day — not only across the border but also “all the way through to the patients in the hospitals,” where surgeries including amputations were being performed without anesthesia.
The level of death and suffering is “hard to fathom,” he added.
