Brit in Gaza describes desperate scene at Rafah crossing
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he may be open to “little pauses” in his nation’s bombardment on the Gaza Strip, as he ruled out the possibility of a wider ceasefire.
“There’ll be no ceasefire, no general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of our hostages,” he told ABC News.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader refused to admit that civilians were targeted during the group’s 7 October attack on Israel, despite overwhelming evidence from videos and eye-witnesses.
“Women, children and civilians were exempt” from Hamas’ attacks, claimed Moussa Abu Marzouk in a BBC interview.
It comes as the United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said the Gaza Strip was becoming “a graveyard for children.”
He emphasised that the protection of civilians “must be paramount” in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, adding that violations of international humanitarian law were being committed. He also criticised Hamas and other militants for using civilians as human shields amid their indiscriminate use of rockets towards Israel.
Earlier, the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing war has surpassed 10,000, marking a grim milestone becoming the deadliest round of fighting since Israel’s establishment 75 years ago.
Israel open to ‘little pauses’ between strikes on Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu says
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he may be open to “little pauses” in his nation’s bombardment on the Gaza Strip.
Mr Netanyahu made the admission in an interview with US broadcaster ABC, adding there would be no general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of the estimated 240 hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October.
Civil defense teams and locals carry out search and rescue operations after an Israeli attack hits Shaqwra family apartment in Khan Yunis, Gaza on 6 November 2023
(AFP via Getty Images)
“Well, there’ll be no ceasefire, no general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of our hostages,” he said.
“As far as tactical little pauses – an hour here, an hour there – we’ve had them before.
“I suppose we’ll check the circumstances, in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods, to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave.”
Lulls in the fighting are being sought to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries.
Over 450 trucks carrying aid have been allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt since October 21, but humanitarian workers say the support is far short of mounting needs.
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:19
IDF secures ‘Hamas military stronghold’ inside Gaza
The Israel Defence Forces says it has secured a “Hamas military stronghold” inside the Gaza Strip.
It said in a statement the stronghold belonged to “the Hamas terrorist organisation in the northern Gaza Strip”.
“Furthermore, IDF troops located a number of Hamas terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building adjacent to the al Quds Hospital, and planned to carry out an attack on the forces from there.”
Anti-tank missiles, launchers, other weapons and “various intelligence materials” were reportedly found inside.
Alexander Butler7 November 2023 09:15
IDF ‘employ archaeologists’ to find remains of Hamas victims
The Israel Defence Forces have employed archaeologists to find the remains of Israelis murdered by Hamas on 7 October, the Israeli government said.
“On 7 October, Hamas incinerated its victims so badly that the IDF has recruited archaeologists to sift through the rubble and find human remains. They’ve found “certain evidence” of the remains of ten people,” Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said.
The Hamas attack on 7 October killed at least 1,400 people, including men, women and children.
Alexander Butler7 November 2023 08:39
Watch: Putin will choose Iran over Israel in tough choice for protecting his regime, says expert
Putin will choose Iran over Israel in tough choice for protecting his regime, says expert
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:54
About 800,000 Palestinians flee to southern Gaza
About 800,000 people have heeded Israeli military orders to flee to southern Gaza. But continued Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza – the purported safe zone – killed dozens of people Sunday.
After another strike yesterday, in the southern town of Khan Younis, men dug through the rubble with sledgehammers and their bare hands. A young boy caked in dust screamed as he was rolled onto a stretcher and carried away. At least two people were killed, according to an AP reporter at the scene.
Civil defense teams and locals carry out search and rescue operations after an Israeli attack hits Shaqwra family apartment in Khan Yunis, Gaza on 6 November 2023
(Middle East Images/AFP via Getty)
Earlier yesterday, Palestinians held a mass funeral for 66 people laid out on the ground outside a hospital morgue in the central town of Deir al-Balah. A man with bandages wrapped around his head placed his hand on a child’s body and wept.
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:30
Israeli troops arrest Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi in West Bank
Israeli troops yesterday arrested a Palestinian activist, regarded in the occupied West Bank as a hero since she was a teenager, on suspicion of inciting violence, but her mother denied the claim and said it was based on a fake Instagram post.
The Israeli military said it apprehended Ahed Tamimi, 22, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. Tamimi rose to prominence in 2017 when, at age 16, she slapped an Israeli soldier who raided her village. She and others have for years protested Israeli land seizures.
Tamimi “is suspected of inciting violence and calling for terrorist activity to be carried out,” the military said.
Her mother, Nariman Tamimi, said more than a dozen Israeli soldiers entered their house overnight and arrested her daughter.
Israeli authorities alleged the young woman “wrote an inciting (Instagram) post calling for the killing of settlers and saying what Hitler did wasn’t enough – but Ahed does not have an Instagram account,” her mother said in an interview.
Some Israeli media outlets published a screenshot of what appeared to be an Instagram post by an account with Tamimi’s name and picture. The text threatened to “slaughter” Israel’s West Bank settlers.
Reuters was not able to locate the Instagram account, which had the handle “ahed_tamimi15”, or independently authenticate the image. The military did not comment on the image.
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:27
Irish father of girl feared to be hostage in Gaza ‘praying that she comes back’
The Irish father of a girl who is feared to have been kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip has said the family are praying “that she comes back”.
In an appeal to those who may have her, Dubliner Thomas Hand called for “some humane feelings of any kind” for captors to release the children.
Emily Hand was originally feared to be dead after the Hamas assault on Kibbutz Be’eri in Israel on 7 October.
However, the eight-year-old’s family have been informed she might still be alive and being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:16
About 800,000 Palestinians flee to southern Gaza
About 800,000 people have heeded Israeli military orders to flee to southern Gaza. But continued Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza – the purported safe zone – killed dozens of people Sunday.
After another strike yesterday, in the southern town of Khan Younis, men dug through the rubble with sledgehammers and their bare hands. A young boy caked in dust screamed as he was rolled onto a stretcher and carried away. At least two people were killed, according to an AP reporter at the scene.
Earlier yesterday, Palestinians held a mass funeral for 66 people laid out on the ground outside a hospital morgue in the central town of Deir al-Balah. A man with bandages wrapped around his head placed his hand on a child’s body and wept.
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:15
Civilians fleeing northern Gaza’s combat zone report a terrifying journey
What was once Gaza’s busiest thoroughfare has become a terrifying escape route for Palestinian civilians fleeing combat on foot or on donkey carts. On their way south, those running for their lives said they raised their hands and waved white flags to move past Israeli tanks along the four-lane highway.
Some reported Israeli soldiers firing at them and said they passed bodies strewn alongside the road.
Many escaped with just the clothes on their back. One woman, covered head-to-toe in a black veil and robe, cradled a toddler and clutched a black purse. A man walked alongside a covered donkey cart that transported his family. It was piled high with mattresses.
In the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli ground forces backed by relentless airstrikes have encircled Gaza City, the base of Hamas ‘ power, since the weekend. They cut the strip in half and sought to drive Palestinians from northern Gaza as troops advanced.
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:13
Indonesia president scheduled to meet US president Biden this month
Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo is scheduled to meet US president Joe Biden this month, “most likely” at the White House, a spokesperson for the Southeast Asian country’s foreign ministry said today.
The date of the meeting was unclear. Jokowi, as the president is known, is scheduled to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco from 15-17 November.
Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo gestures as he walks with Palestinian ambassador Zuhair Al Shun and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto at an air force base in Jakarta on 4 November 2023
(AFP via Getty Images)
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Widodo, leader of the world’s largest secular Muslim-majority country, said Indonesia’s support for Palestine would “never waver”.
Indonesia has joined a chorus of international condemnation of Israel’s invasion of Gaza following Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October, and has called for an immediate ceasefire.
Namita Singh7 November 2023 06:11