Casualties
- 11,078 killed, including 4,506 children, and 27,490 wounded in Gaza
- 183 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
Key Developments
- Israel ramps up its attacks on Gaza hospitals, where thousands are seeking refuge.
- 260 people killed in Gaza in span of 24 hours.
- Several Gaza City hospitals are surrounded by Israeli forces and fear the worst.
- Water, food, and electricity shortages put more lives at risk as medical facilities on the verge of full shutdown.
- Amidst the high-scale devastation, Netanyahu tells Fox News, “we don’t seek to displace anyone.”
- Israel announces daily four-hour “tactical, localized” pauses in bombardments of Gaza, denounced by U.N. special rapporteur as “cynical and cruel.”
- U.S. indicates concern for diplomatic impact of its support of Israel, as diplomatic cables warn the country is losing the Arab public “for a generation.”
- Death toll rises in the West Bank.
- France holds humanitarian fundraising conference for Gaza in Paris, Palestinian rights groups respond assert this “alone will not absolve France” to comply with its respinsibilties.
The Gaza War Reverberates Across the Middle East
As war rages in Gaza, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to escalate, causing grievous harm to civilians and threatening stability across the Middle East. Crisis Group experts offer a 360-degree view of how various capitals in the region view this crisis and their own interests therein.
Israeli air strikes hit Gaza’s biggest hospital, killing one person and wounding others sheltering there, Palestinian officials said. It was one of several hospitals reported struck at dawn as Israel battles Hamas.
Israel has agreed to daily four-hour “tactical, localized pauses” of military operations in parts of northern Gaza to allow the distribution of humanitarian assistance and civilian evacuations, the White House confirmed yesterday. Three hours’ notice will be given before each pause, which will be in a different area each day, according to a senior Israeli official. President Joe Biden confirmed he asked for the pauses but said he asked for “an even longer pause.” A senior Biden administration official said “a pause is something more, in our view, than a couple of hours…a pause has a duration of a day, a couple of days, long enough to move significant quantities of humanitarian things in that would not otherwise be doable, and to get more foreign nationals…out.” Karen DeYoung reports for the Washington Post.
Yesterday saw 80,000 people flee Northern Gaza through the evacuation corridor, the largest movement of people since the corridor opened five days ago, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said. Saeed Shah, Stacy Meichtry, and Benoit Faucon report for the Wall Street Journal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that his country does not “seek to conquer,” “occupy,” or “govern Gaza” after its war with Hamas. He said a “credible force” would be needed “if necessary…[to] kill the killers” to “prevent the re-emergence of a Hamas-like entity.” The comments came as the United States made clear its opposition to Israeli post-war occupation of Gaza earlier this week. Netanyahu added that after the war, “what we have to see is Gaza demilitarized, deradicalized and rebuilt.” Rami Ayyub reports for Reuters.
Israeli airstrikes hit Al-Shifa — Gaza’s largest hospital — this morning, killing one person and injuring others sheltering there, according to Palestinian officials. Officials said the Israeli military damaged the Indonesian hospital and struck vehicles outside the Rantissi cancer hospital in northern Gaza, a location Israel says is being used by Hamas. The director of Al-Shifa hospital said “Israel is now launching a war on Gaza City hospitals.” The Israeli military said Hamas has hidden command centers and tunnels beneath the hospitals, adding that, “while the world sees neighborhoods with schools, hospitals, scout groups, children’s playgrounds and mosques, Hamas sees an opportunity to exploit [sic].” Palestinian officials said 10,812 Gaza residents have been killed as of yesterday, with children accounting for around 40% of the fatalities. Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters.
Three top Hamas commanders who were part of the Oct.7 attacks were killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) this morning, the IDF stated. The IDF also said it struck a shipping container that held “approximately 20 rocket launchers.” Mithil Aggarwal reports for NBC News.
Rafah border crossing saw 699 foreign nationals leave for Egypt yesterday, according to an Egyptian border official. “According to a CNN tally, this brings the total number of foreign nationals evacuated to more than 2,000,” Asmaa Khalil and Zeena Saifi report for CNN.
The armed wing of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in Gaza released a video yesterday showing a young boy and elderly woman among around 240 hostages taken by gunmen in the Oct.7 attacks. The group said it would release the two hostages for medical and humanitarian reasons once the requisite conditions were met, although no further details were provided. While the vast majority of hostages seized from the Oct.7 attacks are believed to be held by Hamas, the smaller militant group of Islamic Jihad has said it holds at least 30 captives. The video is the third released by the group, who have so far released four hostages, including a pair of 85-year-old women who returned to Israel on Oct.23. Nidal Al Mughrabi, Emily Rose, Yomna Ehab, Enas Alashray, Jana Choukier, and Crispian Balmer report for Reuters.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, expressed concerns over the “dramatic increase in violence from Israeli forces” in Jenin refugee camp, including “widespread bombing and shooting.” Jenin refugee camp is located in the West Bank and MSF say it witnessed Israeli military vehicles blocking ambulance access to healthcare facilities and entering hospitals. “Hospitals are not targets and must remain safe spaces…medical care must not be impeded,” they said in a statement released yesterday. Mohammed Tawfeeq reports for CNN.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – REGIONAL RESPONSE
Israel’s military said it retaliated after an organization in Syria launched a drone which hit a school in Eilat yesterday. The military did not provide details of the organization but confirmed they hold Syria’s government fully responsible for “any terror activity emanating from its territory.” They said the drone was launched toward Eilat, on the Red Sea, approximately 250 miles from the nearest Syrian territory point. No injuries were reported and light damage was sustained. Emily Rose, Jonathan Saul, Maytaal Angel, and Rami Ayyub report for Reuters.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk raised doubts today at a news conference in Jordan over Israel’s establishment of “safe zones.” He said they “can heighten risks to civilians, and raises real questions as to whether security can be guaranteed in practice…at the moment, nowhere in Gaza is safe, as bombardments are being reported in all parts of the Strip.” Türk said the “solution to the situation is the end of the occupation, and full respect for the right to self-determination for Palestinians,” following his comments earlier this week that both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes. Zeena Saifi reports for CNN.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said civilians in Gaza “face a never-ending humanitarian nightmare” and stressed that “now is the time for concrete action,” in a video message at the Paris humanitarian conference on Gaza yesterday. He said the aid provided to Gaza is “a drop in the ocean” and that there needs to be “sustained access to bring in and distribute supplies at much greater scale, volume and frequency – including fuel.”
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – U.S. RESPONSE
The Biden administration has been warned by U.S. diplomats in the Middle East that its support for Israel is being viewed as “material and moral culpability” in “possible war crimes,” resulting in the loss of “Arab publics for a generation,” according to an embassy cable obtained by CNN. The cable was written by the second-highest U.S. official in Muscat. Another cable, from the U.S. embassy in Cairo, conveyed the commentary in a state-run Egyptian newspaper that “President Biden’s cruelty and disregard for Palestinians exceeded all previous U.S. presidents.” Priscilla Albarez and Alex Marquardt report for CNN.
Blinken denounces civilian toll in Gaza, says ‘far too many Palestinians have been killed
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday gave one of his most direct condemnations of the civilian death toll in Gaza and said more needs to be done to “minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.”
Although Blinken commended Israel for its announcement of daily military pauses in areas of Northern Gaza and two evacuation corridors, he said that “there is more that can and should be done to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.”
The top US diplomat has subtly shifted his messaging in the days since he departed the Middle East earlier this week to voice condemnation of the civilian toll more directly in Gaza and the US’ expectations for the Israeli government. However, he still has not condemned the Israeli government offensive and has continually voiced support for its right to defend itself.
Fights in bread lines, despair in shelters: War threatens to unravel Gaza’s close-knit society
With the Israel-Hamas war in its second month and more than 10,000 people killed in Gaza, trapped civilians are struggling to survive without electricity or running water. Palestinians who managed to flee Israel’s ground invasion in northern Gaza now encounter scarcity of food and medicine in the south, and there is no end in sight to the war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Read more.
Illegal Settlers’ Reign of Terror in the West Bank
It is the same story in every village in the South Hebron Hills.
Israeli settlers are seizing livestock, wrecking water tanks, smashing solar panels, bulldozing outbuildings, and destroying the olive groves upon which Palestinian farmers depend for their livelihood.
They arrive unannounced armed with M16 machine guns which they are more than happy to use. They beat up villagers with iron bars, with sticks, with fists, with the butts of their guns.
They assault women and the elderly.
They enter Palestinian houses ripping out fixtures and fittings, stealing money, destroying papers, overturning furniture.
They shoot to kill. Many wear a military uniform.
They have imposed a reign of terror. They are supported by Israel’s army.
Their message to Palestinians is always the same: get out or be killed.While the armed settlers act with impunity, Palestinians are defenseless.