Day: November 12, 2023

The Israel Defense Forces said that it will continue with humanitarian pauses in the northern Gaza Strip to enable Palestinians to evacuate south. The IDF’s Arabic-language Spokesman, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee made the announcement on X. “Today (Sunday), Salah El-Din Street will also be opened to your traffic, from 09:00 in the morning until 16:00 in the afternoon in order to move south beyond Wadi Gaza. Do not surrender to Hamas – your continued presence in the region exposes you to very great danger!” Adraee. “Today, Sunday, between the hours of 10:00 am and 14:00 pm, there will be a temporary tactical cessation of military activities for humanitarian purposes in the village of Jabalia and Ezbet Mlin in order to supply supplies and move to the Salah al-Din road south. We call on residents to take advantage of this temporary suspension of fires and move south from the humanitarian corridor via Salah al-Din Street,” he added. 

In the latest intelligence update, the Israel Defense force made it clear that there is “no shooting” at the Al Shifa hospital. “There is no shooting at the hospital and there is no siege. The East Side of the hospital remains open,” Head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) to Gaza, COL Moshe Tetro said in a statement. 
 

The Israel Defence Force said that it had struck Ahmed Siamm, the Hamas commander responsible for holding Gazans hostage. “IDF aircraft just struck Ahmed Siam, responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents and patients hostage at the Rantisi Hospital, and preventing their evacuation southward,” IDF wrote on X, Formally known as Twitter. “Siam was a commander in Hamas’ Naser Radwan Company, and is another example of Hamas using civilians in Gaza as human shields for terrorist purposes,” the IDF furthered. 

The regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross Fabrizio Carboni condemned the attack on the Al Shifa hospital. “The information coming from the Al Shifa hospital is distressing. It cannot continue like this. Thousands of wounded, displaced people and medical staff are at risk,” Carboni wrote on X. “They need to be protected in line with the laws of war,” he added. 

The Israeli Defence Force has opened the evacuation corridor to help Gazans flee from northern Gaza. The IDF noted that the corridor will remain open between 9 am – 4 pm. “The evacuation corridor will remain open between 09:00-16:00 for civilians through the Salah al-Din axis toward south of Wadi Gaza. There will be a tactical pause of military operation in the area of Jabalia camp today between 10:00-14:00 to encourage evacuation southward via Saladin Axis,” the IDF wrote on X, formally knows as Twitter. 

Since Hamas’ incursion into Israel on October 7, the World Health Organization has confirmed over 250 attacks on hospitals, clinics, patients, and ambulances in Gaza, along with 25 attacks on healthcare in Israel. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the health system in Gaza as being in a critical state, with the situation on the ground being indescribable. He reported ongoing firing outside the al-Shifa and Rantisi hospitals, noting that Palestinian health workers continue to save lives despite being in the firing line. In recent days have witnessed attacks on five hospitals in one day in Gaza, and in the past 48 hours, four hospitals with around 430 beds have been rendered inoperable. Dr. Ghebreyesus highlighted that half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary healthcare centres are not functioning, and those that are operational are exceeding their capacities.

More than 100,000 residents of Gaza have fled southwards over the last two days, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

In a briefing, he said Israeli forces were operating “deep in Gaza City”.

Israel has been focusing its ground offensive on northern Gaza, saying it is offering windows for civilians to leave.

“Efforts were underway to release hostages held in the Gaza Strip but that such efforts take time,” he said.

 “We are working all the time and with initiative on a range of efforts to return the hostages. These efforts are complex, they are not final. They take time, they are going to take time,” he said

Israel must stop bombing Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron, reported Times of Israel 

He stated, “Currently, civilians are being bombed—effectively. These infants, women, and elderly individuals are being bombed and killed. There is no justification or legitimacy for that. Therefore, we strongly urge Israel to cease these actions.”

France unequivocally condemns the “terrorist” actions of Hamas. While acknowledging Israel’s right to self-defence, President Macron emphasized, “We urge them to halt the bombing in Gaza.”

In response to whether he wishes for other leaders, including those in the US and the UK, to join his ceasefire calls,  Macron expressed, “I hope they will.”

Israel has maintained that it avoids targeting civilians and takes extensive measures to prevent harm to them. It accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Saudi Arabia will be hosting an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh today, the Saudi foreign ministry said.

The kingdom was scheduled to host two extraordinary summits, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit and the Arab League summit, on Saturday. 

The joint summit will replace the two separate gatherings, the ministry added.

The joint meeting “will be held in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in the Palestinian Gaza Strip as countries feel the need to unify efforts and come out with a unified collective position,” it said.

Pro-Palestine protesters have covered the entrance to the New York Times office building in fake blood.

Demonstrators took to the streets of the Big Apple to call for a ceasefire, as marches and protests against Israel’s response to the Hamas attack on 7 October continued.

Police had to prevent protesters from entering the building as they burned Israeli flags outside and chanted “While you lie, children die”.

The 401st Brigade has eliminated approximately 150 terrorists and gained control over Hamas terrorist strongholds in northern Gaza.

Targets included:Arms production siteLaunching stations

An underground network

 “The responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas – ISIS and not with Israel”, tweeted the official account of Netanyahu’s office. 

Statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron:

“The responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas – ISIS and not with Israel.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 10, 2023

“You are doing a great job. You provide a screen of fire for our forces. We are moving forward. We will not stop until we fulfill the mission. The mission has two parts: deterrence in the north, and some of you were there, and a decisive win in the south. A win means eliminating Hamas,” said Netanyahu.  Further, he asserted, “We are not going back to the way things were. And with the help of  God, and yours, that is what will happen. Our fighters in there – on the ground – count on you. The people of Israel count on you.” 

“I wish to tell your parents, who will see you later: You sent us the best. You are doing fantastic work, outstanding. I want to thank you and tell you that we are moving forward until we win. Shabbat Shalom”, said Netanyahu while concluding his speech.  
 

Greece’s prime minister says his country is ready to “tangibly participate” in Cyprus’ initiative to set up a maritime corridor shipping a constant flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides Friday that both Greece and Cyprus can act as “credible intermediaries” in the Middle East given their strong relations with both Israel and the Arab world.

Mitsotakis called the Cypriot initiative a “very well thought out” proposal, despite the many technical hurdles that still need to be overcome. Cyprus’ proximity to Gaza of only 241 miles combined with open lines of communication with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt enhance the initiative’s changes for success, he added. 
 

Palestinian Islamic Jihad official is accusing Israel of not wanting to secure the release of its citizens who are being held hostage in Gaza after being captured during the deadly Hamas-led offensive on Oct. 7.

Mohamad al-Hindi deputy secretary general of the Palestinian terrorist group, repeated Friday that Hamas was willing to release two of the civilian hostages on medical and humanitarian grounds, an elderly woman and a young boy. Hindi said Israel was “dragging its feet” in negotiations for the hostages’ release, adding that there are also Palestinian civilians including women and children in Israeli prisons too.

The official said Israel will be “forced to make a prisoner exchange deal” that will result in the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention centers. Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group smaller and more brazen than Hamas, previously announced that it had seized 30 hostages in the Oct. 7 operation. In total, about 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza.

The evacuees fleeing Gaza’s northern combat zone say thousands of displaced people who had sheltered at the Shifa Hospital in the heart of Gaza City fled following overnight explosions there.

The hospital had sheltered nearly 80,000 people running from heavy ground battles and airstrikes.

Some of those fleeing Friday said only a few hundred badly wounded patients and doctors remained behind.

Doctors at Shifa Hospital could not immediately be reached for comment because of phone and internet connectivity disruptions.

The Israeli military says it has arrested 41 Palestinians in another large-scale raid in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military said Friday that 14 of those arrested in the previous evening’s raid were militants.

The Israeli military said it also destroyed the homes of two militants who it said carried out an attack that killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded an Israeli man in August. At the time, an offshoot of the secular nationalist Fatah party, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack,

Israeli forces “sealed” a shop in Hebron which they said was used to print “incendiary material for Hamas.” They also raided three West Bank refugee camps where they confiscated weapons.

The Israeli military says it has arrested 1,540 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, identifying 930 of them as affiliated with Hamas. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, which represents Palestinian detainees, puts the numbers much higher, at 90 detained Thursday night and 2400 arrested in the West Bank since the start of the war.

(AP Report)

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said seven of its fighters have been killed, but didn’t specify where they died other than to say that they were “martyred on the road to Jerusalem.” A Hezbollah official and a Lebanese security official said the seven fighters were killed in neighboring Syria Friday morning. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Pro-government Syrian media outlets reported an Israeli airstrike on the central province of Homs early Friday. Hezbollah has been fighting in Syria along with Syrian government forces where they have helped tip the balance of power in his favor during Syria’s 12-year conflict. The Israeli military said earlier Friday that it struck targets in Syria following a drone strike on the Red Sea city of Eilat saying that it was fired from Syria.

Since Oct. 8, they have been exchanging fire with Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border. The latest deaths raises to 68 the number of Hezbollah fighters who have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began last month.

Internet access across the war-torn nation of Yemen collapsed early Friday without explanation, web monitors said.

The outage saw all traffic halt at YemenNet, the country’s main provider to some 10 million users which is now controlled by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Both NetBlocks, a group tracking internet outages, and the internet services company CloudFlare reported the outage, but they did not offer a cause.

“Data shows that the issue has impacted connectivity at a national level as well,” CloudFlare said.

The Houthis and Yemen telecommunication officials did not immediately acknowledge the outage.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk is calling for an investigation into what he called Israel’s ‘indiscriminate’ bombardment and shelling” in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking in the Jordanian capital Friday, Turk said Israel “must immediately end the use of such methods and means of warfare and the attacks must be investigated.”

He said the high levels of civilian casualties and the wide destruction of civilian infrastructure raises “serious concerns that these amount to disproportionate attacks in breach of international humanitarian law.”

Turk pointed to strikes on and near hospitals as being “particularly intense,” adding that any use by Palestinian armed groups of civilians or civilian structures to shield themselves from attack contravenes the laws of war.

But he said such conduct by Palestinian armed groups “does not absolve Israel of its obligation to ensure that civilians are spared.”

(AP Report)

United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon says the spillover of the Hamas-Israel war has already caused “significant damage” in Lebanon where Hezbollah and allied groups have been clashing with Israeli forces on the border for more than a month.

Imran Riza said in a statement Friday that there have been “concerning signs of escalating tensions” along the border.

Riza said there have been “alarming attacks killing and injuring civilians in South Lebanon, including women, children, and media personnel” and much damage to private property, public infrastructure and farmland which as forces more than 25,000 to be displaced.

On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a car driving between the towns of Ainata and Aitaroun and killed four civilians, including three children and their grandmother, and wounded the childrens’ mother. An Israeli military statement later said the car had been “identified as transporting terrorists” and that it was reviewing “allegations that there were civilians in the vehicle.”

Israel’s labor minister says Benjamin Netanyahu will have to call early elections right after the war.

Labor Minister Yoav Bentzur made the unusually public suggestion in remarks quoted Thursday by the Maariv daily.

Bentzur from the ultraorthodox Shas party said Netanyahu ” will be forced to go to elections within 90 days, even before a commission of inquiry of some sort (into the war) is established.”

He added: “We can’t go on like this. The public will have its say, and then we will see if Netanyahu is given the mandate.”

Bentzur later tried to walk back the comments, saying they were taken out of context and don’t reflect the position of Shas, a close ally of Netanyahu.

Polls show Netanyahu’s support has dropped over Hamas’ shock attack, which killed more than 1,400 and left over 240 hostage, touching off a devastating Israeli war in the militants’ Gaza Strip stronghold.

Turkey’s president is accusing Western nations of “weakness” in the face of civilian deaths in Gaza and called on Muslim nations to display unity against Israel’s actions.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, made the comments Thursday at a meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Erdogan said Western nations and organizations are observing these “massacres by Israel” from afar but are “too weak to even call for a cease-fire, let alone criticize child murderers.”

He added:“If we, the Economic Cooperation Organization, as Muslims, are not going to raise our voices today…when will we raise our voices?”

Erdogan also said Turkey would continue with its diplomatic efforts to implement a cease-fire and prevent the spread of the conflict.

The Economic Cooperation Organization regroups five Central Asian nations as well as Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

(AP Report)

US President Joe Biden’s administration says Israel will allow a 4-hour humanitarian pause each day in combat operations in northern Gaza to allow civilians to flee to the south, starting on Thursday.

Biden also told reporters that he had asked the Israelis for a “pause longer than three days” during negotiations over the release of some hostages held by Hamas, although he ruled out the chances of a general cease-fire.

In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron has opened a Gaza aid conference with an appeal for Israel to protect civilians, saying that “all lives have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without rules.”

Saudi Arabia has sent a cargo plane loaded with 35 tons of food and humanitarian aid to Egypt for delivery to the Gaza Strip. The state-run Saudi Press Agency announced the first such aid shipment from the kingdom on Thursday.

Before the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, Saudi Arabia was in talks with the U.S. to normalize relations with Israel in return for an American defense pact, aid in setting up a civilian nuclear program and major progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saudi Arabia has condemned the violence and called for a cease-fire.

Several countries have flown aid for Gaza to El-Arish, in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which borders Gaza and Israel. Under a diplomatic arrangement, the aid is shipped overland through Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza after being inspected inside Israel. Aid workers say the hundreds of trucks allowed into Gaza in recent weeks are nowhere near enough to meet the mounting needs of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.

(AP Report)

German Foreign Minister Baerbock is traveling to the Middle East for the third time in a month with stop-overs planned in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Germany’s foreign ministry said Thursday Baerbock’s meetings will focus on the release of the German hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, the humanitarian situation there, and efforts to prevent a regional conflagration of the conflict.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also traveled to Israel and other countries in the region since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

The Israel Defense Forces said that it struck two Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile squads in southern Lebanon, near the Biranit military base and the northern community of Yiftah. “In the last few hours, IDF forces identified and attacked two anti-tank squads that were identified in Lebanese territory, in the Birnit area and the Yiftach area,” the IDF wrote on X, formally known as Twitter. “Terrorists fired a short time ago at an unmanned IDF aircraft in the Mount Dov area. An IDF aircraft attacked the source of the fire and the IDF forces attacked with artillery,” the body furthered. 

On Thursday, IDF claimed that it has managed to eliminate Hamas’ regional commander who was responsible for recent anti-tank missile attacks against the Israeli forces. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari went on to share a video of the operation. “The IDF, guided by the intelligence of the Shin Bet and the Amman, eliminated the terrorist Ibrahim Abu Ma’zib, head of the anti-tank missile system of the Central Camps Brigade of the terrorist organization Hamas, using a fighter jet. As part of his role, he directed and carried out many anti-tank attacks Towards the citizens of Israel and the IDF forces,” Hagari wrote on X, formally known as Twitter. 

Here’s what all has happened as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 34: 

• IDF struck over 14,000 terrorist targets, destroyed over 100 terrorist tunnels
• Seized over 4,000 weapons from inside mosques, kindergartens, residential buildings and other civilian areas exploited by Hamas.
• Killed Abu Zina who served as Hamas’ leading weapons developer
• 96 trucks entered Gaza, including 5 with medical supplies, 31 with food, 8 with water, 19 with supplies for shelter and 23 more.
• IDF opened another evacuation corridor today for civilians in northern Gaza to move south from 10:00-14:00. Some 50,000 Gazans utilized the corridor to move south.
• The IDF has notified the families of the 349 IDF soldiers

The Israel Defence Forces says it has secured a key Hamas stronghold after a 10-hour battle. 

Troops belonging to the Nahal Brigade, one of the IDF’s main infantry units, secured what it called a stronghold named “Outpost 17” in West Jabaliya in northern Gaza. 

The IDF said it engaged in fighting “above ground and in an underground route”, suggesting Hamas may have used some of its vast tunnel network during the battle. 

“The fighters completed the takeover of the outpost after 10 hours of fighting, during which they eliminated terrorists, seized many weapons, uncovered terrorist tunnel shafts, including a shaft located near a kindergarten and leading to an extensive underground route,” an update read. 

The Israeli air force says it has targeted “hundreds” of Hamas targets over past day, as its bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues.

It shared this footage, which it said showed the strikes. 

 The U.N. human rights chief said collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians and their forced evacuation, as well as atrocities committed by Palestinian armed groups on Oct. 7 and their continued holding of hostages, amount to war crimes. Volker Türk, standing in front of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing into Gaza, told reporters Wednesday: “These are the gates to a living nightmare.”

“We have fallen off a precipice. This cannot continue,” he said later in Cairo.

Türk said international human rights and humanitarian law must be respected to help protect civilians and allow desperately needed aid to reach Gaza’s beleaguered population of some 2.3 million people.

US forces have conducted a self-defence strike on a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria, according to the Pentagon.

Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said two F-15 fighter jets conducted the strike against the facility, which was used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups.

He said the strike was a response to attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by affiliates of the IRGC’s Quds Force.

“The President has no higher priority than the safety of US personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” said Mr Austin.

“The United States is fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities. We urge against any escalation. 

“US personnel will continue to conduct counter-ISIS missions in Iraq and Syria.”

IDF combat engineers are currently working to expose and destroy Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including tunnels. Water and oxygen storage discovered inside the tunnels indicates Hamas’ preparations for prolonged stays underground.

130 tunnel entrances have been… pic.twitter.com/McuxQHc1b2

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 9, 2023

The Rafah border crossing into Gaza has been closed due to an unspecified “security circumstance”, according to the US.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US expects the crossing to reopen at “regular intervals” so that aid can enter and foreign nationals can depart.

Meanwhile, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said aid getting through to Gaza was “a trickle, and with severely limited geographical reach”.

According to Egyptian security sources, at least 500 people crossed into Egypt via Rafah, on November 7. 

Rishi Sunak characterized a scheduled pro-Palestinian march in London on Armistice Day as “disrespectful” but acknowledged that the protest would proceed.

The prime minister held a crisis meeting with the Met Police commissioner earlier today and had promised to ensure accountability for the decision to permit the demonstration on November 11.

Sir Mark Rowley had faced pressure to prevent the march from happening but, after reviewing intelligence, he concluded that the legal criteria for a ban had not been met.

Israel Foreign Ministry shares a snippet of the safe passage where people can be seen using the passage.  

For the fourth day in a row the @IDF opened an evacuation corridor to ensure the safe passage of thousands of Gazans from northern to southern Gaza. 

We will continue to take every measure possible to protect innocent lives.pic.twitter.com/2dz0M15KY8

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) November 8, 2023

Here are extracts from the most significant parts of his address.

Living nightmare

“In Rafah, I have witnessed the gates to a living nightmare. A nightmare where people have been suffocating under persistent bombardment, mourning their families, struggling for water, for food, for electricity and fuel.

“My colleagues are among those trapped, and among those who have lost family members, suffering sleepless nights filled with agony, anguish and despair.”

Fears of conflict spreading

“We have fallen off a precipice. This cannot continue. Even in the context of a 56-year-old occupation, the current situation is the most dangerous in decades, faced by people in Gaza, in Israel, in the West Bank – but also regionally.”

Shrapnel kills pregnant woman’s unborn baby

“Today at el Arish Hospital in North Sinai, I met Ikram. Ikram was eight months pregnant when her abdomen was hit by shrapnel. She lost her baby and had to undergo a hysterectomy. She is alive but her eyes were lifeless.”

Actions of one party do not absolve the other

“The actions of one party do not absolve the other party of its obligations under international humanitarian law. Attacks against medical facilities, medical personnel and the wounded and sick are prohibited.”

He said: “What the extremists want us to do is to look at the world in black-and-white, with no perspective of the pain on the other side. We cannot let ourselves be led into this monochrome view of the world.”

Ending occupation not enough

“It is no longer enough simply to say the 56-year occupation must end. The international community needs to be part of finding a just and equitable future for the Palestinian and Israeli people. They are each other’s only hopes for peace.”

Breaking: A recorded conversation between a Hamas terrorist and a Gazan reveals that Hamas is using ambulances to transfer weapons and terrorist operatives in the Gaza Strip.Hamas terrorist operative: “I can leave with any ambulance I want.”

Hamas exploits civilian… pic.twitter.com/oPpslmAzMn

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) November 8, 2023

A long line of thousands of Palestinians fled on foot from northern Gaza Wednesday — families, children and older adults, crying babies — carrying only what they could take in their arms or on their backs.

They were seen in Associated Press video walking down Gaza’s main north-south highway, heeding the Israeli military’s orders to evacuate during a five-hour window as its troops battled Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City. Some evacuees were pushing relatives in wheelchairs, with one older adult wheeled down the road in a hand truck.

Abeer Akeila left her home in Gaza city after relentless strikes forced all her neighbors to flee southward. She said life in the city has become increasingly difficult amid dwindling water and food supplies.

“There was shelling and bombardment overnight,” she said. “We didn’t have food or drinking water … They struck the bakeries. There is no life in Gaza.”

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said it was likely that Israel would maintain a military presence in Gaza for a “period of time” after the ongoing war, but said the US believes it would be a “mistake” for Israel to reoccupy the territory.

“I think all of us can foresee a period of time after the conflict is over where Israeli forces will likely still be in Gaza and will have some initial security responsibilities,” Kirby told CNN on Wednesday. “But for how long and where and to what size and scale and scope, I think it’s too soon to know.” Kirby said the US was focused on devising a long-term governance structure for Gaza after the current conflict, but said that as yet there has been little prospect of a viable plan.

“I think where we are is: a lot of questions, and not a lot of answers,” he said. “We know what we don’t want to see in Gaza post conflict, we don’t want to see Hamas in control, and we don’t want to see a reoccupation by Israel.”

He added: “We know that the United States can’t solve this alone,” and that the U.S. was engaging with regional and international partners on the matter.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that a Spaniard missing in Israel following the Hamas attack in October is dead. The ministry identified him as Iván Illarramendi. It declined to give any further details.

In a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, Israel’s ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, said: “Our hearts are torn by the news of the brutal murder of Iván Illarramendi. He has been identified a month after the terrorist massacre committed by Hamas in Israel, along with his wife Dafna Garcovich.”

The Israeli Embassy was unable to say where the death occurred.

Spain’s state news agency Efe and other Spanish news outlets have reported that Illarramendi and his Chilean wife had been living in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.

The ministry confirmed the death of another Spaniard with Israeli citizenship, Maya Villalobo Sinvany, on Oct. 11.

Following the attacks, the ministry would only say that two Spaniards had been “affected” in the attacks.

Villalobo was reported to have been in military service at an Israeli miliary base at the time of the attack.

Israel’s attorney general and state attorney are working with police and military to formally investigate the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, they announced Wednesday.

“Our goal is to investigate and initiate legal proceedings against those who perpetrated, planned and otherwise took part in these heinous acts -– wherever they are,” the statement said. It said Israel would punish the Hamas militants with “the utmost severity, commensurate with their crimes.”

Police are working to collect evidence from towns across the south as attorneys for the Ministry of Justice decide how best to proceed with the investigation.

Italy is sending a hospital ship that will be stationed off the coast of Gaza to aid the Palestinian population, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced Wednesday.

Crosetto said the mission is a concrete sign of Italy’s “closeness to the Palestinian people, distance from the Hamas terrorists.”

The ship Vulcano has 170 people on board, including medical and military personnel, and includes operating rooms. It will first head to Cyprus and then as close as possible to the conflict zone to provide emergency medical support, Crosetto said.

(AP Report)

Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has claimed that its archrival Iran is funding the Hamas and backing the attacks on Israel in order to create hurdles in the normalization and peace in the region.

Speaking to the EU parliamentarians in Brussels, Cohen said that “we need to win this war in order to ensure that the West will not be next, since terrorism, it’s like a cancer.”

Cohen accused Hamas of using the international financial aid to build tunnels and rocket factories while leaving Palestinians “starving.”

“We are not attacked only by the Hamas and by the Islamic Jihad. We are also attacked by the Hezbollah in our northern border and also by the Houthis in Yemen,” Cohen adds.

“There is one thing that connects them: Iran. Iran is the world number one financer of terror,” he says, accusing Tehran of acting to try and “stop the normalization and the peace process that took place in the last three years.”

Lebanese based terrorist group Hezbollah claimed two attacks on Israeli infantry units in the areas of Shomera and Dovev which it said inflicted casualties on Israeli forces. There was no immediate confirmation of the casualties from the Israeli military. Following the strikes, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency and Associated Press in south Lebanon reported heavy shelling in several border areas in Lebanon.

Hezbollah said in a statement that the attack on Dovev was in retaliation for Israeli forces targeting an ambulance in Lebanon. On Sunday, local Lebanese officials said an Israeli drone had struck near two ambulances on their way to pick up casualties from overnight strikes in southern Lebanon, wounding four paramedics. The Israeli army said it had launched strikes on a “terrorist cell” that was attempting to fire missiles toward Israel and hadn’t intentionally targeted the vehicles.

The Gaza based terror group Hamas has expressed its desire to wage a permanent war’ with Israel and “change the entire equation” rather than focus on the Palestinian cause, according to an interview to New York Times.

As per the words of Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the terror group’s politburo in Qatar, Hamas dimisses the idea of governing the besieged Gaza Strip, but instead wants an endless conflict that destroys Israel completely.

“What could change the equation was a great act, and without a doubt, it was known that the reaction to this great act would be big,”  Khalil al-Hayya was quoted as saying by the paper. “We had to tell people that the Palestinian cause would not die,” he added.

Meanwhile the Hamas press service consultant Taher El-Nounou told the American newspaper that he hoped that the “state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders, and that the Arab world will stand with us.”

“Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such,” al-Hayya stressed. “This battle was not because we wanted fuel or laborers,” he continued. “It did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza. This battle is to completely overthrow the situation.”

Israel Defense Forces have said that thousands of Palestinians are evacuating northern Gaza via a humanitarian corridor on Salah a-Din road.

IDF published a video showing civilians moving to southward carrying white flags. 

החל מהשעה 10:00 אלפי תושבים מצפון הרצועה נענו לקריאות צה״ל ועושים בשעה זו את דרכם לדרום הרצועה, מדרום לנחל עזה, דרך כביש צלאח אלדין. pic.twitter.com/JZeq3HyUaL

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 8, 2023

Israel’s wartime security Cabinet will meet late Wednesday in the West Bank offices of the military’s Central Command “due to warnings by security officials about the potential for a serious escalation in violence” in the territory, the Ynet website reported, citing a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Israeli media reported last week that the Shin Bet security agency issued such a warning, noting an increase in violence by Jewish settlers.

Deadly violence has been surging in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Israel’s military pursues Hamas militants following the group’s bloody Oct. 7 incursion into Israel from the Gaza Strip. The violence threatens to open another front in the war Israel launched against Hamas after it killed more than 1,400 people in southern Israel and took more than 240 people hostage.

As of Tuesday, 167 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank over the past month, mainly in clashes with Israeli troops. The toll since the beginning of the year was 371.

(AP Report)

An Israeli airstrike struck a residential area in the Zannah neighborhood east of Khan Younis on Wednesday, destroying at least one house and damaging surrounding buildings.

First responders were searching the rubble for dead or wounded from the strike. At least three people -– two women and a child — were killed, according to an Associated Press journalist. Ambulances were transporting injured people to a hospital, the journalist said.

Khan Younis is in southern Gaza where Israel’s military ordered people in Gaza City and its surroundings to move.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at G7 said that those demanding for a ceasefire in the Gaza strip “have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring.”

US has been at odds with its Arab partners who have been demanding for a ceasefire by the IDF in the besieged strip. US officials have been against a ceasefire, and have argued that any cessation of hostilities would imply Hamas to regroup and to again attack Israel. 

Asked about Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remark about Israel assuming security responsibility in Gaza indefinitely, Blinken said that “there may be a need for some transition period.”

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said that Israeli soldiers allegedly fired at the aid convoy operated by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“Today IOF targeted the ICRC humanitarian convoy in #Gaza city,” the PRCS said on X formerly Twitter using the acronym for “Israeli occupation Forces.” 

Today IOF targeted the ICRC humanitarian convoy in #Gaza city. 

🚨 The convoy of five trucks was carrying lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities, including to #AlQuds Hospital of PRCS when it was hit by fire. Two trucks were damaged, and a driver was lightly wounded.… pic.twitter.com/3lSB6QJhBU

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 7, 2023

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has released a footage showing airstrikes on Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon.

תיעוד תקיפת מטרת טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שבוצעה אמש pic.twitter.com/NlunpF8U1O

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) November 8, 2023

Speaking during a presser after concluding the G7 in Tokyo, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the US envisions post-war future in Gaza without the Israeli occupation or blockade.

US urged Israel not to reoccupy Gaza and added that there might be a “transition period” with respect to governance.

“The only way to ensure this never happens again is to set the conditions for durable peace and security,” said Blinken. “No forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, not now, not after the war. No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempts to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza. We must also ensure no terrorist threats emerge from the West Bank,” he added.

While addressing from Beirut, Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad denied that Israeli forces were making any significant military gains or that they had advanced deep into Gaza City, on Teusday.

“They never give the people the truth,” Hamad said. He added that numerous Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday and “many tanks were destroyed.”

“The Palestinians fight and fight and fight against Israel, until we end the occupation,” said Hamad, who left Gaza days before the attack.

Israel’s military says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters in the monthlong war. 

Dozens of Filipinos fled from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip into Egypt through the Rafah crossing after Filipino diplomats negotiated for their safe passage and Qatar mediated for the border to be opened, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday. The 40 Filipinos were traveling to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, where they planned to take flights back to the Philippines, Marcos said in a video message in Manila. Two Filipino doctors managed to leave the Gaza Strip into Egypt last week.

“I hope the rest of our countrymen who also wanted to return home can also exit properly with their spouses and loved ones,” said Marcos. 

Most of at least 134 Filipinos in Gaza, many of whom are married to Palestinians, have sought help to leave the besieged territory and are waiting for an opportunity to leave, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said.

G7 leaders have met in Tokyo for meetings which have been dominated by the Israel-Hamas war. Foreign minsters, including the US’s Antony Blinken, have just issued a joint statement condemning Hamas and supporting Israel’s right to self-defence. But the nations sought to balance criticism of Hamas’s attacks against Israel with a push for “urgent action” to help civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Foreign ministers from the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy said they “support humanitarian pauses to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and release of hostages”.  Calls for humanitarian pauses rather than a general ceasefire have been subject to fierce debate, with many Western nations suggesting the latter could hamper Israel defending itself. While much of the statement reads as expected, perhaps most interesting is the decision to note the “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians”. There have been widespread reports of Palestinians fleeing their land in the West Bank under threat of violence from Israeli settlers. The ministers branded this “unacceptable” and said it “undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace”.

A humanitarian corridor is open for civilians in northern Gaza who wish to flee south, said  Israel Defence Forces’ Arab media spokesperson. 

As he did yesterday, Avichay Adraee said the Salah al Din Road, which runs from the north to the south of the enclave, would be safe to travel on between 10am-2pm local time. 

“For your safety, take advantage of the next time to move south beyond Wadi Gaza,” he said. Further he added, “The northern Gaza Strip area is considered a fierce combat zone, and time is running out to evacuate it. They join hundreds of thousands who have responded to calls and moved south in recent days.”

The IDF and ISA killed a senior Hamas weapons developer; IDF troops continue to operate in the Gaza Strip

IDF troops are continuing to operate inside the Gaza Strip to kill terrorists and direct aircraft to strike terror infrastructure.

Based on ISA and IDF intelligence, an IDF fighter jet killed Mohsen Abu Zina, Hamas’ Head of Weapons and Industries in its manufacturing department.

As part of his role, Mohsen Abu Zina served as one of Hamas’ leading weapons developers and was an expert in developing strategic weapons and rockets used by Hamas terrorists.

Overnight, IDF troops also identified a terrorist cell that planned to fire anti-tank missiles at the forces. The troops directed an aircraft that struck the cell and killed several terrorists.

Furthermore, IDF troops directed an aircraft to a strike on a terrorist cell responsible for launching rockets toward Israel. Several terrorists were killed in the strike. 

The IDF has just issued their morning update, in which it claims to have killed a “senior Hamas weapons developer”. 

“Based on ISA and IDF intelligence, an IDF fighter jet killed Mohsen Abu Zina, Hamas’s head of weapons and industries,” it said in a statement, on Telegram channel.   

The IDF said Mohsen Abu Zina served as one of Hamas’s “leading weapons developers” and “was an expert in developing strategic weapons and rockets used by Hamas”. 

Taking to X, formerly known as twitter, Herzog wrote, “Today, I hosted over 30 ambassadors and foreign dignitaries at the Embassy of Israel for a screening of the body camera footage which the Hamas terrorists used to document and celebrate their barbaric atrocities in Israel on October 7th.” 

Today, I hosted over 30 ambassadors and foreign dignitaries at the Embassy of Israel for a screening of the body camera footage which the Hamas terrorists used to document and celebrate their barbaric atrocities in Israel on October 7th. 

Together, we marked one month since the… pic.twitter.com/WR0K60L7iQ

— Ambassador Michael Herzog (@AmbHerzog) November 8, 2023

Joe Biden has said he asked Benjamin Netanyahu for a pause in fighting during a call yesterday.
 

According to US and Israeli officials, President Biden said a three-day pause could help secure the release of some hostages in Gaza.

A proposal being discussed by the US, Israel and Qatar would see Hamas release 10-15 hostages and use the pause to verify the identities of all the hostages and deliver a list of names of the people it is holding, a US official said.  

The White House previously said Biden and the Israeli prime minister discussed “the possibility of tactical pauses… to enable potential hostage releases”.

Israel Envoy to India Naor Gilon calls for lighting ‘Diya of Hope’ for Israeli hostages by the Hamas terror organisation.  

240 of our loved ones have been held hostage by #HamasTerrorists for a month.

Every #Diwali, we celebrate Lord Ram’s return by lighting Diyas.

THIS #Diwali2023 we invite you to light a Diya in the hope of having our loved ones return  

Tag us and share your photos using… pic.twitter.com/281xfx4Xa1

— Israel in India (@IsraelinIndia) November 8, 2023

Raw footage: Here are some of the weapons found on Hamas’ terrorists on October 7th.1,493 hand grenades and explosives, 760 RPGs, 427 explosive belts, 375 firearms, 106 rockets and missiles.

These are just a few of the weapons used to massacre over 1,400 Israeli civilians.… pic.twitter.com/TFVpSqNxtH

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 7, 2023