US Sec of State #Blinken is on his way to #Israel . He told reporters before getting on the plane that the US would give Israel "everything it needed
The US is also working with Israel and #Egypt on a potential safe passage for some civilians, the White House said
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has called for essential supplies of food, fuel and water to be allowed to reach civilians in #Gaza and said a "rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access" was needed
(Cont-d)
Benjamin #Netanyahu said "the fate of the country is at stake." He added that "unity among the people in moments of grief and sorrow resonates worldwide. #Hamas is like #ISIS ; we will crush and eliminate them just as they did with ISIS."
Acc to Likud source, it was agreed that Netanyahu, Gallant and Gantz will be part of the war cabinet. Gadi Eisenkot, a member of Gantz's party and ex-IDF Chief of Staff, alongside Strategic Affairs Min Ron Dermer, will serve as observer
V reuters:
#Turkey is carrying out negotiations regarding civilians held by the #Palestinian #Hamas militant group after its attack on #Israel on the weekend, a senior Turkish official said on Wednesday, as Ankara ramped up efforts and diplomacy to mediate the conflict.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the talks were being carried out by Turkey's relevant institutions upon orders by President Tayyip Erdogan, but provided no further details
EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT
US president Joe #Biden said that he had seen pictures of beheaded children among the casualties in #Israel - a claim that has circulated around social media and in some reports, but that has not been confirmed by the Israeli Defence Forces #IDF
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67073970?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=6527207bfd63b979e1acd204%26Biden%20says%20he%20saw%20pictures%20of%20%27terrorists%20beheading%20children%27%262023-10-11T22%3A37%3A56.399Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:30504b32-f5ec-4b14-a3b9-89512aab5c0e&pinned_post_asset_id=6527207bfd63b979e1acd204&pinned_post_type=share
#Gaza #hamas
at the moment, no crossings into #Gaza are functioning.
All the crossings into #Israel have been closed since #Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel on Saturday.
Until yesterday, the #Rafah crossing between Gaza and #Egypt was operating.
On Sunday, it was open for goods and about 200 trucks of food, fuel and construction materials were allowed in, acc to OCHA
#Israeli #hostage families call for #EU support to get loved ones home
European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola says Europe is ready to broker solutions to hostage crisis
https://www.politico.eu/article/israeli-hostage-families-call-for-eu-support-to-get-loved-ones-home/
V Haaretz, by Gideon Levy - Opinion piece:
The Reckoning Must Be With #Hamas , Not With All #Gazans
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-10-12/ty-article-opinion/.premium/the-reckoning-must-be-with-hamas-not-with-all-gazans/0000018b-2020-d53b-af8b-737c1b7a0000?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&v=1697068717282
V HRW:
With #Gaza Sealed Off, #Palestinians Face Aid Freezes Too
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/11/gaza-sealed-palestinians-face-aid-freezes-too
#hamas #Israel
This week, as it pounded Gaza from the sky following Hamas’s deadly weekend attacks, the Israeli government also cut off Gaza’s electricity, fuel, water, and food in what it described as a “total siege.” In this context, some European governments’ recent announcements about freezing development assistance to Palestine are deeply worrying.
#Iranian President Ebrahim 'Raisi and #Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman #mbs held a phone call on Wednesday to discuss the #Israel - #Gaza conflict, state media in #Tehran reported.
It marked the first known call between the leaders since China negotiated a deal between the two after seven years of hostility.
EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT
The #BBC reached out to the White House to get clarification on #Biden 's comments on beheaded children
A WH official has since told the BBC that Biden did not see such images, rowing back from the president's comments.
"He was referring to the reports from #Israel, " the official said.
It thrust the president into the middle of the debate over the veracity of the claim and distracted somewhat from the focus of Mr Biden’s message – that he condemned the attack
GRAPHIC CONTENT
V @zurch #BBC North America correspondent:
'Murdered #children are a heartbreaking tragedy no matter how they were killed. But Mr #Biden ’s remarks complicate matters for the US as it seeks to aid and support #Israel
As the fog of war continues to swirl around this new conflict, any walking back or confusion risks aiding those who are trying to sow #misinformation and cast doubt on events and atrocities that are verifiably true.'
It has passed 9 AM in #Israel and #Gaza - a quick recap:
#US is in talks with #Israel , the #UN and #Egypt on allowing aid into #Gaza , and providing safe passage out of the territory for some residents. #Blinken is due to land in Israel
Israel has massed troops near the Gaza border, which includes about 300,000 #reservist forces. It is still unclear if and when it plans to launch a ground offensive inside Gaza
( cont.)
With Gaza now under a complete #Israeli blockade and after five days of bombardment, the #humanitarian situation is becoming increasingly desperate.
Pressure is mounting for the establishment of safe corridors to allow aid and medicine into the #Gaza strip, as well as allow #Palestinians to leave
UN has said that more than 338,000 people have been displaced in Gaza
#Israel #hamas
#Israel 's military #IDF says its latest air strikes in #Gaza are aiming to destroy a network of #tunnels that has for decades served as an operations centre for #Hamas , built over the years since Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007
"The Israeli Air Force has been striking a lot of neighbourhoods in Gaza. What we are doing is prioritising striking commanders, senior leaders of Hamas in all echelons," an IDF spox said.
"Whatever it is, if it belongs to Hamas, we are striking it."
#Palestinian president Mahmoud #Abbas will meet US state sec Antony #Blinken on Friday, according to Hussein Al-Sheikh, the sec gen of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization #PLO
The Palestinian political leadership is deeply divided between Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party in the West Bank and its #Islamist militant #Hamas opponents who control the #Gaza Strip.
EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT
And here's another line from the #Israeli military update - #IDF spox Jonathan Conricus says that #Hamas militants did behead babies during their deadly wave of attacks at the weekend.
Conricus says a coroner who visited the aftermath of the massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri had seen the children's bodies and confirmed how they died.
#Israel 's Energy Minister Israel Katz says the #siege of #Gaza will not end until #Israeli hostages are released.
In a social media post, Israel Katz said no "electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter" until the "abductees" are free.
Israel stopped supplies to the #Gaza Strip after the #Hamas attacks on Saturday.
Milo described how the #Gaza Border community's security teams "have fought bravely," noting especially the female fighters and commanders' role in stopping #Hamas militants. They have all "demonstrated extraordinary fighting skills - If anyone had any other thoughts, I think what happened leaves no doubt about the combat capabilities of the #IDF female fighters."
Milo stressed that his command's current main task is the #evacuation of residents who are still in the Gaza-Border communities
Good morning from London, ~ half past 8 in MENA. A recap:
The number of Israelis killed by #Hamas has risen to 1,300, with at least 150 hostages taken into Gaza
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, w 338,000 people displaced
#Netanyahu has told parliament that "difficult days await" at the swearing in of the war cabinet
The #UN says Gaza is facing a "dire" situation with food and water quickly running out
#Israel says they have dropped 6,000 bombs on #Hamas targets in #Gaza over the course of six days. The Israeli air force said #airstrikes have hit more than 3,600 targets
Human Rights Watch #HRW has accused Israel of using white phosphorus, a controversial munition, in its bombings of the Gaza Strip and #Lebanon.
Israel's military told Reuters that it was "currently not aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorous in Gaza". It did not comment on Lebanon.
The #UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs #OCHA has issued an emergency appeal asking countries to provide $294m in emergency funding for the most urgent needs of #Palestinians
The funds will be used to help some 1.2m people, the agency said.
Acc to OCHA, more than 84,000 people in #Gaza became homeless on Thursday, the agency said, adding that there are now more than 423,000 people without shelter there
#Israel #hamas
The #Israeli military has told the #UN that everyone living north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern #Gaza in the next 24 hours, acc to a UN spox
The UN says this amounts to approx 1.1 million people - about half the population of the entire Gaza Strip. The affected area includes densely populated Gaza City.
The alert was given just before midnight local time
#Israel #hamas
The #UN "strongly appeals for any such ( #evacuation ) order to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation".
The order also includes all UN staff and those sheltered in UN facilities which includes schools, health centres, and clinics.
The UN Security Council #UNSC is due to hold an emergency meeting today in a closed consultation format.
"You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made," Israeli officials said in the statement to Gaza residents.
The #evacuation order is part of #Israel 's "humanitarian measures" in the #Gaza Strip, says #IDF spox Jonathan Conricus:"Civilians are not our enemy."
He said the military wants to minimise civilian casualties as it strikes targets in the Gaza Strip, and that it remains fully committed to the laws of international armed conflict.
The US will today fly its first #repatriation flight to bring citizens home from #Israel
National Security spox John Kirby said they would also be looking into other ways to help citizens leave, by land or sea.
Argentina, France, South Korea, Australia and Canada - among others - have been evacuating their citizens throughout the week.
Japan has also announced it will send a chartered flight to Israel to evacuate Japanese citizens at the weekend
A #Hamas official has urged residents of the north of #Gaza to ignore it #Israel 's evacuation order
The militant group has long been criticised by the international community for using civilians as human shields - putting innocent people in danger to protect their fighters.
Hamas took power of the Gaza strip after it won the legislative elections in 2006, before reinforcing its power in Gaza the following year by ousting the rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas.
'It is impossible for 1.1 million people to leave their homes within 24 hours', says #BBC corr Tom Bateman in Jerusalem.
'It would involve 40,000 people per hour. On the ground convoys of the International Red Cross and United Nations humanitarian agency staff have been spotted travelling south from #Gaza City towards the southern part of territory, which may be in preparation of possible evacuation operation.
But it would bring chaos to try to carry it out on this scale within 24 hrs'
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
'This is my community. I've seen things I can never unsee'
#Gaza City's main hospital, Al Shifa, is at breaking point, with hundreds of seriously injured people filling the hallways and bodies lying in corridors and outside, as staff work under immense pressure.
Inside, BBC Arabic's reporter Adnan Elbursh and his team discover their own neighbours, relatives and friends are among those injured and killed.
V forward:
Stanford instructor removed for targeting Jewish students as ‘colonizers’ after Hamas attack on Israel
https://forward.com/news/564587/stanford-university-jewish-students-instructor-hamas/
At least 13 #Israeli and foreign #hostages held in five locations in the #Gaza Strip have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the past 24 hours, Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.
Hamas took about 150 people captive in its attack on 7 October. It has threatened to kill hostages if civilians homes are bombed by Israel without warning.
As the reports came in, UK Def Sec Grant Shapps told ITV he would treat the claims with "caution" but "deep concern".
From #Ukraine president #Zelensky 's latest stmt:
"We can clearly see that our enemy, #Russia, is interested in the worst-case scenario in the Middle East.
I am grateful to everyone who works to keep the Middle East from further exploding, but also to hold terrorists accountable for everything they have done against Israel—against children and women, against ordinary people.
We also remember about the citizens of other countries who have been detained or killed by terrorists." (Cont)
"There are also Ukrainians among the dead. My condolences go out to everyone who has lost a loved one.
It is critically important—for everyone around the world including those who do not yet comprehend—that terrorists must always be held accountable for all the evil they have caused."
#IDF entered #Gaza to search for hostages - #Israeli Airforce
The Israeli Airforce acct posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that over the last 24 hours the Israeli Army carried out "local raids" in the territory of the Gaza Strip. The post says:
"Infantry and armored forces searched and gathered in the area for findings that may help in the effort to locate the missing and thwarted terrorist infrastructure and terrorist cells found in the area."
The #ICRC has condemned the #hostage taking during the attacks on #Israel by #Hamas , saying "our hearts go out" to those who have lost family members or are worried about loved ones.
"We reiterate our call for their immediate release and stand ready to conduct humanitarian visits," the #RedCross said.
Their quote regarding the evacuation orders:
"The instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of #Gaza City are not compatible with international humanitarian law"
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