Damaged residential buildings are seen in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, near Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City October 30, 2023.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Israeli military: No ceasefire in Gaza, just brief, local pauses
Israel has not agreed to any ceasefires during its military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but will continue to allow brief, localised pauses to let in humanitarian aid, the Israeli military said on Thursday.
"There's no ceasefire, I repeat there's no ceasefire. What we are doing, that four-hour window, these are tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid," army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said.
Evacuations from Gaza Strip resume through Egypt's Rafah crossing
Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign passport holders and Palestinians needing medical treatment resumed through the Rafah crossing on Thursday after being suspended for a day, Egyptian security and medical sources said.
Departures from Rafah, the only crossing to the besieged enclave that does not border Israel, had been paused on Wednesday due to what the US State Department referred to as an unspecified security issue.
Will continue to advocate for civilian safety and focus on increasing aid: Biden
US President Biden says he 'will continue to advocate for civilian safety and focus on increasing aid to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza'.
Hamas official says talks ongoing, no deal with Israel so far
Taher Al-Nono, a political adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said on Thursday that unspecified negotiations were continuing and no deal had been reached with Israel so far.
Israel agrees pauses in fighting but rules out ceasefire
Israel has agreed pauses in its offensive in northern Gaza that will allow some civilians to flee heavy fighting, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out any broader ceasefire as a "surrender" to Hamas.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the pauses, which formalise an arrangement that has already seen tens of thousands of Palestinians flee devastation in northern Gaza, but also said there was "no possibility" of a ceasefire. (AFP)
Intense protests again shut down midtown Manhattan streets
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war shut down traffic in midtown Manhattan on Thursday night, marking one of the largest actions in New York City in recent weeks.
Earlier in the day, dozens of students protested at schools around the city.
Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests have become a daily occurrence on the city’s streets and campuses in the past month, as anger over the war rises and fears about antisemitic and anti-Muslim bias escalate. Other campus conflicts have broken out on social media, sometimes between students furious with the response of administrators and with one another. (NYT)
Brazil-Israel ties strained as Mossad trumpets Hezbollah bust
An unusual statement by Israeli spy agency Mossad saying that it had helped foil a Hezbollah attack in Brazil is the latest incident to strain relations between Israel and Latin America's largest nation against the backdrop of the Gaza war.
On Wednesday, Brazil arrested two people on terrorism charges as part of an operation to take down a suspected Hezbollah cell planning attacks on Brazilian soil. Later that day, Mossad publicly thanked Brazil's police and said, "Given the backdrop of the war in Gaza," Hezbollah was continuing to attack Israeli, Jewish and Western targets.(Reuters)
Street Battles Rage in Gaza City Ruins, as Residents Flee on Foot
Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles have engaged Hamas fighters in days of running gunbattles in Gaza City, fighting through rubble-filled streets and blasted-out buildings for control of the Gaza Strip’s largest urban center and the militants’ main stronghold.
As video trickled out showing striking images of urban combat, the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to daily four-hour pauses in the fighting in parts of the northern Gaza Strip to allow civilians to flee and allow aid to reach them. Israel also agreed to open a second corridor for people to escape northern Gaza, a White House statement said, and to give three hours’ advance notice of each pause. (NYT)
Gaza officials say hospitals come under new Israeli attacks
Gaza officials said Israel launched air strikes on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, further stressing the Palestinian enclave's precarious health system as it struggles to cope with thousands of people wounded or displaced in Israel's war against Hamas militants.
Israel accuses freelance photographers of advance knowledge of Oct 7 attack
The Israeli government Thursday accused freelance photographers for several major news organizations, including The New York Times, of being "accomplices" in the killing and abductions of Israeli soldiers and civilians by Hamas fighters -- an allegation the Times vigorously denied about its freelancer.
We don’t seek to conquer Gaza. We don’t seek to occupy Gaza. And we don’t seek to govern Gaza: Netanyahu
Netanyahu says 'What we have to see is Gaza demilitarized, deradicalized and rebuilt', adding that 'We don’t seek to conquer Gaza. We don’t seek to occupy Gaza. And we don’t seek to govern Gaza'.
IDF death toll since the start of the ground operation has risen to 36
CNN obtains US diplomatic cable from the embassy in Oman that warns the Biden Administration's support for Israel's military campaign is 'losing us Arab publics for a generation'
Iran foreign minister: 'expansion of scope of Gaza war inevitable'
An expansion of the scope of the war in Gaza is inevitable due to the heightened Israeli "aggression", Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Press TV reported on Friday. (Reuters)
Turkey prepared to take on injured Palestinians for medical treatment
Turkey has made necessary preparations to take injured Palestinians and patients with chronic illnesses from Gaza to its hospitals for treatment, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
Speaking to reporters after a visit to Uzbekistan, Erdogan also said Turkey will make efforts to increase pressure on Israel to ensure injured Palestinians could be evacuated from Gaza.(Reuters)
Israel must protect Palestinians in West Bank, says UN rights chief
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that Israel must take immediate measures to protect Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as they find themselves targeted by more violence since the Israeli-Hamas war erupted last month.
Volker Turk said at least 176 Palestinians, including 43 children and one woman, had been killed in incidents involving Israeli security forces since the beginning of October. At least eight Palestinians had been killed by Israeli settlers. (Reuters)
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip said Friday an Israeli strike on the territory's largest hospital killed 13 people. (AFP)
Israel must put an end to hate speech and incitement against Palestinians, says UN Rights chief.
Evacuation of Polish citizens from Gaza has started, Polsat News reported.
Palestinian civilians walk while evacuating from the north of the Gaza Strip towards south, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Saudi crown prince calls for end of war in Gaza
"We condemn what the Gaza Strip is facing from military assault, targeting of civilians, the violations of international law by the Israeli occupation authorities," Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said during an African-Saudi summit held in the kingdom's capital, Riyadh
"We stress on the need to stop this war and the forced displacement of Palestinians." (Reuters)
Sirens were sounded in Tel Aviv and surrounding areas on Friday as Hamas said it fired rockets deep into Israel in what the Palestinian militant group described as a response to mounting civilian deaths in the Gaza war. (Reuters)
Smoke rises over Gaza as seen from Southern Israel, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, November 10, 2023.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says Palestinian death toll has passed 11,000
Emad El Salot's son reacts, as he mourns his father who was killed in Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at a hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 8, 2023.
Credit: Reuters Photo
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that 11,078 people have been killed in five weeks of Israeli military campaign targeting the militant group since October 7.
The death toll includes 4,506 children, a health ministry statement said, while 27,490 people have been wounded in the war, which erupted with deadly Hamas attacks on southern Israel. (AFP)