Aid trucks trickle into Gaza while Israel steps up operations and the UN’s general assembly calls for an immediate truce
Fourteen more aid trucks crossed the border from Egypt to Gaza, joining the 20 aid trucks that had entered the previous day, which was the first aid convoy to arrive in the territory since Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Continue reading...Resolution, passed by 120 votes to 14, is not binding, but carries great political and symbolic weight
The UN general assembly has overwhelmingly called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip.
The motion drafted by Jordan is not binding, but carries political weight, reflecting the degree to which the US and Israel are isolated internationally as Israel steps up its ground operations.
Continue reading...Secretary of state Antony Blinken made request of Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed during frantic trip to Doha
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has reportedly asked Qatar to moderate Al Jazeera’s coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas, amid concerns within the Biden administration that the channel is inflaming public opinion and heightening the risks of a wider conflict.
Blinken raised the satellite news channel’s coverage with the Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, according to the website Axios, which said the US’s top diplomat had disclosed the request in a meeting with US Jewish leaders.
Continue reading...Resolution tabled by by Jordan calls for restraint from Israel but does not say Hamas was behind 7 October attack
The US envoy to the UN has accused Arab states of empowering Hamas and turning a blind eye to evil by tabling a draft resolution at the general assembly calling for restraint from Israel but failing to name Hamas as the perpetrators of the massacres of 7 October.
Linda Thomas Greenfield, who faced successive attacks by member states for failing to condemn Israel’s use of violence in Gaza, insisted the US mourned every loss of civilian life but also hit back by claiming the draft motion tabled by Jordan gave cover to Hamas.
Continue reading...United Nations resolution passes with 120 votes in favour of truce. This blog is now closed. Our live coverage continues here
A member of the Hamas delegation visiting Moscow has said that it needs time to locate all of the hostages who have been taken to Gaza by various Palestinian factions, Reuters is reporting, citing Russia’s Kommersant newspaper.
Kommersant also reported a member of the Hamas delegation saying that it could not release the hostages until a ceasefire was agreed and that Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed 50 of the hostages seized during raids by Palestinian militants.
Continue reading...Only 29% of those surveyed backed an immediate offensive, while 49% said it would be better to wait
After the murderous onslaught by Hamas on 7 October, Israelis rallied around the prospect of a swift invasion of Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government mobilised tanks and reservists amid widespread agreement that Israel needed to enter the enclave and destroy Hamas.
Three weeks later, however, there is still no invasion and many Israelis seem to no longer want one – at least not immediately.
Continue reading...The war in Gaza risks developing into a wider conflict, but for now, the actions seem to be more about messaging between Washington and Tehran
Over the last 10 days, US military bases in eastern Syria and western Iraq have been hit by rockets and drones. There have been 22 such attacks, although details are sketchy and some may not have been counted. More than 20 US service personnel have been injured, though not seriously, and a civilian contractor died of cardiac arrest.
Continue reading...US warned over ‘genocide in Palestine’, as foreign ministers challenge targeting of civilians and international law breaches
Arab nations have linked hands with the Global South to challenge Israel and its western backers to end the bombing in a Gaza at the start of a rare two-day emergency debate at the UN general assembly.
In a fierce warning on Thursday the Iranian foreign minister said that if what he described as the genocide did not stop the US would “not be spared from this fire”.
Continue reading...Israel and Joe Biden have shown scepticism about accuracy of rising death toll but others point to historical reliability of data
In this time of war, the health ministry in Gaza has been given its own health warning. Joe Biden has questioned the reliability of its reporting of the number of people killed and wounded during the Israeli assault on Gaza – because the health ministry is run by Hamas.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” the US president said. “But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”
Continue reading...Significant incursion comes as EU leaders finalise text calling for ‘humanitarian corridors and pauses’
Israeli forces entered a new phase of their war against Hamas in Gaza on Thursday, launching a substantial but limited raid into the coastal strip, in what was described as a probing action in preparation for a more sustained ground offensive.
Infantry backed by tanks and armoured bulldozers moved in under cover of night and attacked Hamas targets in an hours-long raid into the north of the territory, as officials raised the number of hostages confirmed to be held by the militant Islamist group to 224.
Continue reading...Sharone Lifschitz says she is ‘immensely proud’ of her mother, who shook hands with a Hamas captor
It was an extraordinary moment when an 85-year-old hostage shook the hand of her Hamas captor and said one word: “Shalom”.
Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released by Hamas after 16 days in captivity, is now focused on trying to secure the release of other hostages. And her daughter, Sharone Lifschitz, has revealed that the captor was reportedly a paramedic with whom her mother had discussed peace.
Continue reading...UN humanitarian chief says bombardments on Gaza ‘getting worse’; Gaza health ministry releases 212-page document of names of 7,000 it says have been killed
As the death toll mounts in Gaza, Palestinians are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves, with a number instead of a name, residents say. Some families are using bracelets in the hope of finding their loved ones should they be killed.
Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed over 6,500 people, the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip said on Wednesday.
Biden said on Wednesday he had “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using” for the death toll, but he did not say why he was skeptical. The United Nations relies on the Gaza ministry for death toll figures.
In the US, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it was “deeply disturbed” by Biden’s comments on the Gaza figures, and called on the president to apologise.
Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border with Gaza awaiting orders, Reuters reports. Israel has called up 360,000 reservists.
International pressure is growing to delay any invasion of Gaza, not least because of hostages. More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, the Israeli government said. Many were believed to have had dual Israeli nationality.
Official declaration to be issued, which also seeks a peace conference on a two-state solution
Leaders of the 27 EU member states have unanimously called for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” of the shelling in Gaza to allow food, water and medical supplies to reach Palestinians.
An official declaration will be issued after a two-day summit of leaders in Brussels.
Continue reading...The wife, son, daughter and grandson of Wael al-Dahdouh, the bureau chief in Gaza, were targeted at a relief camp, outlet says
An Al Jazeera correspondent is mourning the loss of his entire immediate family after they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
The family of Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, had moved to a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza after Israel’s warning on 13 October to those in the northern half of the territory to leave.
Continue reading...Crisis worsening by the hour, says UN agency, with Israel blocking supplies on grounds Hamas would use them
Relief efforts in Gaza will be forced to stop unless fuel supplies reach the besieged territory, the main UN agency working in the strip has warned.
Hospitals, bakeries and water pumps may also cease to function, compounding a humanitarian crisis that is worsening by the hour, the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said. “We need to find a solution to the fuel – otherwise our aid operation will come to a stop.”
Continue reading...This blog is closed. Our latest live coverage is here.
A Palestinian American woman whose 6-year-old son was killed in a Chicago suburb in what police called a hate crime has asked the public to “pray for peace” as she recovers from her injuries, Associated Press reports.
Hanaan Shahin thanked authorities, doctors and others and remembered her son Wadea Al-Fayoume as an intelligent and funny child who cared about the planet and liked to join her in prayers.
Continue reading...António Guterres had said Hamas attacks had been in context of ‘years of suffocating occupation’ but denied ‘justifying acts of terror’
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, was locked in a bitter row with Israel on Wednesday, saying he was shocked that the Israeli government had misrepresented remarks he had made to the UN to suggest he had justified the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Israel has called for his resignation, accusing him of a blood libel and announcing that it was withdrawing travel visas for UN officials, including the UN humanitarian coordinator, Martin Griffiths.
Continue reading...Anglicans in West Bank say they are ‘utterly perplexed’ by archbishop of Canterbury’s statements on Israel-Hamas war
Palestinian Christians have accused Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, of “relegating” their plight behind “British domestic political and ecumenical considerations” in his comments on the Israel-Hamas war.
An open letter from Anglican parishioners in the West Bank says they are “utterly perplexed” by Welby’s public statements.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Military deployment to Middle East will be for evacuation of Australians
Defence minister Richard Marles was asked on Today what the role of the aircraft and troops sent to the Middle East would be.
We’ve made our position really clear.
Israel has a right to defend itself and to move against Hamas. What is absolutely essential in doing that is that the protection from the centre and and all the steps that Israel takes, and that the rules of war are adhered to and we’ve been making that very clear, as well.
Continue reading...Australian foreign minister calls for ‘humanitarian pauses on hostilities’ as Amir Maimon urges world not to ‘look away’ from Hamas’s actions
Israel’s ambassador to Australia has insisted the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “fair” after Penny Wong’s warning that the besieged strip had “nowhere near enough” access to aid supplies.
The Australian foreign minister called on Wednesday for “humanitarian pauses on hostilities, so food, water, medicine and other essential assistance can reach people in desperate need, and so civilians can get to safety”.
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