#BBCNews - #Khan #Younis: A #Gaza city on its knees, now with a million mouths to feed
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67116403
#Israel #KhanYounis #hamas
#BBCNews - Supernova festival: One week on - survivor recalls traumatic escape
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67117157
#Israel #Gaza #hamas
#BBCNews - #Eritrean asylum seekers in #Israel : 'Our second country is bleeding'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67115875
And if you are new to the story, this might help with background:
What is #Hamas , and what’s happening in #Israel and #Gaza ? A really simple guide
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67039975
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION
V #BBC def corr Jonathan Beale:
#IDF have been displaying some of the WEAPONS from the #Hamas attack. #Israel said the militants had brought more than 1,000 with them when they crossed the border, incl some thermobaric bombs (which was said to have been used to burn out buildings and incinerate those inside), a few Soviet-era Strela shoulder-launched missiles and a couple of shoulder-launched rockets, which appeared to have Nato stockpile numbers written on the side.
#BBCNews - Vigil for victims of #Hamas attack held in London
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67117730
#Israel #Gaza
#BBCNews - Thousands join pro-#Palestinian march in #Birmingham
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-67117891
#Israel #Gaza
V nbc:
'Who is #Hamas leader #Yahya #Sinwar , dubbed ‘a dead man walking’ by #Israel ?'
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-yahya-sinwar-gaza-leader-dead-man-walking-rcna120423
'Sinwar joined Hamas after it was founded in 1987, gaining a reputation for brutality after he reportedly helped to form the militant group’s internal security force, acc to ECF.
He was captured by Israel just two years later and sentenced to life - but being behind bars did not stop him from rising through the ranks, and it also gave him the opportunity to learn to speak Hebrew'
From the #BBCWorldService news bulletin:
Blinken has warned that every precaution must be taken to avoid harming civilians as #Israel prepares for a major ground offensive in #Gaza. More than 2600 #Palestinians have been killed since the #Hamas assault on Israel
The Israeli energy minister says the country has decided to resume supplying #water to Southern Gaza. Katz said the decision has been agreed between #Netanyahu and Biden
From #UN Sec Gen Guterres stmt - he made two appeals - for #Hamas to release the #hostages without any conditions, and for #Israel to grant rapid and unimpeded access for £humanitarian #aid to #Gaza.
"The UN has stocks available of food, water, non-food items, medical supplies and fuel....These goods can be dispatched within hours," he said.
"Each one of these two objectives are valid in themselves. They should not become bargaining chips."
#Iran has continued to warn #Israel that if it escalates the conflict in #Gaza it risks drawing in the involvement of Iran's military.
"If they do not cease their atrocities in Gaza, Iran cannot simply remain an observer," For Min Amirabdollahian told Al Jazeera.
"If the scope of the war expands, significant damages will also be inflicted upon America," he added.
It comes one day after Amirabdollahian met with the leader of Hamas in Doha.
#UNRWA 's Philippe Lazzarini says his agency is no longer able to provide #humanitarian assistance to #Gaza. The number of people seeking shelter in UNRWA facilities in the south is 'overwhelming, 14 members of his org. have been killed, and Gaza is running out of body bags'.
“Last week’s attack on #Israel was horrendous. The attack and the taking of #hostages are a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. But the answer to killing civilians cannot be to kill more civilians"
The European Council of the #EU has released a new stmt: "The Eur. Union condemns in the strongest possible terms #Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks across Israel and deeply deplores the loss of lives"
It also says that Israel has the right to "defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law in the face of such violent and indiscriminate attacks".
It also calls for all hostages to be released and calls for measures to be taken to protect civilians in Gaza.
More than 1,000 people are missing under the rubble of buildings destroyed by #Israeli air strikes in #Gaza, #Palestinian authorities say.
Ghassan Abu Sitta is a British-Palestinian surgeon working for #MSF at the Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza.
He says staff do not have enough equipment to help people - and they are running out.
"In terms of medical supplies, we consume a month or a month-and-a-half of medical supplies every day in this emergency," he says.
V BBC's Tom Bateman:
#Netanyahu says he'll “eliminate” #Hamas. But what happens the day after? We’ve been getting some clues about thinking within parts of the #Israeli govt.
Cabinet minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Israeli TV that Gaza must end up smaller - with Israel taking control of a belt of land in the east and north of the strip. This will play into the worst fears of #Palestinians as it evokes their core issue - the loss of lands in the conflicts surrounding Israel’s creation 75 ys ago
the #US Embassy in #Israel said people "may wish to move closer" to the #Rafah crossing on the #Gaza - #Egypt border. It was citing US media reports which said the Rafah crossing will open "for a few hours". Neither report has been confirmed.
NBC News, citing a #Palestinian official, said the crossing would be open at 9am local time. ABC News, citing a security source, said the crossing would open for a few hours on Monday "and then close again in the late afternoon".
#IDF spox said they estimate some 500,000 people have left northern #Gaza so far and accused #Hamas of making it difficult for those trying to move south.
Asked about a bombing on Friday which killed a reported 70 people on a road identified as safe by the Israeli army, Conricus repeated that IDF does not actively target civilians.
But at one point during the briefing he appeared to acknowledge that the 'nature of the operation' means it’s 'not always possible to avoid civilian casualties.'
In Khan Yunis, that has become a temporary home for hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the north, most people there have nowhere to stay, says a resident
“schools’re filling up and the facilities are poor. Thousands more are just staying on the streets,”
He says there were at least 10 air strikes in and around the city overnight. "The queues for bread are enormous."
The conditions have led some to return home in northern Gaza, despite the threat of an imminent ground invasion.
V #BBCWorldService
Shirel Hogeg went viral after he was captured on camera heckling an #Israeli minister:
“You lot need to apologise... you’ve left a deep tear in the people of Israel,” he was seen shouting.
His family was injured when #Hamas militants attacked their home.
He told the BBC: “We were caught unguarded. The government, the army and intelligence. And this is a failure. Nobody is hiding that. Because it happened on your watch, we will be sure that you'll take responsibility.”
Reuters is just reporting that the #US, #Israel and #Egypt have agreed to a #ceasefire in southern #Gaza to coincide with the reopening of the #Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border. We had earlier seen media reports saying the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing - now the only possible road out of Gaza - will be open "for a few hours" on Monday
#IDF spox on air just now with #BBCWorldService didn't seem to have any knowledge of this
#Netanyahu 's office says there is no ceasefire in place around the #Rafah crossing
#Israel #Gaza #hamas
#Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud #Abbas said the actions and policies of #Hamas group do not represent Palestinian people, according to official news agency WAFA.
In a phone call w Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Mahmoud Abbas also called the PLO the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," WAFA said.
He "affirmed his rejection of the killing of civilians on both sides and called for the release of civilians, prisoners and detainees on both sides"
From #BBC 's Lyse Doucet:
"reports of a temporary ceasefire in southern #Gaza have been quickly quashed by the #Israeli PM’s office.
BBC sources in Cairo speak of an agreement in principle on a temporary ceasefire. But it appears there are still difficult issues to sort.
The Egyptians have made it clear they won’t open the #Rafah passage until there are guarantees for the safety of their staff.
#Israel wants to inspect all lorries travelling into Gaza to ensure they aren’t carrying weapons."
Nearly 1 AM in the Middle East - a quick recap:
#Hamas's military wing says it has fired a "barrage of rockets" at #Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - with sirens sending lawmakers to bomb shelters
UN aid chief says #Gaza 's health system and hospitals are "collapsing before our eyes" without water, fuel and medical supplies
#Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza has been hit by an air strike - the extent of the damage is unclear
Nr of people #Israel believes are being held hostage in up from 155 to 199
It's been reported that the US Secretary of State and the Israeli prime minister had to shelter in a bunker for five minutes when air sirens went off during their meeting in Tel Aviv.
The insight into what happened in the meeting between Antony #Blinken and Benjamin #Netanyahu was released by US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Good morning, it is nearly 7 AM in the Middle East - some overnight developments:
Joe Biden will visit #Israel on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced. Biden will coordinate with #Israeli partners to secure the release of hostages taken by #Hamas, and hear from Israel how it would conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and allow #humanitarian aid to flow into #Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas
Diplomatic talks are also continuing about the possibility of reopening the #Rafah crossing between #Egypt and #Gaza so that aid can be brought into Gaza and foreign nationals can be evacuated
A video analysed by BBC Verify appears to show an air strike at the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian side of the border, creating a large explosion
BBCNews - Steve Bell sacked by #Guardian in #antisemitism row over #Netanyahu cartoon
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67122609
#BBC correspondents answering audience questions- full of good analysis, a short version:
Could other countries be dragged in?
Jeremy Bowen:
The Americans just deployed 2 aircraft carrier battle groups to the eastern Med to send a very firm message to #Iran to stay out. One of the major fault lines in the Middle East runs between the US and its allies, and the Iranians and theirs. If it went from a cold to a hot war it would ignite a Middle East conflagration of global significance.
What is #Israel 's objective? Lyse Doucet: In past wars, Israel vowed to "hit #Hamas hard", now it is vowing "to destroy Hamas". Israel has the military might to smash Hamas's infrastructure, crush its tunnels, and cripple its command and control networks. Hamas's military prowess, including an astonishingly granular understanding of Israeli security that enabled it to outsmart its formidable defences, has shocked Israelis. Hamas is likely to possess the same sophistication (cont.)
when it confronts what it knows will be a ferocious #Israeli response. And unlike the Islamic State group, #Hamas is also a political and social organisation embedded in #Palestinian society.
A military onslaught can destroy its metal and concrete but not the mettle of the people whose resolve to die for their cause will only harden.
What was #Hamas goal with the attack?
Frank Gardner: The reason given at the time by Hamas spox was that "enough is enough". The attack, he said, was in response to what Hamas called constant provocations and humiliations suffered by #Palestinians at the hands of #Israelis in both #Gaza and the West Bank. Analysts believe there may have been other, undeclared reasons. Before the attack, Israel and #Saudi Arabia were well on the way to normalising ties. (Cont.)
This was opposed by both #Hamas and its backer, #Iran . The #Saudis have now suspended those talks. Hamas's leadership will have noticed the sharp divisions in #Israeli society caused by judicial reforms introduced by the right-wing government of Benjamin #Netanyahu . They aimed to deal Israel a painful blow - and in that they succeeded
Why is #Egypt keeping the crossing closed? Jeremy Bowen: the Egyptian government, even at quiet times, does not allow routine access from #Gaza through the #Rafah crossing. #Egypt has been the junior partner in earlier versions of Israel's siege of Gaza ever since #Hamas took over there in 2007.
Hamas has its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation founded in Egypt a century ago. The Brotherhood wants to reshape states and society in line with Islamic teaching and belief. (Cont.)
The #Egyptian military opposes that desire. It overthrew an elected Muslim president in 2013.
#Egypt 's current regime has relations with #Hamas, and has in the past been the link between Hamas and #Israel . But it does not want an influx of #Palestinian refugees.
The camps in Gaza still exist 75 years after they were established to house refugees - forced out by newly independent Israel - who have never been allowed home.
The world issued an international arrest warrant against Putin. Why has there not been the same response against #Hamas leadership? Was this not a war crime on a massive scale?
Paul Adams: #Israel did not consider itself at war with Hamas before 7 October, despite previous rounds of conflict stretching back many years. For Israel, this was an act of terrorism, not war. Benjamin Netanyahu's government is pursuing justice in its own way (cont.)
