Hamas slams Israel’s Gaza relocation plan

The Palestinian group says Israel’s Gaza relocation plan constitutes a “new wave of genocide and displacement” for hundreds of thousands of the enclave’s residents.

“The plans to occupy Gaza and displace its population are a major war crime that reflects the occupation’s disregard for international and humanitarian laws,” a statement on Telegram said.

The group said the planned deployment of tents and other shelters by Israel in the southern Gaza Strip was a “blatant deception” to cover up its displacement plan.

Political and military support from the US “provides the green light for the occupation to continue its crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing”, according to Hamas’s statement.

The group called on Arab and Muslim countries and the rest of the international community to confront Israel’s plan.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that it would start allowing international aid organisations to bring tents and equipment to erect shelters into southern Gaza before it clears civilians from “combat zones” in the north.


_{Palestinians displaced by the Israeli offensive shelter in a tent camp in Gaza City}

Israeli forced evacuation orders enter ‘new and dangerous phase’

This operation, aimed at driving out Palestinians and emptying Gaza City of its population, appears to have entered a new and dangerous phase. The latest focus of this military campaign is the Zeitoun neighbourhood, a densely populated area in the northeastern part of Gaza City with close to 50,000 people residing there.

Residents of the Zeitoun neighbourhood report being caught in the line of Israeli fire. A combination of air strikes, heavy artillery and explosive devices planted in between and among homes, small alleyways and main roads inside the neighbourhood, just exposing everyone to a greater level of danger so far.

It’s not just that, it’s the combination of attacks and the evacuation orders.

The tactic that is synonymous now with the mass displacement of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip from the opening weeks of this genocide. The Israeli military relied heavily on mass forced evacuation orders, herding and moving people away from their homes and neighbourhoods.

Israel destruction of Gaza shown in aerial images from Jordanian military aircraft

Israeli attacks kill 21 aid seekers in southern Gaza

At least 21 people have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to receive aid in southern Gaza since this morning, the Nasser Medical Complex tells our colleagues on the ground.

Since the establishment of the GHF aid sites at the end of May, at least 1,924 have been killed and more than 14,288 injured, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Death toll in Gaza rising rapidly

We have just received updated numbers from our team on the ground, who says the Israeli army has killed at least 57 people in its attacks on Gaza today.

Among the 57 killed, at least 38 were gunned down while trying to obtain aid.

UN staff slam ‘cruellest’ double standards in global response to Gaza

A group of UN staff members has launched a new campaign in support of Palestinians facing atrocities in Gaza, with the former UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, Andrew Gilmour, as their chair.

“The international response to Gaza since 2023 counts as the cruellest and most extreme example of double standards in my lifetime,” Gilmour said in a statement.

It has made “a mockery of international law” and dealt a “terrible blow to human rights globally”, he added.

Gilmour also highlighted his support for UN staff working in “unspeakable conditions” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where he said hundreds of UN staff have been killed by Israeli forces “in their homes or while carrying out their life-saving UN work”.

Jan Eliasson, a former UN deputy secretary-general and former foreign minister of Sweden, also expressed his support, saying the “initiative is a way to remember and pay tribute to 330 colleagues who were killed in the Gaza nightmare while serving the UN and the Palestinian people”.

_{Palestinian boys stand near the damaged UNRWA headquarters in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on November 2, 2024, after Israeli forces demolished most of the building.}

‘The humanitarian system in Gaza is collapsing’

We’ve been speaking to Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, in Gaza City, on the Israel-induced famine there.

He said aid workers are struggling to help people in Gaza. “We are trying to do our best. We are… part of this social fabric,” he said. “We are linked to the people here, and we are staying with them while Israel threatens to apply its plans to forcibly evacuate Gaza City and destroy the rest of Gaza. There are 1.1 million people here, most of them elderly, women, children, and people with disabilities.”

Despite the limited capacities, aid workers in Gaza are continuing to try to “deliver some services through our medical points; through the community kitchens, which we have very limited number of meals that we can provide; through our mental health support that we are giving for the children, women; education points that we are delivering some lessons for children; to be on the sides of people who are displaced; to work with people with disability,” he added.

Shawa went on to say that the “humanitarian system is collapsing” in Gaza.

This is because of “the Israeli attacks on the aid workers on our facilities”, and because Israel continues “to restrict the entry of the aid supplies through the international organisations that we are part of”, he said.

‘It’s time to stop this war on children’

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has again called for action over the starvation deaths of children in Gaza. “Across the Gaza Strip, most children examined by UNRWA health teams are emaciated, weak, and at risk of dying, if they do not get the treatment they urgently need,” it said in a post on X.

“According to @‌UNICEF, more than 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured (combined) in Gaza since October 2023. It’s time to stop this war on children,” it added.

Half a million in Gaza face famine: WFP

The World Food Programme (WFP) says despite its teams “doing everything” to deliver food assistance in Gaza, current supplies only meet 47 percent of the intended target.

According to the UN agency, around 500,000 people are now on the “brink of famine”, and that only a ceasefire would allow food assistance to be scaled up to the required levels.

“Organised distributions, and WFP-supported hot meals & bakeries can’t restart without far more aid,” it said in a post on X.

‘Intentional cruelty’: CAIR slams US decision to halt Gaza visas

The US Muslim rights group has joined the condemnation of the State Department’s move to suspend visas for Palestinians from Gaza.

“Blocking Palestinian children injured by American weapons from coming to America for medical treatment is the latest sign that the intentional cruelty of President Trump’s ‘Israel First’ administration knows no bounds,” the group wrote in a statement on X.

“It is also deeply ironic that the Trump administration would ban Palestinian children seeking treatment while rolling out the red carpet for racists and indicted war criminals from the Israeli government. This ban is just the latest example of our government’s complicity with Israel’s genocide, which is increasingly rejected by the American people,” it added.

As we reported earlier, the US State Department announced it has halted issuing all visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, including a “small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas”.

This comes as HEAL Palestine, the main organisation helping evacuate injured children and their families to the US, says it has helped a total of 148 people, including 63 injured children, to do so.

Laura Loomer claims credit for US’s visa suspensions

The far-right activist has hailed the decision by the US Department of State to suspend humanitarian visas for Palestinians in Gaza.

In a post on X, Loomer described the decision as “fantastic news”, and thanked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for what she called his “prompt response to this invasion of our country by NGOS that have been accused of being pro-HAMAS”.

“Hopefully all GAZANS will be added to President Trump’s travel ban,” Loomer added, before suggesting Palestinians can get medical treatment elsewhere.

“The US is not the world’s hospital!”

No just the world's killing machine. It's you bombs and support that maimed these children for life.

Palestinian group urges US to reverse visa decision

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) has urged the US government to reverse its “dangerous and inhumane decision” to “halt all visas from Gaza, including for children in desperate need of critical medical attention”.

The PCRF said the recently announced decision would have a “devastating and irreversible impact on our ability to bring injured and critically ill children from Gaza to the US for lifesaving medical treatment”.

It added that most children receiving medical treatment outside Gaza go to neighbouring countries, including Egypt and Jordan, and that only a limited number of children needing speciality treatment come to the US.

‘What we’re witnessing in Gaza right now is utterly unbearable’

We’ve been speaking to protesters at the rally in New York City.

Miriam Osman from the Palestinian Youth Movement says that the protesters have “one clear demand, which is, ‘Stop starving Gaza'”. “This is a mass march for humanity. Everybody needs to be out here today, because what we’re witnessing in Gaza right now is utterly unbearable,” she said.

“The people of Gaza need immediate relief, and it can happen today if the US government decides to stop funding and arming Israel,” Osman added.

Journalist Zoe Alexandra said she joined the protest in solidarity with colleagues in Gaza. “We’re coming together as journalists and media workers to say, Israel must end its killing of journalists,” said Alexandra, who is an editor at Peoples Dispatch.

“They are simply on the ground… trying to share the story of their own people’s genocide, and for that, they’re being picked up and targeted by Israel, threatened, accused of all sorts of things, and then murdered in front of their family.”

_{People held pictures of slain Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif at the protest, a week after he was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, along with his colleagues}

Canadians in Toronto march against Israel’s starvation of Gaza

_{People march in downtown Toronto to protest the killing of journalists in Palestine by Israeli forces and to call for an end to the starvation in Gaza, on Saturday}

_{Journalists also joined the protest in support of their colleagues in Gaza}

Israeli forces continue raids on West Bank towns and villages

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic say Israeli forces have stormed several areas across the occupied West Bank, including the city of Tubas, where they arrested a young man.

The towns and villages of Qabatiya in Jenin, Azzun in Qalqilya, Burqa in Nablus, and Susiya in the Masafer Yatta area of Hebron also saw Israeli raids, according to AJA.

The Wafa news agency, meanwhile, reported that Israeli forces have set fire to a house in the town of Kafr Dan, in Jenin.

Israelis set fire to Palestinian homes, farms near illegal West Bank settlement


_{A Palestinian man looks at a burned-out home after the attack}

Israeli forces arrest 3 Palestinians in occupied West Bank raid

The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces have arrested three Palestinians in a raid on the city of Bethlehem. Citing security sources, Wafa said Israeli soldiers stormed the area around al-Saff Street, searched Palestinian homes and arrested the three individuals.

Families of captives urge Israelis to join nationwide strike

Families of the captives held in Gaza are going on a strike today in an effort to urge Netanyahu to come to an agreement with Hamas and bring back their relatives.

Itzik Horn, father of captive Eitan Horn, urged Israelis on Saturday to join the nationwide strike “Tomorrow, Israel comes to a halt, and I call on everyone to join,” he said. “It is a day of protest. It is not only a day to show solidarity with the families of the hostages, but a civic demonstration to preserve the moral character of the State of Israel.”

There are 50 captives still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations.

Supporters of Israeli captives begin day of protests

The Times of Israel is reporting that the families and supporters of Israeli captives have begun their nationwide strike to “protest the expansion of the war in Gaza rather than striking a deal to free those held by Hamas”.

The strike is endorsed by thousands of businesses, local authorities and unions and will include protests and actions at 400 locations across Israel, according to the news outlet.

“We’re united in a simple demand for the government of Israel to put on the table today an Israeli outline for a comprehensive deal to end the war in exchange for the last hostage,” Naomi Abir, mother of Lotan, an American Israeli who was killed at the Nova festival, was quoted as saying.

“Without these conditions, we know the other side won’t accept,” she added.


_{Israeli protesters set fire to tyres and stopped traffic on the highway leading to Jerusalem, in Latrun, Israel, on Sunday morning}

Far-right Israeli minister slams antiwar protests

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has decried antiwar demonstrations by captives’ families and supporters as “a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas”.

He claimed that the public demand to secure a deal “buries the hostages in tunnels and seeks to push the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future”.

As we reported earlier, throngs of Israelis have taken to the streets and blocked various main highways across the country, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to secure the release of the captives.

Israel’s Netanyahu says antiwar protesters strengthening Hamas

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned antiwar protesters who have come out across the country, demanding an end to the war on Gaza.

Netanyahu said they were boosting Hamas’s position in negotiations for the release of captives.

“Those calling today for an end to the war without the defeat of Hamas not only harden Hamas’s position and draw out the release of our hostages but also ensure that the horrors of October 7 will reoccur,” Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.


_{People take part in a protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv}

Round and round in circles we go. I would put new in apostrophes instead.

Egypt, Qatar to propose new ‘partial’ Gaza deal: Report

Israeli news outlet Haaretz is reporting that mediators Egypt and Qatar will soon present a “partial or phased” ceasefire deal based on an outline formerly presented by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and “partial understandings” reached during failed negotiations in July.

The report comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Saturday said Israel would agree to a ceasefire on the condition that all the captives are released at once, following reports of renewed pressure from the mediators.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said agreeing to a deal would come in line with Israel’s conditions to end the war, including “disarming of Hamas, the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, Israeli control of the Gaza perimeter, and the installation of non-Hamas and non-Palestinian Authority governance that will live in peace with Israel”.

A senior official close to Netanyahu, briefed on the discussions, noted that Hamas is unlikely to accept the full conditions demanded by Israel, Haaretz reported, adding that he warned that the Israeli government’s stance risks endangering the lives of captives.

ICJ Judge Chooses Israel Over Law — And the Fallout Could Be Explosive

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/icj-vice-president-lord-counting-me-stand-side-israel

ICJ Vice-President Julia Sebutinde has declared that God demands she be on the side of Israel, but there's no room for bias in law.

When the vice-president of the world’s highest court starts moonlighting as a preacher of the apocalypse, something has gone badly wrong somewhere hasn’t it? Julia Sebutinde, vice-President of the International Court of Justice, draped in the robes of international law, has chosen instead to wrap herself in the Book of Revelation, declaring from her pulpit that “the Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel.”

One might expect this kind of sermonising from a televangelist in Texas or a YouTube prophet with a PayPal link, but not from a judge entrusted with deciding whether a state is committing genocide. The ICJ is supposed to embody the cool detachment of law; Sebutinde instead offered the fervour of fevered prophecy.

In confusing her pulpit with her bench, her faith with the law, she has managed the rare trick of weakening the institution she serves while simultaneously handing Benjamin Netanyahu the soundbite of his dreams. For the Court, her words are dynamite; for Israel, they are manna from heaven. And for those who still cling to the idea that international law might restrain power, they are a brutal reminder of how easily justice can be compromised when belief eclipses duty.

The Court can take action here and it must, not just for the sake of Palestine, but for the sake of its own sanctity too.

The International Court of Justice has always been in something of a precarious position. It possesses no army, no police, no hard means of enforcement. Its power lies in its reputation as a neutral arbiter of disputes between states above all other courts and, above all, in its credibility as the world’s conscience when confronting the most serious crimes.

At no point since its founding has this credibility been tested more acutely than in the current proceedings against Israel. South Africa’s case, alleging that Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide, something the court has already plausibly accepted, has now also thrust the Court into the centre of the fiercest moral and political struggle of our age. It is against this backdrop that Julia Sebutinde, the Ugandan jurist who currently serves as Vice-President of the ICJ, delivered remarks that may prove devastating not only to her own reputation but to the authority of the institution itself.

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