Main events on October 23th

• Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel’s war on the enclave has killed at least 68,280 people and wounded 170,375 since October 2023.
• US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance strongly denounced an Israeli Knesset vote in favour of West Bank annexation.
• The Israeli army claimed it had killed those responsible for the kidnapping of Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or and Eitan Mor on October 7, 2023.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “good progress” was being made on the US-led Gaza plan, but more work needed to be done.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government and the Trump administration enjoy “a circle of trust and partnership”.
• World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at least $7bn would be needed to rebuild Gaza’s health facilities.
• Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich apologised for saying the Saudis could “keep riding camels” after refusing normalisation in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
• Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers in Turmus Aya, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Palestine, Israel Envoys Clash at UN Security Council Heated Debate on Gaza After Ceasefire

Palestinian and Israeli envoys faced off at the UN Security Council in a tense debate following the fragile Gaza ceasefire. The session saw fiery exchanges over war crimes, civilian suffering, and the future of Gaza’s governance. Calls for accountability and lasting peace echoed through the chamber.

Former Israeli Advisor on Netanyahu, Qatar and Irreversible Damage In Gaza

From advising former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to heading up the US / Middle East Peace Project, Daniel Levy has had a front row seat at some of the most consequential peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine in the last two decades. He sat down with Ash to talk about genocide, the central role of gulf monarchies and why zionism does little to increase safety for Jews.

UNRWA calls for end to ‘increasing annexation’ of occupied West Bank

On X, the UN agency banned by Israel says that since October 7, 2023, “the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has also witnessed a sharp escalation in violence”.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in settler and Israeli army attacks on the territory since Israel began its war on Gaza, it said, adding that one-fifth of the victims were children, according to the UN humanitarian office.

“The increasing annexation of the West Bank is happening steadily in a gross violation of international law,” UNRWA said, referring to the expansion and recognition of illegal Israeli settlements.


Settlers attack Palestinian property near Ramallah

Settlers set fire to a number of Palestinian vehicles in Deir Dibwan, east of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, at dawn this morning, the Wafa news agency reports. Local sources reported that settlers attacked the hill area in Deir Dibwan and set fire to a number of vehicles.

Israeli army says 44 arrested in occupied West Bank over past week

A military statement says operations were carried out in various parts of the territory, and all people detained were “wanted” by Israel. It added that troops also confiscated weapons and conducted interrogations during the operations.

Palestinian teen killed in Israeli raid on West Bank as settlers rampage

Footage shows settlers setting fire to Palestinian vehicles

Video circulating on social media shows Israeli settlers attacking a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank:

Two killed in Israeli drone attack in south Lebanon’s town of Toul

Two people were killed and two others injured when an Israeli drone targeted a car in the town of Toul in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

A security source told Al Jazeera that the drone fired a missile at the car, directly hitting it, causing it to catch fire and wounding those inside.

This morning, an Israeli drone also targeted a bulldozer in the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon.

Yesterday, four people were killed in Israeli air strikes in eastern and southern Lebanon, according to the country’s Health Ministry, with the Israeli military saying it had attacked Hezbollah targets.

Israel has continued to violate its November 2024 ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah on a near-daily basis since.

Vance was ‘firm’ about US frustrations towards Israel in meeting with Netanyahu: Report

US Vice President JD Vance delivered a “firm message” from Trump during a meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with the conversation who were granted anonymity by the US outlet.

Israeli attacks on Sunday, which killed more than 40 Palestinian civilians, were seen by senior US officials as Israel acting “out of control,” one of the sources said.

The public comments “reflect how the president feels” about Israeli actions following the ceasefire, Politico reported, quoting a White House official who also spoke anonymously.

As we’ve been reporting, US officials, including Trump, have also criticised the Israeli parliament’s new West Bank annexation bill, a move analysts see as an unusual break from Washington’s support for Israeli policy.

• Trump said “Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank” amid growing condemnation of an Israeli parliamentary motion passed on Wednesday that seeks to formally annex the occupied Palestinian territory.
• Earlier yesterday, in an interview with Time Magazine, Trump said that the US is firmly against Israeli annexation. “It won’t happen. It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can’t do that now,” Trump told Time.
• Trump continued to Time: “We’ve had great Arab support. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
• US Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, while in Israel also said that Trump’s policy remains that the occupied West Bank won’t be annexed by Israel, calling the parliamentary vote in favour of annexation a “very stupid political stunt” that he “personally” takes some insult from.

Trump expects Saudi Arabia to sign the Abraham Accords in return in November.

America’s 51st state? US pressure comes to bear on Israel

A succession of high-ranking US officials have found themselves in Israel in recent days – first special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner on Monday, then Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.

Their focus has been clear – to stop the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal from collapsing. And that essentially means ensuring that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not back out of the agreement, which ended two years of war earlier this month.

The presence of the US officials in Israel has been described as “babysitting” – designed to twist the arm of a far-right government itching to find any excuse to relaunch the war, which killed more than 68,000 Palestinians.

UN wants to see Israel allow more aid into Strip as per agreement

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, tells Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo that at no point since the ceasefire went into effect have 600 UN trucks entered Gaza on any given day.

“We want the Israeli authorities to allow in more trucks at more crossing points, we’ve made that clear,” he said.

He said that overall, more UN trucks and more commercial trucks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire, a welcome sign. However, during Israel’s war, prior to the ceasefire, aid levels were staggeringly low, enough to cause a UN-backed monitor to declare famine in several areas of the enclave.

Israelis gather to block aid heading to Gaza near border

Video gathered by Reuters news agency shows extremist Israelis attempting to block aid trucks heading to the Gaza Strip near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing, one of just two opened by Israel after the ceasefire went into effect.

This is not the first time Israelis have gathered to try to block life-saving aid to the Gaza Strip, where our correspondents report that the hunger crisis remains acute despite a pause in Israeli bombings.

People’s health ‘direly impacted by poor living conditions’ in Gaza: MSF

More than one million people are still being forced to survive on a tiny patch of land, and in dangerous living conditions in southern Gaza, says Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The organisation said in a written statement that the displacement, along with the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure and the health system by Israeli forces, is creating the perfect storm for disease and illness to spread.

“Israeli authorities should immediately allow a massive scale-up of humanitarian assistance to flow freely into Gaza,” it said.

MSF stressed that Israel’s “two-year-long genocidal campaign” has left people “traumatised, injured, and dangerously exposed to the elements as winter approaches”.

“Without immediate improvements to water, sanitation, shelter, and nutrition, more people will die from entirely preventable causes,” it also said.

Israel not letting up military activity in Gaza despite ceasefire

What aid has been sent to Gaza remains a drop in the ocean, in terms of need.

There is also a severe shortage of materials for shelter, with thousands of families living in makeshift tents and even in damaged buildings. As winter approaches, there is a massive need for new tents and mobile houses.

So far, there is a severe shortage of humanitarian aid [going] into the Strip, amid growing calls from UN actors to scale up humanitarian deliveries.

Meanwhile, over the past two weeks, we have seen multiple Israeli attacks conducted by the Israeli air force and infantry brigades on the ground in specific areas that are located beyond the yellow line.

We have been told by local residents and officials that the Israeli military continues to stage attacks, carrying out demolition operations for residential homes and flattening agricultural land. The Israeli military itself has not denied these accusations, confirming that it is operating in areas to remove what it calls “terrorist infrastructure”.

But many Palestinians view this as a violation of the ceasefire deal, as the deal stipulates a full cessation of Israeli military activity.

Erdogan says US, others must press Israel to abide by Gaza ceasefire

The Turkish president says the United States and others must do more to push Israel to stop violating the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including the possible use of sanctions or halting arms sales.

According to an official readout of his remarks to reporters on board a return flight from Oman, Erdogan said Hamas was abiding by the agreement.

“Gaza is a test for the Islamic world. God willing, we will pass this test with flying colours and take our place alongside our brothers and sisters in the strongest possible way,” he said, adding that Turkiye remains ready to support the planned Gaza task force in any way needed.

Recent reports indicate that Netanyahu has foreclosed on the possibility of Turkish personnel being involved on the ground in the Gaza Strip. Since the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza, already strained relations between the two countries have cratered, with Erdogan frequently condemning Israel.

Palestinian children wounded by unexploded Israeli bomb

Two Palestinian children, Yazan and Jude Nour, sustained severe injuries from a blast caused by unexploded ordnance left behind by Israeli forces, according to social media footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad.

The explosion occurred as the two boys returned to their destroyed home in the Nassr neighbourhood, west of Gaza City, according to the post on social media. The pair was rushed to al-Shifa Hospital for treatment.

The Gaza Center for Human Rights has warned that there are 20,000 unexploded explosive devices from bombs, rockets, and shells dropped by the Israeli army over the last two years.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQJ_2LHiihB

Returning to northern Gaza is a return ‘to nothing’

Palestinians are pretty much returning to nothing in northern Gaza and survival here looks nothing like living. It’s endurance under impossible conditions. It’s a daily struggle to meet the most basic human needs here amid destruction, amid hunger, amid the grief.

People are returning, but they’re returning here to only skeletons of these buildings. There is nothing inside, no access to water, no access to food supplies, and it’s not appropriate for sheltering, as they were given a warning that many of these buildings are severely damaged and near collapse.

We’ve seen people walk for hours, sometimes days, in search of flour, or lentils, or some canned food in order to survive these difficult conditions. Also, people are still living in the dark here. The entire power grid system has been destroyed.

Gaza civil defence helps in reburial of Palestinians killed by Israel

In a short statement on Telegram, the organisation says its crews participated in the burial of about 120 people killed in Israeli attacks at different points in the war, who were buried next to homes or on private land because of the impossibility of accessing public cemeteries.

This mass burial took place in Gaza City.

“After the Shuheibar family contacted the leadership of Gaza Governorate, a mechanism was put in place to recover the remains, transfer them to cemeteries, and carry out the burial process in the presence of a number of family elders and members”, the civil defence said.

Palestinian factions have ‘unified vision’ on Gaza deal: Badran

The following are highlights from Egyptian Al Qahera News’s TV interview on Thursday with Husam Badran, the head of Hamas’s national relations and a member of its political bureau:

US top diplomat addresses media in Israel, says ‘progress being made’ on Gaza peace

Marco Rubio is currently speaking in Kiryat Gat, Israel, on his latest visit to oversee the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire and meet with Israeli officials.

“A lot of good progress is being made on a number of fronts,” he said, referring to Trump’s 20-point peace plan and the holding of the ceasefire itself.

He also said that the US presence in Israel is beginning to scale up, including members of the diplomatic and security services.

Annexation of occupied West Bank is ‘clear red line’ for US

Political analyst Shireen Salti says Israel is testing what “the red line” is for the United States over the ceasefire deal and the bill over annexation of the occupied West Bank.

“Israel has been notorious at breaking the ceasefire over and over again,” she told Al Jazeera from Ramallah.  “It is interesting to see that the developments on the ground compared to what the discussions have been at the legislative level,” Salti said.

She stressed that the annexation of the occupied West Bank is “a clear red line” for the US, as top Washington officials push back against Israel’s “political stunt” – as Vice President JD Vance calls it.

“But Americans continue to ignore new illegal outposts and settlements, which are kind of informal annexation on the ground,” Salti also said. The analyst said the US influence and pressure when needed on Israeli politics should not be “underestimated”, but it should not be “overstated” either.