UN chief calls for ‘unconditional release’ of Israeli captives

Antonio Guterres has released a video statement to mark one year since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

“The October 7th attack scarred souls, and on this day, we remember all those who were brutally killed and suffered unspeakable violence, including sexual violence, as they were simply living their lives,” he said.

“I demand once again the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Hamas must allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit those hostages,” he added.

Guterres also spoke about the “shocking violence and bloodshed” that has erupted since the events of October 7, saying the war that has followed “continues to shatter and inflict profound human suffering” in Gaza and now in Lebanon.

“It is time for the release of the hostages, time to silence the guns, time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region, time for peace, international law and justice,” he said.

My message to mark one year since the October 7 attacks. pic.twitter.com/0NPlHyAT6s

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 5, 2024

Man sets himself on fire at pro-Palestine protest in US

The Reuters news agency published pictures of the man with his arm on fire at a pro-Palestine protest in Washington, DC, as well as images of bystanders using their Keffiyeh scarves to put out the flames.

The Washington Post reported that the man, who has not been named, claimed he was a journalist and guilty of spreading misinformation about the crisis in the Middle East.

The rally in the US capital, attended by about 1,000 people, was one of several in cities around the globe marking the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and Israel’s war on Gaza.

_{Police put out a fire after a self-proclaimed journalist self immolated during a pro-Palestinian rally outside the White House in Washington on October 5}

 
86% of Israelis unwilling to live near Gaza after war: Poll

Some 86 percent of Israelis say won’t live in settlements near the Gaza Strip after the end of the devastating conflict, a new poll conducted by Israel’s public broadcaster KAN shows.

The poll included 600,000 Israelis and found only 14 percent said they would consider living in areas adjacent to Gaza. The survey found 27 percent of Israelis believe their country has “won the war against Hamas” while 35 percent said it has “lost”. The remainder were unsure.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of Gaza. Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions there.

 
Protests in Canada, Mexico, US call for end to Israeli wars on Gaza, Lebanon

As we’ve been reporting, protests have been taking place in major cities around the world to demand an end to Israeli wars on Gaza and Lebanon.

In the United States, hundreds of people took to the streets of central Detroit and Washington, DC, in a show of support for Palestinians and Lebanese, as Israel’s war on Gaza approaches its first anniversary.

Similar protests took place in the Canadian city of Toronto, as well as Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, where demonstrators marched carrying Palestinian flags and banners urging newly inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum to break diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.

_{Pro-Palestinian supporters hold up posters with an image of US President Joe Biden that reads in Spanish, “War criminal, genocide” during a protest in Mexico City}

Protesters around the world call for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza


_{Jakarta, Indonesia}

<sub>Copenhagen, Denmark


Berlin, Germany


Madrid, Spain</sub>

‘Living to death’: Poet Mosab Abu Toha on Gaza’s trauma, one year on

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/10/6/living-to-death-poet-mosab-abu-toha-on-gazas-trauma-one-year-on

“If you live in Gaza, you die several times,” says Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha in his new collection Forest of Noise: Poems, which comes out on October 15 – eight days after the first anniversary of the beginning of the war.

Journalist Nick Hilden interviewed the poet, whose work has been lauded for its heart-rending, vivid descriptions of life under Israeli occupation.

In the interview, from his new home in upstate New York having been evacuated from Gaza late last year with his family, Al Jazeera asked Abu Toha what he thinks of his new existence.

“Every night is a new life for us. You sleep and you are sure, ‘Maybe this time it’s my time to die with my family’. So you die several times because you count yourself amongst the dead every night.”

Israeli forces bomb home in Beit Lahiya, killing at least 2

Israeli fighter jets bombed the Masry family home in Beit Lahiya, killing at least two people, including an infant, the Wafa news agency reports. Eleven others were wounded in the attack, the agency added.

The bombing was among a series of deadly strikes on northern Gaza over recent hours. The Palestinian Civil Defense said earlier that at least 11 people were killed in the attacks.

Sixteen Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on Gaza mosque

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli fighter jets bombed the mosque, which was sheltering displaced people, killing at least 16 people.

The mosque is located near al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.

Death toll rises from Israel’s attack on Gaza mosque

At least 18 people are now confirmed dead following Israel’s attack on the mosque in Deir el-Balah, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Israeli military says bombed mosque was a Hamas command centre

The Israeli military has claimed, without providing evidence, that it bombed the “Shahada al-Aqsa mosque” in Deir el-Balah because Hamas was using it as a “command and control complex”.

Posting on X, the Israeli military also claimed that “many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians” before bombing the mosque, which was housing displaced Palestinians.

At least 18 people have been confirmed killed so far.

Footage of the aftermath of the attack, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, shows rescue crews scrambling to pull bodies from under the rubble.

شهداء وجرحى في قصف طائرات الاحتلال مسجدا قرب مدخل مستشفى شهداء الأقصى بدير البلح وسط قطاع غزة #حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/LJHo2T5BwQ

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) October 6, 2024

Is that "Hamas command centre" excuse something Lavander AI spews out as reason. It seems to be stuck in a loop.

Death toll rises to 21 in Israeli attack on Gaza mosque

Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting that at least 21 people are now confirmed dead following Israel’s attack on the mosque in Deir el-Balah.

Severe damage at Gaza mosque after deadly Israeli attack

The targeted mosque is located across the street from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and was hit by the Israeli military at about 2am local time. It has been turned into a shelter for almost a year now and has been used by displaced families, including those who do not have tents.

Israeli fighter jets dropped bombs and severely damaged the facility.

We drove by the mosque this morning and saw the scale of destruction caused to it and the properties in the surrounding area, including many department stores on the main road.

Twenty-one people have been killed and it took paramedics and civil defence crews close to three hours to remove the bodies because of the sheer level of damage that was caused.

At least 24 Palestinians killed, 93 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza mosque, school

Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israeli forces of committing “two brutal massacres” overnight by bombing a mosque and a school-turned-shelter and killing at least 24 Palestinians.

Some 93 others were wounded in the attacks in central Gaza, it said on Telegram.

The targeted buildings were identified as the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibn Rushd School. Both were housing hundreds of displaced people, the media office said.

The bombings followed 27 Israeli assaults on 27 homes and displacement centres across the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours, it added.

Israeli army encircles northern Gaza’s Jabalia camp

Israeli forces have surrounded the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Palestinian Civil Defence spokesman in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, said multiple strikes rocked Jabalia through the night and there were many casualties. Israeli forces have bombarded Jabalia regularly since the war on Gaza started, displacing almost all of its residents.

“The troops of the 401st Brigade and the 460th Brigade have successfully encircled the area and are currently continuing to operate in the area,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

Intelligence indicates the “presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area of Jabalia … as well as efforts by Hamas to rebuild its operational capabilities in the area”.

“Prior to and during the operation, the [air force] struck dozens of military targets in the area to assist ground troops.

Gaza healthcare workers ‘constantly scared they’ll be the next target’

Dr Jeremy Hickey, speaking to Al Jazeera from Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, says when he worked there in July, the facility was at 300 percent capacity but the situation is even more desperate now.

“The place is flooded with people and this is the daily situation,” said Hickey.

Medical facilities have been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces since the beginning of the war and the doctor noted local healthcare workers are “constantly scared they’ll be the next target”.

“There’s some level of safety being a foreigner, but at the same time, we don’t know who or when will be struck. For those reasons, we’ve been instructed very particularly we’re not to leave the hospital grounds. But even last night there was an attack literally across the road to the hospital entrance, and any one of us could’ve been struck.”

Israeli military issues new evacuation order covering all of northern Gaza

The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for large swaths of northern Gaza, ordering residents to flee to the already overcrowded “humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi.

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee told people in northern Gaza Hamas had established “terrorist infrastructure in your region, exploiting the population, shelters, and health facilities as a human shield”.

He said the Israeli military will “continue to operate forcefully against terrorist organisations”, without offering information about specific operations planned.

Adraee ordered people to use the “open humanitarian transportation and evacuation routes towards the humanitarian area in al-Mawasi, which are Rashid Street (the sea) and Salah El-Din Street”.

COGAT announces ‘expansion’ of al-Mawasi ‘humanitarian zone’

The al-Mawasi “humanitarian area” in southern Gaza has been expanded, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has announced.

The Israeli government agency, responsible for overseeing civilian policy in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, posted a map of the existing area with more than a dozen zones added.

“The expanded Humanitarian Area includes field hospitals that have been established since the outbreak of the war, tent compounds, and supplies of food, water, medicine, and medical equipment,” the post said.

Earlier, we reported the Israeli military had issued a new evacuation order for almost the entirety of northern Gaza, telling the civilian population there to flee to al-Mawasi.

The Israeli military has repeatedly attacked displacement camps in al-Mawasi despite its humanitarian designation, killing many Palestinians.

_{The bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack on al-Mawasi are brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on September 16}

‘We will not leave northern Gaza’

Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia overnight and warplanes bombed several houses, killing and wounding many Palestinians.

In one air strike, 10 people were killed in one house and five others in another. Residents described it as one of the worst nights in months. Palestinian and UN officials say no place in the enclave is safe, including the “humanitarian zones” where Israeli missiles have hit numerous times.

“The war is back,” said Raed, 52, from Jabalia, before he and his family left for Gaza City.

“Dozens of explosions from air strikes and tank shelling shook the ground and buildings, it felt like the early days of the war.” Asked whether they would go to al-Mawasi as the army ordered, he replied: “As if they didn’t kill people displaced in the so-called humanitarian areas? We will not leave northern Gaza.”

People in north Gaza urged to ignore Israeli evacuation orders

Gaza’s Interior Ministry called on Palestinian civilians living in northern Gaza to ignore Israel’s orders to evacuate and move south.

“Israeli claims about the presence of safe zones in southern Gaza are lies as Israel commits crimes and massacres in all areas of the enclave,” the ministry said in a statement. “We call on citizens in northern Gaza to ignore Israeli threats.”

The Israeli army issued new evacuation orders on Sunday for Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza to leave their homes and move to areas designated by the Israeli army as “safe zones” in central and southern Gaza.

Gaza death toll rises

The death toll in Gaza from Israeli attacks since last October has risen to 41,870. Another 97,166 people have been wounded in the attacks, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.

It added 45 people were killed and 256 injured in the past 24 hours.

Gaza children’s lives ‘shattered’ by Israel’s relentless war

Arwa Damon, of the International Network for Relief and Assistance, says every child in Gaza has been affected by the war.

“We also need to take into consideration that a study done by Save the Children prior to October 7 showed 80 percent of Gaza’s children – already at that point – suffered from depression and anxiety,” she said, speaking to Al Jazeera from Baalbek, Lebanon.

“This war has been so intense and relentless that every single pillar of existence that is meant to provide stability for a child has been shattered,” she said.

Qassam Brigades reports fierce fighting in northern Gaza

Palestinian fighters are waging fierce battles with Israeli forces in northern Gaza, a statement by Hamas’s armed wing on Telegram says.

The army sent tanks and soldiers into the region for the first time in months, ordering residents to go to what it called “safe zones” in the south.

Health officials said at least 20 people had been killed since Saturday night in northern Gaza.

_{Israel’s army says it conducted ‘precise strikes on Hamas terrorists’ embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque in Deir el-Balah}

Nine children among at least 17 killed in Israeli attacks on Jabalia

Gaza’s civil defence agency says Israeli air attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north killed at least 17 people, including nine children.

“There are 17 martyrs, including nine children, in Israeli air raids in Jabalia,” civil defence agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

Israeli forces encircled Jabalia in response to indications Hamas was rebuilding there, the army said earlier.

Residents posted about the air attacks and mourned their relatives on social media. Imad Alarabid said in a Facebook post a strike on his home in Jabalia killed a dozen family members, including his parents.

Saeed Abu Elaish, a Health Ministry medic, said he was wounded and bleeding. “Pray for us,” he wrote on Facebook.

 
Another Gaza journalist killed in Israeli attack

Gaza journalist Hassan Hamad has been killed in an Israeli air strike on his home in northern Jabalia, bringing the total number of media workers killed since the start of the war to 175.

Hamad worked as a freelance TV reporter and his footage had aired on Al Jazeera and other networks.

Colleagues and the government’s media office in Gaza confirmed his death, saying the journalist’s home was deliberately targeted to silence him after he received threats.

Comment from Israel’s army wasn’t immediately available.

Israeli forces shoot Palestinian man during West Bank raid

Israeli soldiers wounded the man after clashes broke out with Palestinian resistance groups during their storming of the town of Tal, southwest of Nablus, the Wafa news agency reports.

The man, who was shot in the thigh, has been transferred to hospital. His condition is not currently known.

Israeli force also arrested three men in the Hebron governorate, including a father and son at a military checkpoint near the village of Umm al-Khair and a journalist in the Arroub camp.

Israeli forces arrest 15 Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Those arrested included a journalist and former prisoners, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.

The arrests were made across the governorates of Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Tubas, the groups said in a statement.

More than 11,000 Palestinians have been arrested in Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank since last October, they added.

Two German citizens deported through Jordan crossing

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says two “terrorist-supporting anarchists with German citizenship” have been deported through the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge, not to be allowed into Israel again.

The far-right minister claimed the two entered an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank and “disturbed and clashed with soldiers”.

“A special team that I established in the Israel police as soon as the war broke out acted with determination and speed to arrest and deport them,” he wrote in a post on X. “That’s the only way it works!”

International activists have for decades tried to raise awareness of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank, and some have been killed by Israeli soldiers, with no accountability.

‘Taking sides’: A brief history of international solidarity with Palestine

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/10/6/us-turkish-womans-killing-last-month-puts-a-spotlight-on-international-activists-efforts-to-expose-israeli-violence

A month ago, Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier, igniting widespread global condemnation, and putting a spotlight on the role of international activists in Palestine and their efforts to expose the violence of Israel’s occupation.

Like the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed over the past year, there has been little consequence for Israeli soldiers over the activist’s killing.

Foreign nationals began travelling to Palestine in greater numbers specifically to document the realities of life under Israeli occupation, participate in protests, attempt to stop home demolitions or accompany Palestinians to their land in an effort to protect them from Israeli settler and military attacks.

Locked out: Palestinians in Jordan still wait to return to stolen homes

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2024/10/6/locked-out-palestinians-in-jordan-still-waiting-to-return-to-stolen-homes

Amman, Jordan – In 1949, a year after the State of Israel was created, Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion reportedly said: “The old will die and the young will forget.”

It’s a prediction that amuses Omer Ihsan Yaseen, an erudite 20-year-old optician and third-generation Palestinian refugee living in Jordan’s capital, Amman.

“We will return, I am sure of that,” he says firmly as he points at a thick iron key that once opened the heavy-set doors to his grandparents’ stone house in Salamah, east of Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv in Israel.

Like Yaseen, many Palestinians forced from their homes in the Nakba (1948) and Naksa (1967) still hold onto keys to their homes as symbols of their right to return.


_{A Palestinian refugee shows the key to his family’s home in Hebron}

France’s Macron: ‘Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant’

The fallout continues after French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza” saying it’s urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying “the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza”. France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said in an interview.

Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace”.

In a statement, Macron’s office said: “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel. We must return to diplomatic solutions.”


Macron’s arms-embargo call shows ‘the world can make a difference’

Elon Liel, the former director of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says Israel will respond with military action against Iran after last week’s missile strikes, but the attack will likely be measured.

“As it is seen here there will be a response. I think it will be limited especially because the Americans are very close to their election and do not want us to cause any problems during the election. The question is how will this war look after the American election, because until [it’s over] both sides will limit themselves a little bit,” Liel told Al Jazeera.

He noted the statement by France’s President Emmanuel Macron calling for a halt of weapons transfers to Israel, highlighting the unusual comments from a staunch Western ally and what they could mean to the war.

“Also another important player when it comes to Lebanon is France, which in a way took sides yesterday by calling for an arms embargo and very much annoying our leadership. So if France can drag Europe into a more active position in the conflict and influence the Americans to get deeper into it, I think the world can make a difference.”

Netanyahu tells Macron halting arms sales will boost Iran’s influence

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has told French President Macron that restrictions on Israel would strengthen Iran’s axis of resistance, a day after Macron urged a halt to weapon supplies to Israel.

“Just as Iran supports all parts of the Iranian terrorist axis, Israel’s friends are expected to stand behind it, and not impose restrictions on it that will only strengthen the Iranian axis of evil,” Netanyahu told Macron in a phone call, according to a statement published by the Israeli PM’s office.

And they do it under stringent sanctions... Your turn, you are the one destroying the region. You are the (currently) more dangerous terrorist.



Pope calls for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, Gaza

Pope Francis has called for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza before the first anniversary of the Israeli war on the besieged Palestinian coastal territory.

“Let us pray for the Lebanese, especially for the people in the south who are forced to leave their villages,” Francis told people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Angelus prayer.

“The Middle East has plunged into increasing suffering, with destructive military actions continuing to affect the Palestinian population,” the pontiff added.

“All nations have the right to exist in peace and security and their territories should not be attacked or invaded. Sovereignty must be respected and guaranteed by dialogue and peace, not hatred, war.”