Three Palestinians killed in Israeli bombing of Gaza City

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that three people have been killed in an Israeli bombing of a house in the Nasser neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north of the Gaza Strip. Several people were also injured.


Death toll rises to 5 after dawn strike by Israel on Gaza City house

Five people have been confirmed killed in an early morning Israeli air strike on the Nasser neighbourhood in Gaza City, the Wafa news agency reports. We reported earlier that three people had been killed in an attack in the area. Wafa reports that the five were killed when Israel’s military bombed a residential house in the Nasser area.

At least seven people were also wounded but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.


‘Carnage’ for civilians as Israeli military siege of Jabalia continues

Eleven days and the Jabalia refugee camp is still under a very tight humanitarian and military siege.

No aid has been delivered to the north of Gaza and families there are trapped under heavy land and aerial attacks by Israeli fighter jets and infantry units, which are battling inside key urban centres in Jabalia.

We need to remember that the Jabalia refugee camp covers just 1.5 square kilometres [0.57 square miles] of territory in the north of the Gaza Strip, but the eyes of the Israeli military are on Jabalia. They believe that Jabalia is a stronghold for Hamas.

There has been a clear intensification and families are no longer able to flee from Jabalia or cope with the growing security concerns that face them in light of the full military closure of all ways to Gaza City.

That means the families in Jabalia are really going through the systematic destruction of their residential homes and the ongoing carnage that continues to unfold for everyone trapped there in that corner of the Strip.

_{People carry a man extricated from the rubble of a collapsed building in Jabalia camp}


US advocacy group condemns ‘double tap’ attack that killed children, doctor in Jabalia

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned an Israeli “double tap” attack that killed several children, as well as a doctor who tried to save them, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of Gaza.

The Israeli military reportedly returned to bomb the home of the family of a US citizen after an initial strike injured 15 people, including seven children, on Monday night, CAIR said in a statement.

Trapped under the rubble, the family called for help, but Israeli forces also then targeted an ambulance, killing Ahmed Najjar, a doctor, and several children, CAIR said.

CAIR called on US leaders, including the Biden administration, the US State Department and elected officials in Virginia, where the family’s relatives live, to “demand that the Israeli government cease its attacks on” Jabalia.

_{Bodies of Palestinians are brought to the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City following Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp}

Palestinian man burned alive after Israeli strike on hospital courtyard

A 20-year-old Palestinian man who was confined to a hospital bed and connected to an IV drip burned to death after an Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital courtyard where displaced people had been seeking shelter.

One killed in Israeli attack on southern Gaza

Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues are reporting that at least one Palestinian was killed and others were injured in an Israeli assault near the Sofa area east of Rafah city.

42,409 Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s war

At least 42,409 Palestinians have been killed and 99,153 wounded in Israel’s attack on Gaza since October 2023, the Health Ministry says. The death toll includes 65 people killed in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.

The real number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s onslaught is far higher with an estimated 10,000 bodies buried in Gaza’s vast destruction.

The #polio vaccination campaign continues in #Gaza

On day 2, UNRWA, @WHO, @UNICEF & partners vaccinated over 64K children & administered 51K Vitamin A doses. So far, we’ve reached around 157,000 children with the vaccine

Despite the huge challenges, we continue working to… pic.twitter.com/r6mgR5hR25

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 16, 2024

Israeli forces shell home in northern Gaza City

Israeli tanks have targeted a home in the Sabra area south of Gaza City with two artillery shells, the civil defence agency says. No injuries have been reported so far.

The Israeli army launched a ground assault again in northern Gaza 12 days ago. Backed by warplanes, the army has continued to pound the ravaged area that has seen multiple attacks throughout the yearlong war.

More than 400,000 Palestinians remain trapped in the area, unable to move southwards because of the deadly ground incursion.

Israeli forces shoot teenager, then beat him in occupied East Jerusalem

Video has emerged of Israeli soldiers running after, shooting and then beating an injured teenage boy.

Security camera footage shows Israeli soldiers chasing Palestinian children in the town of Biddu, occupied East Jerusalem.

The video shows the moment when a soldier fires towards one of the fleeing boys with an assault weapon. Then the troops start beating the wounded boy as he lies on the ground before arresting him. It’s unclear when the attack happened.

As war rages in Gaza, Israeli forces continue deadly incursions into the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. More than 700 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territory since October 7, 2023.

_{A Palestinian teenager is shot in the back by Israeli forces}

UN experts urge Israel to stop violent settler attacks on olive farmers

A group of UN Human Rights Council special rapporteurs has issued a media release saying farmers in the occupied West Bank are “facing the most dangerous olive season ever” due to settler attacks.

“The intimidation of farmers, restriction of access to lands, severe harassment and attacks by Israeli armed settlers and occupation forces further undermine the food sovereignty of Palestinian families and are yet another attack on Palestinian self-determination,” their release said.

They called on Israel to focus on dismantling settler colonies “as stated by the International Court of Justice on 19 July 2024 and reaffirmed by the General Assembly on 18 September 2024″.

“Israel is under international legal obligation to first and foremost end their occupation of Palestinian land, which amounts to annexation including through racial segregation and apartheid, immediately cease all new settlement activities and evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory,” the UN rapporteurs said.

“It is also under the obligation to provide full reparation for the damage caused by its human rights violations to all persons concerned, including by returning land, and allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.”

UK considers sanctions against Israeli ministers

The economic restrictions would target Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over comments they made about civilians in Gaza and settlers’ activities in the occupied West Bank, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said.

Starmer was responding to a question about Smotrich’s comments that starving civilians in Gaza might be justified and Ben-Gvir’s remarks that perpetrators of settler violence in the West Bank were heroes.

“We are looking at that because they’re obviously abhorrent comments,” the prime minister said.

Starmer’s government has taken a slightly tougher line on Israel since it was elected, although it supports Israel’s right to defend itself. It has limited some arms export licences to Israel, saying there was a risk that certain equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

On Tuesday, the UK also announced new sanctions on Israeli settler organisations it said had sponsored violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

Israeli equipment barred from defence show in France

More than a week after French President Emmanuel Macron called for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel, Israeli arms manufacturers have been told they can take part but not exhibit in the Euronaval defence show in Paris next month.

“The French government informed Euronaval of its decision to approve the participation of Israeli delegations at Euronaval 2024 without any stand or exhibition of equipment,” said the organisers of the show, which is due to start on November 4.

The organisers of the biennial event, which attracts naval defence exhibitors from around the world, said seven Israeli companies would be impacted.

“In accordance with the French government’s decision, Israeli companies and citizens who wish to attend will be welcomed at the show under the conditions listed above,” they added.

This month, Macron reiterated his concern over Israel’s yearlong attacks on Gaza, which continue despite repeated calls for a ceasefire, and criticised Netanyahu’s decision to launch a ground offensive into Lebanon.

This week, the two leaders spoke by phone, and Netanyahu reportedly told Macron Israel was “working against the terrorist organisation Hezbollah” so it can no longer threaten its citizens on Israel’s northern border.

Protest in Paris against inaction on Gaza genocide

Thousands of people gathered in Paris to protest the lack of action from French and European leaders against Israel during more than a year of genocide in Gaza. The demonstrators condemned France’s continued arms support to Israel.

Qatar’s emir calls for establishment of Palestinian state, Gaza ceasefire at summit

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has once again called for the establishment of a “sovereign and independent” Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel.

Speaking at the first summit between EU and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in Brussels, the Qatari emir also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied West Bank.

“The destructive war waged by Israel today on Palestine and Lebanon made war crimes as something normal. That is something that we cannot accept,” he said.

“We need a settlement for these conflicts. We need to find a solution to the Palestinian cause on the basis of international legitimacy and of the 1967 borders. … A ceasefire would be a first step before a serious round of negotiations for a definite solution to the Palestinian cause.”

Jordan ‘playing a crucial role’ in humanitarian assistance

Jordan has a very difficult position and also a lot of space to manoeuvre politically. On the one hand, it is geographically attached to Palestine. It is directly affected by what’s going on in Gaza, in the occupied West Bank.

But it’s also been playing a fundamental, crucial role in the humanitarian assistance effort – not just in Gaza but also in Lebanon. It’s also meeting all sides, including the Iranian foreign minister, who met today with his counterpart here in Amman and also with the king of Jordan.

And what was on the agenda at the summit in Brussels was not just the potential for an Israeli strike but also the need to calm down the region – to bring the temperature down – to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon, which are all really interconnected.

What’s happening in Brussels now would bring a lot of comfort to the Jordanian government here, to the Jordanian king, because they agree with what was said by the emir of Qatar.

Qatari prime minister says international law has been undermined

Addressing a summit between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani emphasised the need for a two-state solution and warned that Israel’s war on Gaza has undermined the vitality of international law.

Qatari prime minister says there have been no Gaza ceasefire talks for weeks

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani said that there has been no engagement in ceasefire talks over the last three to four weeks for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has vowed to continue fighting.

“On the prospects of the negotiation … basically in the last three to four weeks, there is no conversation or engagement at all, and we are just moving in the same circle with the silence from all parties,” Al Thani told reporters at a summit between the EU and Gulf Cooperation Council.

‘War in Gaza must stop now’: France’s ambassador to UN

France’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nicolas de Riviere, has called for the captives to be released, the resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza and an immediate ceasefire.

Speaking at an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council regarding the ongoing Israeli conflicts, Riviere called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “catastrophic”.

“We can no longer accept that humanitarian tragedy as an inevitable fact. There needs to be an immediate permanency by the release of all hostages as well as the delivery at scale of humanitarian aid,” he said. “War in Gaza must stop now.”

Riviere said that France condemns the October 7 Hamas attack and will continue to work towards the implementation of a two-state solution.

“And we will continue to work on this task including within the Security Council. Measures aiming to weaken the Palestinian Authority must stop,” he said before turning to the war in Lebanon. “The humanitarian situation is worsening as a result of the intensification of Israeli strikes. There too we need to see an immediate ceasefire.”

US says it is pushing Israel for improvements on aid

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, says Israel must do more to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the US will push it to do so despite overwhelming evidence that Israel has been largely cutting off aid from northern Gaza.

“The United States will continue to make the following clear: Food and supplies must be surged into Gaza immediately, and there must be humanitarian pauses across Gaza to allow for vaccinations and the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid,” she said.

“A policy of starvation in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and US law. The government of Israel has said this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement.”

The UNSC only ruled on that back in June, when are you going to implement resolution 2735
https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15723.doc.htm

Aid has only been going down since July. Highest avg was 156 trucks per day in July, with 500 a day before Oct 7, 800 a day needed now.

UK’s envoy to UN calls conditions in northern Gaza ‘harrowing’

Barbara Woodward calls the situation in northern Gaza “harrowing” and has named Israel as the culprit for cutting off access to food aid.

“In the first half of October, no food aid was delivered to northern Gaza with Israeli authorities denying or impeding the vast majority of humanitarian movements between north and south. We expect October to see the least aid enter Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, lower even than September,” she said.

“Israel must comply fully with international humanitarian law,” she added.

China calls on Israel to cooperate with humanitarian efforts in Gaza

Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the UN, says the situation in Gaza has deteriorated in the past two weeks and shows no signs of stabilising.

“Israel has not relented in its military operations in Gaza at all but has constantly attacked and bombed schools and hospitals, completely cut off access to humanitarian supplies in northern Gaza and once again forcibly ordered an emergent evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people,” he told the UN Security Council.

Fu called on Israel to “cooperate fully with the UN and other humanitarian entities to facilitate and ensure the safety of humanitarian operations, such as transportation of humanitarian supplies and polio vaccination”.

“They are all human beings like us. Why, when born in Gaza, do they have to suffer like this?”


Palestine’s UN envoy calls on Security Council to end silence

Riyad Mansour has given an impassioned speech before the highest United Nations body, saying that all members present are witnessing genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza whether or not they are willing to recognise it.

“What is happening in northern Gaza now is another level of monstrosity”, Mansour said, focusing in on Israel’s ongoing relentless pounding of the northern Gaza Strip.

“Silence and inaction are not an option. Are you ready to proclaim that while Palestinians refuse to surrender even when faced with collective capital punishment, this council decided to surrender?

“We know that many members around this table refuse to do so, and we call on them today to fight back, with the tools provided by the [UN] charter and by the law, to combat those who are obliterating the charter and the law. This is the responsibility of the council and of each and every state around the world”.

“The massacres have to stop; ceasefire now,” Mansour said.

Israeli ambassador to UN accuses Hamas of hurting aid efforts, not Israel

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, says the UNSC session has “entirely missed the real issue at hand”, claiming that more than enough aid has entered Gaza to sustain every civilian.

“The real issue is Hamas. This terrorist organization has hijacked the aid, seizing it for their own purposes. They steal, they stole and even sell the aid that is intended for Gaza civilians, turning humanitarian relief into a profit machine,” he told the UNSC without providing evidence of his claims.

Danon reiterated, without providing evidence, Israel’s claim that UNRWA staff is made up of Hamas fighters and is disrupting humanitarian efforts.

“How many times are we warned of UNRWA Gaza’s infiltration by Hamas? How many months have passed since we provided a list of hundreds of names of Hamas terrorists employed by UNRWA? No reply,” he said.

An April report from a former French foreign minister found Israel had not backed up claims it made against the UN refugee agency operating in Gaza.

“Israel remains committed to working with our partners to deliver humanitarian assistance, even under these dangerous and morally repressible conditions,” Danon said.

Why is this guy not kicked out of the UN by now. Why does the UNSC just let him sit there to tell lies and spread disinformation all the time.

Mansour to UNSC: ‘General’s Plan’ already in motion in Gaza, Israel seeks annexation

Palestine’s UN envoy calls Israel’s ongoing assault on northern Gaza the country’s “latest plan to achieve what has been its goal all along”.

“We warned since the early days of Israel’s assault that its goal was forcible displacement of the Palestinian people and annexation of the Palestinian territory. What we are seeing in northern Gaza is exactly that,” Mansour said.

“The so-called Israeli General’s Plan is in motion,” he added.

The “General’s Plan” is a strategy put forward by retired Israeli Major General Giora Eliand that aims to lay siege to the few hundred thousand remaining residents of northern Gaza to essentially empty out and ethnically cleanse this part of the territory.

Israeli media have quoted soldiers who said this strategy in effect is Israel’s latest campaign in northern Gaza.

Israel trying to make Lebanese border towns ‘unlivable’

Al Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem says Israel’s systematic destruction of Lebanese towns near their shared border indicates that it is trying to make the area uninhabitable.

“In the south, we saw pictures of Israel detonating a whole village, the village of Mhaibib, that’s just on the border,” he reported from Beirut. “That gives an indication that there is an attempt to make the border villages unlivable so that people won’t get back there even if there is a settlement or an end to the hostilities between the two sides.”

_{Rescue workers carry remains of people at at site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday}

Hezbollah says it attacked Israeli soldiers in Khallet Warde

Hezbollah has said it has attacked a group of Israeli troops in the area of Khallet Warde, opposite the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, which has been bombed repeatedly by the Israeli army.

Writing on its Telegram channel, Hezbollah said it targeted “a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers” with a rocket.