Only defiance from Netanyahu and Hayya

You’re hearing defiance from Netanyahu, and it’s echoed by Israeli politicians across the political spectrum, even members of the opposition who are saying that the Israeli army will stay in Gaza for years and the fight will continue.

With Hayya also expressing defiance, this calls into question what is going to happen, especially with those captives still being held in Gaza.

After it was announced that Sinwar had been killed, people in Israel were saying that now perhaps there is a moment for the government to enter a ceasefire and engage in diplomacy and get the issue of captives back front and centre.

What we’ve heard from Netanyahu, but also from Hayya, it seems as though it’s just defiance. We’re not hearing a lot from either the Israeli government or from Hamas as to what is going to happen next with the mediation of a ceasefire or how they can engage in a negotiation that will yield a prisoner swap for those captives.

Thousands rally in Sanaa to support Palestinians after Sinwar’s killing

^{Protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, stand near a billboard showing Yahya Sinwar as they show support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip}

Houthis mourn Sinwar, say Palestinian cause ‘destined for victory’

A spokesman for the Houthis says the Yemeni group is mourning Sinwar after his killing in Gaza.

“My sincere condolences and great blessings to the Hamas movement and the dear Palestinian people for the great leader Yahya Sinwar receiving the medal of martyrdom,” Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote on X.

“Gaza and the Palestinian cause are destined for victory, no matter how great the sacrifices.”

As we reported earlier, thousands of people in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, rallied today in a show of support for Palestinians.

Since November, the Houthis have carried out numerous attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in what they describe as a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed at least 42,500 people.

_{Demonstrators carry flags and pictures of late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a protest in support of Lebanon and Gaza in Amman, Jordan, October 18}

Reports of telecoms blackout as Israeli forces attack northern Gaza

Just in the last hours, there has been more information that the Israeli forces have cut off communication and internet networks to the northern part of Gaza, in particular in Jabalia.

This was a highly predictable step because the army has been obliterating everything in Jabalia – residential homes, key infrastructure and even the communication towers that provide Palestinians with internet connection and signals to communicate with each other.

This means that the military might now expand its operation in Jabalia. They have worked before in destroying residential homes and civilians there are reporting horrific aerial and ground attacks over the past 24 hours.

We know that since dawn today at least 20 Palestinians have been killed, including 11 only in the Jabalia refugee camp.

People run from shelling in Gaza’s Jabalia; house bulldozed with family inside

Videos posted on social media and verified by Al Jazeera show heavy smoke enveloping a heavily damaged building in Jabalia in northern Gaza and chaotic scenes as people run for cover amid heavy Israeli shelling.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic, meanwhile, report that Israeli bulldozers have demolished a house in the al-Faluja area, where a family of displaced Palestinians are living.

Medical crews were unable to reach the house to evacuate the family before the house was demolished while they were inside.

There are also reports of an ongoing telecoms blackout as Israeli military vehicles and a large number of soldiers advance towards the Jabalia refugee camp from several directions.

The wounded in Gaza ‘are dying without intervention’: Health Ministry official

Dr Marwan Al-Homs, the director of field hospitals in the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health, says the health system in the besieged enclave “is currently under destruction and annihilation.” “Our wounded and injured patients are unable to find treatment, and they are dying without any intervention,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference, he issued a “call for help” urging the international community to “save northern Gaza before it’s too late." He said that Israeli forces are destroying the northern Gaza governorate entirely and “committing massacres and acts of genocide against our people.”

“Hospitals cannot provide care due to the overwhelming number of casualties and the high death toll. Our hospitals have no capacity for injuries, intensive care units are filled with severe cases, and we are forced to work on a priority basis.”

“The neonatal units are overcrowded, with no space for any newborns or premature infants. Any patient requiring care is postponed, and some cesarean sections have been delayed until a bed becomes available for an infant in need.”

“Our wounded, injured, and sick individuals, as well as our medical staff, civil defence teams, and the Palestinian people, cannot find food; they have nothing to eat.”

He said that Israeli forces deliberately prevent the entry of fuel and that the amounts allowed in are insufficient to meet the needs of the people in Gaza.

Al-Awda Hospital overwhelmed after Israeli military raid on Jabalia

Dr Mohamad Salha spoke to Al Jazeera from al-Awda Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, where he is treating people who were injured in the newest Israeli raid on Jabalia, which killed at least 33 people.

He said as many as 70 people, the majority of whom are women and children, are being treated at the hospital but that there are many still trapped under the rubble.

The operating theatre at the hospital, he said, has been overwhelmed, especially since many of the injuries, which include burns and abdominal wounds, require complicated treatment.

Salha said that the Israeli military has issued the staff at the hospital evacuation orders but that they will not leave those who are in desperate need of treatment in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Death toll rises in Israeli attack on Maghazi

Al Jazeera’s correspondent says that five people have now been killed in Israeli strikes that targeted a house in the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Palestine UN envoy: We seek to expel Israel from UN General Assembly

A group of 12 Arab ambassadors has met behind closed doors with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss Gaza at the UN headquarters in New York.

After the meeting, Palestine’s ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters the discussion centred on a need for an immediate ceasefire and bolstering support for UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency. Israel’s parliament is currently considering legislation to ban the organisation from operating in the country.

He also said the group is pushing for a new UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire and renewed a call for Israel to be expelled from the UN General Assembly.

“The Security Council has the tools to force its will and to use everything available to it,” Mansour told the press.

“With regard to UNRWA, if they [Israel] continue on the path, among other things, of trying to destroy it, there is no taboo in the General Assembly of questioning the seat of a country that does not respect all of us, nor the General Assembly, nor international law, nor the Security Council, nor the secretary-general.

“A country that behaves in such arrogance and disrespect to its obligation under the Charter of the United Nations does not deserve to have a seat in the General Assembly among us”, he said.

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-2

Article 6

A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Yeah I would agree Israel has wiped its ass with the principles of the present charter, for many decades

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-1

For example

To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace

All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

Main headlines for October 18th

• Hamas has confirmed that its leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in combat with Israeli forces in Gaza, saying he died defending Palestine until the last moments of his life.
• At least 33 Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza.
• Mohamad Salha, a doctor treating those injured in the attack in a hospital in northern Gaza, told Al Jazeera that of the more than 70 wounded people being treated at his facility, the majority are women and children.
• The Israeli military has carried out several more deadly attacks across Gaza, including strikes on a house in the Maghazi camp, which killed five people, and a drone attack in Gaza City, which killed four.
• At least five Palestinians have been killed and others injured in Israeli strikes on the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
• The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri has released a report detailing Israel’s starvation campaign in Gaza, calling Israel’s rules around the entry of aid “opaque and absurd”.
• US President Joe Biden has said there is a possibility of working towards a ceasefire in Lebanon, but it will be harder to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
• US publication Politico reports that the Belgian prosecutor’s office says it has launched an investigation into possible war crimes committed by a Belgian soldier fighting for Israel in Gaza.
  
  
  

More than 50 women, children among wounded from Israel’s deadly Jabalia attack: Doctor

Dr Mohamad Salha, acting director of al-Awda Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, spoke to Al Jazeera earlier about the attack on the Jabalia refugee camp which killed at least 33, and how his facility is struggling to treat the wounded.

“We have received more than 70 injuries in our emergency department and, also, more than 30 people who were killed,” Dr Salha told Al Jazeera. “Until now, our ambulances and the ambulances of the Ministry of Health are still bringing cases to al-Awda Hospital and another hospital,” Salha said. “Actually, we cannot handle such a large number of injuries, which have arrived [at] our department. We have to deal with a huge number in one hour,” he said.

“More than 50 of the injured who arrived [at] the hospital are women and children,” he added.

“The injuries which arrived at our emergency department are really complicated injuries – burns and we have to do amputations for some cases … and our capacity at the hospital is not that much because the Israeli occupation forces destroyed 50 percent of our capacity in the hospital”.

More on Israel’s assault on Jabalia

At least 33 people have been killed and 85 wounded following Israeli strikes on several houses in Jabalia, while more people remain under the rubble, according to rescue crews.

In a separate attack, the Israeli military killed at least four people and injured 15 others in a bombardment of a house in the al-Tawbah area of Jabalia.

The Israeli military has carried out extensive military operations in Jabalia for about two weeks, with it claiming to be dismantling Hamas infrastructure in the area to stop the Palestinian group from regrouping.

Jabalia residents say Israeli tanks have reached the heart of the camp, where they are destroying dozens of houses from the air and ground daily, including placing bombs in buildings and detonating them remotely.

Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced, while around 400,000 people across northern Gaza are trapped without access to food or water.

Israel ‘looking into’ Jabalia refugee camp attack that killed 33

Israel’s military said it is “looking into” a strike by its forces that killed at least 33 people in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, the AFP news agency reports.

About 80 people were also wounded in the Israeli attack – mostly women and children – which comes as a brutal Israeli military siege of the Jabalia area enters its third week, leaving an estimated 200,000 Palestinians without access to food, water or medical supplies.

Clashes, injuries as Israeli military carries out West Bank raids

The Israeli military has carried out several raids across the occupied West Bank in recent hours.

Incidents include:

Protesters in NYC hold Sinwar photos in pro-Palestine rally


_{A person holds an image of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the orchestrator of the October 7 attacks on southern Israel, during an ‘All Out for Palestine’ protest against Israeli arms funding at New York Public Library in New York City on October 18}

Israel says drone from Syria detected over occupied Golan Heights

The Israeli military said the drone was detected – not intercepted – and crashed down in the northern region of the occupied Golan Heights.

No casualties were reported from the attack drone, which was launched into Israel from Syria, the Israeli military said.

The Times of Israel said the drone triggered air attack sirens in several Israeli communities in the occupied territory.

Protesters storm Saudi TV channel in Iraq over labelling Hamas, fighters in region ‘terrorists’

Protests have stormed and ransacked the offices of a Saudi television channel in Baghdad after the broadcaster reportedly aired a segment that referred to fighters in the region, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iraqi Mobilisation Forces, as “terrorists”.

French news agency AFP reports that between 400 and 500 people attacked the studios of Saudi broadcaster MBC in the early hours of this morning.

“They wrecked the electronic equipment, the computers, and set fire to a part of the building,” an Iraqi interior ministry source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding the fire had been extinguished and the crowd dispersed by police.

Iran’s FM says anyone who knows ‘how and when Israel will attack Iran’ is accountable

Iran’s foreign minister made the remarks responding to comments by President Biden who said on Friday that he had an understanding of how and when Israel was going to retaliate against missile attacks by Iran.

“Anybody with knowledge or understanding of ‘how and when Israel was going to attack Iran’, and/or providing the means and backing for such folly, should logically be held accountable for any possible causality,” Araghchi said on X.

Iran hosts joint naval drills with Russia and Oman

Naval drills hosted by Iran with the participation of Russia and Oman and observed by nine other countries have begun in the Indian Ocean, according to Iran’s state TV.

The report said that the exercises, dubbed “IMEX 2024”, are aimed at boosting “collective security in the region, expand multilateral cooperation, and display the goodwill and capabilities to safeguard peace, friendship and maritime security”.

The exercises coincide with heightened tensions in the region as Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon rages and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group retaliates by launching attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Iran sending message that ‘they don’t want war’

Hassan Barari, professor of international affairs at Qatar University, says there are several goals Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is trying to accomplish during his regional tour.

“One thing that he’s trying to maybe send messages to the Americans, because he had been in Qatar, in Saudi Arabia, in Jordan, in Egypt, and in Turkey,” he told Al Jazeera. “The Iranians want to send a message that, hey, they don’t want to have a war, they don’t want to widen the conflict, but at the same time, they will defend themselves.”

Barari said during his visits to Jordan and Iraq, Araghchi would have likely discussed airspace. “Will Israel use the airspace of Jordan, for instance, to attack Iran? Jordanians are saying they will prevent that. So the Iranians want to make sure that Jordan is not on board,” he said.

Araghchi would also have discussed Israel during his trip to Saudi Arabia, Barari said. “They want to make sure that the Saudis will not join Israeli effort,” he added. “What the Iranians are trying to say … is that you have to be careful that widening the conflict is not in the interest of everyone in the region – not only Iran, but also Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, and the Gulf.”

Israel says drone from Lebanon hits town

The Israeli army is saying a drone launched from Lebanon struck the northern Israeli town of Caesarea where PM Netanyahu also has a residence.

The drone “hit a structure in the area of Caesarea” without causing any casualties, the military said, without elaborating. It added that two other drones were intercepted. Israeli media is reporting the deployment of war planes and helicopters in Caesarea, located north of Tel Aviv.

Israeli army says drone hit Netanyahu’s home

A drone launched from Lebanon hit Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, according to his spokesperson. Netanyahu and his family were not in Caesarea at the time of the attack, the statement said, adding that there were no casualties.

Netanyahu’s office and the Israeli army have shared these updates: