Netanyahu blames ‘agents of Iran’ for hit on Caesarea home

In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister says: “The agents of Iran who tried to assassinate me and my wife today made a bitter mistake. This will not deter me and the State of Israel from continuing the war of revival against our enemies to ensure our security for generations.”

Earlier, the Israeli army reported that a drone hit Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea without causing casualties and the prime minister and his family were not present in the house at the time.

Hezbollah, which has launched hundreds of drones at Israeli territory, has not commented on or claimed this attack.

Addressing Iranians and “their partners in the axis of evil”, Netanyahu said: “Anyone who harms the citizens of the State of Israel will pay a heavy price for it. We will continue to eliminate your terrorists. We will return our hostages from Gaza. We will return our residents in the north. … We will change the security reality in our region for generations.”

Israel’s Katz says drone attack on Netanyahu’s home was Iranian ‘assassination’ bid

Israel’s foreign minister says the “true face” of Iran has been exposed by what he calls an assassination attempt by Iran-backed groups against the prime minister.

“The Iranian proxies who attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Netanyahu and his family today have once again exposed Iran’s true face and the evil axis it leads,” Israel Katz said in a statement on X.

His comments came after Netanyahu’s office said a drone targeted the premier’s residence in the town of Caesarea.

No group has claimed responsibility for this incident yet.

US secretary of defence ‘relieved’ Netanyahu is safe

Austin has spoken with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to discuss regional security developments, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder says.

According to a readout by the US Defence Department, Austin “reviewed US force-posture adjustments, including the recent deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system to reinforce Israel’s defences in the face of threats from Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iranian proxies”.

The secretary, the readout said, also told Gallant “he was relieved Prime Minister Netanyahu was safe after the attack that reportedly targeted his home in Caesarea this morning.”

Iran says Hezbollah behind drone attack on Netanyahu’s residence

Iran’s UN mission says Hezbollah is behind a drone attack on Netanyahu’s residence.

“This action was taken by the Lebanese Hezbollah,” the mission said in response to a question about Iran’s role in the attack, according to the official IRNA news agency.

‘Cease relentless attacks on healthcare’ in Gaza, Lebanon: UNFPA

The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency has condemned what it called repeated, egregious attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza and Lebanon, saying not only are they deadly but they also deprive women of their right to access reproductive healthcare.

“Just three of the ten hospitals in northern Gaza are operational, and only at minimum capacity. These hospitals face dire shortages of the most basic items. Women, many of them malnourished, are left to give birth under heavy bombardment with little medication,” said UNFPA executive director Natalia Kanem.

Women in Gaza have lost access to essential health services, including emergency obstetric care, prenatal checkups, and safe delivery facilities, Kanem said, “contributing to a drastic increase in pregnancy-related complications and maternal deaths”.

Attacks on healthcare have not been limited to Gaza, she added. About half of the more than 1,000 attacks on healthcare in the occupied Palestinian territory have taken place in the West Bank, according to WHO.

“Now healthcare is also under fire in Lebanon. As fighting intensifies, attacks on health facilities have killed health workers and patients, and forced almost half of primary health centres in conflict-affected areas to shut down,” Kanem said.

Israel lying about existence of safe pathways for evacuation: Abu Zuhri

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has said that Israel has not provided safe pathways for people in northern Gaza to leave the area, which is under heavy bombardment.

“There are no safe areas. The occupation continues to target or arrest all those who are trying to leave the north using the paths that they say are safe,” he added.

Abu Zuhri also said Israel continues to attack hospitals and prevent paramedics from helping people. He called “on all humanitarian organisations to save the health system and to provide it with the needed equipment, including fuel, in order to carry out their duties”.

G7 defence ministers release statement on Middle East conflict

The defence ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries have reiterated their support for Israel and condemnation of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks.

The key points of the joint statement are:

Killing civilians is fine, just make it small numbers so the western media can ignore it.


Meanwhile the fighter to civilian killed ratio in Gaza is between 1:1.5 to 1:21

Official death toll (bodies recovered) stands at 42,500

Euromed monitor sets it at 50,292 (including those still buried under the rubble)
https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6494/New-report..-De-Gaza:-A-Year-of-Israel%E2%80%99s-Genocide-and-the-Collapse-of-World-Order

The IDF released a statement of 17,000 fighters killed but can only account for 8,500 deaths in official reports.
https://acleddata.com/2024/10/06/after-a-year-of-war-hamas-is-militarily-weakened-but-far-from-eliminated/

The Lancet published a study in July saying it's plausible 186 thousand people will have died after the dust settles (if the war had ended in July)
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

That's up to 21 civilian deaths for every claimed fighter killed. And I'm low balling it, since the official death numbers are from bodies that were recovered and brought to a hospital. Meanwhile the IDF routinely takes dead bodies out of Gaza or they end up buried in a mass grave, under rubble or dumped on by a bulldozer and thus never end up in the official death toll. So while there is probably some overlap between the IDF numbers and official death toll, it's definitely not 1:1

Also the IDF considers anyone affiliated with the Hamas government a Hamas target, civil services included. How many were actually fighting the IDF or involved with October 7th, no idea. We know at least 200 Palestinians from Gaza were killed in Israel on Oct 7 (initial death toll of 1,400 revised down to 1,189 unidentified likely Palestinian corpses removed), but no figures on how many entered Israel.

796 civilians were killed on Oct 7, at the very least 25 thousand civilians have been killed in Gaza, over 2,000 in Lebanon, 700 in the West Bank
When is enough, enough....

Death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon rises again

The Lebanese Health Ministry says in a statement that at least 1,838 people have been killed in Lebanon since mid-September, when Israel escalated its attacks on the country.

At least 2,448 have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s exchanges of fire with Hezbollah last October. This includes 140 children and 270 women, and 11,471 wounded, the ministry added.

In the past 48 hours, Israeli attacks have caused the following casualties in Lebanon:

Israeli soldiers killed in northern Gaza: Army

The Israeli army has released a statement saying two of its soldiers have been killed in combat in northern Gaza. According to Israeli media, the total death toll of Israeli soldiers killed in the Strip since the start of the ground invasion stands at 357.

The army also said an officer was seriously wounded in southern Lebanon by an explosive-laden drone.

Ten people killed in northern Gaza: Report

We are receiving reports that at least 10 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

Oxfam condemns killing of water engineers in Israeli attack in Gaza

The humanitarian organisation says four water engineers and workers were killed when they were attacked on their way to repair water infrastructure in Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

“Despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities their clearly-marked vehicle was bombed,” Oxfam said in a statement. “Their deaths deepen the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza where access to clean water is already severely compromised,” Oxfam added.

The engineers and workers were from the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) which Oxfam says it partners with. “Oxfam stands in solidarity with the CMWU, their partners and the families of the victims,” the statement added.

Main points for October 19th

• At least 73 people have been killed in an Israeli attack on north Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, according to the territory’s Government Media Office.
• The attack comes after Gaza health officials said Israeli forces surrounded and shelled Beit Lahiya’s Indonesian Hospital.
• Oxfam has condemned the killing of four water engineers in an Israeli attack east of Khan Younis, in Gaza’s south.
• Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has said that 20,000 people were forced to flee the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza yesterday, including from UN shelters.
• Gaza health officials have said Israeli forces surrounded and shelled the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed “agents of Iran” for a drone attack on his home in Israel’s Caesarea. Iran’s UN mission said Hezbollah carried out the attack.
• In Lebanon, Israeli forces have conducted heavy strikes on several locations in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
• The Israeli military has said it targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence command centre in the Lebanese capital and several munitions warehouses belonging to the group.
• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called on Israel to “scale back” some of its strikes in and around Beirut.

And the region is still holding its breath for the planned retaliation of Israel on Iran with US backing. Netanyahu will be more determined now then ever after blaming the drone attack on one of his homes on "agents of Iran".

Israeli air strike on Beit Lahiya hit area where people live ‘back-to-back’

The extent of the brutality of the attack keeps unfolding with many people still buried under massive piles of rubble. We are talking about attacks and the kind of weapons – the bombs dropped by the Israeli military – that turned areas into dust.

We are also talking about a very densely populated area where residential homes are back-to-back, given the smallest space available for people in that urban area. Large pieces of concrete – as a result of the attack and the destruction – make it very difficult for the paramedics and the Civil Defence members to conduct rescue missions.

We are talking about close to a hundred people killed in the attacks, the majority of them women and children and elderly.

More than half of the people who were killed are, in fact, people who were forced to evacuate from Jabalia and other parts of the eastern and central part of the northern Gaza Strip as the siege continues and the massive bombardment continues.

So these people, even when they are seeking shelter and safety elsewhere, are being bombed, maimed and killed in the very location that they chose to seek shelter and safety.

‘Massive’ Israeli strike on Beit Lahiya shook foundations of surrounding buildings

This is in the western part of Beit Lahiya, known as the Beit Lahiya Project area. A very densely populated area, as I said, and more recently, the population doubled because of the forced evacuation orders by the Israeli military [in northern Gaza].

Other than the 100 killed, we are looking at many people still buried under the rubble.

A witness from the area described the massive explosion resulting from multiple air strikes shaking the very foundations of the surrounding areas.

Al Jazeera journalist’s relatives killed in attack on Beit Lahiya

Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Anas al-Sharif says that at least 10 of his relatives, including his cousin, are among dozens killed in an Israeli attack that destroyed an entire residential block in Beit Lahiya.

“Today, while covering the massacre by Israeli occupation forces in [Beit Lahiya], I was shocked to discover that one of the homes targeted in the airstrike belonged to my cousin,” al-Sharif wrote in a post on X.

Today, while covering the massacre by Israeli occupation forces in the Beit Lahia project, I was shocked to discover that one of the homes targeted in the airstrike belonged to my cousin, Haj Mohammed Al-Sharif (Abu Jihad), his wife Khitam Al-Sharif, and their children: Majd,…

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) October 20, 2024

White House says working to ‘surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza’

White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett says the United States is “working to surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza” after an “unacceptable slowdown” in deliveries to northern Gaza since October 1.

In a post on X, Savett welcomed an airdrop of food parcels by the United Arab Emirates and said the resumption of aid to Northern Gaza, with 129 trucks entering from Jordan last week, was a “vital lifeline”.

At least some of the food trucks that reached the north of the Gaza Strip last week reached Gaza City, but not areas further north under Israeli military siege, including the Jabalia refugee camp.


_{Children run as a military plane drops humanitarian aid near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday}

Jabalia is North of Gaza City. The North (with estimated 200 to 400 thousand people) hasn't received any aid since Oct 1.

Armed and ‘enabled’ by the US, Israel seeks to depopulate Gaza ‘in its totality’: Analyst

Hassan Mneimneh, a political analyst with the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s brutality in Gaza has been enabled by the United States and its supply of weapons to conduct the war on the Palestinian territory.

“At this point, given the silence, the de-facto participation of the US through US weaponry, in all of this, we cannot avoid the statement that there is, indeed, US complicity,” Mneimneh told Al Jazeera.

The siege of northern Gaza and the targeting of fleeing civilians appears to be a deliberate attempt by Israel to grab Palestinian territory and “expel the Palestinians by brute force”.

“The horrors that we are witnessing” in Gaza are “enabled” by the US, he said. “We are witnessing, really, a horror show here. And, once again, we cannot dissociate that from the silence, the apathy – what appears to be apathy, but is really complicity on the part of the enabler. Israel would not have been able to do that had the US administration not enabled them to do that,” he added.

“Israel is achieving what is evidently its clear goal of this whole operation, which is to depopulate the Gaza Strip in its totality.”

Israeli settlers plan ‘observer tour’ of northern Gaza during conference

The “Preparing to Settle Gaza” conference, which begins today, will include a “Gaza Observer” tour departing from an illegal Israeli settlement less than 10km (6.2 miles) away from Beit Lahiya where an Israeli attack killed at least 73 Palestinians overnight.

The tour, which begins in the Givat Kobi neighbourhood of Sderot, is part of a two-day event that will also include “practical preparation workshops for settlement in Gaza”, as well as 10 speakers from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“Gaza is the property of our ancestors since time immemorial, we will not rest until we settle it again,” Limor Son Har Melech, a member of the Knesset from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which is part of Netanyahu’s coalition government, said in a post on X, promoting the conference.

The far-right settler organisation Nachala which is hosting the event, also held another conference earlier this year, where a map showing plans for 15 illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza was displayed.

‘The demographic re-engineering of the Gaza Strip is in progress’

Tamer Qarmout, a professor of public policy at the Doha Institute, says the world has failed since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza to provide even basic protection for Palestinian civilians.

“Israel has a green light from a superpower, the US, which is Israel’s partner in these war crimes,” Qarmout told Al Jazeera. “We’re beyond the ‘self-defence’ doctrine. The plan is emerging and it’s more or less clear. This is a rearranging of the entire region that started in Gaza, and I don’t know where it will stop.”

He highlighted Israel’s “General’s Plan” for northern Gaza, which calls for the expulsion of Palestinians from the area and the forced starvation and targeting of whoever stays behind.

“We’re talking about another wave of displacement – another Nakba. The future of Gaza is horrifying. I still worry about what’s coming next. The demographic re-engineering of the Gaza Strip is in progress now.

Fatah says far-right Israeli government ‘fully responsible’ for Beit Lahiya ‘massacre’

Fatah has issued a statement saying it holds “the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the bloody massacre” in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, Wafa reports.

Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority and has partial administrative power in the occupied West Bank, called on “the world” to help “stop the systematic Israeli war of extermination” in Gaza, Wafa reported, adding it was a Zionist conspiracy to displace Palestinians from their land.

“Palestinian people are being subjected to an organised war of extermination led by the far-right government in Israel with the utmost criminality and hatred,” Fatah added.

صور تظهر جزءا يسيرا من المجزرة في مشروع بيت لاهيا في ظل قطع الاحتلال للاتصالات والإنترنت في شمال القطاع#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/OWxLTRemaE

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) October 19, 2024

Rescue under way after Israeli attack on Gaza school sheltering displaced

At least nine people have been killed in an Israeli missile attack on the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Amjad Hajaj, a resident at the camp, said the missile hit a school in the camp housing many displaced people on Saturday.

“This building, which consists of three floors, was targeted by a very powerful missile which destroyed all three floors. People were pulled out in pieces,” he told Al Jazeera. “The missile was extremely devastating and the explosion deafening,” he said.

“Many children were injured by the shrapnel from this missile that hit the school.”

Rescuers still pulling bodies out of debris in Beit Lahiya

In Beit Lahiya, civil defence teams are still trying to pull bodies out of the rubble. The Israelis targeted a whole neighbourhood yesterday in one of the deadliest nights for the people there in northern Gaza. Seventy-three bodies were transferred to the hospital morgue.

We just received news that the teams were able to rescue a baby girl. The attack is part of the ongoing Israeli siege of northern Gaza, and the military’s attempt to clear the area of about 400,000 residents. Many Palestinians are refusing to leave because they believe they’ll be targeted wherever they go.

People there have endured 16 days without food, water or medicine during the Israeli army assault, which is also focusing on the Jabalia refugee camp.

The World Health Organization says there was also an attack on the Indonesian Hospital last night in which 40 patients and medical staff were injured. The hospital generator was hit, leaving it without electricity. That resulted in the death of two patients who were in critical condition.

Gaza civil defence says bodies recovered in Rafah

Two bodies have been recovered in the Khirbet al-Adas area of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, according to a civil defence statement. One injured person was also found, it said. They were hit by a rocket launched by an Israeli drone, it said.

Israeli forces bomb Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza

The Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya is under Israeli forces’ attack as heavy bombardment continues across northern Gaza. Hussam Abu Safia, the hospital’s director, said in a statement Israeli strikes damaged the hospital’s water tanks and electricity grid, severely disrupting medical services.

The area surrounding the hospital has been subjected to intense bombing and gunfire for several hours, placing patients and medical staff in danger, he added.

This assault on the hospital is part of a broader campaign of relentless air and artillery strikes that have pummelled northern Gaza for 16 days.

Israel’s war on Gaza kills 42,603 Palestinians

Gaza’s Health Ministry says 42,603 people have been killed and 99,795 wounded since Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory began in October 2023. The toll includes 84 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.

The figures are likely far higher with an estimated 10,000 bodies buried in the vast debris of destroyed buildings throughout the Gaza Strip.

That 10,000 estimate has been the same all year... Only a full census will reveal how many people are missing, under the rubble, abducted or buried in mass graves.

87 people killed or missing in Beit Lahiya: Health Ministry

A total of 87 people have been killed or are missing under debris after an Israeli attack on the town in northern Gaza, according to the Palestinian enclave’s Health Ministry. More than 40 others were injured, it added. The Israeli military said it is checking on the report.

‘Horrifying scenes’ after Israel’s strikes on Beit Lahiya

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland has condemned the Israeli air strikes in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, adding that “horrifying scenes” are unfolding there and “nowhere is safe in Gaza”.

He called for an immediate halt to attacks on civilians and emphasised the need to protect displaced Palestinians.

“This war must end. The hostages held by Hamas must be freed, the displacement of Palestinians must cease, and civilians must be protected wherever they are.”

Horrifying scenes unfolding in Gaza, amidst conflict, relentless Israeli strikes & an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis. I condemn the continuing attacks on civilians. Hostages must be freed, displacement of Palestinians must cease, & civilians must be protected.
My Statement👇 pic.twitter.com/IoBoL8mVgq

— Tor Wennesland (@TWennesland) October 20, 2024

Palestinians helping ‘shredded child’ attacked in northern Gaza

Video shows the moment a crowd of Palestinians is attacked as they try to help a badly wounded person. Witnesses say the person in need was a “shredded child” struck by another attack moments earlier in northern Gaza.

Watch our report – which contains disturbing scenes – below:

Video shows the shocking moment a crowd of Palestinians are attacked as they try to help a badly wounded person, described by witnesses as a ‘shredded’ child, who had been struck moments earlier in northern Gaza.

Don't watch with sound... "The screaming of that child lingering in my head. This is the second day and I can still hear him."