At least four killed in latest Israeli attack on central Gaza

The Israeli army is collecting all the men and leading them to unknown areas for interrogation during its incursion in northern Gaza. In previous such incidents, Palestinians have been used by Israeli forces as human shields.

The women and children were told to evacuate to a densely populated area in western Beit Lahiya town, but that was bombed heavily last night.

The military siege of Jabalia refugee camp has made it very difficult for people to evacuate. As soon as people leave their homes, they’re shot at or chased by Israeli quadcopters. Many were killed and their bodies left on the streets. People decided to stay in their homes rather than take the risk.

In the latest Israeli attack, at least four people have been killed, including an elderly woman, in Deir el-Balah city after a small grocery shop was bombed. Ambulances don’t have enough fuel so civilian vehicles are picking up the wounded, along with carts pulled by horses and other animals ferrying the victims to the hospital.

Israeli army says colonel killed in northern Gaza

The army said Ahsan Daksa, 41, was the commander of the 401st Armoured Brigade and his tank was hit by explosive devices during operations in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

Israeli forces burning shelters housing internally displaced: Report

Israeli soldiers are burning shelters surrounding the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya after forcibly removing displaced Palestinian families, Quds News Network reported, citing sources in northern Gaza.

The attack in Beit Lahiya comes after Gaza health officials said three partially functioning hospitals treating severely wounded patients and sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza were now out of service after coming under intense Israeli fire.

Israeli forces bombed al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia early on Saturday and shelled the Kamal Adwan and Indonesian Hospitals in Beit Lahiya earlier today.

Israel’s plan is ’emptying northern Gaza’

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has said Israeli forces are forcing residents of northern Gaza to leave their homes and shelters while carrying out mass arrests of Palestinian civilians.

The group said it has been warning that the siege imposed on northern Gaza, now in its 16th day, is aimed at “emptying [the] northern Gaza Strip by imposing a strict siege and exterminating and starving the population to force them to leave southwards”.

🚨Live-streamed ethnic cleansing: Israeli occupation forces are forcing residents of northern #Gaza Strip to leave their homes and shelters and is carrying out mass arrests of Palestinian civilians.

♦️We have been for weeks warning of Israel’s Generals’ Plan, which is being… pic.twitter.com/Pby4ARSAhI

— Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - PCHR (@pchrgaza) October 20, 2024

People in besieged north Gaza are crying out for help

We’re now entering the third week of a siege on the northern Gaza Strip. According to people there, last night Israeli forces started invading homes, forcibly evicting residents.

Trapped Palestinians are pleading for food and drinking water – the most basic necessities that are not available.

The people feel unheard despite their efforts to share their experiences online. They record videos, yet they remain trapped. With no food, no aid, and no support reaching them, they continue to suffer as the relentless Israeli air attacks persist.

Civil defence teams are trying to pull people out from under the rubble, either with their bare hands or with minimum equipment. We’re talking about four- to five-storey buildings, and all of that concrete is on top of people.

Main points on October 20th

• The Israeli army launched a barrage of rockets across Lebanon – including 12 in Beirut’s suburbs – after it announced the targeting of Hezbollah’s al-Qard al-Hassan financial institution’s offices.
• The al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which Israel says is Hezbollah’s financing arm, says its deposits are secure after Israel launched 12 missiles at Beirut, after saying it would target the financial institution.
• UN peacekeeping forces remain in place in southern Lebanon despite an Israeli army bulldozer deliberately demolishing a UN peacekeeping observation tower and perimeter fence, UNIFIL said.
• Hezbollah said it fired rockets at three military bases in northern Israel and that its air defence units downed an Israeli drone on Saturday.
• Israeli forces have also intensified attacks across Gaza where several Palestinians have been wounded by an Israeli bombardment in the Jabalia camp, in northern Gaza.
• The UN’s Human Rights Office says it is increasingly concerned that the Israeli military’s actions in northern Gaza “may be causing the destruction of the Palestinian population through death and displacement”.
• UN officials have been asking Israeli authorities since Friday “to urgently facilitate our access to North Gaza, to support rescuing dozens trapped under rubble”, the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said.
• Israeli media reported that the head of Israel’s security service met the chief of Egyptian intelligence in Cairo.
• Israeli media is reporting that the head of Shin Bet, Israel’s security service, met the chief of Egyptian intelligence in Cairo to revive talks to free the captives still held in Gaza.

I watched that video before, explained what's wrong with his statements. It's somewhere in this thread, no time to look for it now.

Off the top of my head, he was arrested as a teenager in Gaza, witnessed lot of traumatizing things in Israeli jails, then got enlisted and groomed by the Israel security forces.

That video trumps nothing, one brain washed individual that hasn't been part of Hamas nor been in Gaza since he was taken away by the IDF.


I've been following this a long time, haven't see any proof of fighters using civilians as shields. I've only seen proof of the IDF using (Palestinian) civilians as actual shields. (Arrest, dress them up in IDF uniform, send them out with a camera to check houses and tunnels)


Your CNN link, all that entails is

"The discovery of the tunnel shaft the next day was more compelling, showing an entrance to something underground. But even then, it was unclear what it was or how far down it went. This is what everyone has been trying to understand."

CNN reporters never went in there, the rest is some video footage released by the IDF. No independent observers (Nor is CNN since they were embedded with the IDF)

Claims of Hamas Tunnels Under Al-Shifa Hospital Debunked
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53233.HTM

...

The false story that Hamas uses civilians, patients, refugees and medical personnel as human shields is repeated over and over again to suggest that Israeli atrocities and crimes are justified in order to destroy a terrorist organization driven by hate and without any conscience or humanity.

As is also the case of the false claims that Hamas murdered men, women and children, decapitated babies and raped women on October 7 and other claims which have been debunked, it turns out that "the tunnel they claim to be a Hamas tunnel is actually an electrical wire assembly point." A hospital representative said, "We raised the wires to prevent any electrical shocks caused by floods."

The other claims made by the Israeli military spokesperson on the CNN video have also been debunked. He pointed to a calendar on the wall declaring, "This is the guard list. Every terrorist has his own shift" which again CNN sensationally broadcast without question. Arabic speakers have pointed out that the calendar simply gives the days of the week since October 7, written in Arabic. The IDF spokesperson also displayed some weapons and a computer as evidence of Hamas' military operations inside the hospital. Investigators on social media analyzed the image on the laptop and found the home screen to be a picture of a female IDF soldier. A baby's milk bottle and some women's clothes were provided as evidence that hostages were held in the tunnel.

Despite facts which refute the CNN video, CNN continues to post the video on its website. Investigators say they will persist in pouring over the footage to determine whether or not these are genuine Hamas items. Given the previous cases of false evidence, along with verified accounts of the kind of carnage and revenge seeking IDF soldiers are carrying out in Gaza, such claims are cause for doubt every time.

Hamas definitely killed many men, women and a few children on Oct 7 and even if they died in the chaos of cross fire, Hamas is still responsible for their deaths. (The IDF bears some responsibility as well in the response, firing on civilians, that still needs to be further investigated)

There are many sources to debunk the tunnels at Al-Shifa and other hospitals

https://theintercept.com/2023/11/21/al-shifa-hospital-hamas-israel/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/8/investigation-disproves-israel-claim-of-hamas-tunnel-under-gaza-hospital
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/20/what-israels-video-of-hamas-tunnel-under-al-shifa-tells-us
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-did-israel-build-bunker-under-shifa-hospital-1844107
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/israeli-hamas-command-center-al-shifa-hospital-falls-report-1234934784/

Plenty information out there


Qatar is a neutral mediator between Hamas and Israel. Al Jazeera is (proven) a lot more reliable than CNN/BBC etc when it comes to Gaza coverage. The bias of western media has been exposed many times as well as fabricated lies. I have not seen anything against Al Jazeera regarding Gaza and have only once found something they posted that I couldn't verify.


You're swayed by fake news without any way to back it up. These lies have been repeated for decades, indoctrination by the Israeli lobby.
Same for using ambulances to transport troops, lies to justify killing healthcare workers.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/twilight-zone/2024-05-04/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/in-the-west-bank-not-even-ambulances-are-immune-to-israeli-army-gunfire/0000018f-3b2a-d17f-adcf-fbeb03630000

In fact the IDF dresses up as healthcare workers to raid hospitals. It's where they shot a suspect dead while in a hospital bed on life support.



Have you watched this, most from footage from the soldiers themselves

That's how the IDF operates, bunch of terrorists.

They're doing the same in Lebanon now, blowing up whole towns


Anyway what are you trying to argue? Even if Hamas has tunnels under civilian infrastructure there is still international law not making civilians that happen to be above ground legal targets. There is the law of proportionality which the IDF doesn't give a crap about. Hospitals remain off limits unless there are actual fighters in them shooting from the hospital. No evidence of that. Only of patients executed and dumped into mass graves at Al Shifa.


Documentary talking to eye witnesses after Al Shifa was destroyed


Mass graves found at Al Shifa, including women, children, people handcuffed, patients with catheters still attached.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c511k1nqx81o

The longer this goes on, the more is revealed who the actual or bigger terrorists are. And right now there's live streamed ethnic cleansing going on in the Northern part of Gaza.



Why civilians are dying is mainly because of Lavender AI and Israel's assassination tactics. How it works is that the AI targeting spits out a name of someone (loosely) affiliated with Hamas. Looks for places where they could be then assigns an air strike to target them where they are home or sleeping. The AI is far from always correct, plus when mailman pat goes home to sleep, his house with entire family and other people sheltering there gets blown up on top of them.

The IDF is using the "human shields" accusation as excuse to keep murdering civilians. Plus they shoot children in the head for sport.

April https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/gaza-palestinian-children-killed-idf-israel-war

September in the West Bank
https://www.dci-palestine.org/israeli_forces_fatally_shoot_two_palestinian_children_in_the_head_in_the_northern_occupied_west_bank





Anyway tunnels, human shields, burned babies, all excuses to keep the genocide and ethnic cleansing going. Excuses that hold no water as genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, occupation are all grave crimes for which there is no excuse.

This is not a war of self-defense, it's a war of systematic extermination. To prevent a Palestinian state. It's Israel that will have to learn to live with Arabs in a 2-state solution. Qatar, Saudi-Arabia and so on are all for, and have been for, a 2-state solution. It's Netanyahu who has been trying to prevent a 2-state solution from happening since the Oslo Accords in 1996. Israel rejects the 2-state solution, not Hamas. (Although they do want it according to 1967 borders which will be very complex to figure out now. Yet you always start high in negotiations, not that there are any atm...)

Hamas revised its charter in 2017 to clarify "The new charter holds that armed resistance against an occupying power is justified under international law. While the 1988 Hamas Charter had been widely criticized for its antisemitism, the 2017 document stated that Hamas' fight was not with Jews as such because of their religion but with the Zionist project."

The more Hamas tries to go for a diplomatic solution, the more Israel tries to prevent one. Which ultimately led to Oct 7, after the border protests of 2018, 2019 and countless calls on the UN and International community to stop siege on Gaza and ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.

While Israel only went on to grab more land in the West Bank
https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid
2011 https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/dispossession-and-exploitation-israels-policy-jordan-valley-northern-dead-sea


Hamas has done horrible things in the past, Israel has done many more horrible things, long before Hamas even existed. The way forward is a 2-state solution to eventually become one country. Yet Netanyahu's Israel only wants the Palestinians gone, settle Gaza and the rest of the West Bank and now it looks like Israel wants to annex more of Lebanon.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/government-ministers-call-for-new-settlements-in-gaza-at-ultranationalist-conference/

One "Son of Hamas" video doesn't 'excuse' decades long apartheid, occupation, siege, regular atrocities ("mowing the lawn") and now full blown ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Gaza strip. Next to a war of starvation while destroying all public infrastructure making the Gaza strip unlivable.

At this point, I don't think anything Israel can do to get their US support cut off. The US is literally breaking US law by supplying Israel with arms. If any other country had an arm like AIPAC influencing US policy the talking heads on "news" networks would have a field day. Instead crickets, nothing but crickets.

US envoy Hochstein to hold ceasefire talks during Lebanon visit: Report

Reuters news agency reports that Amos Hochstein will hold talks with Lebanese officials in Beirut on conditions for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Quoting two sources familiar with the matter, the news agency said Hochstein is set to meet Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri when he returns to the Lebanese capital on Monday.

Berri told the Al Arabiya broadcaster over the weekend that Hochstein’s visit was “the last chance before the US elections” to reach a ceasefire. He also said he would reject any amendments to United Nations resolution 1701, which ended the last bloody conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

The Axios news site, quoting two US officials and two Israeli officials, reported earlier that Israel has demanded – in a ceasefire proposal shared with the US – that its air force have freedom of operation in Lebanese airspace, and its ground forces be allowed to engage in “active enforcement” inside Lebanese territory to prevent Hezbollah locating on the border with Israel.

Little trust in Lebanon of US as ‘honest broker’ as Washington’s envoy set to arrive

Nobody in Lebanese political society particularly trusts the Americans as an honest broker. They publicly say, they privately say, that the Americans are backing Israel all the way with political cover, military support, and huge numbers of weapons.

So they are wondering what the US envoy Amos Hochstein is bringing to the table. The Lebanese government, the interim prime minister and senior politicians – he’ll be meeting with those people. But what’s actually on the table is going to be interesting.

The Lebanese, for their part, generally speaking, with Hezbollah also in agreement, want to go back to the peace deal that was on the table in 2006. It’s still there. All of the details have been hashed out. And if they go back to that, they say Hezbollah will respect it and comply.

But what we are hearing from Israeli sources is that Israel wants to change that deal, and they want to have over-fly rights when it comes to Lebanon. They want to be able to patrol the skies of Lebanon with military aircraft.


US special envoy delivers statement

Hochstein says linking Lebanon’s fate to other conflicts in the region is not in the interest of the people of Lebanon.

The US special envoy added at a news conference in Beirut that a resolution to the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is possible but the situation has escalated “out of control as we feared that it could”.

The US government wants to ensure this is the last conflict in Lebanon for generations, he added. “The US wants to end this conflict as soon as possible, and that’s what we’re working on. We are working with the state of Lebanon and Israel to bring a formula to end this conflict once and for all. The commitment that we have is to resolve the conflict based on UN Resolution 1701,” Hochstein said referring to a 2006 Security Council resolution that calls for a halt to fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hochstein said a settlement is needed based on UN Resolution 1701 of 2006 but stressed the warring sides committing to the deal “is not enough” to solve the problem. He said: “1701 was successful in ending the war in 2006, but we must be honest that nobody did anything to implement it. The lack of implementation over those years contributed to the conflict we are in today.”

“That must change because both sides simply committing to 1701 is just not enough.”

The resolution calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any soldiers or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.


One sided again of course

"Lebanon has also accused Israel of not fully withdrawing from Lebanese territories (northern part of Ghajar village, the Shebaa Farms, and the Kfarchouba hills), and of violating their air and maritime borders."

Here's the full text of UN Resolution 1701
https://unsco.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/s_res_17012006.pdf

‘Hochstein really echoed statements by Israeli officials’

During Amos Hochstein’s six missions to Lebanon, the US administration tried to convince Hezbollah to delink the Lebanon front from the Gaza war because Hezbollah was saying, “We will not stop rocket fire until there is a permanent end to the war on Gaza.”

Since Israel’s offensive began in mid-September, Hezbollah has made clear they’ve now delinked this front and they’ll be ready for a ceasefire.

But what Hochstein said really echoed statements by Israeli officials in the sense that UN Resolution 1701 has not been implemented. It was adopted in the aftermath of the 2006 war and called for an area along the border to be free of arms and fighters outside the state’s control.

Both the US and Israel are now saying neither the Lebanese army nor the UN peacekeeping force deployed along the border did anything to prevent Hezbollah’s military build-up. So, UN Resolution 1701 will be the basis for this negotiation. He did not talk about amending this resolution.

Israeli air attacks pound south Lebanon, Hezbollah says advanced Israel drone downed

There have been several air raids overnight and into this morning. Some are still coming in – there was one in the town of Khiam. That border town came under intense air attacks yesterday.

Hezbollah said they have launched about nine different attacks into northern Israel, and also on Israeli positions inside southern Lebanon, including Maroun al-Ras. They say they have downed an Israeli drone.

They’ve had some success downing Israeli drones. The Hermes 450 is the one that they have been able to take out of the sky. Hezbollah is saying they have taken out the upgraded version of that particular Israeli drone – the Hermes 900.

That’s going to be a significant problem for the Israelis if Hezbollah have been able to knock out their more advanced technology.

Israel targets Baalbek, Hazin in eastern Lebanon

An Israeli air raid hit the city of Baalbek and ground forces raided the town of Hazin in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, our correspondent at Al Jazeera Arabic reports.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it had conducted a series of overnight air raids on Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, in what it said was an attack on Hezbollah sites and facilities that finance their operation.

Hezbollah says Israeli attacks on ‘bank’ actually targeting ‘charitable service'

The Israelis are very clear. They say this is a Hezbollah bank and it finances terrorism.

But actually, this is much more of a community bank than it is a retail bank. What people do is they go with any kind of collateral that they have. Let’s say, your children want to get married. You have some gold at home but you can’t afford to pay for your children’s marriage. You go to that bank. You give them the gold. They evaluate it and give you an interest-free loan, and you can pay for your children’s marriage.

Remember that Hezbollah is divided into three sections. There is the military wing, the political wing, and the charitable wing. This is part of their charitable institutions.

Israel is going to hit this financial institution again. But, once again, Hezbollah says this is one of the charitable services that they provide.

_{People inspect the damage after an attack on al-Qard al-Hassan financial institution, linked to Hezbollah, in Lebanon’s Chiyah on Monday}

What is Lebanon’s al-Qard al-Hassan financial institution?

Israel’s fighter jets struck branches of what it said is a Hezbollah-linked financial institution overnight.

Here is some information about al-Qard al-Hassan Association:

Lebanon calls on international community to support UNIFIL

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to take a “firm stance” on supporting UN peacekeepers on the Lebanon-Israel border to guarantee “the continuity of its work as well as its safety and security”.

It urged the international community to condemn Israel’s “hostile acts” on the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission, Lebanese National News Agency reported.

“Following consultations with the House Speaker and the Prime Minister, the Foreign Ministry expresses its utter gratitude to the UNIFIL and deep appreciation of the role it has been assuming since its establishment in 1978.”

Israel has launched a series of attacks against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon as it expands its bombardment and ground attacks.

Israeli army dynamites houses in southern Lebanese village

The Israeli military has blown up houses in a southern Lebanese border village as clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters are reported in the area. “The enemy army blew up houses in the village of Aita al-Shaab,” Lebanon’s official National News Agency said.

Heavy fighting is ongoing between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, “which is trying to advance on the ground” in the region, the report said.Al Jazeera footage shows Israeli tanks stationed on the village’s outskirts.

Dozens of rockets launched from Lebanon to Israel: Army

The Israeli army says about 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon to Israel this afternoon. Aerial warning sirens were heard in the Upper Galilee and Central Galilee areas, a military statement said.

Some of the rockets were intercepted and others crashed in open areas, the army said, adding that there were no casualties.

Lebanon says child among 6 killed in Israeli attacks on Baalbek

The country’s Health Ministry says the air strike on the eastern city hit a building in a densely packed residential area, adding the five people were wounded. “The Israeli enemy strike … in Baalbek killed six people, including a child,” the state-run National News Agency reported, adding that all six were from the same family.

Four killed in Israeli air raid near Beirut hospital: Health Ministry

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says one of those killed was a child. Twenty-four people also were wounded in an initial toll following the Israeli attack near Rafik Hariri Hospital in southern Beirut, the ministry said.

Rafik Hariri Hospital operational despite Israeli attack: Ministry

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israeli attacks across the country “will not deter medical personnel from staying on the front lines alongside their community”.

“The ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon records a series of daily attacks that affect the Lebanese health sector. The latest of these occurred this evening with the targeting of two major hospitals in the capital and Mount Lebanon,” the ministry said in a statement.

“After the Israeli enemy threatened the Sahel Hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which was still partially operational despite extremely difficult security conditions, a hostile raid hit one of the entrances of Rafik Hariri University Hospital. This hospital continues to operate normally with its full medical and health staff.