Saudi Arabia, Spain condemn Israel’s attacks

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced in the “strongest terms” what it called Israel’s continued and systematic targeting of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), including its workers and facilities.

It noted the latest Israeli attack on the UNRWA-run Abu Assi school in northern Gaza which killed at least 10 people on Saturday.

Spain, meanwhile, renewed its appeals for a ceasefire as Israel ramps up bombings of Gaza and Lebanon.

“The intensification of bombings in Beirut and Gaza, which we condemn, is leaving dozens of victims,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on X. “The destruction and death must stop in the Middle East. We demand a cease-fire and compliance with international law.”

Pro-Palestine protesters join march for freedom in Prague

People waved Palestinian flags and held signs calling for peace at a protest in solidarity with Palestinians and against Israeli attacks. The protest was part of a larger demonstration on the Day of Struggle for Freedom and Democracy on the 34th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.

_{People hold signs protesting their government’s support for Israel, including from foreign minister Jan Lipavsky}

_{The Czech Republic was one of only 14 countries to against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territory within 12 months, in September}

EU needs to keep up diplomatic ‘dialogue with Israel’: Dutch FM

The European Union needs to continue its diplomatic dialogue with Israel amid tensions in the Middle East, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has said, disagreeing with the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who proposed last week the bloc pause its dialogue with the country.

Borrell’s proposal included the bloc suspending its political dialogue with Israel, citing possible human rights violations in the war in Gaza, and saying the EU has to “put pressure on the Israeli government”.

PRCS evacuates 30 patients from northern Gaza to al-Shifa Hospital

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says it has evacuated 15 patients and their 16 companions from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in coordination with the World Health Organization.

“Additionally, 15 patients and two companions were evacuated from Al-Awda Hospital to Al-Shifa Hospital, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross,” it said on X.

The Israeli army has placed the northernmost part of the Strip under a state of complete siege since early October, cutting off the area from all humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, and relentlessly bombing it.

Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya kills two, strands residents

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that two people were killed and others wounded when the Israeli army hit a group of displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip city. The besieged people there are appealing for ambulances to be allowed to reach the area after the bombing, our correspondent says.

This is the same scene that played out yesterday, when the Israeli army attacked a multistorey building killing at least 50 people. In the aftermath of the bombing, the civil defence said it was unable to aid the victims of the attack due to the presence of Israeli troops.

Israeli drone kills Palestinian north of Rafah

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that one person has been killed in an attack by an Israeli drone on the Khirbet al-Adas area, north of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces also blew up residential buildings in Rafah’s Saudi neighbourhood, and launched a raid on a house in the vicinity of al-Jalaa Street in western Gaza City.

Three people killed, including children, in Gaza City

Israel’s most recent attack on Gaza City has killed at least three people, two of whom were children, our correspondent on the ground says. The attack targeted a house near al-Jalaa Street in the west of the city.

‘Huge increase’ in displaced people in Gaza City: MSF

Amande Bazerolle, from Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, told Al Jazeera that the organisation has one clinic in Gaza City that is seeing a “huge increase” in newly displaced people.

“We are reporting about 140,000 people and more coming every day, about 300 people per day with injuries but also chronic diseases that are not being taken care of,” Bazerolle told Al Jazeera.

She added that some of their staff are currently stuck in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon, amid Israel’s more-than-a-month-long siege.

“We are [getting] reports from what’s happening there from our staff as well which is very terrible without having access to food or water and just no security to be able to flee the area,” she said.

Bazerolle explained that the amount of medicine getting through to north Gaza is also “very little, a drop in the ocean”.

Injured patients arriving at hospital from ‘very deadly’ areas

A drone missile was fired on a group of people near a grocery shop in the Nuseirat refugee camp. It’s an area filled with many street vendors and shops and people were simply on their way to pick up what they need for the day.

Four people, including a woman, a teenage boy and two others were hit by flying shrapnel as they were walking by this street.

What we saw from the ambulances at Al-Aqsa Hospital behind me, as injured people were coming out, they were clearly in areas that are very lethal, very deadly. Either the shrapnel hit them on the back of their head, or in the abdominal area or in the lower part, causing paralysis. People are unable to walk for a long time or sometimes become disabled permanently because of the bombings.

Elsewhere this morning, five people were reported killed in a tent in Khan Younis. In Gaza City, five people were killed, including three children and two women from one family who were sheltering inside a residential home.

Israelis protest outside Netanyahu’s home to demand swap deal

Families of the Israeli captives are outside the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in West Jerusalem to demand the captives’ exchange with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

“End war. Hostage deal immediately,” and “Hostages won’t survive another winter”, read a few of the banners waved by protesters.

In a statement, organizers of the protest warned that the captives “won’t survive the freezing cold in the tunnels of Gaza”.

Relatives of Israeli captives and opposition parties have escalated their protests against Netanyahu’s government, which they accuse of sabotaging efforts to reach an exchange deal.

Israel estimates that about 101 captives are still being held by Hamas and other groups in Gaza. Some captives are believed to have been killed by indiscriminate Israeli air attacks across the densely populated enclave.

UNRWA says 109 food trucks looted after crossing into Gaza last week

All the trucks in an aid convoy have been looted after crossing into Gaza, an official from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) tells Reuters.

Louise Wateridge, UNRWA senior emergency officer, told Reuters that the convoy, which was carrying food provided by UNRWA and the UN World Food Programme, was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

The incident on Saturday resulted in the loss of 98 of the convoy’s 109 trucks, she said. “This incident highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” Wateridge added.

Over a dozen Palestinians arrested in Israeli raid on West Bank camp

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli forces stormed the Dheisheh refugee camp near the city of Bethlehem and arrested at least 15 Palestinians.

The arrests came as Israeli forces also carried out raids elsewhere in the occupied West Bank. They include:

In Poland, where criticising Israel remains taboo, Gaza solidarity rises

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/18/in-poland-where-criticising-israel-remains-taboo-gaza-solidarity-rises

In an attempt to raise awareness about the abuse and humiliation suffered by Palestinians who have been arrested and tortured by Israeli forces, Igor Dobrowolski, a Polish painter and performance artist, dressed in a purple jumpsuit in March and placed a yellow sack over his head.

In a video of the performance posted to Instagram, he is seen kneeling on a concrete floor, his hands zip-tied behind his back. A person beside him in khaki green playing the role of an Israeli soldier holds up a stick with laughing emojis – a nod to the evidence that many are livestreaming potential war crimes on social media.

Dobrowolski is seen urinating in fear, just as Palestinian prisoners did in footage posted earlier by Israeli troops, during which one is heard mockingly saying, “Oh no, what happened? He peed himself.”


_{Igor Dobrowolski, an artist in his 30s, depicts the suffering of Palestinians in a recent performance}

EU will not suspend dialogue with Israel: Poland minister

European Union foreign ministers have failed to agree to suspend political dialogue with Israel during a meeting, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski says.

The meeting followed a proposal from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

“We know that there are tragic events in Gaza, huge civilian casualties, but we do not forget who started the current cycle of violence,” Sikorski told reporters in Brussels. “And I can tell you that there was no agreement on the idea of ​​suspending negotiations with Israel.”

Nobody expected it to go through, but it's good to point out the genocide enablers.


Germany warns Israel against questioning Palestinians’ right to exist in Gaza

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels: “There must be no [Israeli] settlement of Gaza and no expulsion from Gaza, and that still applies.”

“And if, with regard to Gaza, the Palestinians’ right to exist or international law is called into question, then this of course also has a consequence with regard to the European positioning,” she said.

Baerbock criticised Israel again for not allowing enough humanitarian aid into war-stricken Gaza.

“The suffering of the people, especially the children, in Gaza can hardly be put into words. There are no excuses for humanitarian aid not being able to enter Gaza,” she said, adding: “Humanitarian aid is firmly anchored in international law.”

Put your words into actions, stop supporting Israel, stop sending more weapons and bombs. There are no excuses for Germany's continued support for and complicity in genocide.

India releases $2.5m in funding to UNRWA: Report

India has released $2.5m, a second tranche of funding, to UNRWA, fulfilling its annual contribution of $5m for 2024-2025, Wafa reports.

In a press release, the Representative Office of India in Ramallah said New Delhi had provided financial support of $40m for the UN agency’s core programmes and services, including education and healthcare to Palestinian refugees.

The release said that in addition to financial assistance, India continues to provide humanitarian aid, including medicine, to UNRWA to assist the agency in helping Palestinians.

Bernie Sanders pushes to block US arms sale to Israel

The Senate will vote this week on bills to block a $20bn arms deal with Israel, an effort that advocates say will set a precedent in congressional efforts to halt weapons transfers to the US ally.

The effort is unlikely to pass in the mostly pro-Israel chamber, but it has been garnering support from rights groups and a growing number of Democratic lawmakers.

The resolutions send a message to Biden, Trump and Netanyahu that the “status quo is unacceptable”, says Hassan El-Tayyab, an advocacy organiser at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

US pressed on response to killing of Turkish-American activist

The US wants Israel to complete its probe into the killing of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi before determining any potential next steps.

“We want to see the end of the [Israeli] investigation before we speak to that, which does not mean that it is an open-ended timeline,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said during a daily press briefing.

His remarks came in response to a question about whether the State Department plans to take any action regarding Ezgi Eygi’s killing instead of waiting for Israel to conclude the investigation, which has been going on for more than two months.

“We continue to press the government of Israel to conduct its investigation and to brief us on the results of that investigation. We want to see the investigation be thorough, and then when we see the results, of course, we want to speak to them at that time as well as any additional steps that may or may not be warranted,” Miller said.

An Israeli soldier fatally shot Ezgi Eygi, 26, in September at a demonstration in the occupied West Bank against Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Families of Israeli captives confront PM Netanyahu in the Knesset

The scenes have been quite chaotic. Members of the opposition have been thrown out yelling while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking at the podium, saying it’s Hamas who is the main obstacle for a ceasefire deal.

Up until this point, he said, Israel has recovered 145 captives, some of whom were released one year ago during the first and only ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Netanyahu also said there were a number of bodies recovered by Israeli forces in several military operations, which by the way resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians.

However, you have family members of Israeli captives who for more than a year have been saying Netanyahu is not doing enough. Members of the Israeli government as well and a large portion of Israeli society blame the Israeli leadership for why there hasn’t been a deal and for why this war has been going on so long with little to no military achievements.

Biden urges G20 leaders to ‘increase pressure’ on Hamas

US President Joe Biden has called on Group of 20 (G20) nations to step up demands on Hamas for a ceasefire with Israel as he vowed to “keep pushing” for a deal in his last weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.

“I ask everyone here to increase their pressure on Hamas, which is currently refusing this deal,” Biden said in his opening remarks at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Hamas approved a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war put forward by mediators Qatar and Egypt. Israel refused the deal, saying it fell short of its demands.