Washington Questions Israel After Gaza Strike It Calls ‘Horrifying’
Dozens of people died in an Israeli strike on a residential unit in the northern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Civil Defense said; U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington was questioning Israel about the “horrifying” incident (NYT)
Meanwhile, the United Nations said October has seen a sharp downturn in the amount of aid trucks permitted to enter Gaza; three thousand truckloads of aid entered in September compared to 704 between October 1 and 22 (FT)
Israeli Parliament Bans UN Aid Agency for Palestinian Refugees
Israel’s legislature passed two bills banning the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israel and reducing its ability to act in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank; the agency provides education as well as health and humanitarian services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria (NYT)
Israel has long accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, but countries including the United States warned against such a ban due to its consequences on the already tenuous humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories (AP,Politico)
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Washington urged Israel “to pause the implementation of this legislation,” while a joint statement from Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, and Spain called the agency “essential and irreplaceable” (Government of Norway)
Most of the new provisions are due to go into effect in three months, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would work with international partners to ensure aid continued to flow before and after the law takes effect “in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security” (Times of Israel)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi Proposes Two-Day Cease-Fire
The proposed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would allow four hostages in Gaza to be freed and aid to be delivered (AP)
Neither Israel nor Hamas immediately responded to the proposal. Cease-fire negotiations are continuing today in Doha (The National)
Israel Strikes Military Targets in Iran
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces struck military targets in Tehran and western Iran; the strikes, which came in response to Iranian missile attacks against Israel in early October, killed four Iranian soldiers (BBC)
Israel damaged Iranian military bases, air defense systems protecting energy sites, and long-range ballistic missile production capabilities; one civilian was also killed (Times of Israel)
The two countries have been exchanging airstrikes since April; the Iranian foreign ministry accused Israel of inflaming regional tensions while Israel warned Iran against further escalation in the aftermath (NYT)
Israeli officials informed American counterparts of their plans before the attacks, but the United States was not directly involved in the strikes (NBC)
New Gaza Cease-Fire, Hostage Talks to Begin in Coming Days in Doha
U.S. and Israeli envoys will take part in the talks and Washington will also send $135 million in additional aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and the broader region, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said (WaPo)
He added that Washington has seen Israel make progress toward allowing more aid into Gaza following a recent U.S. letter sent to Israeli counterparts, but it “is not yet enough”(Department of State)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Meets With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The two discussed the ongoing hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, postwar governance and reconstruction in Gaza, and the need for more humanitarian aid to reach the enclave; Blinken traveled to Saudi Arabia today (NYT)
In northern Gaza, conflict has brought a polio vaccination campaign to a halt (Al Jazeera)
Blinken Arrives in Israel for Another Go at Gaza Cease-Fire Talks
This is U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s eleventh trip to the Middle East since Hamas’s October 2023 attack (AP)
It comes as Israel steps up its assault on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, saying it hit three hundred in the previous twenty-four hours; Hezbollah said it launched an attack on an Israeli base near Tel Aviv dedicated to their slain leader Hassan Nasrallah (France 24)
Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Killed by Israeli Strike in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was “eliminated” yesterday after an Israeli tank struck a building in southern Gaza during a routine military operation (CNN)
Sinwar was widely considered to be the mastermind behind the October 7 attack that killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel last year (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the killing of Sinwar an “important moment in the war” but said that the fighting “has not ended yet” (AP)
A senior Hamas official said in a public statement that the killing would not stop their fight for a “free Palestine” and that the group has only become “stronger and more popular” with each death of its leaders (NBC)
In a statement released today, President Joe Biden likened Sinwar’s death to the U.S. military operation that killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011 and stated that it provides “the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza” (Reuters)
Biden further indicated that he would be speaking with Netanyahu soon to “discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home…and for ending this war once and for all” (NYT)
UN Warns Food Supplies Will Deplete for North Gaza by Next Week
The World Food Program’s director of Palestinian territories urged Israel to allow for an immediate increase in aid delivery, with existing aid to the Gaza Strip already well below what’s required for the hundreds of thousands of people that have evacuated to the north; Israel has launched a massive new offensive in the area in recent days and has blocked the organization from getting aid in (FT)
The UN Security Council unanimously called on Israel yesterday to allow aid and assistance into northern Gaza (NYT)
U.S. Threatens to Withhold Military Aid to Israel Until Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Is Addressed
In a letter from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Washington is giving the Israeli government thirty days to meet a swath of humanitarian demands; last month saw the lowest level of humanitarian aid in any month since the war began, Blinken and Austin wrote (FT)
This includes allowing at least 350 trucks a day into the Gaza Strip and implementing a humanitarian pause for vaccinations and aid distribution for at least the next four months (CNN)
Israeli Strike Hits Central Hospital Complex in Gaza Strip
Israel claimed Hamas fighters were hiding in the hospital complex; another missile struck a school-turned-shelter, killing and injuring dozens (NYT)
Israeli Defense Minister Postpones DC Trip Amid Lebanon Ground Campaign
Yoav Gallant pushed a trip to Washington that would have included talks at the Pentagon today, a U.S. military spokesperson said (NYT)
Meanwhile, Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah are holding a governance dialogue today in Cairo, a Hamas official and unnamed Egyptian security sources said (Reuters,EFE)
The talks come as Gaza’s Health Ministry reported forty-two thousand Palestinians have died in Hamas’s war with Israel (AP)
Israel Continues Operations in Lebanon As It Marks One Year of War With Hamas
In a departure from Hezbollah’s previous public statements, deputy leader Naim Qassemhe did not mention an end to the war in the Gaza Strip as a precondition to ending fighting on the Lebanon-Israel border in a televised address today (Reuters)
Israel’s defense minister is due to participate in talks at the Pentagon tomorrow (The Hill)
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury yesterday announced new sanctions on Hamas (Reuters)
Vigils, Protests, and Broadened War Mark One Year Since Hamas Attack
Communities are holding vigils in Israel and around the world today for the people Hamas killed and took hostage in its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel; some weekend demonstrations also voiced opposition to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip (Reuters)
A year after the attack, war between Israel and Iranian proxies has expanded across the Middle East, with Hezbollah rockets hitting the Israeli city of Haifa yesterday and rockets from Gaza targeting border communities and landing in Tel Aviv (CNN,Times of Israel)
Israel struck the Beirut suburbs overnight, while its military called for three hundred thousand people to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of a new offensive (WSJ)
Inside Israel, some families of hostages captive in Gaza held events separate from those of the government, reiterating calls for officials to do more to bring hostages home (NPR)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today praised how Israeli people stood up “like lions” after the Hamas attack, while U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the “unspeakable brutality” of the Hamas attack and said his administration “will never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely” (Times of Israel,Times of Israel)
Conflict Between Israel and Hamas Rages in Tel Aviv and Gaza
Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv that killed seven people Tuesday (WaPo)
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza yesterday in the Financial Times, writing that Riyadh will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without a clear roadmap to “an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital” (FT)
Israel Strikes Targets in Gaza Amid Heightened Regional Tensions
With military operations underway in Lebanon, Israel launched multiple “precise” airstrikes in Gaza City targeting two schools claimed to be “Hamas command and control centers;” a medical source at a nearby hospital indicated that at least twenty-one people were killed in the attack (CNN)
Separately, the Gazan health ministry stated that fifty-one people were killed and eighty-two more wounded in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis over the past twenty-four hours (NYT)
Yesterday, seven people were killed and several more injured in a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv moments before Iran’s missiles entered Israeli airspace (ABC)
The perpetrators were neutralized by security forces and the incident is being labeled as a terrorist attack; although no organization has claimed responsibility, Israeli police identified the gunmen as Palestinian residents from the West Bank (NYT; Reuters)
Iran Fires Missiles at Israel
Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday (WSJ). Despite some missiles making impact in central and southern Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported no known Israeli casualties after a successful air defense operation executed by Israel with the help of the United States (NYT). One Palestinian civilian was killed in the West Bank when pieces of an intercepted rocket fell on him from the sky (Al Jazeera)
In a statement, Hamas referred to Iran’s attack as heroic (Times of Israel). Iran’s missile attack followed Israel’s initial ground incursion into Lebanon and the IDF’s September 27 assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders in an airstrike on a Beirut suburb (CNN)
Iran Expresses Willingness for Peace, Nuclear Negotiations
Speaking to reporters in New York, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran is prepared to deescalate tensions with Israel if he sees the same level of commitment on the other side (Bloomberg)
He added that Iran wants peace but will stand up in the face of injustice against his allies, and that he was willing to sit down with the U.S. and European leaders for nuclear negotiations (AP)
UN General Assembly Passes Resolution Calling on Israel to End Its Presence in “the Occupied Palestinian Territory” Within Twelve Months
The resolution passed 124–14, with 43 abstentions, and was based on a July advisory from the UN’s court that Israel was violating international law (Economist)
The Palestinian ambassador called the vote a turning point in “our struggle for freedom and justice,” while Israel’s called it “diplomatic terrorism;” the United States and Israel voted against the resolution (BBC)
Israel Says Stopping Hezbollah Attacks in Its North Is Now an Official War Goal
The announcement today by Israel’s security cabinet comes after months of cross-border bouts of fire between Israeli forces and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon; Israeli residents displaced by those clashes should be able to return to their homes, the cabinet added (AP). Israel’s defense minister told senior White House official Amos Hochstein yesterday that “military action” was “the only way” to allow such a return for residents of northern Israel, underscoring the challenges ahead as U.S. and other international envoys continue efforts to prevent a more intense Israel-Hezbollah conflict from spilling out (NYT)
While Hochstein is pushing for a diplomatic solution to the tensions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to Egypt today in continued pursuit of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip; it is Blinken’s tenth trip to the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel nearly a year ago, kicking off the current war (WSJ)
Six Employees of UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees Killed in Israeli Strike on Central Gaza School
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned yesterday’s strike, calling it “totally unacceptable,” while Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said Israel was carrying out a just war as “Hamas continues to use women and children as human shields” (BBC)
U.S. Secretary of State Calls for “Fundamental Changes” in Israeli Forces’ Operations in the West Bank
Blinken’s statements followed Israel’s statement that it was “highly likely” that its forces had “unintentionally” shot and killed an American in the West Bank (BBC)
Blinken’s full remarks, made at a London press conference yesterday, were some of his most stern criticisms yet of Israeli actions in the area; Israel’s military is investigating the incident (WaPo)
At Least Nineteen Reported Dead in Israeli Strike in Gaza Humanitarian Zone
Gaza’s health ministry recorded the deaths along with another sixty wounded in today’s attack; their toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians (WaPo)
Gazan authorities said they were still working to uncover bodies under rubble (CNN)
Shooter Kills Three Israelis at Crossing Between West Bank and Jordan
Israeli authorities are investigating the gunfire as a terrorist attack in what was the first such violent incident at the crossing since 2014 (Times of Israel,WaPo)
The assassin was a Jordanian man driving a truck from Jordan’s sole crossing into the West Bank; Israel’s military killed him and authorities shut down the bridge crossing (BBC)
Israeli Troops Pull Out of West Bank City of Jenin After Ten-Day Military Operation
While Israel’s military didn’t confirm the withdrawal, it said it had killed fourteen fighters, detained another thirty who were linked to aerial strikes, and dismantled explosives in the area; Jenin hosts a large refugee camp, which was heavily damaged in the operation (WaPo)