Reports: White House Notifies Congress of Planned $8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel
The informal notification covers a package that includes air-to-air missiles, artillery shells, and 500-pound warheads, unnamed sources told multiple news outlets (Axios)
It would mark the final sale of weapons to Israel approved by the Biden administration, and supplement at least $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel since Hamas’s 2023 attack (AP)
Israeli Strike Inside Israeli-Designated Humanitarian Zone in Gaza Killed Hamas’s Head of Police
Medics reported that eleven people, including women and children, died in the strike (Times of Israel)
Earlier this week, Israel’s defense minister threatened stepped-up attacks against Hamas if it does not soon release Israeli hostages and keeps firing at Israeli communities (AFP)
Hamas has increased rocket fire at Israel over the past week (Al Jazeera)
Palestinian Authority Security Forces Clash With Militants From Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in West Bank
The Palestinian Authority (PA) suspended Al Jazeera’s operations in the West Bank over its coverage of the clashes (WSJ)
PA news agency Wafa said Al Jazeera’s reporting included “misinformation, incitement, sedition, and interference in Palestinian internal affairs”(Times of Israel)
CIA Chief Reportedly Travels to Doha for Talks on Gaza
CIA chief William Burns is meeting today with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza, an unnamed source familiar with the matter told Axios; indirect negotiations have been underway since Israel gave Hamas an updated proposal for a deal three weeks ago (Axios)
Gaza Health Ministry: More Than Forty-Five Thousand Palestinians Have Died Since Beginning of Israel-Hamas War
The Gazan Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilian and military deaths but say more than half of those killed were women and children; the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have stepped up efforts to broker a cease-fire in recent days (AP)
Netanyahu Testifies in Corruption Trial
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the corruption allegations against him “absurd” today; he faces charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes and is the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant (AP)
His testimony is scheduled to continue over several weeks (Bloomberg)
Amnesty International: “Sufficient Evidence to Believe” Israel’s War Conduct Amounts to Genocide
The report cited what it called mass killings and actions meant to bring about the destruction of Palestinians “in whole or part;” Israel said the report was “entirely baseless” and that it failed to account for operational realities in Gaza as well as Hamas’s violations of international humanitarian law (CNN)
The Israel branch of Amnesty International rejected the conclusion (Haaretz)
NYT: Israel Has Built or Expanded Twelve Military Bases in Central Gaza Strip Since Early September
The reporting by the New York Times was based on satellite images and interviews with Israeli military members; Israeli leaders have said they aim to maintain security control in Gaza after the war but have not specified what that might entail (NYT)
Hamas Leaders Meet With Egyptian Officials About Cease-fire Efforts in Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees halted aid deliveries to Gaza through a border crossing due to looting, it said (Reuters)
Israeli Prosecutors Charge Netanyahu Aide and Unnamed Military Reservist Over Leaks of Classified Military Intelligence on Hamas
The accused aide in the prime minister’s office, media advisor Eliezer Feldstein, allegedly leaked information to the German newspaper Bild to influence how the Israeli public viewed negotiations for a cease-fire, Israeli prosecutors said; a lawyer for Feldstein did not immediately comment (NYT)
ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Hamas’s Deif
The International Criminal Court (ICC) unanimously issued the warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif on charges of crimes against humanity; it cited Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip (NYT)
The court’s prosecutor originally sought warrants for three Hamas officials but said it could confirm that two have since been killed in conflict; the Israeli military previously said it had killed Deif, too, in its operations (NYT)
The court wrote in its decision there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival,” while Deif is responsible for “murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other forms of sexual violence” (ICC)
Netanyahu and other Israeli officials had criticized the requests for warrants as antisemitic, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the decision to issue them turned “the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas’s crimes against humanity” (Reuters)
Israel—and the United States, where Netanyahu often travels—are not members of the ICC, which limits the practical effects of the warrant, given that only countries party to the court’s treaty are obligated to arrest him if he sets foot in their country (BBC)
The United States rejected the ICC’s charges against Netanyahu when they were first introduced earlier this year, with some U.S. policymakers calling for sanctions on the court (WSJ)
UN Security Council Holds Vote on Resolution Calling for Unconditional Cease-fire
The United States said it vetoed the resolution because it was not contingent on an immediate hostage release (NYT)
Netanyahu Announces $5 Million Reward for Each Hostage Freed From Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited an Israeli military position in the Gaza Strip yesterday and vowed that Hamas would not rule the enclave after the war; in addition to the monetary reward, he also offered a safe passage out of Gaza for those who turned over a hostage (Times of Israel)
UNRWA: Over One Hundred Trucks Carrying Aid Into Gaza Strip “Violently Looted”
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that Israel was disregarding its obligations to ensure aid safely reached Palestinians in Gaza, though Israel has denied creating obstacles to aid deliveries; only eleven trucks made it to their destination over the weekend (NYT)
Separately, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said Washington will make clear to Ankara that “there can be no more business as usual with Hamas” (Al-Monitor)
He did not confirm media reports that Hamas moved its political office from Qatar to Turkey but said he was not in a position to dispute them (Reuters)
Israeli Judge Unseals Part of Probe of Leaked Israeli Military Intelligence on Gaza War
In the ruling, the judge said the leak was meant to reduce pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a hostage release deal; an Israeli military officer transferred the information to an aide in Netanyahu’s office, who leaked it to German media, the judge wrote (NYT)
The prime minister’s office denies leaking (Guardian)
Washington Will Not Change Policy Toward Israel After Deadline for Gaza Aid Passed
Eight aid organizations declared that Israel did not meet the United States’ demands to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip within a U.S.-imposed thirty-day deadline (AP)
A State Department spokesperson, however, said Washington does not assess that Israel is in violation of U.S. law and will not change its policy toward Israel for the time being; he added that “we’ve seen some progress being made” (CNN)
Saudi Crown Prince Accuses Israel of Committing ‘Genocide’ Against Palestinians
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman levied the accusation at a Riyadh summit of Muslim and Arab leaders; he also warned Israel against launching attacks on Iranian soil in an apparent sign of thawing ties between Riyadh and Tehran (BBC)
Israel has repeatedly rejected claims that its military is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip (AP)
On Saturday, Qatar said it would stop mediating between Israel and Hamas after the sides had been unable to reach an agreement on a cease-fire (CNN)
Israel’s Netanyahu Replaces Defense Minister
Netanyahu’s removal of Yoav Gallant yesterday comes after months of public disagreement between the two over the course of the conflict in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon; Israel Katz will move from heading the foreign ministry to the defense ministry (WSJ)
Gallant was a proponent within the Israeli government of a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza, a moderating voice in Israel’s war strategy, and a main interlocutor with the United States (NYT)
WHO to Evacuate Over One Hundred Patients From Gaza
A rare transfer out of the Gaza Strip will tomorrow move patients including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said; twelve thousand people in total are awaiting transfer (Reuters)
Yesterday, Israeli shelling damaged an already struggling major hospital in Northern Gaza, its director said; Israel’s military said it was looking into reports coming from the hospital (NYT)
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)