Croatian President Zoran Milanović said he doesn’t sympathize with Israel because of its reprisal actions in Gaza after last weekend’s Hamas attacks, and criticized displays of the Israeli flag in his country.

In comments to media on Thursday, Milanović hit out at Israel over its retaliatory strikes in Gaza, which have so far killed more than 1,500 people according to Gaza’s health ministry, and called the Croatian foreign ministry’s decision to display the Israeli flag outside its building in solidarity with the country “an idiotic move.”

“With all my sympathy for Israel, which unfortunately they lost within 15 minutes … there is no place for other flags in Croatia, except in strictly regulated situations,” Milanović said. “I condemned [Hamas’] murders, I even expressed disgust and abhorrence, but the right to defense does not include the right to revenge and the killing of civilians,” he added.

Israel’s strikes on Gaza came in response to Hamas militants conducting a wave of attacks, breaching the country’s border, killing more than 1,200 people and taking around 150 hostages back to Gaza.

Milanović also said he would lower the EU and NATO flags in his presidential office below the Croatian one, saying they are “not the same” and so should not be hung on the same level.

Elected president in 2020, Milanović was previously prime minister of Croatia between 2011 and 2016.

Milanović has made controversial remarks in the past, from comparing the Ukrainian patriotic chant “Slava Ukraini” to a Nazi salute, to threatening to withdraw Croatian troops from NATO forces stationed in Eastern Europe.

Today, Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli infantry soldiers in the vicinity of Gaza, and this appeared during a video clip broadcast on official Israeli channels in which he asked them: “Are you ready for the next stage?”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the counterattacks on Gaza following the attack launched by Hamas on Israel are only the beginning.

In a speech to the nation last Friday evening, Netanyahu said: “We will destroy Hamas and we will win, but it will take time.”

Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday in Tel Aviv to demand the dismissal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The participants in the demonstration chanted slogans calling for Netanyahu’s dismissal, and criticized his government’s management of the current situation, pointing out that the extreme right-wing government has worked over the past months to make amendments to the judiciary to undermine democracy in Israel, instead of providing security for the Israelis, as they said.

Medical sources announced, this evening, Saturday, that the child Muhammad Rifaat Muhammad Adwan (16 years old), from Faraun, south of Tulkarm, died as a result of his critical injury during confrontations west of the town, last week.

The child Adwan was injured last Tuesday by a gunshot to the back, during clashes that broke out in the vicinity of the separation and apartheid wall west of Pharaoh. After several operations were performed on him at the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm, he was transferred to the Istishari Hospital in Ramallah, which announced the death of the child. His martyrdom, this evening.

Tareq Al-Akkad, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the Arab Palestinian Investment Company - APIC, announced the company’s donation of $250,000 as urgent and emergency assistance to UNRWA as a contribution to supporting the relief efforts of our people in Gaza during the current difficult circumstances.

This donation comes in response to UNRWA's urgent appeal, which was published on October 11, regarding the urgent need to support its multi-sectoral humanitarian response over the next 90 days. APIC's support will contribute to securing the urgent needs of food, non-food, medical materials, shelter, and protection for our people in UNRWA shelters from various parts of the devastated and afflicted Gaza Strip, including attention to the needs of vulnerable groups, which include women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly.

Al-Akkad called on private sector companies to contribute to providing urgent support, each with the aim of contributing to the relief efforts in Gaza during what is truly an unprecedented human tragedy, stressing the need to mobilize maximum efforts to alleviate the suffering of our people and meet their basic needs, especially providing water, food and medicine.

For his part, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini thanked Mr. Tareq Al-Akkad and the Arab Palestinian Investment Company - APIC for their humanitarian and immediate response to support UNRWA. He added that this donation will help us continue to provide vital services to Palestinian refugees while the organization responds to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

This Saturday evening, a Lebanese man and his wife were killed by Israeli occupation artillery shelling on the village of Shebaa in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the citizen, Khalil Asaad Ali Hashem, and his wife, Rabad Hussein Al-Akoum, were killed in the Israeli bombing of Shebaa.

Yesterday evening, the occupation forces targeted a number of journalists in southern Lebanon, which led to the death of a Reuters photographer and the injury of a number of journalists.

The Lebanese border area is witnessing continuous Israeli attacks targeting the border villages.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah affirmed the Kingdom’s categorical rejection of calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza.

The Saudi Foreign Minister, when he received US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the ministry’s office in Riyadh today, Saturday, stressed the Kingdom’s demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and its surroundings, and to lift the siege on the Strip in line with international law, and to work to ensure the entry of urgent humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, and the need to make a rapid collective effort to stop the ongoing cycle of violence, and all forms of military escalation against civilians to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

He explained that the priority now is to work to prevent the death of more innocent civilians as a result of the ongoing cycle of violence, and stressed the need for Israel to adhere to international humanitarian law, and that any actions that contradict international law and international humanitarian law will exacerbate the depth of the current crisis and increase the suffering in that region.

He stressed that dialogue is the only path to finding a just and comprehensive political solution to the conflict, and that the international community must assume its responsibility to stop the violence and advance the peace process in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, and the Arab Peace Initiative.

By Paul Kirby

Israel's leaders have declared that Hamas will be wiped off the face of the Earth and Gaza will never go back to what it was. "Every Hamas member is a dead man," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after fighters from the militant group killed 1,300 people in a brutal attack on Israel.

The goal of Operation Swords of Iron appears far more ambitious than anything the military has planned in Gaza before. But is that a realistic military mission, and how can its commanders possibly fulfill it?

A ground invasion of the Gaza Strip involves house-to-house urban fighting and carries immense risks to the civilian population. Air strikes have already claimed hundreds of lives, and more than 400,000 people have fled their homes.

The military has the added task of rescuing at least 150 hostages, held in unknown locations across Gaza.

Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), has vowed to "dismantle" Hamas, and has singled out its political head in Gaza. But is there an ultimate vision for how Gaza will look after 16 years of Hamas's violent rule?

"I don't think Israel can dismantle every Hamas member, because it's an idea of extremist Islam," says military analyst Amir Bar Shalom of Israel's Army Radio. "But you can weaken it as much as you can so it has no operational capabilities."

That might be a more realistic objective. Israel has fought four wars with Hamas, and every attempt to halt its rocket attacks has failed.

Spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said by the end of this war Hamas should no longer have the military capacity to "threaten or kill Israeli civilians".

Ground invasion fraught with risk

The military operation is at the mercy of several factors that could derail it. Hamas's armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, will have prepared for an Israeli offensive. Explosive devices will have been set, and ambushes planned. It can use its notorious and extensive network of tunnels to attack Israeli forces.

In 2014, Israeli infantry battalions suffered heavy losses from anti-tank mines, snipers and ambushes, while hundreds of civilians died in fighting in a northern neighborhood of Gaza City.

That is one reason Israel has demanded the evacuation of 1.1 million Palestinians from the northern half of the Gaza Strip.

Israelis have been warned the war could take months, and a record 360,000 reservists have reported for duty.

The question is how long Israel can continue its campaign without international pressure to pull back.

Gaza is rapidly becoming a "hell hole", the UN's refugee agency has warned. The death toll is rising fast; water, power and fuel supplies have been cut off, and now half of the population is being told to flee large areas.

"The government and military feel they have the backing of the international community - at least Western leaders. The philosophy is 'let's mobilize, we have plenty of time'," says Yossi Melman, one of Israel's leading security and intelligence journalists.

But sooner or later he believes Israel's allies will step in if they sees images of people starving.

Saving the hostages

Many of the hostages are Israelis, but there also are a large number of foreign citizens and dual nationals among them, so several other governments, including the US, France and the UK have a stake in this operation and their safe release.

President Emmanuel Macron has promised French-Israeli families to bring their loved ones home: "France will never abandon its children."

The extent to which the fate of the hostages will influence military planners is unclear, and there is also domestic pressure on Israel's leaders.

Amir Bar Shalom compares the situation to the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian gunman seized Israeli athletes and killed 11 people.

An operation was launched to find and kill everyone involved in the attack and he believes the government will want to hunt down all those behind the kidnappings.

Rescuing so many people held in different areas of Gaza may prove beyond the commandos of Israel's elite unit Sayeret Matkal. Hamas has already threatened to shoot hostages as a deterrent to Israeli attack.

In 2011, Israel exchanged more than 1,000 prisoners for the release of a soldier, Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas for five years. But Israel will think twice before another big prisoner release, because one of the men freed in that swap was Yahya Sinwar, who has since become Hamas's political leader in Gaza.

Neighbors watching closely

What could also affect the duration and outcome of a ground offensive is how Israel's neighbors react.

It may face increasing demands from Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and is already pushing for aid to be allowed through its Rafah border crossing.

"The more that Gazans suffer following the Israeli military campaign, the more pressure Egypt will face, to appear as if it has not turned its back on the Palestinians," says Ofir Winter of Israel's Institute for National Security Studies.

But that will not stretch to Cairo allowing a mass crossing of Gazans into Egypt or acting militarily against Israel on their behalf, he believes./AFP

Israeli air strikes and artillery have bombarded Gaza for days, since Hamas slaughtered Israeli civilians

Israel's northern border with Lebanon is under close scrutiny too.

So far there have been several cross-border attacks involving Islamist militant group Hezbollah, but they have not amounted to a new front against Israel.

Iran, Hezbollah's main sponsor, is already threatening to launch "new fronts" against Israel. They were the focus of US President Joe Biden's warning this week, when he said: "To any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word: Don't!"

A US aircraft carrier has been sent to the Eastern Mediterranean to emphasize that message.

What is Israel's endgame for Gaza?

If Hamas were to be significantly weakened, the question is what would go in its place.

Israel pulled its army and thousands of settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 and will have no intention to return as an occupying force.

Ofir Winter believes a shift in power could potentially pave the way for the gradual return of the Palestinian Authority (PA), kicked out from Gaza by Hamas in 2007. The PA, which is not a militant group, currently controls parts of the West Bank.

Egypt too would welcome a more pragmatic neighbor, he argues.

Gaza's devastated infrastructure will ultimately have to be rebuilt in the way it was after earlier wars.

Even before Hamas's atrocities in Israel there were tight restrictions on "dual-use goods" entering Gaza that could have a military as well as a civilian role. Israel will want to impose even heavier restrictions.

There have been calls for a wide buffer zone along the fence with Gaza to provide greater protection for Israeli communities. A former head of its Shin Bet security service, Yoram Cohen, believes a 2km (1.25-mile) "shoot-on-sight" zone will be needed to replace the existing zone.

Whatever the outcome of the war, Israel will want to ensure a similar attack never happens again.

Source: BBC 

The British BBC network announced that its press team in Israel was attacked and detained at gunpoint, after police arrested them in the city of Tel Aviv.

The network said - in a statement published on its official website -, “Muhannad Totenji, Haitham Abu Diab, and the BBC Arabic team were on their way to a hotel, when their car was intercepted.”

It added, "The car - which had a TV sign in red - was pulled over, they were searched, and they were pushed against the wall."

Totenji and Abu Diab said that they identified themselves as BBC journalists and showed the police their press ID cards.

While trying to film the incident, Totenji said that his phone was thrown to the ground and he was hit on the neck.

A spokesman for the British network said, “The BBC News Arabic team was among the teams deployed in Tel Aviv. It was in a car with a clear sign indicating that it was a media organization, and it was stopped and assaulted last night by the Israeli police. Journalists must be able to cover the conflict in Israel and Gaza freely.”

Yesterday, Friday, journalist Issam Abdullah from Reuters was killed, and two journalists from the Al Jazeera team, Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhia, and three other journalists from foreign and local media, were injured in the border town of Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, as a result of Israeli forces targeting their car.

In Gaza, 8 journalists were killed since last Saturday, as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks, according to what the government media office in Gaza reported last Tuesday.

By John Simpson

Government ministers, newspaper columnists, ordinary people - they're all asking why the BBC doesn't say the Hamas gunmen are terrorists.

The answer goes right back to the BBC's founding principles.

Terrorism is a loaded word, which people use about an outfit they disapprove of morally. It's simply not the BBC's job to tell people who to support and who to condemn - who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.

We regularly point out that the British and other governments have condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization, but that's their business. We also run interviews with guests and quote contributors who describe Hamas as terrorists.

The key point is that we don't say it in our voice. Our business is to present our audiences with the facts, and let them make up their own minds.

As it happens, of course, many of the people who've attacked us for not using the word terrorist have seen our pictures, heard our audio or read our stories, and made up their minds on the basis of our reporting, so it's not as though we're hiding the truth in any way - far from it.

Any reasonable person would be appalled by the kind of thing we've seen. It's perfectly reasonable to call the incidents that have occurred "atrocities", because that's exactly what they are. No-one can possibly defend the murder of civilians.

Qatar announced its categorical rejection of attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip, calling for the lifting of the siege on the Strip and the provision of full protection to civilians in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law.

In a statement issued today, Saturday, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of the danger of adopting a policy of collective punishment, including calls to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip of residents, considering that forcing civilians to displace or take refuge in neighboring countries represents a violation of international laws, and would exacerbate the situation. The effects of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, and double the suffering of the Palestinian people.

It urged the international community to take urgent action to open humanitarian corridors that allow international organizations to bring medical and food aid into Gaza, and evacuate injured civilians.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry stressed that the only guarantee for achieving sustainable peace in the region is reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue, ensuring the restoration of rights to the Palestinian people and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Health Minister Mai Alkaila said that 28 staff working in the health sector were killed, and dozens of them were injured, during the ongoing Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip for the eighth day in a row.

Al-Kaila added in a press statement today, Saturday, that 15 medical centers were damaged as a result of the bombing, and Beit Hanoun Hospital and Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital stopped providing service, and 23 ambulances were damaged and stopped working.

It renewed its appeals to the international community, the United Nations, and international human rights and humanitarian organizations, to provide urgent protection for hospitals, treatment centers, ambulances, health personnel, and the sick and wounded who are exposed daily to Israeli bombing.

She added that the occupation forces daily threaten hospitals in the Gaza Strip with evacuation, which is a clear threat to the lives of hundreds of patients and wounded, including Al-Durrah Children's Hospital, which was evacuated yesterday after being bombed with internationally banned white phosphorus bombs, and before that, Beit Hanoun Hospital, which also stopped working as a result of the Israeli bombing.

As the Israeli army escalates its relentless, crushing attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, the US State Department has asked its diplomats specializing in Middle East issues not to make public statements indicating that the United States wants to see less violence, according to internal emails seen by the website. American Huffington Post.

The website revealed on Friday that in the letters distributed on Friday (10/13/23), high-level officials gave clear instructions to American diplomats that any comments or press releases should not include three specific phrases: “cease-escalation/ceasefire.” “End the violence/bloodshed,” and “Restore calm.”

This revelation provides a stunning indication of the reluctance of the administration of US President Joe Biden to exert any pressure, even verbal, for Israeli restraint as Israel expands its attack on the Gaza Strip, which as of Friday evening has led to the killing of 1,900 Palestinian citizens in the Strip, most of them civilians and children. , following the Hamas attack launched by the movement on October 7 in Israeli territory, which left hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians dead.

According to the Huffington Post website: “The emails were sent hours after Israel informed more than 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza of the need to leave their homes and shelters before the expected ground invasion of the area. The United Nations said on Thursday that Israel had given Gazans a 24-hour deadline to move to... South of the Strip, and warned that “it would be impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences.”

In response to a question about the Israeli evacuation order on Friday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby refused to reject or support it, describing it as a “difficult matter.”

Kirby said that the US administration is keen to avoid talking about what Israel is doing and its tactics on the ground, "and what I can tell you is that we understand what they (the Israelis) are trying to do. They are trying to keep civilians out of harm's way and give them fair warning."

When a State Department official was contacted for comment on the directive, he said they would not comment on internal communications.

American officials said they expect Israel to adhere to the laws of war in its operation against Hamas. But they avoided discussing a ceasefire, even as aid groups and some analysts suggested it might be necessary to allow civilians to flee Gaza and allow vital supplies to enter the area after Israel cut off the electricity and water on which the Strip normally relies. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken deleted and replaced a post on X, his former Twitter handle, in which he mentioned Turkey's calls for a ceasefire.

Israel said on Thursday that an attack carried out by Hamas last weekend and rocket fire by Palestinian militants since then had killed 1,300 Israelis.

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly pledged to support Israel as it seeks revenge for the unprecedented Hamas attack. However, as Israel's largest source of diplomatic and military support, the United States has significant influence regarding how Israel chooses its operations.

Biden's allies may urge the president and his team to issue stronger calls for Netanyahu to prioritize humanitarian concerns. On Friday, Rep. Sarah Jacobs - a California Democrat who serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees - urged Israel to reconsider the Gaza evacuation order.

Jacobs, an American Jew, said in a statement: “My family is still in Israel, so I can only imagine the pain and anger that the families of the hostages are feeling now and I understand the Israeli government’s urgency to hold Hamas responsible.” She added: “I also share the United Nations’ concerns.” ...Due to communications and power outages, many civilians in Gaza cannot receive evacuation notice, let alone evacuate quickly and safely. The short timeline for evacuation notice does not give a civilian population of more than 1 million people sufficient time to evacuate, nor does it provide time to evacuate quickly and safely. Sufficient funding for humanitarian organizations to ensure that southern Gaza is able to receive an additional one million people.

“Maintaining our moral authority and protecting innocent lives is the right thing to do, and is also important for Israel’s long-term safety and security,” Jacobs continued.

Fifty-five House Democrats also signed a letter on Friday asking Biden to "express that Israel's response in Gaza must be conducted in accordance with international law and take all necessary measures to limit harm to innocent civilians."

Today, Saturday, Israeli occupation army artillery bombed the vicinity of the town of Kafr Shuba and the Bastara farm on the Lebanese-Palestinian border with several missiles.

Yesterday evening, the occupation forces targeted a number of journalists in southern Lebanon, which led to the death of a Reuters photographer and the injury of a number of journalists.

The Lebanese border area is witnessing continuous Israeli attacks targeting the border villages.

The Israeli occupation forces warned the Jerusalem Hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza to evacuate, giving it until 4 pm today, Saturday.

The association said in a statement that its Al-Quds Hospital provides life-saving services to a large number of sick and wounded Palestinians, including critical cases in the intensive care unit and children in incubators, in addition to hundreds of civilians who have taken refuge in the hospital as a safe haven.

The association added that, accordingly, the association cannot evacuate the hospital, and it is obligated to do so in accordance with its humanitarian mandate to continue providing services to the sick and wounded, at a time when tens of thousands of Palestinians also refuse to leave their homes and shelters in schools in the northern Gaza Strip, and they also need the health services it provides. The association in the aforementioned hospital, and ambulance and emergency services.

The Red Crescent Society called on world leaders, the international community, the United Nations system, and the International Movement of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to intervene to stop and cancel the Israeli decision, and to ensure the full protection and safety of the Society’s facilities, teams and missions in accordance with international law and the Geneva Conventions.

The United Nations warned on Saturday of the lack of food security and access to water, shelter and health care for tens of thousands of displaced people in Gaza as a result of the Israeli aggression.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) said in a statement carried by the German News Agency: “Tens of thousands were displaced from Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip yesterday after they were warned by the occupation army of the necessity of evacuating their homes,” noting that before the Israeli warning was issued, more More than 400,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced internally due to continued bombing.

The statement added that the power outage led to the closure of the only power plant in Gaza, after the exhaustion of fuel reserves, warning the Israeli authorities not to target the plant if it tried to resume its operations.

The UN statement stated that all humanitarian agencies and their workers faced significant restrictions in providing humanitarian assistance, indicating that the prevailing insecurity prevents safe access to people in need and basic facilities.

Today, Saturday, the Israeli occupation forces severely beat a number of young men in the town of Sur Baher, south of occupied Jerusalem, and also arrested others from the Old City and the town of Beit Hanina to the north.

According to local sources, a number of occupation soldiers brutally attacked young men in the town of Sur Baher with rifle butts because they had gone out to buy their supplies from the town.

Violent confrontations broke out in the town after that between young men and the occupation forces, which have continued to storm the town for several days, abusing citizens and attacking their homes.

In a related context, the Israeli occupation forces arrested Shaima al-Hindi from the town of Beit Hanina after storming her house, searching it, and confiscating cell phones and computers. They also arrested the young man, Muhammad Adham al-Asmar, at Bab al-Sahira in occupied Jerusalem.

A group of colonists also stormed the outskirts of the town of Anata, near Khan Al-Ahmar.

Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a joint press conference with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell after the China-Europe High-level Strategic Dialogue on October 13, 2023.

In response to a journalist's question regarding the current situations in Palestine and Israel, Wang Yi said that the current situation in Palestine is very dangerous. This round of conflict has resulted in a large number of civilian deaths and injuries, and the humanitarian situation has deteriorated sharply. The Chinese side condemns the targeting of civilians in all its forms, and rejects any actions that violate international law.

Wang Yi stressed that in the face of the current dangerous situation, the Chinese side believes that the first priority is: first, a ceasefire as soon as possible, to avoid expanding the war without borders, and to avoid further deterioration of the situation; Secondly, adhere to international humanitarian law, make every effort to ensure the safety of civilians, and open the humanitarian relief corridor as soon as possible, to avoid serious humanitarian disasters; Third, all concerned countries must exercise calm and restraint, adhere to objectivity and justice, and push for reducing tension, to avoid a greater shock to regional and international security. Fourth, the United Nations must play a required role in resolving the Palestinian issue, and the UN Security Council must bear important responsibility in this regard, and push for reaching international consensus and taking concrete measures as quickly as possible.

Wang Yi said that the Chinese side is in the process of communicating with relevant parties. We will actively participate in the urgent discussion in the UN Security Council, and support Secretary-General António Guterres' urgent appeal on the protection of civilians. We will also provide urgent humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian National Authority through the United Nations channel.

Wang Yi pointed out that the Palestinian issue remained the core of the Middle East issue, and a bleeding wound that is still open in today's world. The source of this issue lies in the failure to achieve the aspiration of establishing an independent State of Palestine for a long time, and the failure to correct the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people. Israel has the right to establish its state, and Palestine has the same right. The survival of the Israeli people has been guaranteed, but who cares about the lives of the Palestinian people? The Jewish nation was not displaced in the world, but when will the children of the Palestinian people return to their homes? This world witnesses injustice of all kinds. As for the injustice against Palestine, it has continued for more than half a century and has left many generations suffering. This injustice cannot continue! The solution to this issue is the “two-state solution” and the establishment of an independent state of Palestine. This is the only solution to achieve peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel and achieve harmonious interaction between the Arab and Jewish nations. The Middle East region cannot anticipate true peace, and Israel cannot achieve permanent security, unless the “two-state solution” is fully implemented on the ground. The correct way to advance the "two-state solution" is to quickly resume peace negotiations, while activating a positive role for all mechanisms in advancing peace negotiations. The Chinese government's special envoy for the Middle East issue will visit the relevant countries in the region, to make positive efforts to advance a ceasefire, prevent violence, and calm the situation. At the same time, China calls for the speedy convening of an international peace conference with greater credibility, greater influence, and on a broader scale under the auspices of the United Nations, in order to crystallize international consensus on advancing peace negotiations, and to push for finding a comprehensive, just, and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue at an early date.

Wang Yi stressed that the Chinese side, as usual, will stand by peace, justice and international law, stand by the common aspirations of most countries in the world, and stand by the conscience of humanity.

The Israeli army revealed today, Saturday, that an air force plane was hit last Saturday by an anti-tank missile fired by fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), while Israeli Channel 13 reported that a military helicopter had been shot down on the first day of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which Launched by Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli channel, which published pictures of the burning helicopter, added that it was carrying a number of soldiers from the paratrooper unit to participate in the fighting in the Bari settlement in the Gaza Strip when Al-Qassam members targeted it with an RPG shell.

Al Jazeera explained that the plane was a “Yasour” type, and that this confirmation comes in light of reservations and leaks in Israeli circles and Palestinian platforms, pointing out - quoting Hebrew press sources - that the attack to which the Israeli helicopter was subjected “may have forced its pilot to make an emergency landing, and those who were there survived.” On board, before it fell and was consumed by fire.

Palestinian platforms had previously reported on Israeli media that the resistance had targeted an Israeli helicopter, before confirmation was received today.

On the other hand, the Al-Qassam Brigades said today that “our mujahideen crossed the separation fence east of Khan Yunis and attacked the enemy and destroyed 3 military vehicles, and the clash is continuing.” This comes within Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which is entering its eighth day, in light of continuous raids launched by the occupation aircraft on the Gaza Strip since Saturday. The past, leaving thousands of martyrs and wounded, including children and women, in addition to widespread destruction of residential buildings and vital facilities.

Source: Al Jazeera + Israeli press

Social networking sites affiliated with Israeli activists incited the killing of Jerusalemites and attacks on their homes.

The British Middle East Eye website revealed that Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri, the imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, is among dozens of Palestinians whose names and whereabouts were published on an extreme right-wing Israeli channel on the Telegram application, to incite their killing.

The sites published the locations of the homes of Jerusalemite activists, through the Google Maps application, and incited the arrival of extremist colonialists to target them and attack those in them.

Among those who were incited against was the martyr Khaled al-Muhtasib, as pictures of his house and the homes of a number of Jerusalem martyrs were published. They also incited to target the Jerusalemite activist Rami al-Fakhouri, the former detainee Hamza Saghir, and the head of the Jerusalem Committee against Judaization, Nasser al-Hidmi.

Citizens expressed their fear that their homes and families would be exposed to crimes by the colonialists, especially in light of the great incitement against our people living inside the apartheid wall in Jerusalem Governorate, which is fueled by the inflammatory rhetoric of Israeli leaders.

The Ministry of Health announced that the child Omar Ahmed Abdel Rahman Asmar (15 years old) from the town of Zeita, north of Tulkarm, died from his wounds after being hit by Israeli occupation bullets, during confrontations that broke out in the vicinity of the apartheid wall west of the town.

Local sources reported that the child's body will be buried from Ibn Sina Hospital in the city of Jenin, arriving to his hometown of Zeita, to be buried after the afternoon prayer.

With the martyrdom of the child Asmar, the number of Tulkarm martyrs since yesterday, Friday, has risen to six.

A source close to the Saudi government revealed today, Saturday, that the Kingdom decided to suspend normalization talks with Israel against the backdrop of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.

The same source confirmed to Agence France-Presse that Riyadh informed the American officials sponsoring the discussions of this decision.

This comment came after Saudi Arabia confirmed its rejection of calls for the “forced displacement” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and denounced Israel’s continued targeting of “defenseless civilians,” in its strongest statement since the outbreak of the war.

The official familiar with the negotiations said, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to suspend talks about possible normalization (with Israel) and informed this to American officials” who are sponsoring the discussions.

Saudi Arabia has come a long way in negotiations that have been ongoing for months to reach historic normalization with the Hebrew state under American sponsorship.

The sudden and unprecedented attack launched by Hamas fighters on Israel last Saturday, and the subsequent intense Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, complicated the announcement of an expected normalization. Since then, Saudi Arabia has denounced in several statements the Israeli policy that led to the outbreak of the confrontation.

In its first reaction to the Hamas attack, Riyadh affirmed that it was “a result of the continued occupation and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights and the repetition of systematic provocations against their sanctities.” On Friday, it affirmed its rejection of calls for the “forced displacement” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and denounced Israel’s continued targeting of “defenseless civilians,” in its strongest statement since the outbreak of the war.

Before the Hamas attack, Saudi Arabia and Israel were close to normalization. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Fox News last month that it is "getting closer and closer every day." Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed from the United Nations podium that his country is on the “threshold” of establishing relations with Saudi Arabia.

He continued, "Such a peace will go a long way toward ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will encourage other Arab countries to normalize their relations with Israel." On Tuesday, the Saudi Crown Prince assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that “the Kingdom continues to stand by the Palestinian people,” explaining that he is working to prevent the “widening” of the scope of the conflict.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Israel, most of them civilians, since the start of the attack, including 258 soldiers, according to the army's latest toll. The number of wounded has reached more than 3,200, and the number of hostages proven to be being held is about 120.

In the besieged Gaza Strip, more than 2215 Palestinians, including 614 children, were killed and more than 7,696 citizens were injured as a result of the intense Israeli bombing in response to the operation, according to the latest toll from the Hamas Ministry of Health on Friday.

The Palestinian resistance operation on October 7, and the Israeli response to it, attracted great attention from the French media, and from a number of analysts and journalists who looked at its background and tried to anticipate the future development of events in the region and at the level of the Palestinian issue.

Below we publish some of the positions of these analysts and journalists as they presented them, without this, of course, meaning that the Institute for Palestine Studies website has adopted them.

“Israel and Palestine: Diplomacy faces an impasse and fissures”[1]

Under this title, Benjamin Koenig, in the Omanti newspaper, on October 10, analyzed the deliberations of the session held by the Security Council on October 8 to discuss current events, and wrote:

“The Western bloc fully supports Israel. For its part, the Global South seems somewhat reluctant to blindly follow a strategy that has proven to fail not only in Palestine. After the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become an indicator New to global diplomatic divisions: The launch of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” and the Israeli response to it reveal these divisions, thirty years after the signing of the Oslo Accords, which were rejected by the Israeli extreme right and rejected by the “Hamas” movement.

On Sunday, October 8, during the emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, currently chaired by Brazil, which includes fifteen members, no country wanted to issue a joint statement, and many countries did not want to condemn the attack on Israel without Under any conditions, despite the United States' call to criticize "the heinous terrorist acts committed by Hamas against the Israeli people and their government." Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, also urged council members to "unequivocally condemn the war crimes committed by Hamas." If his American counterpart, Robert Wood, explicitly targeted Russia, the latter is not the only country that does not want to agree with Western positions. Turkey, Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco, for various reasons, refused to take sides, while calling for a halt to the escalation. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said he had distributed "a message calling for an immediate cessation of fighting, a ceasefire and meaningful negotiations." As for China, which was also criticized by the United States, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged “the parties concerned to exercise restraint and end hostilities immediately to protect civilians,” reminding that “the international community must intensify its contribution to the Palestinian issue.” As for Brazil, “ Its position was more credible (than Russia, China, or the West), as it supported the Palestinian struggle, but condemned the killing of Israeli civilians.”

“The impossible exclusion of the Palestinian issue”[2]

Under this title, the journalist in Le Monde newspaper, Benjamin Barthes, who specializes in the Middle East and the Palestinian issue, published an article on the 10th of this month in which he said:

“The attack launched by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, October 7, highlights the grave responsibility borne by those who bet on the emergence of a “new Middle East,” in which Palestine is relegated to the background...

By taking the step of recognizing Israel in the summer of 2020, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Morocco, in effect buried the “Abdullah Plan” formulated by the Saudi Crown Prince, which required the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in exchange for its withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 2017. 1967 (West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights). The old PLO was thus deprived of its right to object to Israeli-Arab rapprochement, which represented one of its rare strengths at the negotiating table.

Thus, it seemed that a new era, post-Palestine, was dawning in the Middle East, and we can place its date of birth on March 27, 2022. On that day, Yair Lapid, the then Israeli Foreign Minister, gathered in Sde Boker, 50 kilometers to South of Beersheba, his American counterpart, Anthony Blinken, and the heads of diplomacy in four Arab countries (Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco) to talk about Iran, the regional bogeyman, the war in Ukraine, and in a very limited way about the Palestinians... That summit seemed like a pivotal event, and a moment of transformation between... Two worlds. Then the Saudi-American meetings that took place in recent months, with the aim of normalizing relations between the Kingdom and Israel, reinforced this impression. It was said that Palestine was a thing of the past, and its inhabitants seemed doomed to drift off the screen and become irrelevant. It is this illusion that was shattered on Saturday, October 7, in the raid launched by Hamas commandos on southern Israel, which witnessed bombings, bombings and kidnappings, so that the “new Middle East” seemed very similar, unfortunately, to the old Middle East.

After each of the four wars that destroyed the sandbar (2008-2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021), Israel slightly lifted the lid on the Gaza cauldron. Some permits were distributed to workers to go to work in Israel, and some export licenses were given to the last entrepreneurs still active. But every time the lid was put back on [the cauldron], and the pounding of the infernal machine began anew; On the disastrous October 7th, the boiler finally exploded...

Like a hand grenade whose safety valve has been removed, the Palestinian issue is returning to the forefront again. Those who expected its decline bear heavy responsibility for the massacre of October 7 and 8, and for the bloodbaths that followed. As Israel deploys its punitive arsenal, anger may spread on the streets of the Maghreb and Levant countries, and more certainly, it will spread on these globalized sites represented by social networks. This would be second evidence that the Palestinian issue remains a structural element of Arab identity.

It will likely end up re-trapping the Devil of Gaza in his box, with some dangerous villains in tow. But the Palestinian issue will never stop appearing on the surface. Palestinian intellectual Elias Sanbar likes to say that his father told him on the eve of his death in 1967: “Do not be afraid, never be afraid. We are like a thorn in the world’s throat. No one will be able to swallow us.”

“Eliminating Hamas? Israel faces the challenges of the ground operation in Gaza.”[3]

Under this title, the analyst at Radio France considered the possibility of the Israeli army carrying out a large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip, and wrote:

“The Israeli army is bombing Gaza, imposing a siege on the Strip, and calling in hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers. The goal is: eliminating Hamas...but is the political goal, which is eliminating the “terrorist” movement, achievable?

It raises many questions for Israeli leaders who have only bad choices.

The first relates to the human cost of the ground operation: given the human and urban density of the Gaza Strip, which is inhabited by two million people, there will undoubtedly be a large number of casualties on both sides. Hamas is waiting for the Israelis in every alley, in every tunnel, and in every basement. Wouldn't that price be too high?

There is no doubt that Israeli military superiority will allow the destruction of a large part of Hamas' infrastructure: the missile production workshops that regularly rain down on Israel, the tunnels leading to Egypt or to Israel through which Hamas communicates with the outside world, or the stock of weapons and ammunition that the group possesses. The most complicated matter is the arrest of the movement's leaders...

It all depends on what we mean by eliminating Hamas. On several occasions in the past, Israel was able to behead “terrorist” groups without succeeding in eliminating them.

The danger is twofold in Gaza. On the one hand, the price is too high, both for the Israeli army and for the Palestinian civilian population, an outcome that will certainly not be decisive; On the other hand, victory in Gaza would pose other problems.

What will we do in Gaza after eliminating Hamas, even temporarily? Israel has already gone through the experience of occupying the region, and does not have good memories of it. The new occupation is certainly not what the army wants. But can we leave two million people behind? This risks bringing out the worst of Hamas from Israel's point of view.

In 1957, David Ben-Gurion, the founder of the Hebrew state, saw, as stated in the memoirs of the former French ambassador to Israel, Alain Pierre, that “the Gaza Strip represents a disaster for any regime, whatever it may be, whether it is an Israeli regime, or an Israeli regime linked to the United Nations, Or an international system without Israel.” That was 66 years ago, so is it really different?

“The Israel-Gaza War: Towards a turning point in the region?”[4]

Under this title, on the 11th of this month, journalist Johanna Bouquet on Belgian Radio and Television in French, surveyed the opinions of a number of researchers specialized in Middle East affairs. In response to a question about whether the current events since October 7 mean the end of the normalization of relations between Arab countries and Israel, Didier Le Roy, a researcher at the Royal Military School, answered: “The signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020 launched the normalization processes between the Hebrew state.” And the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. For some time, the question has arisen about who will be the next Arab country to approach Israel, and the next on the list was none other than Saudi Arabia. A few weeks ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman confirmed on Fox News that Saudi Arabia And Israel is getting closer every day to normalizing their relations, and it must be said that the primary goal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to achieve its strategy for the year 2030 to ensure the economic transformation of the Kingdom. For this reason, the Prince stated: “We need a Middle East that is as peaceful as possible and can attract foreign investors.”

But the Hamas attack, which tarnished its reputation at the international level, caused at least a slowdown in the dynamic of rapprochement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel, and at the maximum paralysis, so that it will now be more complicated for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to continue its negotiations with the Jewish state, and it has increased. The political cost of such rapprochement is too much...

Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris, Bertrand Barry, comments on this issue, saying: “In my opinion, the game of the Abraham Accords was a dangerous, even perverse game, because it was a game whose rules were to deny the Palestinian issue and put it under the table... and from a certain point of view “What Hamas did in a terrible way was to remind us that the Palestinian problem still exists.” In response to a question about whether the confrontation would expand and witness Hezbollah’s participation in it, Bertrand Barry himself answered: “At the present time, Hezbollah remains somewhat cautious, as it has no interest in rushing into the fire, and for good reason.” , is that Lebanon is plunging into a serious economic crisis; pushing the country into a war with Israel on top of that seems very costly, and the Lebanese people may not forgive the armed group for this matter. And at the heart of the Lebanese political crisis, Hezbollah depends mainly on its integration into the political game Lebanese, and perhaps tomorrow, his total or partial seizure of power in Beirut. Therefore, by entering forcefully, and more directly than necessary, into the confrontation with Israel, he will risk delaying and even destroying his plans.

But whatever Hezbollah's position, Bertrand Badie believes that the Hamas attack will have repercussions on the restructuring of the region, and Lebanon will necessarily be affected by this restructuring.

Regarding the danger of the West Bank igniting, Didier Le Roy answers: “What could change the situation, and what Hezbollah is closely monitoring, is how the West Bank reacts to the Israeli response, as well as, in general, the way public opinion reacts in the Arab countries. There are two scenarios that could take shape: The first is for the Israeli police and the Palestinian Authority to be able to maintain calm in the streets of Jenin, Tulkarm, or even Ramallah: In this case, it would be dangerous for an actor like Hezbollah to jump into the battle and risk An Israeli reaction would destroy Lebanon. As for the second scenario, it would be to follow the call to start the third intifada that Hamas launched very clearly at the beginning of the process. If we witness an anti-Palestinian Authority uprising in the West Bank and a wave of political violence in mixed cities that would... If it leads to a very strong polarization of certain cities in Israel, then Israel will be more weak, and this may be an opportunity for Hezbollah.”

[1] https://www.humanite.fr/monde/attaque-du-hamas/israel-palestine-pour-la-diplomatie-une-impasse-et-des-fractures

[2] https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/10/10/l-impossible-refoulement-de-la-question-palestinienne_6193549_3232.html

[3] https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/geopolitique/geopolitique-du-mardi-10-octobre-2023-5498231

 [4] https://www.rtbf.be/article/guerre-israel-gaza-vers-un-tournant-dans-la-region-11269539

By Maher Al-Sharif

Source: Institute of Palestinian Studies

Israel's army at midnight local time on Friday warned the more than one million Palestinians living in northern Gaza to evacuate to southern Gaza "for your own safety and the safety of your families" within 24 hours.

The order asked them to leave Gaza City for any points below Wadi Gaza, a largely rural area in the enclave with few facilities like shelter, ahead of what could potentially be an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that trying to evacuate people out of an area that is under bombardment and under siege is not only "extremely dangerous" but might just be "simply impossible". 

Israel's envoy to the United Nations said on Friday that "the UN should be praising Israel for these precautionary actions". But since being told to evacuate, at least 70 people in the process of leaving, mainly women and children, were killed in Israeli air strikes on the main highway connecting north and south Gaza.

Since the Israeli army told Palestinians to evacuate, Palestinians in Gaza have been torn about what to do, as many fear the worst - a repeat of the Nakba. The Nakba, or "catastrophe" as it is known in English, refers to the ethnic cleansing of some 750,000 Palestinians from their lands and homes in historic Palestine to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948.

Hamas told residents in northern Gaza to not heed Israel's warning, calling it false propaganda, and mosques in Gaza were broadcasting calls for people to stay and resist.

And what will happen to the thousands of wounded being treated in hospitals? Since the Palestinian attacks on Saturday that have so far killed 1,300 Israelis, the bombardment of the Gaza Strip has killed 1,900 and wounded 7,696 Palestinians, including 2,000 children and 1,400 women. 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) released a statement condemning Israel's evacuation warning, saying that "this represents an attack on medical care and on humanity".

"We are talking about more than a million human beings. 'Unprecedented' doesn’t even cover the medical humanitarian impact of this. Gaza is being flattened, thousands of people are dying, this must stop now. We condemn Israel’s demand in the strongest possible terms," Meinie Nicolai, MSF director general, said in the statement. 

What does international law say?

The United Nations, the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have all denounced the order. 

In fact, the evacuation order forced the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) into making a rare public statement on Friday calling for a pause in the fighting and questioning the legality of such an announcement. 

"Instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege explicitly denying them food, water, and electricity, are not compatible with international humanitarian law.”

The directive from Israel can be likened to an involuntary deportation of the civilian population according to Gissou Nia, a human rights lawyer and director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council.

“The evacuation order may amount to forced displacement of the civilian population, which is a violation of international humanitarian law."

Nia told Middle East Eye that this "can also amount to violations under the Rome Statute, the treaty that animates the International Criminal Court. The ICC has jurisdiction over the territory of Gaza and the ICC prosecutor does have an ongoing investigation into the situation."

Article 8(2)(e)(viii) of the Rome Statute addressing war crimes prohibits "ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand".

The order to evacuate seemed more like an ultimatum to Adam Shapiro of Democracy for the Arab World Now, a Washington-based human rights organization.

"It is not just an evacuation order. It is a threat to leave or be killed." 

Shapiro told Middle East Eye that it is "forced displacement, and it is under the conditions of the total siege. It is compulsion." He argues that making such a threat is a violation of international law.

Israel's siege has cut off electricity, water, fuel, food and the delivery of any supplies into the Gaza Strip. The intentional starvation of a civilian population as a war tactic is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

The ICRC statement mentions the impact the siege has on the legality of such an order.

"The instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege explicitly denying them food, water, and electricity, are not compatible with international humanitarian law," the ICRC statement said.

The organization says that when military powers order people to leave their homes they have a responsibility to ensure the population has access to basic necessities, which is not possible when an area is under a complete blockade. 

"Gaza is a closed area of limited size and resources. People have nowhere safe to go and many, including the disabled, elderly, and sick, will not be able to leave their homes. International humanitarian law protects all civilians, including those who remain. Today, it is impossible for Gazans to know which areas will next face attack," the ICRC said.

By UMAR A Farouq

Source: Middle East Eye

More than a thousand American Jews demonstrated in front of the home of the majority leader in the US Senate, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, yesterday, Friday, demanding an end to the Israeli aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to reports from the New York Police, dozens of demonstrators who called on the United States to end Israeli aid to Israel were arrested (outside Schumer's house).

The protests come on a day of city-wide "Day of Rage" protests against brutal Israeli air strikes in Gaza following unprecedented Hamas attacks, which led to the deaths of more than 1,900 Palestinians, most of them children and women.

According to press reports, hundreds of people gathered in the “Grand Army Square” to participate in the march, which was organized by the “Jewish Voice for Peace” organization – an activist group that describes itself as anti-Zionist.

“Not in our name,” demonstrators chanted outside, according to videos shared on social media.

They carried a large banner reading, “Jews say stop genocide against the Palestinians,” in front of the door of the building where he lives, and a number of police officers were standing near him.

Others carried signs reading, “Zionism is terrorism” and “Stop Israeli apartheid.”

Police were seen escorting dozens of handcuffed detainees to MTA buses.

According to Jewish Voice for Peace, those detained included “rabbis, politicians, scholars and descendants of Holocaust survivors – ranging in age from 20 to 80 years.”

“We demand an end to the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” the demonstrators said. “This will not happen again today,” they said.

New York State Assembly members Zahran Kwame Mamdani, of the 36th Congressional District, and Marcella Mittens, of the 51st Congressional District, were among the marchers, according to the group.

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, known for his strong connection to Israel and the Israeli lobby, AIPAC, will travel to Israel this weekend, where he will lead his Senate colleagues in a show of support for Netanyahu's government, his office announced earlier Friday.

He and the delegation will meet with Israel's new emergency government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where they will discuss what resources the United States can provide in its fight against Hamas, a spokesman for the senator told the newspaper.

Earlier Friday, pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Manhattan marched from Baruch College downtown through Times Square to the United Nations headquarters on East 45th Street, waving flags and carrying signs demanding an end to the war.

A total number of arrests at the demonstrations will not be available until late Saturday, an NYPD spokesperson said.

From the first moments of Hamas’s breakout from Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made one promise that has almost entirely escaped attention.

He told the mayors of southern border towns that Israel’s response would “change the Middle East”. He said the same thing in his address to the stunned nation: “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”

What is in his mind? We know he has long wanted to attack Iran’s nuclear installations. Three years after he was first thwarted in 2010, he told CBS: “I won’t wait until it is too late.” 

We know, too, that he wants to eradicate Hezbollah and Hamas, which he once described to me (when he was in opposition) as aircraft carriers for Iran. 

Since the Palestinian fighters' attack on Saturday, he has used words that mirror former US President George W Bush’s response to the 9/11 attacks. In going after al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, former Vice President Dick Cheney, the power behind the throne, was already thinking about a bigger attack on Iraq.

Is Netanyahu thinking of harnessing the unparalleled support he is currently getting from the international community for his campaign against Gaza for something much bigger, as Bush did in 2001? 

The head of the Israeli opposition, Benny Gantz, has also hinted at a bigger project: “We will win, and change the security and strategic reality in the region.”

Second Nakba

Reoccupying Gaza and finishing off just one Palestinian armed group would not change the strategic reality of the region, and you don’t need an army of 360,000 troops to reoccupy Gaza. This is the greatest number of reserves called up in the history of the country. 

Hamas has a maximum of 60,000 armed men, according to my sources, which alongside other factions, would struggle to make a force a third of that size.

Of course, this could be bluster - the sort of bellicose rhetoric that is Netanyahu’s stock in trade. Vows to change the Middle East have been made frequently by previous Israeli and US officials and have proved to be hollow.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres wrote a book about how Oslo would reshape the Middle East. Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointed to “a different Middle East” when she urged Israel to ignore calls for a ceasefire after 11 days of bombing Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in 2006.

But what if a bigger venture is being planned? What would it entail, and what risks would it pose for the region as a whole? 

The first and most obvious answer is a second Nakba, or mass expulsion of a sizeable proportion of Gaza’s 2.3-million-strong population - a figure big enough to alter the demographic time bomb that is in the back of every Israeli’s mind.

To judge by the words of Israel's leadership and the actions of its pilots, a mass exodus is exactly what Israel might be trying to force in Gaza right now

On Tuesday, Israeli Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht told foreign reporters that he would advise Palestinian refugees to “get out” through the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. His office then had to “clarify” what Hecht had said by admitting the crossing was closed. 

The possibility that Egypt might be forced to allow an influx of refugees from Gaza - which happened after both the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and the 1967 war - was also raised by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the largest religious institution in Egypt, which called on Palestinians to remain steadfast and stay put. Why would it put this statement out if the possibility of another mass exodus were not being discussed behind closed doors?

The arrival of one million Palestinians from Gaza in the Sinai could, without exaggeration, have the potential to tip Egypt over the edge after a decade of economic decline under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Already, record numbers of Egyptians are taking to the boats. Sisi himself realizes this danger and repeated Al-Azhar’s call.

'Human animals'

There is also little doubt about what effect a mass expulsion of Palestinians would have on the hair-trigger balance between Palestinians and East Bankers in Jordan, which has Israel’s longest - and up until now, quietest - border.

A second Nakba would present the first two Arab countries to recognize Israel with an existential crisis, which could threaten each regime’s ability to control their own state.

And yet, to judge by the words of Israel’s leadership and the actions of its pilots, a mass exodus is exactly what Israel might be trying to force in Gaza right now.

On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described Palestinians as “human animals” on the back of claims that Hamas had beheaded children - claims that cannot be independently verified, and which were not made when Israeli reporters were initially allowed in to see the carnage at Kfar Aza.

The same day, Knesset member Revital Gotliv called on Israel to consider using a nuclear bomb on Gaza, posting on social media: “Only an explosion that shakes the Middle East will restore this country’s dignity, strength, and security! It’s time to kiss doomsday.” 

Then, Giora Eiland, a former general, said Israel must “create an unprecedented humanitarian disaster” in Gaza, and threatened another Nakba: “Only the mobilization of tens of thousands and the cry of the international community will create the leverage for Gaza to be either without Hamas or without people. We are in an existential war.”

On Friday, little doubt remained of Israel’s intentions. The Israeli Army told Palestinians of north Gaza to leave, saying they would not be allowed to return "until we say so". Hamas has told Palestinians in north Gaza to "remain steadfast" and to "stay in your homes".

The second Nakba has started.

On Wednesday, an Israeli army official told Channel 13 that Gaza would be razed to the ground and reduced to a “city of tents” - which is, to be fair, exactly what has happened every night since the Hamas incursion.

Nightly slaughter

There is a massacre taking place almost every night in Gaza. Whole families have been wiped out by precision bombs. Palestinians in Gaza have been told to evacuate their whole district, only to run into the path of bombs. Districts are not just being bombed once; they are being systemically levelled. 

In previous campaigns, Palestinians in Gaza fled to Rimal, a relatively wealthy middle-class area by the sea. It was regarded as a safe haven because in previous campaigns, Israel had no reason to bomb it. Now, Rimal is being levelled.

This nightly slaughter is not taking place accidentally by indisciplined pilots taking revenge for alleged war crimes committed by Hamas in southern Israel. It is taking place by design. The aim of cutting off electricity, water and food to more than two million people, and subjecting them to this nightly bombardment, is to get them to flee.

There is no place in Gaza safe from this form of genocide. Fourteen medical facilities have been bombed. Since Saturday, 500 children have been killed. 

Ergo, if Israel is not stopped, the course on which it is embarked is to kill not 2,251 men, women and children in Gaza - as was the case in the ground incursion of 2014 - but tens of thousands, a casualty rate high enough to induce another Nakba.

Before that, this policy could have two effects: to start a civil war inside Israel between the Palestinians of 1948 and Israeli Jews, and to trigger a regional war with Hezbollah and ultimately Iran itself.

This could also be in Netanyahu’s head. Crushing Hamas would not change the Middle East, but defanging Hezbollah and Iran as forces that would be willing to try anything against Israel for the next decade, almost certainly would.

In the view of the national religious right, the sooner the Palestinian national cause is crushed, the better

Palestinian fighters shattered in one dawn raid the myth of invincibility Israel had enjoyed since defeating three Arab armies in six days in 1967. Even the 1973 Middle East war did not produce the shock that Hamas did.

Israel is now saying this war is existential. On the streets, Israel feels like a country where there is no authority; where Israelis can take justice into their own hands; where normal citizens, unconnected with settlers or the extreme right, are going around on the streets armed. Such is the general level of hatred and fear, that it could be only a matter of time before Palestinians inside Israel are attacked.

Domestically, those on the extreme national religious right, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have been saying for years now: “Bring it on.” 

This past February, Gantz accused Smotrich of supporting settler violence in the occupied West Bank because he “wants to cause another Palestinian Nakba”. Now, Gantz and Smotrich are sitting side by side in the same cabinet. 

In the view of the national religious right, the sooner the Palestinian national cause is crushed, the better. The national trauma induced by Hamas’s successful incursion is manna from heaven for them. It has produced exactly the conditions they have been waiting for. 

Regional war

On Israel’s borders, the possibility of Gaza triggering a regional war has never been greater. Emotions are running high in all Arab capitals. 

Hezbollah, the best-equipped and trained armed group Israel faces, has its finger on the trigger. There are credible reports that it has started a general mobilization. 

There have already been several days of attacks launched from the Lebanese border, including a confrontation involving fighters claimed by Islamic Jihad, in which three Israeli soldiers were killed. Three of Hezbollah’s fighters were also killed after Israel attacked sites in Lebanon in retaliation. 

If a ground offensive gets going, which could be very soon, the choice for Hezbollah may be either to wait for Israel to finish off Hamas and then come for them - knowing they would effectively be on their own - or join Hamas and the other armed factions in Gaza, while each group retains its effectiveness as a fighting force.

Hezbollah might have very good reasons for wanting to keep the status quo on the Lebanese border, but this is no longer a conflict that any group facing Israel, or any part of the Palestinian movement, can afford to sit out without handing Israel a free pass.

On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the crimes against the Palestinians would receive a response from "the rest of the [resistance] axis".

Hezbollah would be right to think that the longer this goes on, the more vulnerable each front becomes if they do not act in unison. That could be the one way to force Israel to come to a negotiated ceasefire in Gaza. 

The second lever of constraint is the US. Does President Joe Biden really want to be dragged into a regional war, which would involve every armed group linked to Iran, such as the Houthis - a war for which it is not remotely prepared - at the very time that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has become bogged down, winter is coming, and Russian President Vladimir Putin can taste victory and European battle fatigue?

Does an unplanned regional war in the Middle East, created entirely by an unhinged ally, make any sense for the US? I don’t think it does. Biden has given Netanyahu the brightest of green lights in offering Israel its unequivocal backing, but I do not think the US has war-gamed the possible devastating outcomes of what is taking place in Gaza right now.

Dangers ahead

Off the Lebanese coast, a western battle fleet is assembling as a deterrent to Hezbollah.

Before acting, they should remember what happened just 40 years ago in Beirut, when a truck full of explosives drove into a barracks housing US marines, and minutes later, a similar attack occurred against a French company of paratroopers. Around 300 military personnel died.

Then-US President Ronald Reagan and then-French President Francois Mitterrand intended to mount joint air strikes. In the end, no retaliatory attack took place beyond naval bombardment, because the US defense secretary, Caspar Weinberger, and the secretary of state, George Shultz, could not agree on who was responsible for the bombings.

This time around, the warnings that Biden as vice president gave former President Barack Obama, about starting wars you cannot finish, will be ringing in his ears. 

Both the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are in the region trying to calm things down, but theirs is mission impossible. Having allowed Israel to light the fuse, they are now trying to contain the explosion.

The Middle East is incomparably weaker today than it was when Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair blithely planned their invasion of Iraq in 2003. Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan and Libya lie in ruins; and Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia are bankrupt. Instability has created huge flows of refugees across the Mediterranean, which even the most hospitable of hosts, Turkey, is now trying to reverse.

If only a third of what I have written comes to fruition, Israel could end up with open borders, inviting constant incursions by armed groups from Lebanon to Jordan to Egypt. At the very least, Israel would lose the quiet it has enjoyed on its longest border with Jordan. 

No one can afford what one man, Netanyahu, has got in his head. No one can afford the blank cheque he has been given by the West to start this operation in Gaza. 

A Gaza campaign that develops into a plan that could change the Middle East could backfire dangerously - and it should be stopped before it is too late.

Source: Middle East Eye

The Israeli occupation forces launched, at dawn on Saturday, a campaign of arrests against a number of Palestinians, after storming several areas in Nablus, Bethlehem, Jenin and Jericho, at a time when the Israeli authorities fear an escalation of the situation in the West Bank, especially with armed brigades announcing their entry into the “Flood” battle. Al-Aqsa.

In Jerusalem, the occupation forces arrested and detained two young men, Khaled Musleh and Muhammad Abu Shanab, from the Qalandiya camp, north of the city of Jerusalem.

From Ramallah, the occupation forces arrested and detained the following: the liberated detainee Muhammad Sarhan Al-Barghouthi from the town of Kobar, Diya Abu Qara from Al-Mazraa Al-Gharbiyya, Yousef Mashhour Abu Dhaher from the village of Abu Shkhidem, and Fadi Ibrahim Ziadeh, from the village of Bitello.

From Bethlehem, the occupation forces arrested Mahdi Qasim Al-Sheikh, Khalil Al-Sheikh, and Ward Al-Sheikh, all in their twenties, from the village of Marah Mualla, south of Bethlehem, and the young man Ahmed Khamis (24 years old) from the Wadi Shaheen area in the center of the city, and Youssef Jamal Ayyad. And Muhammad Hegazy from Al Saf Street.

From Jenin, the occupation forces arrested the editors, Mahmoud Rashid Al-Fayed, and Jumaa Saad Abu Khalifa, from the Jabriyat neighborhood and Wadi Burqin.

From Hebron, the occupation forces arrested and detained: Moamen Ahmed Al-Shalash (23 years old), Amid Abdel Qader Shalash (16 years old), Muhammad Amin Abdel Qader Al-Rajoub from the town of Beit Awa, Tariq Amr from the town of Dura, Anwar Idais, and Muhannad Hamouda Al-Atrash. Ahmed Al-Sharif, Akram Walid Amr, and Saddam Daana, from the city of Hebron.

In moments of crisis, it’s the job of a statesman to resolve problems, not inflame them. It’s their job to show wisdom, to ignore popular clamor, to remind all parties of their obligations under international law, to emphasize our common humanity, and to look for long-term solutions that avoid a return to past horrors.

Statesmanship has been utterly lacking in Britain ever since Hamas broke out of Gaza last week.

Let’s look at the shocking display from Labor leader Keir Starmer on LBC radio on Wednesday. He said that Israel had the “right to defend itself” against the Hamas attack. Then Starmer went a step further when asked about Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s grim announcement of a “complete siege” of Gaza, in which Gallant said: “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed” - adding for good measure that Israel was fighting “human animals”.

Asked whether cutting off water and electricity supplies was a proportionate response to the Hamas attacks, Starmer said: “I think that Israel does have that right. It is an ongoing situation, obviously everything should be done within international law.”

But Starmer of all people, with his distinguished legal background, must know that depriving a population of food, power and electricity amounts to collective punishment, which is illegal under international law. 

There’s a terrible risk here. These remarks from a man seen as the British prime minister-in-waiting have given a green light for future war crimes.

'Unequivocal' support

To be fair to Starmer, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been no better. After the Palestinian fighters attack, he went on television to express support for Israel. Then he went on to note that this support was “unequivocal”, which amounts to a blank cheque from Britain to Israel to conduct itself in any way it chooses over the terrifying weeks ahead. 

We have seen humane and responsible talk from leaders of international organizations. In a statement on Tuesday, Martin Griffiths, under-secretary general at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said: “My message to all sides is unequivocal: The laws of war must be upheld. Those held captive must be treated humanely. Hostages must be released without delay.

"Throughout hostilities, civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Civilians must be allowed to leave for safer areas. And humanitarian relief and vital services and supplies to Gaza must not be blocked. The whole region is at a tipping point. The violence must stop.”

But from Sunak, we had no mention of human rights, let alone the type of call for proportionality that we heard from Irish leader Leo Varadkar, who warned that current solidarity could “fall apart” if Israel goes “too far in terms of its actions in Gaza”.

Meanwhile, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman is doing her best to inflame domestic tensions by suggesting that waving a Palestinian flag could become a criminal offence. 

Apocalyptic talk

The responses from Starmer, Sunak, Braverman, and others are especially reckless because of the horrifying language already being used by senior Israelis. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel’s response will “change the Middle East”. Gallant said that Gaza “will never go back to what it was”. A former Israeli general said that Israel “must create an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza”, adding that the “ultimate tool” was damage to the water system.

This is apocalyptic talk. Israel's right to self-defense does not extend to the wiping out of entire neighborhoods, medieval siege, random slaughter of children, or damaging water supplies. Yet western leaders are going along with all of this.

Some commentators have compared the Hamas assault to 9/11. To my mind, this makes little sense. But I am troubled by the memory of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s promise to former US President George W Bush to “be with you, whatever” in the wake of the destruction of the Twin Towers. In the end, that vow of loyalty led to the bloodshed and horror of the Iraq War and its awful aftermath. 

Meanwhile, the bombing in Gaza continues. Some 300,000 people are already in the streets after the destruction of their homes, and the Israeli military has only just begun. The ground invasion could start at any moment. Who knows how many will die.

Some now speak of a second Nakba - only this time, even worse than the tragedy of 1948, with millions of Palestinians potentially being driven from their homes.

In a heartrending tweet on Wednesday, Palestinian playwright Samah Sabawi noted: “I told my family in Gaza to get out when I heard reports the US is coordinating a plan to offer safe passage for civilians out of Gaza into Egypt. My aunty said ‘Do you guarantee we would be allowed to return?’ I couldn’t. I know ethnic cleansing when I see it. She refuses to leave. Death or eternal refugeehood. What would you choose?” 

I pray that I am wrong, but I fear western leaders are now establishing the political foundation that would leave us complicit in massacres, indiscriminate bombing, and ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, inflammatory and reckless media reporting is establishing the emotional foundation. Never has the time for statesmanship been more needed. 

Source: Middle East Eye 

A week has passed since the "Al-Aqsa Flood" battle between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation forces. Writers and political analysts confirm that Israel, during a full week, is trying to restore its image and restore its prestige that was broken by the Gaza fighters. They confirm that Tel Aviv will fail to break the resistance, and that the coming days may There is an escalation, but it will not last long.

Writer and political analyst Samer Anabtawi told Al-Quds.com: “The escalating incidents and massacres that Israel is committing against children and women in the Gaza Strip come to restore the image of the Israeli army, and are also trying to strike the popular incubator of resistance.”

Anabtawi continues, "These massacres come in light of Israeli attempts to impose a scorched earth policy, as matters are worsening and heading for escalation, and there are possibilities for entering new fronts, and the forces and peoples will not remain silent, in light of the Israeli occupation's attempt to implement a new catastrophe for the Palestinian people."

According to Anabtawi, despite the upcoming Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip, clearly striking the foundations of life there, the resistance, on the other hand, is reacting, and we may witness a battle that may last for weeks, but it is a fateful battle. This coincides with the entry of other fronts into the battle, which puts the army... The occupation faces great challenges and questions as to whether it will withstand all of this.

Bilal Al-Shobaki, professor of political science at Hebron University, confirmed in his interview with “ے” that there are 4 possible scenarios for the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle: Either the American and Western-backed attacks continue without opening other fronts that the resistance talks about, while destroying the resistance structure in Gaza, which is what Israel aspires to.

According to Al-Shoubaki, there is another scenario, which is more likely to involve the entry of new fronts, especially the West Bank front, which is what Israel does not want, as it is something that may bring it back to thinking again, which is the second scenario, while the third scenario may provoke the Arab countries, especially Jordan and Egypt, if there is one. Mass displacement operations, for Israel to reconsider its calculations, which is a weak option, while the fourth option is to continue stirring the stagnant waters on the Lebanon front, which will push Israel to reconsider its calculations.

According to Al-Shoubaki, it is clear that Israel wants to invest this war with the largest possible number of strikes, but that means that it will continue for a long time, especially if it opens the West Bank front, which may put the Palestinian Authority in the process of losing control of the scene.

Al-Shoubaki points out that the threats of the Israeli occupation against Gaza, a large part of which are rhetoric that comes in the context of psychological warfare, and an attempt to weaken the resistant psyche of the Palestinian people, and it seeks to try to implement its old vision of displacing the Palestinians and making the Palestinian presence a minority, and it is also trying to liquidate the Palestinian issue, where Israel was. It manages the conflict, but for some time it has been trying to end it unilaterally.

As for the writer and political analyst Adnan Al-Sabah, he confirmed in an interview with Al-Quds.com that Israel wants to prove to its audience and voters through the battle it is waging in the Gaza Strip that it is still strong, and it wants to restore its image. Israel has become naked in front of its allies and friends, after it appeared She is unable.

Al-Sabah expects that the next few days, despite the escalation of the war, will witness an end to the battle and a solution found. No one is concerned about an upcoming escalation, but Israel is looking for achievements in front of its people, and it will not be able to eradicate the Palestinian resistance.

According to Al-Sabah, the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle restored the prestige of the Palestinian cause again, and the next few days will witness a solution that will raise the status of the Palestinian cause, and the resistance will prove that it has the winning cards in its hand.

The Israeli occupation destroyed at least 12 huge towers containing hundreds of residential apartments. It also destroyed dozens of buildings, facilities and other homes, turning them into piles of rubble. It also bombed the Gaza Strip with tons of explosives and missiles, which led to the extermination of entire families and 44 citizens from the Shihab family alone, and the bombing of the homes above the heads of their owners, which led to human massacres.

Worst of all is that the occupation authorities will not allow any humanitarian aid to enter, as the Minister of Energy said before the release of all the Israelis held by Hamas. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) said that more than 340,000 Palestinians were displaced from the northern Gaza Strip and the shelters were crowded with them, and called for... 104 million dollars in urgent aid to Gaza and its people. The confrontation does not appear to be only between Israel and Gaza, but it has begun to extend practically and on the ground to the West Bank, where dozens of young men have been martyred over the past days in most governorates, including Jerusalem.

Red Crescent ambulance officer Murad Al-Saadi said that the occupation’s attacks on medical crews led to the killings of at least 11 ambulance officers and the departure of twenty vehicles from service due to being directly hit by fire from the occupation forces. Therefore, the Red Crescent crews organized a protest in front of the Red Cross office in Hebron. .

The occupation forces also carried out a massive arrest campaign in the West Bank and Jerusalem that affected dozens of citizens and imposed restrictions on worshipers in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevented many from entering. Likewise, a citizen and his son from the town of Qusra were martyred by settlers’ bullets, in an attack on a funeral procession for four martyrs from the same village. A woman was murdered and her son was injured by bullets from the occupation forces that targeted a car they were in. Sporadic clashes also took place between the occupation forces and resistant youth in different parts of the West Bank, leading to multiple injuries on the Israeli side.

The bottom line is that we in the West Bank and Gaza are one people, and we have one hopes and a common destiny, no matter how different the days and the facts are. We were like that and we are like that in these days and in the future.