Israel has ordered the evacuation of residents of Kiryat Shmona, a northern town close to the Lebanese border, the defence ministry said on Friday.

Kiryat Shmona has a population of more that 20,000 and is some 2 km (1 mile) from the border fence.

Author: Adel bin Hamza

Tomorrow, the Middle East region enters a new week of the war launched by Israel against Gaza in response to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by Hamas on October 7, and talk is still ongoing about a ground operation in the Gaza Strip to achieve the goal announced by Israel. , which decrees the final elimination of the Hamas movement, because aerial bombardment, despite its destructive power, cannot be decisive without ground intervention. But the delay in the ground operation reveals the extent of the complications involved.

Israel is moving with comprehensive political and military cover from the United States, Britain, and Germany. It became clear from the first hours of the outbreak of the war that Israel's undeclared goals go beyond simply eliminating Hamas. On the other hand, the American administration has clearly demonstrated that it does not want the war on Gaza to turn into a regional war, especially the interference of Iran and its allies in what is known as the “Axis of Resistance,” and perhaps moving the aircraft carrier “Gerald Ford” to the eastern Mediterranean and strengthening it with a second aircraft carrier, “the Axis of Resistance.” USS Dwight Eisenhower,” as announced by the US Department of Defense, is intended to provide maximum deterrence signals to regional parties so that they do not interfere.

It seems that the American deterrence weapon is giving good results up to the moment, as Iran has been threatening Israel since the outbreak of the war. This was stated by Revolutionary Leader Ali Khamenei and the President of the Republic, Ebrahim Raisi, and it was confirmed by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian during a press conference in Beirut last Saturday, following his meeting with Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, when he said, “Israel must stop its war crimes immediately.” Because after several hours it will be too late,” he added, adding that “Hezbollah has prepared many escalation scenarios that will cause an earthquake in Israel.” It does not matter that Al-Lahiyan was speaking from Beirut and threatening war with Israel from a country that is supposed to have sovereignty and is thousands of kilometers away from Iran, thus exposing Lebanon to what Israel threatened to return to the Stone Age. 

The Iranian minister met on the same day in Beirut with the United Nations Middle East envoy, Thor Wensland, and repeated Iran's threat to intervene.

These statements, messages, and threats have been around for nearly a full week today, during which the Israeli bombing witnessed greater violence, the humanitarian crisis escalated, the Baptist Hospital was bombed, and the issue of displacement began to take a serious course. In general, it can be said that Gaza is being completely annihilated, so where are the hours that Abdullahian talked about?

Anyone who follows the events knows that Washington and Tel Aviv are on opposite sides when it comes to viewing Iran. While Israel sees it as an existential threat, the United States sees it as a horse that can be tamed, even if only temporarily. Here we recall Israel's strong opposition to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is known as the nuclear agreement that the US administration under Barack Obama signed with Iran on July 14, 2015, along with China, Russia, France, Britain, and Germany. Benjamin Netanyahu described the agreement at the time as a “historic mistake,” and many Israeli politicians and security personnel considered that this agreement would strengthen Iran’s position, especially in traditional military aspects such as ballistic missiles, in addition to the certainty that Tehran would use the revenues from lifting sanctions to tighten the cordon around Israel through... Its allies in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. 

Some Israeli estimates even went further when they considered that the continuation of the civilian nuclear program in Iran would eventually enable Iran to possess nuclear weapons, even if this was achieved after 10 or 15 years. Therefore, Israel continued to target the US Congress to overthrow the nuclear agreement, which was achieved with the Donald Trump administration and which Joe Biden’s administration has continued to do to this day despite all the attempts made by the Europeans. Contrary to this, some senior Israeli Mossad officials (Amos Yadlin, Ephraim Halevy) were of the opinion that the nuclear agreement would enable Iran to delay Iran’s ability to possess nuclear weapons, something that would be achieved at the lowest cost, in reference to avoiding a war with Iran.

In general, the Iranian nuclear program crisis showed that Washington and Tel Aviv do not have identical agendas in dealing with the Iranian threat. This matter was repeated in the recent agreement between Washington and Tehran regarding the release of 5 American prisoners in exchange for Iran obtaining $6 billion of its funds frozen within the framework of American sanctions. 

Through this new step towards Iran, Washington demonstrated that it seeks to neutralize Tehran or at least push it to take balanced positions that do not seek escalation in the hotbeds of conflict in the region. The American vision appeared clearly from the first hours of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. At a time when Israel was clearly and explicitly accusing Iran of its involvement in the planning and decision to attack, Washington was seeking with all its effort to remove Iran from the circle of accusation. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had stated that Washington had no evidence of Iran’s involvement in the sudden and large-scale attacks it launched. Hamas movement, saying: “In this particular case, we do not have any evidence of direct involvement in planning or carrying out this attack,” which is the same assessment that the US State Department concluded, although it left the door open to the possibility of Iranian involvement. We conclude this from what was stated by US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, when he said in a press statement: “Our experience in these matters indicates that it is too early to draw any final conclusions in this regard.” He added: “We will look at additional intelligence in the coming days and weeks” to see “whether some in the Iranian regime have a clearer picture” of the planned operations or “contributed to aspects of the planning.”

In summary, it can be said that Washington is trying to push Iran and its tools in the region away from an open war against all possibilities in Gaza, whether through the carrot of the lucrative deal that pumped $6 billion into the coffers of a bankrupt regime suffering from a long siege, or through the stick. 

They are represented by the American aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean, which will undoubtedly intervene directly if Iran intervenes in the war, whether through southern Lebanon or the Syrian Golan. On the other hand, and contrary to what many believe, Tel Aviv seems to be rushing Iranian intervention to resolve the only serious existential threat it will face in the region in the coming decades. Will Israel succeed in dragging Iran into a regional war that could spell the end of the Ayatollahs’ regime?

Source: Annahar Al araby

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced late Thursday that his country will open an embassy in the central city of Ramallah in Palestine.

Petro issued the statement after meeting with Israel’s Ambassador to Colombia, Gali Dagan, and Palestinian Ambassador Raouf Al-Maliki.

“I have expressed my position to achieve an international peace conference that opens the way for two independent and free states. I reiterated my solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian children, who must and have the right to live in peace," he said on X following the meeting.

“We will send a plane with humanitarian aid to the outskirts of Gaza waiting for a humanitarian corridor to open. Colombia will open its embassy in Ramallah, Palestine,” he added.

In a statement posted on X on Oct. 9, Petro criticized the way Israel responded to the attack launched two days earlier by the Palestinian group Hamas.

He said “the only way for Palestinian children to sleep in peace is for Israeli children to sleep in peace” and vice versa.

“That will never be achieved by war, only by a peace agreement that respects international law and the right of both peoples to coexist freely,” he said.

He also shared images of Palestinian children who had lost their lives as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The conflict in Gaza, which has been under Israeli bombardment and a blockade since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza is experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis with no electricity, while water, food, fuel and medical supplies are running out.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire to ease the “epic human suffering.”

At least 3,785 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, while more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.

Source: Anadolu

The Lebanese Army announced in a statement that one person was killed and another injured in an Israeli targeting of a media team in southern Lebanon.

The army said, “The media team consisted of seven people and was carrying out media coverage near the Al-Abbad site on the Israeli side in the outskirts of the town of Hula when members of the Israeli forces targeted them with machine guns.”

He added: “An army patrol, in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, worked to transfer the martyr and injured person to a hospital and transfer the rest of the team members to a safe place.”

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim affirmed his position of support for the Palestinian people and his solidarity with them in the ordeal they are going through. He stressed the importance of stopping the escalation, expressing his readiness to provide assistance to the Palestinian people, during a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinian News Agency "Wafa" said that the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, received a phone call on Thursday, October 19, 2023, from Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The agency also added that "Mahmoud Abbas briefed Anwar Ibrahim on the latest developments in the Israeli occupation's aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip." He affirmed his position calling for "an immediate halt to the Israeli aggression against our people, and his complete rejection of the displacement of citizens, because that would be tantamount to a second Nakba."

While the Palestinian President stressed the need to open safe corridors for the entry of relief, medical and food supplies and to provide water and electricity. The President stressed that the policies, programs and decisions of the Palestine Liberation Organization are "the sole legitimate representative of our Palestinian people."

In previous statements, Anwar Ibrahim said that “deploying peacekeeping forces in Palestine will require consensus among neighboring countries.” This came in a speech Ibrahim delivered before the Malaysian Parliament, the contents of which were published by the government agency Bernama News.

In response to internal criticism about only sending aid to Palestine, Ibrahim said: “Some parties in the country claim that we refuse to send our military forces to Gaza.” He explained: "Our military leaders also asked me to clarify the matter."

He also stressed: “Without consensus among the countries neighboring Gaza, aircraft carrying Malaysian peacekeeping forces or humanitarian aid will not be allowed to land there.”

He continued, "This is not an easy decision, so I hope there is a better understanding of the current situation." Anwar Ibrahim called on the Malaysian people to pray for the suffering Palestinians.

McDonald’s Israel’s announcement of free meals for Israeli military sparks backlash from franchises in Arab countries.

Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator Thomas Friedman in the late 1990s famously claimed that two countries with McDonald’s outlets had never gone to war.

But as fighting rages between Israel and Hamas, the iconic American fast food chain is at war with itself.

McDonald’s franchises in the Middle East have weighed in on opposing sides of the conflict, with branches in Muslim countries disavowing a decision by McDonald’s Israel to provide free meals to the Israeli military.

Franchises in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and Turkey have issued statements distancing themselves from their Israeli counterpart and collectively pledging more than $3m to support Palestinians in Gaza, which is being bombarded by Israel in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack on the country.

“Let us all combine our efforts and support the community in Gaza with everything we can,” McDonald’s Oman, which has pledged $100,000 towards humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza, posted on X on Sunday.

“We ask God Almighty to protect our beloved country and all Arab and Muslim countries from all the evil and hate.”

Since announcing its support for the Israeli army, McDonald’s Israel has changed its Instagram account to “private” following a backlash from consumers in Arab and Muslim countries.

While McDonald’s ranks among the most iconic American brands, most of its restaurants worldwide are locally owned and operated.

McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago, the United States did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

The case of McDonald’s highlights the tricky geopolitical dynamics that globe-spanning brands must navigate in an era where businesses are often expected to weigh in on hot-button social and political issues.

The controversy has also revived discussion of the so-called Golden Arches theory of conflict prevention, popularized by Friedman in his 1999 book The Lexus and The Olive Tree.

The theory – that countries with enough wealth and stability to support a major chain like McDonald’s do not go to war with each other – has been widely discredited following conflicts among countries with the brand, including the 1998-99 Kosovo War and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. McDonald’s does not have any outlets in Gaza or the occupied West Bank but Israel has clashed with Hezbollah fighters in neighboring Lebanon, which does have the American chain. “We’re in a post-‘Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention’ world now for sure,” Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told Al Jazeera.“Even though Russia and Ukraine both had McDonald’s in 2022, they still went to war. Now, conflicts within the McDonald’s empire mirror the real stresses and passions of the region. ”McDonald’s is not the first global brand to be drawn into controversy due to its stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict. United Kingdom-based multinational Unilever came under fire from investors last year for failing to disclose that its ice cream brand subsidiary Ben and Jerry’s had decided to boycott Israeli-occupied territory in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 2021.Spanish retailer Zara was boycotted by some shoppers last year after the chairman of its Israeli franchise, Canadian-Israeli businessman Joey Schwebel, hosted a campaign event for far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at his home. Major brands have also found themselves drawn into controversies about the human rights records of other countries such as China. In 2021, Japanese retailer MUJI faced criticism after publicly endorsing cotton grown in China’s Xinjiang region, where human rights activists say ethnic minority Muslims are exploited for forced labour. Musgrave said that “the dream that capitalism and trade would quiet nationalism and other forms of fervour has been revealed to have some holes”. “Having different franchises of McDonald’s end up on different [rhetorical] sides is another example of how politics permeates everything.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

President addresses US in rare Oval Office speech and explains why country should back Ukraine and Israel.

United States President Joe Biden has said he will ask Congress for more money to support Israel and Ukraine, asserting in an impassioned speech that both nations were fighting enemies of democracy.

Speaking to  Americans from the Oval Office, Biden sought to make a link between the actions of Hamas in Israel and those of Russian president Vladimir Putin who sent his troops into Ukraine for a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Biden said stopping such aggression was crucial not only for the security of the US but also for the wider world.

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats but they share this in common; they both want to annihilate a neighboring democracy,” he said.

He said if the US walked away and aggressors succeeded, others might be “emboldened to try the same” spreading the risk of conflict to other parts of the world.

“American leadership is what holds the world together,” the president said during the 10-minute speech, only the second he has made from the Oval Office during his administration. “American alliances are what keep us, America, safe. American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with.”

Biden was speaking hours after returning from a whirlwind trip to Tel Aviv, where he reiterated US support for Israel even amid its total blockade of Gaza and relentless bombardment of the Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people.

The visit had been meant to include a meeting with Arab leaders but the talks were cancelled after Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was hit hours before, killing some 500 people.

Amid calls for a ceasefire, Biden was able to secure a commitment from Israel and Egypt to open the Rafah crossing for desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Biden said he would be lodging an urgent request to Congress to support Israel and Ukraine on Friday.  He did not put a value to the security package, but reports have suggested it could be as much as $100bn.

“It’s a smart investment that will pay dividends for American security for generations,” the president stressed.

Biden’s address comes amid paralysis in Congress where Republicans, who control the lower house, have struggled to appoint a new House of Representatives Speaker after removing Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.

He said politicians needed to rise above “petty, partisan, angry politics” and meet their responsibilities.

A small group of ultra-conservative Republicans have become increasingly vocal about their opposition to continued funding for Ukraine, but analysts said the US public remained broadly supportive of the initiative and Biden’s speech would probably win over more people.

“This dysfunction in the House is viewed very unfavorably by the US people and I suspect that the Republicans will be forced, if only for concern about their electoral chances next year, to resolve this within the next two weeks,” John Herbst, senior director at the Atlantic Council and a former diplomat, told Al Jazeera.

‘Tragic loss’

The conflict in Gaza erupted on October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and taking dozens captive.

At least 3,785 Palestinians have been killed in the bombing campaign.

Biden accused Hamas of unleashing “pure, unadulterated evil” on the world, and stressed that there was “‘no higher priority” for him as president than bringing home the US citizens being held by the armed group.

While making clear his support for Israel, Biden said he was “heartbroken” by the “tragic loss” of Palestinian lives and that he had spoken with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to reiterate that the US remains “committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and right to self-determination”.

He stressed the urgent need for humanitarian assistance to the enclave and noted the agreement secured to get food, water and medicine into Gaza.

“We cannot give up on peace,” he said. “We cannot give up on the two-state solution. Israel and the Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity and peace.”

Biden’s speech at the Oval Office came after he again reassured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of US support for Kyiv in its bid to push Russian forces from Ukrainian territory.

He noted that the US was an “essential” part of a group of about 50 countries that have backed Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Will make sure Ukraine has the “weapons they need to defend themselves”, he said, stressing to his domestic audience that there were no plans to send US troops to Eastern Europe.

“When Putin invaded Ukraine he thought he could take Kyiv and the whole of Ukraine in a matter of days, but Putin has failed, and he will continue to fail,” Biden said. “Kyiv still stands because of the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Ukraine has regained more than 50 percent of the territory Russian troops once occupied.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Two polls this week show Great Britain's public diverging from their government's stance on the ongoing war in Israel-Palestine

A fresh poll shows that 76 percent of adults in Great Britain think there should be a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine war.

The United Kingdom, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, has given the Israeli government its full backing for the bombardment of Gaza and has yet to call on any party to implement a ceasefire. 

When asked, "From what you've read and heard, do you think there should or should not be an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine?", 58 percent answered that "there definitely should" with 18 percent saying that "there probably should".

Only eight percent of respondents said there shouldn't be a ceasefire with 16 percent saying they didn't know.

The poll was conducted on 19 October by UK-based YouGov polling company and surveyed 2,685 adults.

Another YouGov poll from earlier this week asked Britons which side they supported in the Israel-Palestine conflict and found a slim margin among 2,574 adults with 21 percent saying they backed the "Israeli side" while 17 percent backed the "Palestinian side".

The highest support for Palestinians was in Scotland at 30 percent, with the highest support for Israelis coming from northern England. But most respondents chose not to explicitly choose a side as their government had, with 29 percent saying they support "both equally" and 39 percent saying they "don't know".

On 7 October, Palestinian fighters attacked southern Israel near the Gaza Strip. Around 1,400 Israelis were killed. Nine British nationals have been confirmed as killed during the attacks.

Relentless Israeli air strikes, meanwhile, have killed more than 3,800 Palestinians, including more than 1,500 children and 1,000 women. Around one million Palestinians have also been displaced and forced to take shelter in hospitals and schools as Israel tightens its siege of the enclave.

When the poll regarding a ceasefire was broken down by gender, a higher number of women, 81 percent, backed an immediate ceasefire compared with men at 71 percent. 

Around 88 percent of those who affiliate themselves with the centre-left Labour Party want a ceasefire as do 73 percent of those who affiliate with the right-wing Conservative Party.

According to the poll, the older the respondent, the more likely they were to want an immediate ceasefire. 

Divergence

The polls represent a fairly large divergence between the British public, its government and even other political parties not in government.

Sunak is currently in Saudi Arabia after making a visit to Israel where he said Britain would "stand with you in solidarity, we will stand with your people and we also want you to win".

There is also growing pressure on the government's unequivocal support in the UK parliament, where on Wednesday 40 members of parliament urged a ceasefire in the war and backed access to medicines, fuel, food and water in Gaza. The Israeli government has laid a total siege on Gaza, which had already been under a blockade for 16 years, not allowing in food, water, electricity, fuel, medicine or supplies.

On Thursday, Sunak welcomed the decision to allow routes into Gaza for aid.   

Tens of thousands have also come out on the streets in London to protest the bombardment of Gaza and show solidarity with Palestinians. Protests have also taken place in Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

The UK government has faced sustained criticism from anti-war groups for its support for Israel, a position that has also faced backlash from some former British diplomats.

"I find the British government's knee-jerk endorsement of everything that Israel does obscene and a departure from previous stances in which we have sought some fairness in these dreadful situations," Sir Richard Dalton, a former UK ambassador to Iran and Libya, told Times Radio.

The opposition Labour party in the UK has also not been immune to the backlash. On 17 October, a number of Labour party councillors resigned in protest at comments made by party leader Keir Starmer, for what he described as Israel's "right" to cut power and water supplies to Palestinians living in Gaza.

Oxford City Councillor Shaista Aziz announced her resignation on X (formerly Twitter) on 13 October. A former international aid worker, Aziz has worked in the occupied West Bank, Israel and refugee camps in Gaza.

"The Labour [arty leader's stance on not being able to condemn collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza was the final red line for me," Aziz told Middle East Eye for a previous article.

A UK-based legal centre has also announced its intention to seek to prosecute British government officials over alleged complicity in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians issued a notice to Sunak over the UK providing "military, economic and political support to Israel, which has aided Israel's perpetration of war crimes". 

It said that Israel's efforts at a forcible transfer of more than one million people in northern Gaza to southern parts of the enclave in less than 24 hours may amount to both "a war crime and a crime against humanity".

Source: Middle East Eye

Washington has made a series of key blunders since the conflict erupted, taking the region to the brink of a broader war.

Joe Biden is not having a good war. Three days after the Hamas attack, the US president gave a speech that had even Donald Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, settler-lover David Friedman, eating out of his hand.

Biden falsely endorsed the claim that Hamas had beheaded babies, in remarks that the White House had to row back later; he promised US support for giving Israel everything it needed to “respond to this attack”; and he falsely asserted that civilians in Gaza were being used as human shields.

In those three days, the leadership of Israel made it crystal clear that the gloves were off, and that the state would not be bound in its response to the Hamas attack by the rules of war.

Events played out accordingly, as Israel dropped the equivalent explosive power of a quarter of a nuclear bomb on Gaza in 10 days.

As Biden was about to take off for his latest Middle East trip, Israeli forces struck a hospital in Gaza, which they had attacked a few days before, amid a warning to evacuate. Around two dozen other hospitals have received such threats.

This time, close to 500 people were killed. The carnage at al-Ahli, one of Gaza’s oldest hospitals, so delighted the Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, that he prematurely claimed responsibility: “As long as Hamas does not release the hostages in its hands - the only thing that needs to enter Gaza are hundreds of tonnes of explosives from the Air Force, not an ounce of humanitarian aid.”

So did Hananya Naftali, who worked for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s digital team, posting on X: “BREAKING: Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza.” He quickly deleted the post.

Later in the day, a spokesperson for the Israeli army said that an “enemy rocket” en route to Israel misfired and hit the hospital. Such rockets lack the explosive power to kill 500 people. The army initially appended footage showing an Islamic Jihad rocket, but after it was discovered that this video was recorded 40 minutes after the bombing took place, the army removed the footage.

Someone appears to be working overtime at their laptop to kick over the traces of the hospital attack. There is even audio that purports to reveal Hamas operatives discussing the failed missile launch - except according to Channel 4, it’s fake, using the wrong tone, syntax, and accent.

Bright green light

By the time Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday, much of the regional tour he had planned had been cancelled. Such was the rage in the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt, that no Arab leader could agree to see him - for their own safety.

With hundreds of people gathering outside the US and Israeli embassies in Jordan, demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the revocation of the peace treaty with Israel, the visit to Amman was off. 

But shortly after arriving in Israel, Biden only dug himself further into the deep hole he was already in, telling Netanyahu of the hospital attack: “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.”

Behind the scenes, the wheels really do appear to be coming off the cart that carries US Middle East policy.

To be clear, the actions that the US took behind the scenes in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack paved the way for the crisis the region is now in.

The US not only gave the brightest of green lights to a bombing campaign aimed at pushing more than one million people in the northern half of the Gaza Strip down towards the Egyptian border. It not only gave Israel JDAM bombs and several thousand 155mm artillery rounds, according to defense officials.

It also, according to multiple credible reports, tried initially to persuade Egypt to take one million refugees from Gaza. Al Akhbar first reported that the US tried to coordinate with the UN and “international organizations receiving EU funding” to persuade Cairo to open Rafah. A bribe was of course involved.

Sources spoke of the US willingness to provide significant funding to Egypt, exceeding $20bn, if it agreed to the operation. They pointed to a request from Cairo to “facilitate the transfer of large teams of organizations working in the relief field to the border with Rafah without entering Gaza”.

The Egyptian website Mada Masr also reported that Egyptian officials had been in talks about the displacement of a significant part of Gaza’s population. Such was the sensitivity of this claim that Egyptian authorities came down on the website like a tonne of bricks: The editors were summoned and an investigation was started by the Supreme Council for Media Regulation over publishing “false news”. 

Undoubtedly, these talks took place before Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi realized how explosive they would be to him in a re-election year. 

Israel's 9/11

The US made three key blunders in its response to the Hamas attack. It encouraged Israel to attack Gaza without restraint; it initially entertained the scenario of a mass exodus of Palestinians to Egypt; and it brought the Middle East to the brink of a regional war. 

Right from the start, the narrative used by both Israel and the US was that the Hamas attack was Israel’s 9/11 moment; that Hamas was no different than the Islamic State; and that Israel had the moral duty not only to reply to Hamas’s attack, but to eradicate the whole movement.

This allowed Israel to think it could use air strikes on Gaza not only to wipe out Hamas but also to make structural changes to the balance of power in the Middle East, which would mean dealing with Hezbollah and eventually Iran.

Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz have both alluded to a plan that would, in Gantz’s words, “change the security and strategic reality in the region”. It is not clear to me if the US would have allowed Israel to go ahead with a plan wider than Hamas and Gaza, but the plan was clearly there.

Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center, wrote: “This war is much more than a conflict between Israel and Hamas. In the West, an understanding is developing that the Iron Swords War is a defining moment and a one-time opportunity to reshape the Middle Eastern architecture - which is expected to also affect the relations of power in the entire world.”

For a few days, it looked as if the forced expulsion of half of Gaza, under the guise of setting up humanitarian corridors, would work. The northern border with Lebanon remained quiet. Hezbollah did not initially react. The western media accepted the plan to conquer Hamas and reoccupy Gaza.

The turning point came when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken apparently realized that another Nakba on the scale of what happened in 1948 was a red line. 

Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Ayman Safadi, said all Arab countries pledged collective action against any attempt to expel Palestinians from their homeland after a meeting of foreign ministers. The same message was conveyed by King Abdullah II of Jordan on his recent European tour.

Such was the outcry from Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia that Blinken had to concede it was a “non-starter”. Biden has also said that the re-occupation of Gaza would be a “big mistake”. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that everyone should avoid escalation. 

These were accompanied by other clear warnings. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned that the axis of resistance would open “multiple fronts” against Israel if the attacks on Gaza continued, telling Iranian state television: “Time is running out very fast. If the war crimes against the Palestinians are not immediately stopped, other multiple fronts will open and this is inevitable.”

If the US still did not get the message, all it had to do was look out the window at the record mass demonstrations across the region.

Regional war

As Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday, the region was boiling. Quite apart from moral issues, the US military is clearly unprepared for such a venture, having spent the last several years drawing down its military assets.

According to the Wall Street Journal, it withdrew more than eight Patriot missile batteries last year from Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, as well as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system from Saudi Arabia. It emptied its stockpiles of 155mm rounds in Israel to give to Ukraine. It moved its naval assets to the Asia Pacific. 

It has had to reverse most of this in short order. One carrier group is in the Mediterranean, and another is on the way. The last time the US had two carrier groups in the Middle East was in 2020. Along with ships, it has had to move A-10 attack aircraft and F-15 and F-16 fighters back to the Gulf. 

There is an argument circulating in Washington that the nature, speed and extent of the Hamas attack changed the US-based Middle East system.

All this is supposed to deter Iran. It won’t. I don’t often refer to the analysis of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on Israel, but on this occasion, I will break the habit of a lifetime.

Friedman wrote: “If Israel goes into Gaza now, it will blow up the Abraham Accords, further destabilize two of America’s most important allies (Egypt and Jordan), and make normalization with Saudi Arabia impossible - huge strategic setbacks. It will also enable Hamas to really fire up the West Bank and get a shepherd’s war going there between Jewish settlers and Palestinians. Altogether, it will play directly into Iran’s strategy of sucking Israel into imperial overstretch and in that way weakening the Jewish democracy from within.”

Hamas does not need to fire up the occupied West Bank, as there are huge demonstrations in all of its major cities calling for President Mahmoud Abbas to go, after Palestinian Authority (PA) forces used live fire on demonstrators. But on the strategic point, I agree with Friedman, although it pains me to say so.

He is also right to say that a ground invasion of 360,000 aggrieved Israeli soldiers is a recipe for even worse, and more wide-scale, massacres than we have seen up until now.

Losing support

There is an argument circulating in Washington that the nature, speed, and extent of the Hamas attack changed the US-based Middle East system. James Jeffrey, a former US ambassador in the region, told Middle East Eye: “Hamas’ ability to overcome an entire Israeli military defense line puts this war at the level of Yom Kippur (the 1973 Middle East war). No recent war has threatened the US-based Middle East system so much as this, and that is how the administration views it.”

But this analysis starts the clock at the attack itself, not at all the warnings that went before it - the collapse of the PA, the Israeli encroachments on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the impossibility of negotiations, the attempts to make a deal with Saudi Arabia over the heads of the Palestinians, and the impossibility of all Palestinians being able to break out of their collective cages.

Could it also be that the “US-based Middle East system”, the foundation of which is blind support for Israel, is broken? The resignation letter of Josh Paul, a senior official at the US State Department, who quit over his administration’s stance on the Gaza War makes for interesting reading.

Paul called the Hamas attack the “monstrosity of monstrosities” but continued: “This Administration’s response - and much of Congress’ as well - is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia. Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security nor peace, The fact is that blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides.”

Biden might finally have gotten the message. But having released the brakes on Israel’s collective rage 12 days ago, he is going to have a tough job trying to apply them now.

I said earlier that the wheels have come off the cart - and it really is a rickety, horse-drawn cart. What these past 12 days have demonstrated more than anything else, is the inability of the US to be a world leader. It lacks the requisite analytical skills, regional knowledge, and brainpower. It shoots from the hip and thinks about the consequences later. It is led into wars for which it is patently unprepared.

Blinded by dogma, ever keen to divide the world into Manichean opposites - democracy versus autocracy, the Judeo-Christian world versus Islam - America has lost touch with the values it claims to uphold. Is lying on Israel's behalf about the war crimes it is perpetrating, helping to defend it?

Washington is losing the support of its allies. No one looking at US actions can have much confidence that they have been thought through. The consequences of these 12 days, and the days to follow, will send tremors far and wide. 

Biden has every interest in shutting this episode down now, by stopping the ground assault and forcing the opening of Gaza to basic humanitarian aid. 

Only then could negotiations with Hamas take place over a prisoner exchange. If he does not achieve these basic goals, he too will find out how much damage an unfettered Israel can inflict on itself, the region, the US, and indeed the world. 

Source: Middle East Eye

The Pentagon confirmed, on Thursday, October 19, 2023, that an American warship shot down 3 missiles and drones in the northern Red Sea, while drones and missiles targeted the Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts American and international forces in Iraq.

The Pentagon said it could not be said specifically whether the missiles were targeting him, but they may have been destined for targets in Israel.

Earlier Thursday, American officials said that a US Navy warship sailing near Yemen intercepted many missiles, indicating that there were no casualties, while it was possible to shoot down a number of missiles, including drones, near the destroyer "Carney." .

Meanwhile, the American website Axios quoted an Israeli official as saying that Tel Aviv has indications that the missiles launched from Yemen were directed towards Israel. Washington is on high alert as regional tension escalates during the war between Israel and Hamas.

Targeting the "Ain al-Assad" base

In a related context, two security sources indicated to Reuters that drones and missiles targeted, on Thursday evening, the Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts American and international forces in Iraq.

The two sources added that several explosions were heard inside the base located in Anbar Governorate in western Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Syrian SANA agency said that sounds of explosions rang out in the vicinity of the Konico gas field in Deir ez-Zor, where American forces are stationed.

On Wednesday, American forces in Iraq were subjected to two separate drone attacks, one of which caused minor injuries to a small number of soldiers, although the forces were able to intercept an armed drone.

The United States sent a large naval force to the Middle East last week, including two aircraft carriers, support ships, and about 2,000 Marines.

While the White House says there are "no plans or intentions" to use them, this means US military assets will be there to provide support to protect US national security interests if necessary.

The United States has 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and another 900 soldiers in neighboring Syria, on a mission to provide advice and assistance to local forces in the fight against ISIS, which in 2014 took control of large areas of territory in the two countries.

A report by the British Channel 4 showed the falsity of Israeli claims accusing the resistance of responsibility for the massacre at Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which claimed the lives of more than 500 martyrs and hundreds of wounded, Tuesday, October 17, 2023.

In its report, Channel 4 suggests that the Israeli attack was carried out by a missile that exploded in the air. This is because there is evidence confirming that there are no huge craters usually caused by missiles, and the minor damage to the surrounding buildings also suggests this.

The channel also indicated that an examination of television footage and missile launch sites confirms that the resistance missile launch site conflicts with the hospital site.

The channel also indicated that the occupying state had gained authority in denying its crimes in the beginning, and cited this as evidence of what happened with the martyr, journalist Sherine Abu Aqla.

Hamas refute

The Hamas movement had issued a memorandum to refute the Israeli occupation’s allegations regarding its disavowal of responsibility for the massacre of the National Arab Hospital “Al-Baptist” in Gaza City.

In its memorandum, the Hamas movement provided conclusive evidence that the occupation committed this crime, noting that the occupation, since the beginning of the aggression, did not distinguish between civilian and military targets. The bombing systematically targeted emergency services, ambulances, civil defense, schools, mosques, and churches. It also sent several warnings to several hospitals, warning to evacuate in the past few days.

Among the evidence provided by the Hamas movement, hospital directors in Gaza confirmed that the occupation had contacted them and demanded their immediate evacuation, under the pretext that the hospital was located within the “geographical scope of Israeli military operations.” The most prominent hospitals that received calls from the occupation were (Al-Awda, Kamal Adwan, the Indonesian, and Al-Quds, And the Baptist, and the Kuwaiti).

According to the statement, on October 14, at exactly eight-thirty in the evening, the occupation fired two shells towards the Baptist Hospital, then the occupation army called the hospital director, Dr. Maher Ayyad, asking him: “We warned you yesterday with two shells, so why did you not evacuate the hospital until now?” .

The hospital director also informed the bishop of the Evangelical Church in Britain about the occupation army's contact, who in turn contacted international organizations before sending the hospital a message reassuring them that they could remain in the hospital.

The statement also indicated that the military spokesman for the occupation army quickly published a statement on the X and Telegram platforms immediately after the massacre occurred, in which he said: “We had warned the evacuation of the Baptist Hospital and five other hospitals so that the Hamas organization would not take them as a refuge,” but he quickly deleted it.

The statement also confirmed that before and during the event, the resistance factions did not fire any missiles towards the occupation, the occupation sirens did not activate, and the Iron Dome anti-tank weapons did not launch.

While the statement confirmed that the occupation's reconnaissance aircraft are photographing and monitoring every inch of the Gaza Strip, so if the missiles were caused by resistance missiles, let it be published to the world with one picture proving that.

The statement also questioned the occupation's claim that the massacre was caused by "Islamic Jihad" missiles. How was the occupation able to identify and distinguish between the resistance missiles immediately after they were launched (as it claims)?

The statement also indicated that the resistance missiles are locally made missiles, and do not have the destructive power that kills hundreds in one strike.

The statement also said, “The occupation military system documents and records all its operations by day, hour, minute, and second. And in all previous times, its media system came out to announce or deny anything less than these massacres, so what made it wait more than 4 hours other than to spin scenarios?!”

Yesterday, Tuesday, the Baptist Hospital in Gaza was subjected to “an Israeli massacre that left 471 people dead, 28 of whom were in critical condition,” according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The massacre sparked widespread global outrage and strong condemnations in several capitals, as it was considered a “war crime,” with accusations of the international community being in collusion with Israel, and calls for “the necessity of providing international protection for the Palestinian people.”

Since October 7, Israel has continued to launch intensive raids on Gaza, cutting off the supplies of water, electricity, food, and medicine to the Strip. This sparked local and international warnings of a double humanitarian catastrophe, in parallel with intense Israeli raids and arrests in cities and towns of the occupied West Bank.

In response to “daily Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities,” Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, at the beginning of which they stormed Israeli settlements and military sites surrounding the Gaza Strip.

Source: Arabic Post

A woman and a girl were martyred and dozens of civilians were injured, on the evening of Thursday, October 19, 2023, as a result of a “new massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces” by targeting the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City, which was sheltering hundreds of people displaced from their homes as a result of the barbaric bombing that has continued since October 7. .

The official Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, said that a girl and a woman were killed, and dozens of citizens were injured, in the Israeli air strike on the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Pophilius in Gaza, where hundreds of displaced people took refuge.

Wafa pointed out that "the occupation aircraft bombed the Church of St. Pophilius in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in southern Gaza, which led to severe material damage to parts of the church building, and a building next to it was destroyed."

The agency quoted local sources as saying that the bombing led to the complete collapse of the building of the Council of Church Stewards, which housed a number of Palestinian families, both Christian and Muslim, who took refuge in the church in search of a “safe place.”

The agency also pointed out that "martyrs and wounded are still under the rubble, and rescue and ambulance crews are trying to reach them."

On Thursday evening, the Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip announced the killing and wounding of “large numbers” of civilians as a result of “a new massacre committed by Israeli forces” against hundreds of displaced people inside the church.

The ministry said, in a brief statement on Telegram: “A new massacre committed by the occupation against hundreds of displaced people inside the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City, and large numbers (without specifying a number) of martyrs and wounded.”

The US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) plans to send tens of thousands of 155 mm artillery shells to Israel, which were allocated to Ukraine from the US emergency stockpile, according to what the American website “Axios” reported on Thursday, October 19, 2023, citing three Israeli officials.

Officials explained that "the Pentagon plans to send tens of thousands of 155 mm artillery shells to Israel, which were allocated to Ukraine from the US emergency stockpile several months ago."

According to the American website, “The Israeli Ministry of Defense informed the Americans that it is in urgent need of artillery shells to prepare for the ground attack on Gaza, fearing a possible escalation by Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border.”

The website also reported that US officials "indicated that transferring missiles from Ukraine to Israel would not have an immediate impact on Ukraine's capability."

The Israeli Ministry of Defense recently received from the United States an initial batch of armored vehicles, replacing those it lost during the recent military escalation.

Before Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian left the Saudi city of Jeddah, he confirmed that the region had become a powder keg that could explode at any moment.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also announced that Moscow and Beijing intend to closely coordinate efforts regarding the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Since October 7, Israel has continued to launch intensive raids on Gaza, leaving thousands of civilians dead and wounded, and cutting off its supplies of water, electricity, food, and medicine. This sparked local and international warnings of a double humanitarian catastrophe, in parallel with intense Israeli raids and arrests in cities and towns of the occupied West Bank.

In response to “daily Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities,” Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, at the beginning of which they stormed Israeli settlements and military sites surrounding the Gaza Strip.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem denounced the occupation's bombing of one of its church buildings in Gaza City, late on Thursday night, October 19, 2023. The Hamas movement also condemned the bombing and demanded a strong stance and condemnation from the international community of the occupation's crimes.

The Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip announced the death and injury of civilians as a result of a "new massacre" committed by Israeli forces against hundreds of displaced people inside the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City.

While the church said in a statement: “The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem denounces, in the strongest terms, the Israeli bombing that targeted one of its church buildings in Gaza City.”

It added: "Targeting churches and their affiliated institutions, in addition to the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who lost their homes as a result of the Israeli bombing of residential areas during the past thirteen days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored."

And continued: “Despite the clear exposure to the facilities and shelters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and other churches, the Baptist Hospital, schools and other social institutions, they, along with the rest of the churches, are determined to continue performing their religious and moral duty to provide assistance, support and shelter to people who need it, even amid continuous demands from the side.” "Israel's decision to evacuate civilians from these institutions, and the pressure exerted on the churches in this regard."

The Patriarchate affirmed that it will not abandon its religious and humanitarian duty derived from its Christian values to provide everything necessary in times of war and peace alike.

The Israeli army announced Thursday that it is about to begin a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials expected a difficult and long battle with the Palestinian resistance.

The Israeli military spokesman said in a press conference in Tel Aviv that tens of thousands of soldiers are fully prepared to begin ground entry into Gaza.

The military spokesman added that the army has confirmed information about 203 Israelis detained in Gaza and about 100 missing persons.

He added that no aid has entered Gaza yet, and that the army will announce that it will allow it to enter the Strip when the political leadership takes a decision to do so.

For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said, addressing his soldiers on the Gaza Strip borders, “You see Gaza now from afar, and soon you will see it from within. The order will be issued,” indicating that the Israeli ground attack is imminent.

Gallant added that the potential battle on land would be long and difficult.

Shortly after the Defense Minister's statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a video clip in which he appeared with the forces near the border and promised them victory.

Netanyahu said during a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the war in Gaza will be prolonged.

The Israeli Defense Minister addresses his soldiers gathered near the border with the Gaza Strip (Anatolia)

Green light

Meanwhile, the American ABC network quoted an Israeli official as saying that the Israeli army had received the green light from the Israeli government to move towards Gaza.

For his part, Commander of the Southern Brigade of the Israeli Army, Yaron Finkelman, said that his forces are waging a war against what he described as a “fierce enemy,” in reference to the Palestinian resistance.

Winkelmann added that the maneuver will now be transferred to enemy territory despite the difficult situation, and that his forces will win, as he put it.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday evening that the Israeli army was preparing to move ground into the Gaza Strip, after US President Joe Biden left Tel Aviv yesterday, Wednesday, at the end of a visit in which he renewed his country’s support for Israel.

In contrast to the Israeli statements, the Palestinian resistance confirmed that it was prepared for a long battle, and that it would turn the sands of Gaza into a graveyard for the Israeli occupation forces.

Despite repeated statements about the approaching ground operation, reports indicate that Israel is hesitant to enter the Gaza Strip for fear of suffering a setback after the blow it received when the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.

The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, encountered multiple missiles launched by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday and fired its own missiles in response, officials said.

It’s unclear from where the Houthi militia's missiles were fired but they were headed in a northerly direction, an official said.

The USS Carney intercepted three cruise missiles and about eight drones, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said later at a press briefing.

The preliminary U.S. assessment is that the USS Carney was not the target of any of the Houthi missiles or drones.

Information about the engagements was still being processed, Ryder said. "We cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea potentially to targets in Israel.

No sailors aboard the ship were harmed, the official said.

The incident occurred during the early evening hours Thursday local time.

The missiles fired by the Houthis were engaged by SM2 missiles carried aboard the USS Carney, an official said.

Abu Ubaida, the military spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), threatened the Israeli occupation with a “long battle” and said that they were ready for it, calling on the Arab peoples to “mobilize and march” to the borders of Palestine.

Hamas's military spokesman confirmed - in a recorded speech - that "the resistance is fine and is still controlling the events of the field" and that it "knows where and when to mount and strike, and when and how to strike."

He added, "We are prepared for a long battle with this occupier, as sacred and great as our goal in this battle is," which is to defend Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, respond to its desecration, and make the occupation pay the price for its crimes.

Abu Ubaida stressed that “the bill of reckoning with this enemy will be harsh and painful, and he will pay the price for his crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian people,” vowing that the resistance will not tolerate these crimes.

In his recorded speech, he criticized American support for Israel, describing it as “shameless and base.” He said that this support would not help the occupation, and that “no force in the world will be able to eliminate the Palestinian resistance, prevent it from defending the holy sites, or take away the hopes of the Palestinian people to gain their freedom.” .

Abu Ubaida considered that the "stupid" American support for the occupation ignites the fire of anger in the Arab and Islamic nation to reject the American and Israeli occupation, stressing that "the enemy today is at its worst in 75 years, and it is an opportunity for the nation."

He called on the masses of the nation everywhere to "mobilize and march to the borders of Palestine, unite and do everything in their power to bring down the faltering Zionist project, despite the massacres it commits and the support it receives from the forces of injustice and aggression."

Abu Ubaida also addressed the masses of the nation and the free people of the world, and called on them to “mobilize and rally” in front of the Israeli and American embassies, expel their ambassadors, and close their embassies in all Arab and Islamic countries, stressing that it is “the least duty to win for Jerusalem and to declare rejection of the genocidal massacres against the people of Gaza” and to restore respect for Arabs and Muslims.

The head of the Hamas movement abroad, Khaled Meshal, said on Thursday that the attack on Israel was a calculated adventure, in reference to the Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Hamas movement - a surprise attack on Israel, adding: “We know very well the consequences of our operation on October 7.”

He confirmed, in an exclusive interview with Al-Arabiya channel, that the details of prisoner numbers are available only with the Al-Qassam Brigades, stressing by saying: “We have enough prisoners of Israeli soldiers to negotiate over our detainees... and we have informed some countries of our readiness to hand over civilian prisoners,” noting by saying: “We are concerned.” "Only Israeli military prisoners, and we will exchange our Israeli prisoners for all our prisoners held by Israel."

Khaled Meshaal said that the Netanyahu government has set an agenda to Judaize Al-Aqsa, stressing by saying: “Israel is killing us, whether we resist or not.”

Khaled Meshaal added, “The calculations of our operation against Israel were within a narrow framework,” noting that “to achieve the element of surprise in our operation, not everyone knew about it,” stressing that “it is not possible to reach foreign prisoners under Israeli bombing.”

He stressed by saying, "Hamas and the Palestinian factions do not target civilians, but Israel targets civilians randomly."

He pointed out that "the Arab position towards the current situation is good and we ask for more," stressing by saying: "We do not call people to wars," noting that "Hezbollah and Iran provided us with weapons and support and we ask for more."

Meshaal called on the Arabs to protect Gaza, stressing that "there are no voices in Gaza criticizing the resistance... We want an Arab-Islamic position that pressures the West to stop the war."

He pointed out that "Israel says that it will eliminate Hamas... and it will not succeed," stressing by saying: "The battle with Israel is difficult... The Taliban defeated America and we will defeat Israel." He added, "The countries that put us on terrorist lists are communicating with us through a third party."

Regarding the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, Meshaal said that Hamas does not accept that aid be limited to the people of the southern Gaza Strip.

Regarding the Israeli calls demanding the departure of the people of Gaza to Egypt, Meshaal said: “We refuse to leave Gaza. The displacement of the people of Gaza, if it occurs, will harm Egypt and Jordan.”

The head of the Hamas movement abroad said, "Our operation in Israel is offensive as part of a long defensive war."

The Hebrew channel "Kan" said on Thursday evening that Israel evacuated its embassies in the Middle East, including the embassies in Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, and Turkey.

On Wednesday, Israel asked its citizens to leave Turkey as soon as possible after angry demonstrations in front of the Israeli embassy in Ankara following the bombing of Baptist Hospital. It also evacuated the employees of its embassies in Morocco and Egypt.

Read more Arab and international reactions to the Al-Maamdani Hospital massacre

The Israeli Consulate in Ankara raised the security alert for Israelis in Turkey to the highest level.

The Israeli National Security Council justified the departure request by “increasing threats against Israelis abroad,” warning Israelis against traveling to Turkey.

The Israeli embassies in Jordan, Turkey, France, the United States, and Lebanon were subjected to an angry popular march in protest against the crime of the Israeli bombing of the “Al-Maamdani” Hospital in Gaza.

On Thursday evening, the Israeli occupation forces arrested 14 Palestinian citizens from the village of Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah.

According to local sources, the occupation forces raided the village, fired live bullets at vehicles and citizens’ homes, raided commercial stores and arrested everyone inside them. They also arrested citizens after they removed them from their vehicles.

The sources indicated that among the detainees were known: the elderly Muhammad Musleh and his son Adam, Saleh Ma’rouf Tanatra, Dhia Ma’rouf Tanatra, Muhammad Yaqoub Tanatra, Majd Yaqoub Tanatra, Hamada Walid Tanatra, Muhammad Walid Tanatra, Ihab Sayel Tanatra, Muhammad Sayel Tanatra, and Aws Sayel. Tanatra, and Izz al-Din Muhammad Maarouf Tanatra.

Sources pointed out that the occupation army continues to close the two entrances to the village with dirt barriers, and that citizens are forced to take long detours to reach their workplaces.

Tens of thousands demonstrated in several Algerian cities, including the capital, Algiers, today, Thursday, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and denouncing the ongoing Israeli aggression against them.

The capital's demonstration started from May 1st Square towards Martyrs' Square, a distance of about five kilometers, and the demonstrators chanted "Palestine the martyrs" and "The people of Algeria are with you, Palestine."

The demonstrators also raised banners in Arabic and English that read, “No to the killing of children, women, and civilians. Where are human rights?” They also carried Palestinian flags alongside Algerian flags.

Parties, unions, civil organizations, and the Algerian Workers' Union called for Thursday's demonstrations "in order to support Palestine," and Algerian official television channels broadcast them live.

Palestinian flags were hung alongside Algerian flags throughout the capital and on the balconies of buildings overlooking the demonstration route.

Similar demonstrations took place in the cities of Oran, Constantine, Ouargla, Tindouf, Batna and others.

It is noteworthy that the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad asked all its embassies and diplomatic missions abroad to cancel all preparations related to the celebrations of the glorious first anniversary of November, by order of the President of the Algerian Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in solidarity with Palestine.

Sports competitions and tournaments were also cancelled, especially the football tournament, in solidarity with the Palestinian people, according to what the Algerian Football Federation announced.

by Jonathan Spyer

No sane American president takes office hoping for war. Woodrow Wilson, a 56-year-old Princeton academic, said it would be 'the irony of fate' if his presidency came to be dominated by foreign affairs. He spoke in 1913. Joe Biden came to office in 2021 promising to end the 'forever wars' of Iraq and Afghanistan. But as he boarded Air Force One on Tuesday, another irony of fate was in evidence: the American-enforced world order is crumbling, and the results are now becoming clear.

Iran, far from being neutered by US sanctions, was able to start a war using its Hamas proxies and their Hezbollah allies to attack Israel. At a stroke, the Arab-Israeli rapprochement America had wanted to nurture has been put on ice. Biden had hoped this week to meet his Egyptian, Saudi and Jordanian counterparts along with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president. But the summit was called off when a hospital in Gaza was shelled (which Israel and a number of external open source intelligent analysts have blamed on a stray Palestinian rocket, and which Biden said was 'done by the other team' during his press conference on Wednesday). Containing this conflict might prove very hard indeed.

At the same time, Xi Jinping was keen to show off the other axis of allies at a gathering in Beijing to celebrate ten years of its Belt and Road initiative. Among the honored guests were Vladimir Putin and Hungary's Viktor Orban. The Russian media has been quick to contrast Xi and Putin's multipolar vision of the world with the Biden administration's floundering in the Middle East. China's foreign minister Wang Yi said Israel has already gone too far in its response to the Hamas attack and that Beijing and Moscow are working to 'immediately energize the two-state solution as a fundamental solution'.

As Joe Biden boarded Air Force One on Tuesday, another irony of fate was in evidence: the American-enforced world order is crumbling, and the results are now becoming clear.

As demonstrations engulf the Middle East after the hospital attack, America's moment appears to be over already. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's political leader, called on all Muslims worldwide to stage protests against Israel. Such protests have duly been happening, from Arab countries to the state parliament in Melbourne. Tear gas has been fired outside the US embassy in Lebanon to ward off demonstrators. We can expect this mass protest trend to continue.

There are many beneficiaries from the splitting of American attention – Russia, for one, will be emboldened in its campaign in Ukraine. But Iran is a country that has just seen history move its way. Even before the hospital bombing, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the foreign minister, warned of 'pre-emptive action' if Israel continues with plans for a ground invasion in Gaza. Skirmishes with Hezbollah on the Lebanese border have heated up all week, leaving many dead on both sides. (Through third-party intermediaries, the US has warned Hezbollah and Iran privately not to get involved in a fully-fledged war with Israel, according to the American news outlet Axios, which reports that the US is considering using military force if Hezbollah escalates its attacks.)

'Our numerous intelligence reports show that the US is formulating the Zionist regime's current policy,' Ayatollah Khamenei announced on Tuesday. 'The US must be held responsible for this situation.' In the new geopolitical reality, Iran is a major force. Tehran has pursued policies largely in line with Russia's interests, whether in Syria, the Caucasus, central Asia, or Afghanistan, but especially when it comes to Israel.

Indeed, the carnage of 7 October was itself part of this long-standing policy. Tehran, empowered by America's Middle East withdrawal, has spent years surrounding Israel with client Islamist paramilitary groups. The aim is Israel's eventual collapse, a key part of Tehran's drive for regional domination as a global power.

Israel failed to discern Hamas's terrible plans because its intelligence resources have been so focused on Iran's nuclear program. But the Iranians are seeking a nuclear capacity primarily as an insurance policy beneath which they can continue the aggressive regional strategy that has been developed over the past three decades and which is now coming to fruition.

Tehran, empowered by America's Middle East withdrawal, has spent years surrounding Israel with client Islamist paramilitary groups. The aim is Israel's eventual collapse.

Two components were needed to produce Hamas's attack on Israel. The first was the ground presence of a powerful Islamist movement, with a degree of public legitimacy and the ability to recruit and command a sufficient number of committed young men. Hamas fits this bill. The second was the kind of weaponry, resources and organization that only a powerful state can provide. Hamas counts a number of regional powers as friends, such as Qatar and Turkey. But only Iran offers military assistance. And only Iran could provide the know-how, tactical skills and hardware that made 7 October possible.

Hamas – the local representative of Muslim Brotherhood-style Sunni political Islam – is by far the most dynamic and coordinated Palestinian political movement. In this, it reflects a region-wide trend that has gone below the radar amid the excitement of the Abraham Accords, and the (postponed) hopes of an Israel-Saudi rapprochement.

In virtually every Middle Eastern country, Islamist movements of both Sunni and Shia varieties have unparalleled strength on the ground. In Lebanon, for example, the Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah is the de facto ruler. 

In Syria, the 'secular' regime of Bashar al-Assad remains only because of Russian and Iranian assistance: the popular uprising against from 2011-19 was Sunni Islamist in nature. In Iraq, the main Sunni force produced from below in recent years was Islamic State – and pro-Iranian Shia Islamist parties have formed the government since 2021.

There is an unpleasant pattern here. The world has grown weary of the Middle East and its endless wars. But political Islam continues to command the streets across the Arab world, at least outside the Gulf. And it is Iran that provides such groups with the required potency and capacity to operate.

There's an obvious basis to the relationship between Iran and its franchise organizations: namely that the Tehran regime itself is the most successful expression of political Islam and represents the marriage of this outlook with state power. But there's a more practical component too. With states in the Middle East fragmenting since the Arab Spring, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has established and located powerful Islamist forces, turning them into its instruments. These methods, adjusted to local conditions, have brought Tehran partial or complete power in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza.

Whether Iran ordered 7 October is an irrelevant debate. It is Iran which provides the funding that makes such operations feasible, to the tune of $100 million per year.

Whether Iran ordered 7 October is an irrelevant debate. It is Iran which provides the funding that makes such operations feasible, to the tune of $100 million per year. It is Iran that supplies the M-302 and Fajr missiles which give Hamas long-range missile capacity from Gaza. And it was almost certainly Iran that provided the physical space for Hamas's men to discreetly learn the tactical skills needed for the assault – the use of paragliders, drones and so on. (The instruction likely took place in Iranian-dominated Lebanon.) Hamas provides the manpower, fervor and commitment from below, but the capacities on display are the result of the Iranian connection.

This formula – local Islamist fervor plus state capacity – has been successful for Iran across the Middle East. It forms the essential component in a bid to expand regional influence westwards to the Mediterranean and southwards to the Gulf.

For Iran and the Islamists, the area west of the Jordan is Islamic waqf (endowment) land, temporarily lost to infidels and requiring reconquest. But as Shias and non-Arabs, the Iranians also believe that investment in the fight against Israel will serve to cancel out their foreignness in the mainly Sunni Arab world.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its proxies are advancing a 'death by a thousand cuts' strategy against Israel. This derives from a view of the Jewish state they inherited from their Arab and Palestinian nationalist predecessors. As formulated in a May 2000 speech by the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, it purports to see Israel as weaker than a 'spider's web', despite its technological prowess. Its proponents believe that by striking at civilians, they will over time weaken Israel's resolve, reduce its population, and isolate it diplomatically and economically. Eventually they will wound Israel enough, the thinking runs, to inflict a killer blow.

The escalating conflict with Hezbollah reflects the nature of the challenge facing Israel in this new multipolar climate; one theory is that the ground invasion of Gaza was delayed over concerns that Hezbollah would immediately launch an assault on the northern border. After meeting Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha on Monday, the Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said that the 'pre-emptive action' by the 'resistance front' (Iran's preferred name for its alliance) should be expected soon. Israeli news website Ynet reported that the IDF conducted exercise drills ahead of a potential ground attack on Hezbollah's elite Radwan unit.

Recent events should serve as a belated alarm call to Israel and its allies about the new multipolar world – and about the nature, dimensions and existential seriousness of the Iranian and Islamist project.

Biden's decision to dispatch two aircraft-carrier groups to the Mediterranean is a tacit acknowledgement of the regional nature of the conflict. But is it too late? America's unipolar moment appears to be over, and there is less of an appetite in Washington – and among American voters – for intervention than there was two decades ago.

The warships might have been intended to deter Tehran from committing further assets to the fighting. But with the protests that have followed the hospital attack, it's increasingly unclear whether the rage throughout the Muslim world can be restrained.

Regardless of what transpires, recent events should serve as a belated alarm call to Israel and its allies about the new multipolar world – and about the nature, dimensions and existential seriousness of the Iranian and Islamist project that forms this new geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and beyond.

Source: Middle East Forum

Former Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), General David Petraeus, said that the possible Israeli ground attack on the Gaza Strip would last for years and would include "horrific fighting."

Petraeus confirmed - in an interview with the American newspaper Politico - that if Israel were to make a ground incursion into the Strip, it would face a more difficult situation than the one faced by the American forces in Somalia, and would be met with “suicide” attacks, explosive devices, bombs, and ambushes.

The general, who was also the former commander of the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, cited the incident of the downing of three American Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu in 1993, which caused bloody fighting while the American forces were struggling to rescue the survivors of the crash, to confirm that the Israeli army will face “a similar reality.” If there is a clash on the ground in Gaza.

Petraeus said his personal experience running armies engaged in "brutal counterinsurgency campaigns" should serve as a warning to the IDF if it goes ahead with a ground incursion.

He added, "It is difficult for me to imagine a situation more difficult than this particular one, and I was one of those who led forces in a number of major operations in urban areas."

He added, "You cannot win counterinsurgency operations in a year or two. Such operations usually take a decade or more, as we saw in Iraq, and as we saw in Afghanistan."

The former military commander also stressed that Israel needs a plan to restore basic services, rebuild Gaza, and establish governance there, as soon as its battle against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is considered resolved.

By Daria Saburova

As Israel’s assault on Palestine continues, apparent similarities with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grow. Israel’s “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip – cutting off water, electricity and food to more than two million inhabitants – echoes Russia’s intentional destruction of our energy infrastructure last winter. This, among other things, earned Russia the label of a “terrorist state” among Ukrainians.

From the moment an evacuation order for northern Gaza’s 1.1 million inhabitants was announced, Ukrainians must have known it would expose the most vulnerable – the elderly and sick – to certain death. We know that when people have no viable alternatives, they often prefer to stay.

The images of widespread devastation that reach us from Gaza, which suggest the Israeli army’s disregard for international humanitarian law, also resemble those from Mariupol or Bakhmut last year. Israel – like Russia in Ukraine – has been accused of bombing residential areas, evacuation corridors and the only exit point from the city, Rafah.

Of course, Hamas’s brutal attacks on civilians in Israeli kibbutzim also appear similar to Russia’s massacres in Bucha in March 2022. It is only right that these were condemned by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. But their messages of support for victims and their families were accompanied by problematic assertions, including Zelenskyi’s truly catastrophic conclusion that Israel has the unconditional right to defend itself.

Since then, Ukrainian officials have avoided talking directly about Israel’s ‘Operation Iron Swords’, despite the death toll in Gaza having exceeded 3,500 in the 11 days since its launch, according to the Palestinian authorities.

But Ukraine’s carte blanche to any response that Israel deems necessary makes little sense given historical or recent Ukrainian-Israeli relations, which have been marked by tensions over occupation and respect for international law. Given the security problems Ukraine faces, its foreign policy remains faithful to the promotion of two causes: respect for territorial integrity and nuclear disarmament.

Diplomatic tensions

Unlike the US and its European allies, Ukraine has systematically supported UN resolutions condemning the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, not without concern for consistency over its own territorial claim on occupied Crimea.

In 2014, Israel did not vote on a UN resolution that denounced Russia’s annexation of Crimea and reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Two years later, Ukraine passed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Jerusalem – prompting Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cancel a visit to Israel by a Ukrainian representative, then prime minister Volodymyr Groysman.

These tensions have become heightened over the past year – including when Kyiv supported two UN resolutions in November 2022. The first was for the nuclear disarmament of the Middle East, directed against Israel’s nuclear program, and the second for the opening of an international investigation into Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory”, reaffirming Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

Then, in July 2023, the Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, condemned Ukraine’s support for 90% of the UN's “anti-Israel” resolutions, which he described as an “abnormal situation, especially given the fact that Ukraine quite often turns to Israel for various requests”. These requests have also been the subject of tension between the two countries, with Israel having sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine but refusing to send weapons, including defensive weapons, saying that Israel, unlike NATO member states, can only rely on itself.

Israel has also been cautious in its stance on Russian aggression against Ukraine, seeking to maintain cordial diplomatic relations with Russia in light of its own military interests in Syria. It did not join many Western countries in imposing sanctions on Russia and abstained from voting on a UN resolution in favor of Russia's reparations for its destruction in Ukraine. Since the full-scale invasion, Israel has welcomed 30,000 Ukrainians – including 15,000 Ukrainian Jews as part of a repatriation program – far fewer than have been taken in by other countries.

Explaining the silence

Most Ukrainian politicians and diplomats likely consider the history between Israel and Palestine too complex to distinguish between aggressor and victim. But this does not explain their silence on Israel’s violations of international law in recent days, which are not dissimilar to actions they have denounced previously. Their silence likely has three sources.

First, Ukraine has sought to distance itself as clearly as possible from Hamas – labelled “the new Nazis” by Netanyahu – and its ruthless methods, which have been used to arbitrarily target Israeli civilians. This is not least because Russia’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine – the alleged need to “denazify” the country – has been effective in the Global South and in certain fringes of Western civil society. Yet in the dominant discourse set by Western governments it is impossible to distinguish between the actions of Hamas and the more general struggle of Palestinians for freedom and justice, which consists of multiple and varied forces. Ironically, diplomats have warned that the lack of support for Palestine will almost certainly result in diminishing support for Ukraine in the Global South.

Prevailing Western discourse is often seen to conflate anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel – another reason why the Ukrainian government is particularly careful with its official statements in the international arena. This is in part because Ukraine is one of the countries most marked by the Holocaust, with nearly 1.5 million Jews killed between 1941 and 1945, but also because Ukrainian nationalist movements, which sheltered people directly responsible for these massacres, have been whitewashed and heroized inside Ukraine.

And finally, Ukraine’s position may simply be geopolitical pragmatism. Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the European Union provides a clause on “convergence on foreign policy and security issues” that requires Ukraine to align itself with positions expressed by European officials. And its dependence on Western humanitarian and especially military aid predisposes its leaders to line up behind its allies, particularly the US, at the risk of being deprived of this support. The fact that Hamas maintains privileged links with Russia only reinforces this loyalty.

A recent statement from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, published on 17 October, reflects the ambiguity and the competing principles of Ukraine’s foreign policy. It reaffirms support for Israel’s “efforts to counter terrorist acts”, but it also “advocates the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with the help of political and diplomatic means”.

The following day, after the strike on the Al-Ahli Hospital that killed hundreds of Palestinians, which both Israel and Hamas deny responsibility for, Ukrainian officials released their first statement on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The statement stresses that both parties should “abide by the rules of warfare and respect the norms of international humanitarian law” but fails to call for an immediate ceasefire.

The need to speak out

While Ukraine’s official position is dictated by pragmatic diplomatic considerations, Ukrainian civil society is not obliged to echo its government’s silence on Israel’s punitive operation against Gaza.

Israel’s injustices in Palestine, as well as Russia’s in Ukraine, go far beyond mere failure to respect the laws of war. Ukrainians rightly repeat that Russia’s war against the Ukrainian people did not begin on 24 February 2022. It has occupied part of Ukraine since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the colonization by the Russian Empire of the peoples who inhabit Ukrainian territories dates back to the 17th century.

This history, which continued during the Soviet era, involves episodes of a genocidal nature. These include the Holodomor, a great artificial famine that killed several million Ukrainians in 1932 and 1933, and massive displacements of populations such as the 238,000 Crimean Tatars deported from Crimea to other Soviet republics under Stalin’s orders in 1944. Almost half of the Tatars died of starvation and disease during the following years.

Similarly, Israel’s war against the Palestinian people did not begin on 7 October 2023. It began with the Nakba of 1948, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their lands. In 1967, at the end of the Six Day War, Israel occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories, causing a new Palestinian exodus and the installation of new Israeli colonies.

Palestinians often say that the Nakba is a perpetual process, since the dispossessions and colonial crimes have never ended. They have been fragmented and experience different situations depending on whether they live in the West Bank, Israel, Gaza or are refugees. But all are affected by the apartheid regime. Gazan Palestinians particularly suffer from the blockade imposed by Israel since 2006 with the collaboration of Egypt, making the Gaza Strip the world's largest open-air prison.

The evil that has killed both Israeli and Palestinian civilians in recent days is rooted in the continued occupation and colonization by Israel of the Palestinian territories. In this sense, the oppression of the Ukrainian and Palestinian peoples has similarities: it is about the occupation of our lands by states with nuclear weapons and overwhelming military force, which mock the resolutions of the UN and international law, putting their causes above any diplomatic dialogue.

As Ukrainians, as supporters of the Ukrainian cause, we have a special responsibility to understand and raise our voices in the face of what is happening. We must point out the inconsistencies of Western governments that support our anti-imperialist struggle while backing Israel’s colonial violence. The tragedy we are currently experiencing must sharpen our sensitivity to similar human experiences.

Following Russia’s invasion, we discovered how little the international community knew about the history of Ukraine. But what do we know about the history of Palestine? In a world where polarization is increasing, where colonial wars of staggering scale and violence are resurgent, only solidarity between oppressed peoples and curiosity about our respective struggles, beyond geopolitical divisions, can show us the way to just and lasting peace.

Source: Open Democracy

Today (Thursday), the first tent camp for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip since October 7 was established in Gaza City.

The tent camp was set up under the auspices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) at the industrial training station in central Gaza City.

Staff wearing UN agency uniforms arrange and organize work in the camp.

UNRWA officials refused to talk to the media about these developments.

An UNRWA employee, who declined to give his name, told Xinhua News Agency that dozens of families who refuse to leave the city have taken refuge in the place with all their members, indicating that the place does not contain the necessities of life and they are sleeping on the ground. The agency had to bring tents for them, and we are now taking care of them.

A number of displaced people said that they are living on scarce aid provided by UNRWA, without any health facilities, and amidst piles of garbage in the camp.

They said, "They left their homes with nothing after they were destroyed by Israeli raids. We refuse to leave Gaza to the south of the Strip, and we will not leave."

More than a million Palestinians were displaced in the Gaza Strip, including 600,000 displaced people in the Gaza and northern Gaza Strip regions after they were warned by the Israeli army to evacuate their residential areas a few days ago, according to a statement issued by UNRWA a few days ago.

According to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza, the Israeli attacks completely destroyed at least 4,821 residential buildings, including 12,845,000 housing units, while about 121,000 housing units were partially damaged, including 9,000 housing units that were uninhabitable.

On the other hand, the government media office run by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza announced in a statement the killing of the commander of the National Security Forces at the Ministry of Interior in the Strip, Major General Jihad Abd Muheisen.

The media office stated that Muhaisen (53 years old) and a number of his family members died in a direct bombardment by Israeli aircraft on his house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City.
3,785 Palestinians were killed and 12,493 others were injured as a result of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, since the Hamas movement launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,300 people.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the martyrdom of 13 Palestinians as a result of the Israeli occupation’s aggression against the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, where a drone targeted Palestinians in the camp, while an Israeli soldier from the Musta’ribin unit was killed and others were injured in the clashes.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated that the death toll in the camp since dawn today reached 13, which raises the death toll in the West Bank since October 7 to 81.

Witnesses said that Israeli army forces stormed the camp at dawn today, and that violent clashes took place between a number of gunmen and Israeli forces, who used a large bulldozer and caused destruction to the camp’s infrastructure, and that the Israeli military operation is still continuing.

Israeli Army Radio revealed that a drone targeted Palestinian militants in the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm.

For its part, the Tulkarm Battalion of the Al-Quds Brigades reported that it had detonated explosive devices in bulldozers and occupation vehicles on the Al-Manshiya axis and caused direct casualties.

It added, "We carried out an ambush against an occupation foot force and were able to shoot down its members, killing and wounding them."

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in Tulkarm, also said that its fighters were engaged in violent clashes with the occupation forces in the Nour Shams camp.

Israeli police media reported that 10 of its members were injured, one of them in serious condition, in an explosive device explosion, and the Israeli army also announced that 10 border guard members were injured during the clashes.

Later, Israeli Army Radio announced the killing of an Israeli soldier from the (Musta'ribin) undercover unit during clashes in the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm.

In the same context, the occupation forces surrounded a house, bombed it with a missile, and prevented ambulance crews from reaching it.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant told infantry soldiers gathered on the Gaza Strip border on Thursday that they would soon see the Palestinian enclave “from the inside,” indicating that a ground invasion may be imminent.

According to the Reuters news agency, Gallant added, according to the statement: “You see Gaza now from afar, and soon you will see it from the inside.” The order will be issued.”

The Israeli Defense Minister warned Hezbollah of the repercussions of entering into a war with his country, calling on it to look at Gaza City first.

“We focus first and foremost on defeating Hamas,” Gallant said. I have been leading soldiers into battles for 45 years, and I am responsible for security, and I have been responsible for that over the past two weeks - even in difficult times, and I am responsible for leading Israel to victory.”

Gallant indicated that the army is preparing for a long-term clash with Israel's enemies, adding, "We are not talking about a short military campaign - but rather a long campaign."

Galant touched on the Hezbollah threat on the border with Lebanon, saying, “Hezbollah is trying to challenge the State of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces, and deploy forces in strong defensive formations. We are ready, and if Hezbollah wants war, it must first take a look at pictures of Gaza City.”

Israel killed 10 Palestinians in violent confrontations in Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, bringing to about 16 the number of people it killed during the past 12 hours in the West Bank.

Nour Shams camp witnessed very violent confrontations between Palestinian militants and the Israeli army, which used drones to attack Palestinian fighters, and was exposed to explosive devices that left wounded among its ranks.

Israel turned the camp into a war zone, after cutting it into parts, and opened fire on Palestinians throughout the day, to the point where residents dragged the bodies of young men and children to the camp mosque to await the arrival of ambulances.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced, late on Thursday, “The arrival of a sixth martyr shot by the Israeli occupation to Tulkarm Governmental Hospital, as a result of the aggression against Nour Shams camp, which raises the death toll in the camp to 7 martyrs, while we received an indication of the presence of other martyrs whose ambulances could not.” Take them to the hospital.” Palestinian sources confirmed that there were at least 4 bodies in the mosque.

On Thursday morning, Israel stormed the camp, imposed a siege on it, and entered into confrontations during which it targeted armed men with drones, and broadcast pictures of the bombing in one of the camp’s streets.

Palestinian factions announced that their fighters were engaged in clashes in the Nour Shams camp, causing casualties among the ranks of the Israeli army.

The Israeli police said in a statement that during an operational operation in the refugee camp in Nur al-Shams, border guard soldiers were injured. The army and police confirmed that their operation, which lasted for more than 10 hours, aimed to thwart the infrastructure of the fighters in the sunlight. 

The operation witnessed an exchange of fire and the throwing of explosive devices, one of which injured 10 soldiers, one of whom was in serious condition.

This brings the number of those killed by Israel to 16 in the West Bank, including 4 children, within 12 hours, which brings the number of those killed in the West Bank since the start of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7 of this year to 78.

At a time when the battles were raging on the Gaza front, and tension was rising on the border with Lebanon, Israel launched the “Awareness Front” via virtual space, launching what is known as the “Israel Electronic Army” a battle across various social media networks, to fight what the occupation called “the narrative.” "Palestinian" and promoting his story with the aim of influencing world public opinion.

According to the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth", the "Awareness Front" is no less important than the battlefields, and described it as the "battle over awareness" for its role in penetrating the virtual space and conveying its echo to the whole world.

Analysts and journalists admitted that in light of the war on Gaza, Israel and civil initiatives for Jews in Israel and around the world - behind the scenes - are waging a war on the narrative, on propaganda and shaping awareness through hundreds of members of the electronic army.

Yedioth Ahronoth: The awareness front is no less important than the battlefields (Al Jazeera)

Yedioth Ahronoth: The awareness front is no less important than the battlefields (Al Jazeera)

Mobilization and recruitment

According to analysts, Israel has been prepared for years by mobilizing and recruiting hundreds of cadres who were trained in Israeli centers and universities, and they fought many hypothetical maneuvers and hidden wars to spread the Israeli narrative, even through fabrication and falsification of content and implications.

Reichmann University, at the Center for National Security Research - Herzliya, specializes in qualifying these cadres through study courses in the subjects of international media, content production, electronic media, law and governance, political science, and sociology.

Hundreds of students participate in these courses annually, who are provided with the mechanisms to join the Israeli Electronic Army or any Israeli security and military institution, and in various government ministries, including the diplomatic corps and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Herzliya Center also provides training courses for hundreds of employees from various Israeli government ministries and officers and workers in security, military and intelligence institutions, including the Mossad and Shin Bet.

forgery

The training courses aim to provide those concerned with the skills that will help them address local and international public opinion, promote the Israeli narrative, or confront the Palestinian, Arab, or any anti-Israel narrative. It also aims to enable them to specialize in falsifying facts and creating new narratives that have no connection to reality.

In the first week of the war on Gaza, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ diplomatic staff conducted briefings for 250 foreign correspondents and more than 640 interviews with international media in various languages to distort and combat the Palestinian narrative.

About a thousand posts and tweets were also published in English, Spanish, Arabic, Persian, and Russian, which received more than 320 million views, through the activity of the digital department of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More than 80 official statements were issued condemning Hamas and supporting Israel from various countries, according to the Israeli newspaper "Globes".

Israeli Foreign Ministry teams conducted more than 640 interviews with international media in various languages to distort the Palestinian narrative.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted more than 640 media interviews in various languages to distort the Palestinian narrative (Getty)

Virtual battle

Israeli citizens and Jewish volunteers around the world are active in creating dozens of groups and projects to help with international outreach, one of which is known as the “Civil Propaganda Headquarters,” which was established by former journalist Eliav Patito, which recruits volunteers to distribute content.

Commenting on the “Awareness Front,” journalist Navo Tribelsi, technology and Internet affairs correspondent for the “Globes” newspaper, said, “This is the second war of independence, and this is how the battle for world public opinion is conducted.”

He added that Israel has been waging a war for several days on several fronts, the most important of which is the battle to influence global public opinion, as it is considered an essential arena for broadcasting messages, content, and content in line with the Israeli narrative.

Tribelsi stressed the importance of controlling and controlling the “Awareness Front” because “awareness and understanding of the difficult situation that Israel has been experiencing since Black Saturday has a clear impact in providing cover and international legitimacy for Israeli military operations, in addition to being important for exerting pressure on various parties in the world and ensuring their alignment with Israel builds its narrative on war.”

He believes that public opinion today is influenced by "the serious work undertaken by various state institutions, frameworks and civil authorities," noting that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is active in transmitting information and content and recruiting all its diplomatic staff around the world to interact within the arenas of the "Awareness Front."

fill

According to the Globes newspaper, Eliav Patito has so far managed to recruit more than 400 active volunteers to translate, visually edit, and plan the content, with hundreds of other volunteers to publish the content on social media networks.

According to messages sent within the “Civil Propaganda Headquarters” communication groups, the content produced by the headquarters reaches millions of people around the world.

One of the contents that Patito distributed in cooperation with the Civil Propaganda Headquarters at the beginning of the war on the Gaza front, and which helped set the tone in favor of the Israeli narrative, was a video that the newspaper described as “successful,” which was produced in the advertising office in Uman Bar Rivnai.

The newspaper adds that everyone in the civilian propaganda headquarters felt the need to mobilize in favor of the propaganda information war that Israel is waging, as the video recorded millions of views thanks to its participation by famous and familiar scientific figures, such as the singer Madonna.

In Ruvini Friedan's office, they collected information materials for stories and correspondence of what they described as the "hell" that the residents of the "Gaza envelope" experienced during the "Al-Aqsa Flood" battle, which were translated into many languages by dozens of volunteer translators.

In addition, the "Israelite" Association focuses on providing tools and knowledge to young Jews, so that they can help and positively influence the "image of Israel" globally and regionally by establishing a virtual emergency room that is active around the clock.

marketing

The association holds webinars in which it provides guidance, practical tools, and sources of information that can be relied upon when providing information to users of digital media and social networks.

According to Professor Moran Yerahai, head of the Department of Digital Awareness and Influence at the College of Communications and head of the Public Diplomacy Program at Reichmann University, “In previous combat rounds, it was difficult for Israel to present itself as a natural victim, because we are the strong side.”

In the war on images, Yerhai says, “Whoever has the strongest and most famous story has the upper hand. In the current situation, it was easy for the world to sympathize with the events and armed operations to which children, youth, the elderly, and women were exposed in the Gaza Strip, as well as the armed operations that targeted Music festival too.

Yerahai considered that the narrative of empathy has a very strong resonance, “Even the comparisons made with ISIS or the September 11 attacks are something that the public can understand. In this war, our ability to present the victims at the most shocking level makes people understand the political and security context of the conflict.” .

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for a ceasefire in Gaza, while Egypt affirmed its refusal to displace the population of the Strip to neighboring countries, against the backdrop of the ongoing Israeli occupation bombing.

Guterres stressed - during a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry - that Gaza needs aid on a large scale and on a sustainable basis, noting that a ceasefire is essential for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Guterres called for the protection of civilians and the provision of humanitarian relief to the Gaza Strip, stressing that the attack on hospitals and schools violates international law.

On Tuesday evening, the Israeli occupation bombed Al-Baptisti Hospital, killing about 500 civilians, in addition to hundreds of wounded, while its sides are still groaning from the effects of the Israeli raid, as a number of families of the wounded and martyrs visit it in search of the remaining traces of their families.

Hundreds of families had taken refuge in the hospital after some of their homes were bombed, and others believed that it was safer than their homes, but the Israeli bombing caught up with them, and they were surprised by a missile in the crowded hospital yard.

Guterres pointed out that a solution cannot be reached without creating a free Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel.

He called on the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to "release the hostages" it took on October 7, and also called on Israel to allow aid to arrive without restrictions.

For his part, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that there is no alternative but for the parties to return to the negotiating table to activate the two-state solution.

Shukri stressed that liquidating the Palestinian issue by displacing the population of Gaza to neighboring countries is out of the question and that there is no alternative but for the parties to return to the negotiating table and establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

On the 13th day of its war on Gaza, the Israeli army continues to bomb residential areas, resulting in the death of 3,785 Palestinians and the wounding of more than 12,000, the majority of whom are children and women.