On Sunday morning, the Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of arrests among citizens in various areas of the West Bank.

In Nablus, the occupation forces arrested: Mazen Al-Danbek, Sami Al-Asi, Nasrallah Yaliblah, Jaafar Rayhan, Moamen Rayhan, and Baraa Rayhan from the village of Tal, and Nasouh Shtayyeh and his son Muhammad from the village of Salem, east of the city.

Meanwhile, from Jenin, Ahmed Dhia Al-Ahmad, from the town of Rummana, Ali Samih Abu Bakr, and Tariq Muhammad Qabaha, from the town of Ya’bad, were arrested after the occupation forces raided and searched their homes.

In Hebron, the occupation forces arrested: the freed prisoner Yousef Abu Hashem (26 years old), Ali Izz al-Din al-Humaidan Abu Maria (21 years old), Bahaa Muhammad Khalil Zaqeq (28 years old), and Amir Qasim Khalil Akhalil (16 years old).

The occupation forces also caused material damage to citizens' homes and property during the search operations.

The two brothers, Mahmoud and Malek Iyad Thawabta, and Ahmed Saleh Thawabta, from the town of Beit Fajjar in Bethlehem, were arrested after their homes were raided and searched.

The occupation forces also arrested journalist Sabri Jibreen and Hisham Khalil Al-Amour from the town of Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem, and Mahmoud Nasri Salah and Ahmed Hassan Salah from the town of Al-Khader.

As Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” - which was launched by the Palestinian resistance and led to the killing of 1,300 Israelis - enters its ninth day, the violent Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip continues, leaving more than 2,384 martyrs and more than 10,150 injured, most of whom are women and children.

UN official warns that Palestinians are being subjected to "mass ethnic cleansing"

The United Nations rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, warned that Palestinians are exposed to a “grave risk of mass ethnic cleansing.”

The independent UN rapporteur said, in a statement, “There is a grave danger that what we are witnessing may be a repetition of the 1948 catastrophe and the 1967 setback, but on a larger scale. The international community must do everything to prevent this from happening again.”

You all may think I am crazy writing this, but believe me there will be a day after tomorrow. This horrible war will come to an end. We will all be traumatized by what we have gone through. We will see all around us the devastation, destruction, wounded people mentally and physically and a lot of death. We will bury our dead and we will not forget what has been done and who did it.  

That will remain with us for many years to come. These days and weeks and maybe months will reshape our narratives and Israelis and Palestinians will never agree about what happened to us.  For Israelis the attack on October 7 was the most severe military invasion and terrorist attack in 75 years. For Palestinians that day and the days to follow have become the harsh and acute continuation of the Nakba. These are very dark days and all of us are impacted by what is happening.

I am hoping for what I call “a Belfast moment”.  Perhaps it is an incorrect term and if so I apologize to the people of Northern Ireland. I am referring to the time when we, the civilians, not our governments, look around us and see all the death and destruction and say: No More. ENOUGH. We have to invest our time, energy, resources, faith and devotion not in killing each other anymore, but in building a new reality. We have to recognize that even after this horrific war, Israelis and Palestinians will remain here on this land between the River and the Sea and no one here has more right to be here than anyone else.  We have to look each other in the eyes and say we must all have the same right to the same rights. Then we can begin to rebuild a new reality.

Israel is very likely to re-occupy Gaza. At the time of this writing, it seems unavoidable. I don’t know will be the fate of the Israeli hostages. I have spent countless hours trying to advance an agreement on the release of the women, children, elderly and sick hostages in exchange for the 43 women and 190 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. I have pushed for a humanitarian ceasefire to implement the deal and to enable food and medical supplies to enter Gaza.  Once the Israeli ground operation begins, it will probably be too late. At that point the only hope for the hostages will be rescue operations which some will succeed and others will not. The number of civilian casualties in Gaza will skyrocket and the destruction will be beyond imagination.

On the day that Israel completes it occupation of Gaza it must announce that Israel will leave Gaza within x months – 8 months, 12 months, whatever – but Israel is not staying. The Gush Katif settlers are not going back to Gaza.  There will be no Israeli settlers in Gaza.  Israel must then also announce its plans which have to include working with the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank to end the conflict and to rebuild a peaceful Gaza. It has to be done with the Gaza business community and peace seeking civil society.  

This work will not be done by the Israeli government because on the day after the war, Netanyahu and his government, and people from previous governments are going to face their day of reckoning. The people who brought us to this situation must be forced to pay the price for their colossal failure. 

The military people who devised the policies that led us to the brink have to go home also and pay the price for their part of the failure. The Palestinian leadership will also have to face their day of reckoning and take responsibility for their failures in dividing the Palestinian people and creating an extreme fanatical leadership that set the Palestinian cause back 75 years.

The process of rebuilding and reconstruction and creating a new reality will have to be done by the people with new leadership on both sides. Not the same people we have seen for years, but new people with a new vision. This task of rebuilding our lives will have to include our neighbors – Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, hopefully Saudi Arabia and others. It will have to be supported financially by the international community. But it is we, Israelis and Palestinians, citizens, civil society, people who dreams and hopes, and a new vision who have to lead the process.

That is why is it essential that the current Military Cabinet in Israel have the first elements of a plan which begins with: we are not staying in Gaza.  We will leave Gaza by the following date. Let me remind you, when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 the Lebanese villagers in the south threw rice and candies at the Israeli soldiers who liberated them. Three months later they were placing roadside bombs to kill them. No one agrees to be occupied. No one in Gaza or the West Bank or East Jerusalem will ever agree to be occupied – not yesterday, not now, and not tomorrow. Israel may reoccupy Gaza, but if it stays in Gaza more Israeli blood will be the price paid, as well as Palestinian blood of resistance.

We must set a new course. I am thinking about this all of time. I have begun talking to some serious strategic thinking Israelis and Palestinians about creating a working group on this now. Only people who think strategically are capable of even imagining such a working group while we are still at war. But we all know how wars begin, and we never know how they will end.  We must be prepared for an exit strategy which is substantially more than just having the army exit Gaza. We have to be prepared with the plans for the day after tomorrow when we will all be engaged in building a new and hopefully peaceful reality.

Dr Gershon Baskin ran a secret back channel between Israel and Hamas in 2011, and is now director of operations for ICO – International Communities Organization

Global Review title: "Interview with Daniel Pipes about the Hamas Attack: "The Delusion That Enrichment Can Tame Palestinians Goes Back to the Very Origins of Zionism and Persists Despite Never Succeeding"

Global Review: Was the Hamas attack foreseeable?

Daniel Pipes: Given its history and ideology, that Hamas would again attack Israel was foreseeable. But the size and nature of the attack came as a complete surprise. It resembled 9/11 in the sense that both times, jihadis executed a previously unimaginable idea. By the way, it has caused the South Korean government to reconsider its border arrangement with North Korea.

GR: Was the attack related to preventing Israeli normalization with Saudi Arabia, to the Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich duo, to heightened violence on the West Bank, to demands from Tehran, to the date (50 years and 1 day), or something else?

DP: Perhaps any and all of these; we do not know the reason for the timing. It could simply have been that preparations were in place.

GR: Was Israel caught by surprise due to an intelligence failure or to a ruling coalition being so obsessed with other matters – notably judicial reform and a deal with Saudi Arabia – that it ignored warnings from the intelligence services?

DP: All reports concur that a massive intelligence failure occurred.

GR: Did the Israeli security establishment focus too much on Iran and Hezbollah, seeing these as the main threats, and forgot about Hamas?

DP: No, I believe the real problem was misunderstanding the nature of Hamas. The security establishment believed it could be managed through economics. The delusion that enrichment can tame Palestinians goes back to the very origins of Zionism and persists despite never succeeding.

GR: Did Israelis, with their high-tech defense systems, F-35s, and nuclear weapons, have a false sense of security that made them unprepared for asymmetric war?

DP: Yes, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has turned into a truly defensive force vis-à-vis the Palestinians, as Lazar Berman has eloquently explained.

GR: What does Israel Victory mean in the present context?

DP: That's easy. It means extirpating Hamas, removing it entirely from Gaza.

GR: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Gazans to get out of Gaza. But where should they go?

DP: That's tough. After that warning, an IDF spokesperson showed maps and instructed residents where to evacuate. I cannot tell if the proposed refuges really provide shelter or not. I suspect not. Israeli forces need to make minimizing civilian casualties a priority.

GR: Do you think a ground offensive in Gaza by the IDF will be protracted, especially given Hamas' years of preparation, including a sophisticated tunnel system?

DP: It depends how meticulous the IDF is. If it goes house to house, as in Jenin in 2002, the operation will be slower and costlier in lives than if it blasts its way through. That in turn depends in good part on the level of anger in Israel.

GR: What sort of leverage do the Israeli hostages give Hamas?

DP: My inclination is to predict "not much." Precious as each life is, the body politic is not in a mood to be deterred by further deaths, either of hostages or of soldiers.

GR: Will Hezbollah join in?

DP: That is a big uncertainty. I suspect feverish debates are taking place among Hezbollah leaders and with Tehran to decide this question. If I had to bet, I'd say no, because the rage in Israel will deter Hezbollah.

GR: What is your prediction on how the massacre will affect Israeli politics: the emergency government, putting aside judicial reform, the end of Netanyahu's political career?.

DP: The emergency government formed on Oct. 11 and almost nobody noticed. But it represents a major political development with many implications beyond Gaza; in particular, the ruling coalition no longer depends on its hard-liners. Judicial reform looks defunct. Netanyahu used up his ninth life on Oct. 7; in power for nearly all of the past fifteen years, he cannot escape blame for the catastrophe. I believe his political career will wind down.

GR: How does this affect the Abraham Accords, a possible Saudi-Israel deal, and the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)?

DP: Israel's ferocious reaction shakes the Abraham Accords but I expect they will not break. A Saudi deal will be delayed but not halted. IMEC represents no more than a wish at this time.

GR: What are the non-Western responses (Russia, China, Muslim-majority countries, etc.) to the massacre?

DP: A survey by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Oct. 11 finds that "Around the globe, representatives of approximately a hundred countries have reacted to the war in varying ways. At least forty-four nations have publicly expressed their unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and explicitly decried its tactics as terrorism." This amounts to unusually strong support for Israel.

GR: Might the Hamas war affect the U.S. pivot to Asia?

DP: It temporarily returns attention to the Middle East but I expect long-term trends away from the region will continue.

GR: What concrete steps should Western governments take in response to the Hamas attack?

DP: Where do I begin? For starters: Urge Israel to destroy Hamas. Stop all aid to the Palestinian Authority. Sanction Türkiye and Qatar for their help to Hamas.

GR: What steps should Germany, specifically, take?

DP: The same steps as other democracies but more so, given Germany's unique and unchanging debt to the Jewish people.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said part of the motivation for Hamas’ latest attack on Israel may have been disrupting a potential normalizing of Israel-Saudi Arabia ties and said Washington will announce new assistance for Israel on Sunday.

Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns as the country suffered its bloodiest day in decades on Saturday and battered Palestinians with air strikes in Gaza on Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed on both sides. The spiraling violence threatens a major new Middle East war.

The attack by Hamas launched at dawn on Saturday represented the biggest and deadliest incursion into Israel since Egypt and Syria launched a sudden assault in an effort to reclaim lost territory in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise that part of the motivation may have been to disrupt efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together, along with other countries that may be interested in normalizing relations with Israel,” Blinken told CNN in an interview on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he believed his country was on the cusp of peace with Saudi Arabia, predicting it could reshape the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam’s two holiest shrines, has long insisted on the Palestinians’ right to statehood as a condition of recognizing Israel – something that many members of Netanyahu’s nationalist religious coalition have long resisted.

The United States said on Sunday that Saudi-Israel normalization efforts should continue despite the latest attack.

“We think it would be in both countries’ interests to continue to pursue this possibility,” U.S. Deputy National Security adviser Jon Finer told Fox News Sunday.

FIGHTING CONTINUES IN GAZA

Blinken added the United States has also taken note of reports of several Americans killed and kidnapped in Israel and Washington is looking to verify the details and figures.

“We have reports that several Americans were killed. We’re working overtime to verify that,” Blinken said.

The secretary of state said details of new U.S. assistance for Israel will be made public later, as he labeled the attack on Israel as a “terrorist attack by a terrorist organization.”

“We are looking at specific additional requests that the Israelis have made. I think you’re likely to hear more about that later today,” Blinken told CNN.

Blinken added there was relative calm on Sunday in most of Israel but intense fighting in Gaza, an Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave which has witnessed weeks of protests by youth groups due to long-time grievances related to the Israeli military occupation, the Palestinian national cause and prolonged economic strife.

He added that there was not yet any evidence seen by the United States of Iran being behind the latest attack in Israel but he noted the long-standing ties between Iran and Hamas, which governs Gaza.

Support for Prime Minister Benjamín Netanyahu has nosedived since the Hamas attack in Southern Israel of Saturday, and his ruling coalition would be driven from power if elections were held today, a poll published in the Ma’ariv daily Friday has found.

Only 29 percent of respondents thought Netanyahu should be prime minister, as opposed to 48 percent who preferred National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz. Some 23 percent replied “don’t know: in response to the question.”

And only 21 percent thought Netanyahu should be prime minister the day after the war, as opposed to 66 percent who chose the option of “someone else.”

If elections were held now, the center-right National Unity Party led by Gantz would receive 41 seats, the highest number won by any Israeli political party since 1992. The party currently holds only 12 seats in the current Knesset.

Netanyahu’s nationalist Likud party plummets to 19 seats, down from the 32 it currently has.

The poll also showed that parties making up the current 64-seat coalition would only win a combined total of 42 seats, way short of the 61 needed to form a majority coalition.

On Thursday the National Unity Party formally joined the coalition in an emergency government to fight the war with Hamas. Gantz, a former IDF Chief of Staff, will join Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Netanyahu in a small war cabinet, along with two observers, one from the Likud and one from the National Unity Party.

Anger at the current Israeli government, for its perceived failure in not preparing for the war has been growing as the details of Saturday’s assault by Hamas become clear. Environment Minister Idit Silman was forced to leave a hospital by angry, shouting Israelis, while at another hospital, Economy Minister Nir Barkat – seen as a future challenger for the Likud leadership – was subjected to an angry outburst.

It was Barkat too who, attending the funeral of one of the victims of Saturday’s slaughter, was forced to listen as the deceased’s brother railed at the government.

Senior Likud legislator David Bitan spotted sitting in a restaurant was harangued at by a passerby.

In a widely-circulated video clip this week, a resident of Southern Israel unleashed a furious tirade on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, shouting that the government and Knesset needed to go, while the anchor sat there uncomfortably, trying vainly to interrupt.

The Ma’ariv poll questioned 600 people on October 11-12, and had a margin of error of 4 percent.

Source: algemeiner.com

New aid flights arrived on Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula where relief materials are being held until an agreement is reached for delivery into the nearby Gaza Strip, a Red Crescent official and an aid volunteer said.

Egypt says its side of the Rafah crossing that connects Sinai with the Gaza Strip remains open, though traffic has been halted for several days due to Israeli bombardments on the Palestinian side of the border.

Two Egyptian security sources said the planned evacuation of some people in Gaza holding foreign passports had been held up because of the lack of any deal being negotiated with Israel and the United States to send aid into the enclave.

A senior U.S. State Department spokesman said the United States had informed its citizens that they might move closer to the crossing, after talks with Egypt, Israel and Qatar aimed at opening it.

Washington has been in contact with Palestinian-Americans inside Gaza, some of whom expressed a wish to leave via Rafah, but it was unclear if Palestinian Islamist group Hamas would allow access to the crossing, a senior State Department official said earlier.

Egypt has been reinforcing security on its side of the border, including moving concrete barriers, but reports that troops were sealing off the crossing were incorrect, a third Egyptian security source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Rafah crossing is the main exit point for the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents that is not controlled by Israel. Israel and Egypt have upheld a blockade on the enclave, controlling the movement of goods and people since Hamas took control in 2007.

Israel’s military spokesperson said on Saturday that the border remains closed and any crossing into Egypt needed to be coordinated with Israel.

Two aid flights, including one from Turkey, have landed at Sinai’s Al Arish airport, about 28 miles from the Gaza border, bringing the total number of planes that have arrived this week carrying humanitarian relief for Gaza to at least five, the Red Cross official and the aid volunteer said.

The World Health Organization said a plane carrying trauma medicines and health supplies had landed.

“Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

There is alarm in Egypt over the prospect that residents in Gaza could be displaced by Israel’s siege and bombardment of the territory, launched in retaliation for the devastating incursion by Hamas terrorists.

Like other Arab states, it has said that Palestinians should stay on their lands as the war escalates, and that it is working to secure delivery of aid into the Gaza Strip.

During a visit to Cairo on Saturday, Turkey‘s foreign minister said he supported Egypt’s position.

Germany is among the countries working to get aid into Gaza and evacuate its nationals, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during a separate visit to the Egyptian capital.

This Saturday evening, settlers attacked Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.

According to local sources, the settlers, protected by the occupation soldiers, attacked the homes of citizens in Asfi al-Tahta, Maghayir al-Ubaid, and al-Tuba, and threw stones at them. Among the targeted homes was the home of Muhammad and Hassan Abu Ali.

Sources stated that the settlers vandalized water tanks, destroyed all the contents of homes and caves, and stole batteries and solar panels.

Al-Jabour added that settler attacks have recently recorded a noticeable increase against citizens and their property, and are now taking place almost daily, in full view of the occupation forces that provide protection for them.

The occupation forces also closed the road leading to the village of Al-Mufaqara in Yatta Musafer and other roads linking the villages and Kharib Al-Musafer to the bypass line.

The Israeli army announced for the first time, on Saturday, that the bodies of some hostages held by Al-Qassam Brigades fighters during operations inside Gaza this week had been found.

Army spokesman Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters: “We located the bodies of some of the Israelis who were kidnapped within an area in the Gaza Strip and found them.”

The sudden Hamas attack included seizing an unknown number of hostages and bringing them into the Gaza Strip, which is currently being subjected to heavy air strikes from Israel. For their part, the families of the Israeli hostages issued an appeal aiming to reach an agreement “by midnight” to urgently deliver medicines to their relatives who have been detained since Seven days, as they desperately need it to survive.

Ronen Tzur, head of the Forum for Families of Hostages and Missing Persons in Tel Aviv, said: “We demand that an agreement be reached by midnight to transfer medicines to the hostages.”

He added, "We expect to get answers from the International Committee of the Red Cross tonight."

The Israeli army announced during the past few days that it was working to rescue Israelis detained by Hamas and Islamic Jihad since the attack on Saturday. The government press office explained that Hamas kidnapped at least 100 people. Hamas and Islamic Jihad confirmed that they captured "many soldiers."

By Kareem Qurt

These days, you hear some voices saying that the size of the losses incurred by the occupation in Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” and the scenes of “humiliation” of prisoners of the enemy army, are the reasons that pushed the Israeli occupation to this brutality, of destruction and killing, that it inflicts on the Gaza Strip. However, the current Zionist crime would have been the same, even if the number of Israeli deaths had been much lower.

We must remember here that the scenario of the resistance taking control of the settlements was always dreamed of by the Lebanese Hezbollah, and the occupation took this scenario seriously and conducted maneuvers in preparation for it. The perception was that Hezbollah, relying on its “Al-Radwan” force, would launch a surprise attack in the Galilee, seize several settlements from several axes, and then its resistance members would barricade themselves there, keeping the settlers hostage until they neutralized the Israeli air force. The occupation also had visions for dealing with this plan, the most important of which was evacuating the Galilee settlers as quickly as possible in order to deprive Hezbollah of its strong point.

What is noticeable in this scenario is that the occupation would have done to Lebanon what it is doing to Gaza now if Hezbollah had implemented the scenario of controlling a number of settlements in the Galilee. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant stated, during the Crushing Strike maneuver last June, “If Hezbollah attacks Israel, it will return Lebanon to the Stone Age”. As is clear, the matter is not related to the number of deaths of the occupation, but rather to the essence of the occupation’s security doctrine, one of its manifestations was the “suburb approach,” which is a permanent behavior of the occupation, expressed by Gadi Eisenkot when he was the commander of the northern front in the occupation army, and it was called the “suburb approach.” In reference to the southern suburb of Beirut, where this approach was implemented during the July 2006 war, which is based on the use of disproportionate force to cause severe destruction and damage to any area from which Israel is attacked.

It must be pointed out that everyone who lives under Zionist settler colonialism realizes that the suburb approach is a routine daily behavior of the occupation, which it practices against individual civilians, not just against resistance movements. For example, a boy could throw a stone at an armored military vehicle without causing it any harm, and the occupation soldiers inside it may not hear the sound of the stone falling because it is armored from the inside, but the occupation soldiers’ response may simply be to shoot and kill this boy. directly. In another case, the occupation soldiers may arrest this boy for several months or years, and after he leaves prison, he will find that punishments are chasing him, and he will find himself prohibited from traveling, and deprived of obtaining all kinds of entry permits into the occupied interior. The matter does not stop with him, as the penalties may affect his family as well. The occupation deprives his family and relatives of permits and their sources of livelihood. In another example, when a resistor carries out an operation against the occupation soldiers and settlers, which may not result in any casualties among the ranks of the occupation, the occupation soldiers, after they kill the resistor, steal his body, and the military governor issues a decision to demolish his house, and his family and perhaps relatives are prevented from obtaining On permits, especially work permits.

These are just examples of what happens daily on the ground, and everyone who lives under colonialism must have a story about excessive colonial violence of which he was once a victim, whether it was physical, symbolic, or psychological. Therefore, we must remain aware that the excessive violence of the occupation is not related to the size of the act of resistance, but rather to the response to the essence of the act, no matter how simple.

Lifting the cover from the Palestinian people

Following the shock it received, the occupation began to promote a narrative that it was facing ISIS, and this narrative reached the point where the Minister of the Occupation Army, Yoav Galant, described the Palestinians as human animals. However, the occupation, in its rhetoric throughout its history, did not have a better description of the Palestinians and their resistance. Even when the PLO decided to turn to the peace option, neither Israel, nor America behind it, recognized that the Palestinian people are a struggling people who were practicing armed struggle to restore their national rights, but rather considered that they were dealing with With a group of “repentant terrorists,” according to the wording of the speech.

Whoever follows the Hebrew media, especially social media, and observes the discourse prevailing therein, will find that most of these media only describe Palestinians as “makhbilim,” that is, “saboteurs” or “terrorists,” even when the Palestinian is killed by mistake at the hands of the occupation forces. Or when he is defending himself against settler attacks. This description includes children, women, the elderly, and the sick. Every Palestinian killed by the occupation army and its settlers is necessarily a “terrorist,” according to Israeli discourse.

Since the emergence of ISIS, Israel has begun to compare the Palestinians to it. Following the attacks carried out by the organization in France in 2015, the Israeli ambassador to France participated in a condolence vigil with the French, and told them that he stands in solidarity with them because he understands what they are facing, because Israel is facing the same thing. In this context, he spoke about the “Jerusalem Gift” (knives) that was taking place in the occupied territories and likened it to the actions of “ISIS” that France is facing. This discourse was widespread among the occupation in those days, and it still continues, albeit in other forms that completely strip the Palestinian people of the legitimate struggle character.

What this means is that the occupation’s descriptions of the Palestinian people at the present time are not linked to the number of those killed in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle, but rather it is a permanent position from which it has never retreated, to the point that it has increased at the present time, and is receiving widespread resonance and American support.

Why does Israel liken the Palestinians to ISIS?

It can be said that the intensity of the Israeli description, at the present time, of the Palestinians as “ISIS” and “human animals” is merely a justification and pretext for what Israel intends to implement against the Palestinians, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in all of Palestine, specifically in the West Bank, as it is accompanied by Brutal killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip, killings and torture of citizens in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and it seems that the interior will soon follow. Itamar Ben Gvir, the Israeli Minister of National Security, announced that he directed his ministry to purchase more than 10,000 weapons to distribute to settlers,and added that he actually began distributing 4,000 pieces to settler militias in the settlements on the borders of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and in the interior ( mixed cities). Later, he announced that he had given orders to the police commissioner to prepare for the "Wall Keeper 2" scenario that he believed was around the corner.

In addition, it seems that Israel now sees that there is an opportunity looming before it to exploit the current situation to resolve the conflict, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or the interior. This is because it is promoting propaganda to the West, specifically to the United States, that what happened to it on October 7 is... Like the American September 11th, and in another story, I likened it to the Pearl Harbor incident. These comparisons are neither innocent nor spontaneous. After these two events, the United States carried out very significant actions in the world, including after “Pearl Harbor” it entered World War II against the Axis powers, and eventually used nuclear weapons against Japan, and also after September 11, it occupied Afghanistan and Iraq. It sought to change regimes in other countries.

In this context, Netanyahu’s statement that Israel “will change the Middle East” in its declared war against the Palestinian people comes as an indication that Israel seeks to end the Palestinian issue once and for all in light of the green light that US President Joe Biden gave Netanyahu to be decisive. In his war on the Palestinian people.[6] Biden also used the pretext of the so-called "atrocities" committed by the resistance to justify his support and support and give the green light to Israel to do what it wants.

The "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation destroyed a large part of the occupation's image before itself, the region, and the world. The image that the occupation built for itself as the superior state militarily, security, technologically and intelligence, and the state with an invincible army, which defeated several Arab countries and destroyed their armies in six days, has been destroyed, which may change many things. The Arabs may no longer be enthusiastic about normalization with Israel, especially since normalization with it is often linked to efforts to confront Iran. 

How can the Arabs be convinced that a defeated Israel is capable of confronting Iran? On the other hand, this humiliating defeat will encourage other countries and parties to confront Israel, because they realize the extent of its fragility and the falsity of the image built around it. Therefore, Israel is now committing crimes in the Gaza Strip, and it seems that it will continue its crimes in order to prove to the world and the Arabs that it is the Israel it was in 1967.

In conclusion

The wheel of history does not move backwards, and if glass is broken, it cannot be repaired. Today, Israel faces a challenge that it has not faced in its history, even in the 1973 war. The whole world saw the defeat, weakness, and weakness that befell it, as factions were able to resist, and we are not talking here about armies. Within a geographic sector of no more than 360 square kilometers that has been besieged from all sides for more than 17 years, it must outperform its army, intelligence, technology, and military and security industries, and inflict a terrible, humiliating defeat in a few hours. Therefore, the current Israeli crime will not help in restoring its image, nor will it enable it to achieve any political goals, even with absolute American support. As for us, we should not care much about the discourse of Zionist colonialism and those loyal to this discourse. Frantz Fanon summed up this story when he explained that “colonialism is neither a thinking machine nor a discourse that can be dismantled, but rather it is reckless violence that can only be subjected to stronger violence.”

Source: Institute of Palestinian Studies

A senior Israeli official acknowledged, on Saturday, that there had been "mistakes" in the intelligence services' assessments ahead of an unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on Israel on October 7.

He added, "We really believed that Hamas had learned its lesson" from the last war with Israel in 2021.

On October 7, Hamas launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” during which its fighters penetrated Israeli areas from the sea via boats, from land by penetrating parts of the barbed wire border fence, and from the air via automated gliders, coinciding with the firing of thousands of rockets toward Israel. They entered military sites and residential communities, killed people and captured others.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Israel since the start of the attack, including 258 soldiers, according to the army’s latest toll. The number of wounded has reached 3,526, and the number of hostages taken by Hamas has reached about 120.

Hanegbi rejected any negotiations that would lead to a prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.

“There is no way to negotiate with an enemy we have sworn to eliminate,” he said.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli bombing rose to 2,215, including 724 children and 458 women, in addition to the wounding of 8,714 citizens with various injuries, including 2,450 children and 1,536 women, according to the latest toll announced by the Hamas Ministry of Health on Saturday morning.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced today, Saturday, “a tripling of European Union aid to the people of Gaza, to 75 million euros,” while the Strip has been subjected to continuous Israeli aggression since last Saturday.

The head of the Commission said: After holding talks with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, “The Commission will immediately increase the humanitarian aid package for Gaza by an amount of 50 million euros. This will raise the total to more than 75 million euros.”

She added in a statement, "We will continue our close cooperation with the United Nations and its agencies to ensure that this aid reaches those in need in the Gaza Strip."

She continued, "We are working hard to ensure that civilians in Gaza receive support in this context."

In turn, European Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic stressed that "it is necessary to ensure safe and unrestricted access to humanitarian aid."

This week, Israel canceled all work permits for thousands of Gazan workers who were legally residing in Israel, while hundreds of them were arrested and thrown into a camp near Ramallah.

Hundreds of Gaza workers took refuge in West Bank cities after the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.

Haaretz newspaper says that some of them were arrested when they tried to move to the West Bank after the outbreak of the war. Hundreds of them are now in Anatot camp, near Anata camp in the West Bank. Some of them were arrested when they tried to move to the West Bank illegally when the war broke out

The newspaper adds, but it is not clear whether there is a legal reason for their arrest. An Israeli security source told Haaretz that they will be held in detention until they are returned to the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army says: “It is not possible at the present time to return them to Gaza. The issue of their continued possession of permits and the transfer of others to another place is being studied by the political level.”

Amnesty International said that the order issued by the Israeli occupation army to the people in the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City to move to the south of the Strip cannot be considered an effective warning, and may amount to forced displacement of the civilian population, which is a violation of international humanitarian law.

The organization added in a press statement today, Saturday, that regardless of the time frame for implementing this order, Israel cannot treat northern Gaza as a firing zone based on the issuance of this order, and its forces must commit to taking all possible precautions to reduce the harm to civilians wherever they are in Gaza.

“With this order, Israeli forces begin the mass forcible displacement of more than 1.1 million people from Gaza City and the entire northern part of the Gaza Strip,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard. “This has generated panic among the population, leaving thousands of internally displaced Palestinians to live on the streets.” "They do not know where to flee or where they can find safety amid Israel's relentless bombing campaign and merciless collective punishment measures. This order must be rescinded immediately."

Since the start of the escalation, more than 532,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, some of whom have been displaced twice.

OCHA added: “Israel’s allies and donor countries must urgently call for respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians. The international community must also refrain from further legitimizing the illegal blockade imposed by Israel for 16 years, and immediately stop the transfer of weapons that "It can be used to commit unlawful attacks."

Roads in northern Gaza have been severely damaged by Israeli air strikes, public transportation is unavailable, and fuel is scarce due to the tightening of the ongoing blockade.

One humanitarian worker in Gaza told Amnesty International: “They (the Israeli army) should tell me how we can evacuate the hospitals that are full of ICU patients and all the wounded in the recent attacks. This is nonsense, it is impossible.”

Due to the destruction of roads and the scarcity of fuel, rescue teams are unable to reach the areas of northern Gaza to recover hundreds of bodies that are still trapped under the rubble due to the recent Israeli raids.

Callamard stressed that the international community cannot stand idly by while the occupation forces illegally displace more than a million Palestinians from their homes, and called for an immediate halt to Israel's forced displacement of civilians in Gaza.

Amnesty International called on Israel to adhere to the principles of international law and refrain from collective punishment, revenge and displacement.

This afternoon, the Ministry of Health announced that the death toll as a result of the occupation’s continued aggression against our people in Gaza and the West Bank had risen to 2,269 martyrs and 9,814 injured.

The Ministry of Health indicated that the death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 2,215 martyrs and 8,714 injured, and in the West Bank, 54 martyrs and more than 1,100 injured.

The Israeli army said on Saturday that its forces are preparing to implement a wide range of offensive operations plans, with growing expectations of an imminent attack on the Gaza Strip, a week after Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel.

The Israeli army statement said that its forces were deployed throughout the country, increasing operational preparations for the next phases of the war, “with a focus on large ground operations.”

The Israeli army said: “We are ready to begin the second phase of the operation, expand it, and begin the ground attack.”

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, published a video message addressed to the Israeli ground forces.

The video showed previous training for Qassam members emerging from a tunnel, attacking Israeli tanks, and taking a number of soldiers prisoner.

The World Health Organization confirmed that there was an extermination of entire families and the destruction of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, while the Government Information Office in Gaza on Saturday criticized the departure of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to the south of the Strip.

The organization's regional director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in an interview with Al Jazeera, appealed to the international community to open the crossings with Gaza immediately to bring in aid, saying that there is coordination with the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah crossing.

Ghebreyesus pointed out that the evacuation of seriously ill patients from Gaza hospitals is tantamount to a death certificate after Israel asked some hospitals in the Strip to evacuate.

The World Health Organization confirmed that 13 health facilities had been attacked in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the bombing, and indicated that the stock of medical supplies had ended.

In a related context, the Government Information Office in Gaza considered that UNRWA had abandoned its duty towards the displaced after the Israeli warning yesterday, Friday, to deport the people of northern Gaza within 24 hours.

The United Nations announced yesterday that UNRWA will move its operations headquarters and foreign employees to the southern Gaza Strip, to continue its relief operations and support for refugees, after it warned of the devastating humanitarian consequences of the Israeli ultimatum and demanded its cancellation.

UNRWA had called on Israel to protect civilians in its facilities in the northern Gaza Strip, amid the continued Israeli aggression against Gaza and the prevention of the entry of water, food and humanitarian aid since October 7, following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by the Palestinian resistance.

UNRWA advisor in Gaza, Adnan Abu Hasna, told Al Jazeera that huge crowds of citizens are sleeping in the streets because there are no places to shelter them, adding that their headquarters are no longer able to accommodate the numbers of displaced people.

UN Human Rights Rapporteur Francesca Albanese warned that the great danger we are witnessing in Gaza after the Israeli warning may be a repetition of the 1948 catastrophe and the 1967 catastrophe, but on a larger scale.

United Nations High Commissioner Filippo Grandi also called on Israel to respect international law and allow the organization to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, especially since hospitals in the Strip are unable to accommodate more injured people.

Doctors Without Borders called on Israel to stop the indiscriminate bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, withdraw the evacuation warning, and protect health facilities and civilians. Israel bombed a convoy of displaced people yesterday, Friday, which led to the death of 70 Palestinians and the injury of more than 150 others.

The head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniyeh, said on Saturday that the resistance began writing history with the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which marked “the beginning of the disappearance of the occupation from our land and our sanctity,” and stressed that Israel’s “aggression” against the Gaza Strip amounts to “war crimes.” .

In a televised speech broadcast today, Saturday, Haniyeh said, “The enemy and his cowardly army could not confront our brave men, so he resorted to committing massacres. He believes that his massacres will erase the shame of humiliation and defeat after Hamas’ strategic strike, and we will resume the strategy of liberation and return despite what the enemy is doing with the support of the United States.” .

Regarding Israel’s calls to displace the residents of Gaza to Sinai, Haniyeh said that the people of Gaza are rooted in their land, clinging to their homeland, and will not leave their land or emigrate. He added, “I tell the enemy that the strategic strike inflicted on you indicates that our liberation and return are within reach, as there is no emigration from the West Bank.” Nor from Gaza, and I say no immigration from Gaza to Egypt, and I salute our brothers in Egypt and tell them that it is our decision to remain in our land, and your decision is our decision.”

Regarding the accusation of resistance members of targeting civilians and children, he said, “Hamas does not target civilians, adults or children, and its rifle cannot tremble in the face of the misleading Israeli media narrative.”

The head of Hamas's political bureau addressed, "A word of thanks to these masses who stood in Arab and international capitals and affirmed their support for Gaza, and I call on them to continue. I say to our masses in the protest marches supporting us in all cities, do not stop. We will continue our struggle until we have a state, our prisoners and our sanctities are liberated, and our displaced people return to their homes."

"war crimes"

Earlier, Haniyeh confirmed that Israel's "aggression" against the Gaza Strip amounts to "war crimes," in a letter he sent to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

In a statement, Haniyeh said that he stressed that “the barbaric aggression and horrific violations committed by the occupation army against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, all of which amount to war crimes in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Conventions.”

He called for pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities "to immediately stop these crimes and respect the obligations of international humanitarian law."

A young Palestinian was injured, Saturday evening, after the Israeli occupation forces fired bullets at him, near the Huwwara military checkpoint, south of Nablus.

According to local sources, the occupation soldiers shot a young man while he was near the Huwwara military checkpoint, wounding him in the foot, noting that the occupation forces are still detaining the injured young man and refusing to hand him over to ambulance crews.

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Paul Kirby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ground invasion fraught with risk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saving the hostages

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neighbors watching closely

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is Israel's endgame for Gaza?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: BBC 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By John Simpson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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