The Wall and Settlement Affairs Commission reported that the occupation authorities seized 36 dunums of citizens’ lands in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya.

The authority explained in a brief statement, this Friday evening, that the occupation authorities issued a military seizure order for military purposes targeting a total of 36 dunums, as shown in the maps, and will be allocated to building military fences and roads that prevent citizens from reaching the lands overlooking Nablus Street and adjacent to the town of Azzun.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza, and its condemnation of the continued targeting of defenseless civilians there.

In a statement issued by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs,, Saudi Arabia renewed its call on the international community to move quickly to stop all forms of military escalation against civilians, prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, and provide the necessary relief and medicine needs for the residents of Gaza, especially since depriving them of these basic requirements for a decent life is considered a threat. In violation of international humanitarian law, and will exacerbate the depth of the crisis and suffering that this region is witnessing.

Saudi Arabia called for “lifting the siege on the brothers in Gaza, evacuating injured civilians, adhering to international laws and norms and international humanitarian law, and advancing the peace process in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and the United Nations, and the Arab Peace Initiative, which aims to find a just and comprehensive solution, and establish an independent Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, its capital is East Jerusalem.

For the seventh day in a row, the Israeli occupation forces continue to commit massacres in the Gaza Strip.

According to the latest statistics, the number of martyrs rose to at least 1,869 martyrs, and 7,500 were injured with various injuries, including 1,901 children and 1,185 women.

70 martyrs as a result of the occupation forces bombing a convoy of displaced people in Gaza

The government media office in Gaza announced an increase in the number of victims of the Israeli bombing of a convoy of displaced people in the Gaza Strip.

The office said in a statement that the number of victims of the Israeli bombing on the displaced convoy rose to 70 martyrs and more than 200 injured.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the death toll of more than 40 and 150 injuries as a result of the occupation targeting displaced people in the Gaza Strip, before announcing the new toll.

Areas in the Gaza Strip are witnessing a large displacement of civilians due to the violent occupation bombing.

The United Nations said that the Israeli army informed it of the need for 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza to move to the south of the Strip within 24 hours, which received international reactions of rejection and condemnation.

Press sources said that the Israeli occupation forces launched heavy raids on the northwest of Gaza City, and on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The sources indicated that 10 martyrs were recovered after an Israeli bombing of a house in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Earlier last night, rescue teams and residents recovered 17 martyrs as a result of the bombing of the home of the Abu Madin family in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Rescue teams also recovered 3 martyrs, including a girl, after bombing the home of the Abu Jazar family, west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to figures issued by the United Nations, the number of displaced people in the Gaza Strip who were forced to flee their homes due to the ongoing Israeli bombing rose by Thursday evening “by 84,444 people, bringing the total number of displaced people to 423,378 displaced people.”

The number of Israeli deaths as a result of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” rose to 1,300, while 3,391 were injured since the start of the operation, with 406 injured people still hospitalized, the condition of 105 of whom was described as serious, 184 as moderate, and 117 as minor.

The social media network "Tik Tok" joined the platforms hostile to Palestinian content, after the European Union warned the company against allowing the publication of "illegal content" or "false information" regarding the war waged by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip.

“Your platform is extensively used by children and teenagers,” European Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote in a letter to Xu Zhizhu, head of TikTok. “You have a special obligation to protect them from violent content (...) which appears to be spreading widely on your platform without any measures.” "Private security."

He added in the message, which was published on the BlueSky and

Addressing the head of the platform owned by the Chinese ByteDance Group, he continued, "Given that many users, especially minors, resort to your platform as a source of information, an appropriate distinction must be made between reliable sources and terrorist propaganda."

The Israeli occupation has been waging a severe war on the Gaza Strip for a week now, and bloody massacres have wiped out entire families.

Similar to the letter he sent on Tuesday to the head of “X” Elon Musk and on Wednesday to the head of “Meta” (Facebook, Instagram) Mark Zuckerberg, the European Commissioner reminded the head of TikTok of his platform’s duties with regard to supervising posts and removing “illegal content.”

These duties have become binding on digital platforms in the European Union under new European legislation related to digital services that came into effect at the end of August.

Many social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and X, restrict Palestinian content, going as far as banning, freezing accounts, and closing pages permanently.

A settler opened fire on a young Palestinian man from zero range, today, Friday, wounding him critically, in the village of Al-Tuwani, located in Masafer Yatta, south of the occupied West Bank.

A video clip published by the human rights organization "B'Tselem" showed the settler advancing with an M16 weapon towards a group of young men who were trying to confront a terrorist attack by settlers on their village, before an unarmed young man intercepted him and tried to stop him, but the settler shot him in the stomach from zero range. Which led to him falling to the ground, where he was critically injured.

For days now, the settlers, under the protection of the occupation army, have continued massive terrorist attacks on several towns in the West Bank, resulting in the displacement of many communities, especially those located in the east of the West Bank, where the settlers of the terrorist organization “Hill Youth” are most widespread.

In the town of Qasra, south of Nablus, 6 Palestinians were killed by bullets from the occupation and settlers, on Wednesday and Thursday, while it appears that the occupation allowed the settlers to open fire on citizens to prevent escalation.

Three Palestinians were killed in Qusra on Wednesday, and during their funeral on Thursday, settlers attacked the funeral and opened fire randomly on the mourners, leading to the death of a citizen and his son.

Settlers launched terrorist attacks on Bedouin communities in the eastern West Bank, during the past two days, and stole their property after preventing residents from taking their belongings while fleeing to safe areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday likened the siege imposed by the Israeli occupation army on the Gaza Strip to Nazi Germany's siege of the Russian city of Leningrad during World War II, and called for a solution to the conflict through mediation.

Putin said - during a press conference in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan - that the tight siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, where more than two million people live, is unacceptable.

He added that we must think about the Palestinian citizens who are suffering from the Israeli military escalation, warning that Israel launching a ground operation in Gaza will lead to an increase in civilian casualties.

Putin's statement came after the Israeli army on Friday asked all civilians in the northern Gaza Strip - who number more than a million people - to move to the south within 24 hours, while tanks were mobilizing in preparation for an expected ground invasion of the Strip.

Putin said that the use of heavy weapons in residential areas is “fraught with serious consequences for all parties,” but said that Israel has the right to defend itself after being “attacked with unprecedented cruelty.”

At the same time, the Russian President called for collective efforts to ensure an early ceasefire and stabilize the situation on the ground, stressing that his country is ready to coordinate with all partners with a constructive approach.

He said that the negotiations should be directed towards a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East, so that the Palestinians obtain a state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Putin repeated his previous criticism of the United States, saying that the current tragedy is the result of the failure of American policy in the Middle East.

Russia has long-standing relations with both Israel and the Palestinians, including the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but its relations with Israel have been marred by tension since the beginning of the Ukrainian war.

Yesterday, Thursday, Moscow urged Israel to agree to a ceasefire to allow food and medicine to enter the Gaza Strip, and said that it was unacceptable that the "indiscriminate" bombing of the small besieged coastal strip would lead to such a large number of civilian casualties.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Deputy Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with the Lebanese ambassador in Moscow today to discuss the crisis.

Today, Friday, Lebanese parties, political forces, unions, youth organizations, and Palestinian national factions organized a massive demonstration in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, which started from Barbir Square and reached the United Nations House (ESCWA).

Former ministers and representatives, and leaders of Lebanese parties and Palestinian factions participated in the march.

The Secretary of the Fatah Movement and the PLO factions in Lebanon, Fathi Abu Ardat, called for strengthening Palestinian unity, appreciating the movements of the Arab and Islamic peoples in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and demanding an end to the aggression, the lifting of the siege, and an immediate end to the massacres.

He called for the murderous criminals represented by the Prime Minister of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his gang to be held accountable, and for them and those who support them to be brought to trial and justice, stressing the necessity of lifting the siege on Gaza, which today needs food, medicine, and all the necessities of life.

Many speeches were also made condemning international silence and double standards.

During his meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, stressed the importance of making efforts to reduce the escalation in the Palestinian territories and opening safe corridors in the Gaza Strip for relief and humanitarian efforts.

Sheikh Tamim also stressed the importance of violence not spreading regionally, and stressed Doha's position of condemning the targeting of civilians.

In turn, Blinken said that during his meeting with the Emir of Qatar, he expressed his “appreciation for Doha’s efforts to secure the return of the hostages.”

Blinken arrived in Doha earlier today, Friday, as part of a regional tour in the region coinciding with the escalation in the Palestinian territories.

The Al-Aqsa flood has not ended yet, and no one at this moment can be certain how it will end, but I can summarize my opinion by saying, “I am afraid.”

Israel was able to adopt a media policy that understands the mentality of the West and knows how to play the chord it likes.

It began talking about the attack on Saturday 7/10 as a twin of 9/11, and she knows what 9/11 means to Americans in particular and to the West in general. It also knows that the bombings that day were carried out by Al-Qaeda, or at least that is what the media says this, and likening the 7/10 attack to the 9/11 attack means that the losses are similar if we take the population ratio of the two countries into account, and it symbolizes that the one who carried out the 7/10 attack is an organization similar to Al-Qaeda.

After promoting Al-Qaeda’s narrative, it went up another level and began talking about beheading children and raping women, and proceeded from that statement to liken the actions of Hamas fighters to ISIS fighters, knowing that the international collective memory is full of pictures and numbers about the horrific practices of ISIS.

Therefore, likening Hamas to ISIS is something that provokes Western public opinion and makes it identify with the victim, which in this case is Israel. Many took this bait and began talking about the "horrible crimes" committed by Hamas fighters, and US President Biden was one of the first to take the bait and adopt the Israeli narrative, despite the White House later saying that there was no evidence for that.

Although the White House said that there was no evidence for this, the US Secretary of State continued to insist on adopting the story of rape and killing of children. The observer should not be surprised by this because when Blinken appeared in the press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Thursday, he said that he came here as a Jew, and thus he affirmed without feeling that he was biased towards his Jewishness and not an honest observer searching for the truth.

The danger behind comparing Hamas to ISIS is that anyone who adopts this comparison automatically legitimizes everything Israel does against Hamas because it is “ISIS”!!! This means giving Israel the green light to do whatever it wants in Gaza as long as its war is a war against ISIS! However, this does not mean that everyone who lined up behind Israel and declared his absolute support for it in its war against Hamas and described this as its right to defend itself, not all of them are because of ISIS, but rather some of them traditionally stand with Israel, whether it is unjust or oppressed, and at the forefront of these are major European countries in addition to the United States.

By the way, a number of European countries immediately took the initiative to condemn the attack on Israel and declared their absolute support for it in its response to Hamas and considered this a legitimate right for self-defense. Among these countries are Germany, France, Britain and others.

It is unfortunate that these countries completely ignored the fact that the attack on Israel did not come out of nowhere, but rather from part of a people who have been living under Israeli occupation for more than half a century, and that if this country had applied the principles of international law and United Nations resolutions, it would have been able a long time ago to end the occupation and thus end the tragedy of the Palestinian people and such an attack would not have occurred.

Aside from the emotional outbursts and enthusiastic songs, I say that the attack carried out by Hamas on Saturday 10/7, with the exception of the moral blow it dealt to the army and the Israeli people, which inflamed the feelings of the oppressed people and quenched their grief, did not bring us one iota closer to liberating Palestine. On the contrary, it did not consider the consequences and did not achieve anything for the Palestinian cause. Rather, it provided material to distort the image of the Palestinian struggle because of the practices attributed to this attack against civilians, including the kidnapping of children, mothers, and elderly women over the age of eighty-five to Gaza as hostages, and Hamas has not yet refuted these lies and is capable of doing so.

The scene now calls for concern and fear. The military operations taking place in the Gaza Strip under the name of uprooting the authority of Hamas may develop, under the international cover given to them, into uprooting the Palestinian people in Gaza and returning it under Israeli security control after displacing a large percentage of its population outside the borders of the Gaza Strip. This work in the Gaza Strip coincides with a plan to liquidate the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The first indication of this plan was the European Union stopping financial aid to the Authority, which amounts to about 728 million euros annually. This was followed by a German decision to stop development aid to the Authority and reconsider it.

These punitive measures against Ramallah raise astonishment because Ramallah was not part of Saturday’s attack and because such measures will lead to the liquidation of the existence of the authority, which has no alternative but to perpetuate annexation and settlement, and pave the way for Israel, its settlers and its army to completely seize the West Bank and Jerusalem. All of this is in parallel with the liquidation of the Gaza Strip and the extension of Israeli hegemony over it, thus achieving the dream of Greater Israel over the entire Palestinian territory, “the Western Land of Israel,” at a time when these countries are still committed to the two-state solution in word, and are killing it in reality. Not to mention that some of the presidents of some of these countries go so far in verbally abusing President Abbas, such as describing his silence on the attack as shameful or demanding that he condemn the attack in clear terms without any linguistic preamble, knowing that President Abbas is facing internal difficulties that stem primarily from his commitment to negotiations and his rejection of any form of violence, and demanding such statements at this particular time is a demand for political suicide. A conspiracy is beginning to unfold, and the road to hell is paved with good intentions

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The Arab Republic of Egypt warned that the Israeli army is asking residents of the Gaza Strip, representatives of the United Nations, and international organizations in the Strip to leave their homes within 24 hours and head south.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement issued on Friday evening that this measure constitutes a grave violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, and will expose the lives of more than a million Palestinian citizens and their families to the dangers of remaining in the open without shelter in the face of dangerous and harsh humanitarian and security conditions, in addition to the accumulation of hundreds of thousands. In areas not qualified to accommodate it.

Egypt called on the Israeli government to refrain from taking such escalatory steps, as they would have serious repercussions on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and in light of what was scheduled from the United Nations briefing to the Security Council on Friday regarding this dangerous development, calling on the Security Council to assume its responsibility to stop this procedure.

The Arab Republic of Egypt called on the United Nations and international actors to intervene to prevent further escalation with unforeseen consequences in the Gaza Strip.

Doctors Without Borders said that it stands in horror at the large-scale attacks launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip.

In a press statement today, Friday, the organization called for the provision of safe spaces and corridors and the need for residents to be able to access basic supplies such as food, water and medical facilities safely, and for basic humanitarian supplies to be allowed to enter Gaza, including medicines, medical equipment, food, fuel and water.

She added that about 2.3 million people are still besieged in the Gaza Strip, where indiscriminate bombing has turned a chronic humanitarian crisis into a real disaster.

More than 300 MSF workers live in Gaza, some of whom have lost their homes or family members, and moving from one place to another is an almost impossible task.

In this regard, the head of the MSF mission in Gaza, Matthias Kenes, says: “Warplanes are destroying entire streets, building after building. There is no place to hide or time to rest. Some areas are bombed night after night.”

It is noteworthy that the occupation government imposes a siege on the Gaza Strip, which includes preventing food, water, fuel and electricity, after 16 years of military siege on the Gaza Strip.

In this context, the medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, Darwin Diaz, said, “According to medical staff in Gaza’s hospitals, anesthetics and painkillers are running out. On the part of Doctors Without Borders, we have transferred medical supplies from our medical stock, which is sufficient for two months, to the hospital.” Back, and so far we've used up three weeks' stock in three days."

According to the statement, the movements of the Doctors Without Borders team, especially its medical staff, have been suffering from severe restrictions since Saturday, as they are unable to find safe passage to support their Palestinian colleagues in the medical field, who are working day and night to treat the wounded. There is no safe haven for men, women and children to resort to.

The World Health Organization has warned that the health system in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse, and time is running out to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe if fuel and life-saving health and humanitarian supplies are not urgently delivered to the Strip.

The organization said, in a press release distributed today, Friday, that electricity is available in hospitals for only a few hours each day, as they are forced to ration their dwindling fuel stocks and rely on generators to continue their necessary tasks.

The organization warned that even these missions will stop within a few days as fuel stocks run out. She said the resulting effects would be devastating for the most vulnerable patients, including the wounded needing life-saving surgeries, patients in intensive care units, and newborns in incubators.

The World Health Organization said the situation is seriously disrupting the provision of essential health services, including care related to childbirth and non-communicable diseases such as cancer and heart disease, with health facilities forced to prioritize life-saving emergency care.

The World Health Organization has documented 34 attacks on health care in Gaza since Saturday, resulting in the loss of 11 health workers, the injury of 16 others, and damage to nineteen health facilities and twenty ambulances.

The UN organization said: “Without the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, especially health services, medical supplies, food, clean water, fuel and non-food items, partners in the field of humanitarian work will not be able to respond to the urgent needs of those in dire need of relief.”

The organization added, "Every passing hour puts more lives at risk."

She renewed her call to respect and protect medical care. She said she was ready to immediately send medical supplies from the humanitarian center in Dubai, and work with partners to ensure they are able to reach the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing.

Today, Friday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested two Palestinian brothers from the northern Jordan Valley.

The director of the Prisoners' Club in Tubas, Kamal Bani Odeh, said that the occupation arrested the two brothers, Tariq and Ali Hamid Suleiman Kaabneh, after raiding their homes near Khirbet "Umm Zuqa" in the northern Jordan Valley.

Over one million people cannot in reality leave Gaza City overnight in line with Israel's order, the EU's top diplomat has said.

"This is utterly unrealistic that one million people can move in 24 hours," said Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief.

Borrell made the comment on Friday (13 October) while in Beijing. Earlier the same day, Israel's foreign ministry expressed "deep disappointment" with China's lack of condemnation of the attack on Israel last weekend by Palestinian group Hamas, which killed at least 1,300 Israelis. 

Israel issued the Gaza ultimatum shortly before midnight local time on Thursday, as it amasses troops along the outer rim of the Gaza Strip for a possible ground evasion. Meanwhile, Hamas, which rules Gaza, is telling people to ignore the order, describing it as "fake propaganda". Borrell was not alone — the United Nations also demanded Israel rescind the order out fear it would "transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation". Most Palestinian hospitals within the Gaza Strip are situated north of Israel's evacuation-order line.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, an NGO, said such forcible transfer could in itself amount to a possible war crime. "The Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours, absent of any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer. It must be reversed," said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, in a statement. Arriving in Israel on Friday, the US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, also pointedly said: "Democracies like ours [the US and Israel] are stronger and more secure when we uphold the laws of war.

"Non-EU Turkey, a regular intermediary in the region, not least in the Ukraine-Russia war, called the deadline and order itself "a clear violation of international law." "Forcing the 2.5 million people of Gaza — who have been subjected to indiscriminate bombing for days and who have been deprived of electricity, water and food — to migrate in an extremely limited area is a clear violation of international law and has no place in humanity," Turkey's foreign ministry said on Friday. 

"We expect Israel to immediately reverse this grave mistake and urgently halt its merciless … acts against civilians in Gaza," Reuters reports it said in a statement.EU voices . 

But even though Borrell is meant to speak on foreign policy for the 27 EU countries and European institutions, other EU personalities are taking a different slant.

When pressed on the 24-hour deadline on Friday by reporters in Brussels, Eric Mamer, the European Commission's chief spokesperson, merely repeated the EU's line-to-take — that Israel has the right to defend itself, albeit in line with international law. "Civilians must be pre-warned and alerted about incoming military operations, allowing them to leave and this is what Israel has done," he said.

 Such warnings must try to minimize humanitarian consequences, he added.

Source: EUobserver

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced that opening a “new front” against Israel in the Middle East depends on the “actions” of the Hebrew state in the Gaza Strip, which is subject to intense bombing. About 1,300 Israelis were killed in the surprise Hamas operation, while more than 1,500 Palestinians died, according to local authorities, including many civilians, during six days of intense bombardment on the Gaza Strip, where entire buildings were turned into rubble.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Thursday that the continuation of crimes against the Palestinians will receive a response from “the rest of the axes” and Israel will be responsible for the consequences.

Israel is bombing Gaza in response to a Hamas attack there this week, which killed at least 1,300 people, the deadliest attack on civilians in Israel's history. While more than 1,500 Palestinians were killed.

The Iranian minister said that the displacement of Palestinians and cutting off water and electricity from the Gaza Strip are war crimes.

He added in statements via a television translator after his arrival in Beirut: “Some Western officials wondered whether there was an intention to open a new front against the Zionist entity. Of course, in light of the continuation of these circumstances, which constitute war crimes.”

He continued, "The continuation of war crimes against Palestine and Gaza will receive a response from the rest of the axes, and it is natural that the Zionist entity and its supporters will be responsible for the consequences of that."

He did not specify those axes, but the resistance axes indicate an alliance between Iran, armed Palestinian groups, Syria, the Lebanese Hezbollah group, and other factions.

Amnesty International said that the Israeli military units bombing Gaza are equipped with white phosphorus shells.

Anadolu Agency quoted the organization as saying through its account on the “X” platform today, Friday, “Our Crisis Evidence Laboratory has verified that the Israeli military units striking Gaza are equipped with white phosphorus artillery shells.”

“We are investigating what appears to be the use of white phosphorus in Gaza, including in a raid that took place near a hotel on the beach in the city,” she added.

The organization pointed out that “white phosphorus is an incendiary substance that is often used to create a dense smoke screen or to mark targets. It burns at very high temperatures when exposed to air and can continue to burn inside flesh. It also causes horrific pain and life-altering injuries and cannot be extinguished with water.” .

It added, "Therefore, it is never permissible to use white phosphorus in civilian areas. Gaza is considered one of the most densely populated areas in the world."

"While we continue to closely investigate these deeply disturbing cases, we urge Israel to respect international humanitarian law at all times," she continued.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said that it had verified that Israel had used phosphorus bombs in the Gaza Strip and on the Lebanese border.

Thousands took to Baghdad, Amman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and to denounce the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, in the seventh day of the war between the Hebrew state and Hamas that followed a surprise attack launched by the movement against Israel.

Tahrir Square in Baghdad was filled with thousands of demonstrators who responded to the call of the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. The participants chanted slogans, “No, no, to the occupation,” “No, no, America,” and “No, no to Israel.”

A huge Israeli flag was also drawn on the ground for the demonstrators to trample on, as an Agence France-Presse photographer saw.

The demonstrators raised Iraqi and Palestinian flags, and pictures of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr.

Abu Kayan, one of the movement's organizers and a member of the Sadrist movement, told Agence France-Presse, "The demonstration is a denunciation and denunciation of what is happening in occupied Palestine, the bloodshed and violation of rights that are occurring."

In the vicinity of Tahrir Square, where the demonstration is taking place, strict security measures were imposed by the Sadrist movement. Iraqi security forces were also deployed heavily.

On October 7, Hamas launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” during which its fighters penetrated Israeli areas simultaneously with the firing of thousands of rockets toward Israel.

1,300 people have been killed in Israel, most of them civilians, since the start of the attack, the number of wounded exceeded 3,200, and the number of hostages taken from Israel reached about 150, according to the army. In the Gaza Strip, about 1,800 people were killed, including at least 580 children, and about 7,400 were injured as a result of the intense Israeli bombing in response to the operation, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, Israel continued its intense bombardment of Gaza, while launching new batches of rockets in its direction. On Friday, Israel also ordered the residents of Gaza City to evacuate and move south, in a measure rejected by Hamas and which the United Nations confirmed would affect 1.1 million people and would have “devastating” consequences. Since Hamas launched its operation against Israel, the political class in Iraq has generally expressed its support for the Palestinian cause, which It also enjoys consensus in Iraq.

The Iraqi government, which enjoys the support of a parliamentary majority of parties loyal to Iran, considered in a statement that the sudden attack launched by Hamas is a “natural result of the systematic oppression” to which the “Palestinian people” are subjected at the hands of the “Zionist occupation authority.”

- Demonstrations in Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon -

In northern Bahrain, hundreds of worshipers inside the Diraz Mosque chanted, “Death to Israel!” and "Death to America!" Before Friday prayer. They then participated in a protest march with hundreds, most of whom wore the traditional kandura, and some of whom placed Palestinian keffiyehs on their shoulders or heads.

The demonstrators trampled Israeli and American flags placed on the ground. Veiled women carried banners reading, “The flood will not subside” and “The Al-Aqsa flood is the battle of the entire nation.”

In Lebanon, about a thousand people participated in a demonstration called by Hezbollah in the southern suburb of Beirut, carrying Palestinian flags, party banners, and banners reading, “At your service, Gaza.”

Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naeem Qassem, confirmed during the demonstration his party’s readiness “whenever the time comes for any action” to take action against Israel in support of the Palestinians.

In Cairo, photos posted on social media showed hundreds of demonstrators chanting slogans of solidarity with Gaza at Al-Azhar Mosque. Al-Azhar University said in a statement on Thursday that Arab and Islamic governments must take a “unified position in the face of the inhuman Western circumvention of support for the Zionist entity.”

Meanwhile, thousands of Jordanians demonstrated in the center of the capital, Amman, and other cities after Friday prayers, in solidarity with the Gaza Strip and in support of the Palestinian “resistance.” In Amman, more than 20,000 people participated, according to an estimate by security sources and AFP photographers, in a demonstration that began in front of the Grand Husseini Mosque, in response to calls from the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and other leftist and youth groups.

Prohibition of demonstrations

Meanwhile, in a mosque in central Riyadh, where the authorities are preventing demonstrations, an Agence France-Presse journalist saw police officers handcuffing a worshiper who chanted during Friday prayers, addressing the imam, “Speak about Palestine, Gaza is under bombing!”

The imam replied, “This pulpit is not for politics,” while three police officers arrested the man.

Police cars were deployed in front of other mosques in the city.

In the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Osama bin Abdullah Al-Khayyat said as his eyes teared up a little, “Oh God, protect the Muslims in Palestine” and “Oh God, have mercy on their weakness.”

At the same time, thousands took to the streets in Tehran and other Iranian cities in support of the Gaza Strip.

The demonstrators raised Palestinian flags, flags of the Islamic Republic, and Hezbollah flags, and carried banners reading “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” according to an Agence France-Presse journalist.

Demonstrations also took place in other cities across Iran, during which protesters burned American and Israeli flags.

Iran supports the Palestinian Hamas movement militarily and financially.

Calls for Friday movements were issued in various parts of the world in solidarity with the Palestinians and the Gaza Strip.

Thousands demonstrated in Pakistan after Friday prayers to protest the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.

In Afghanistan, hundreds of people also participated in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians in the capital, Kabul, and in Jalalabad in the east, organized at the initiative of the Taliban authorities.

In France, where President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on Israel to respond “strongly and justly” to the “terrorist” operation, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered a ban on “pro-Palestinian demonstrations because they are likely to lead to disturbances in public order.”

Hundreds of worshipers came out of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, today, Friday, in demonstrations after performing Friday prayers, in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and in support of the steadfastness of our people in the Gaza Strip.

Worshipers in and outside the courtyard of the mosque chanted slogans in support of the Palestinian people and Al-Aqsa Mosque, raising Palestinian flags, denouncing the crimes of the Israeli occupation and the dangerous aggression of killing civilians with internationally prohibited weapons and destroying buildings above the heads of their residents, calling for the necessity of Arab and Islamic intervention to restrain Israel, stop its aggression, and provide international protection for the Palestinian people. .

During the sermon, the Al-Azhar preacher praised Egypt’s support and support for the Palestinian cause throughout history, and Egypt has always been an invincible barrier to defeating all enemies and foreign invasions, stressing that the land of Palestine is an Arab land that valiantly resists colonial plans.

The UAE has warned the Syrian regime against “any interference” in Israel’s war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Walla website reported today. The report cited sources familiar with the communication between Abu Dhabi and Damascus.

Walla’s correspondent in Washington, Barak Ravid, added that the Biden administration and many Arab countries are very concerned about a scenario in which the Israeli war on Gaza expands to other fronts, such as Lebanon and Syria, which would lead to a regional war.

The UAE resumed relations with the Syrian regime last year. According to Walla, it has the greatest influence on Damascus, more than any other Arab country. UAE-Israel relations are also very close, “especially with the Israeli security apparatus.”

The sources said that the UAE conveyed the warning to Syria at the highest level, and then informed Washington.

An Emirati official refused to comment on the Walla report, and neither confirmed nor denied its content. He insisted that he would not comment on closed diplomatic talks.

According to US administration officials, one of the main goals of US policy since the sudden attack on Israel by Hamas fighters last Saturday morning, is to prevent escalation in the region and the expansion of the war to other fronts. “We are working with regional partners to warn anyone who might seek to take advantage in this situation,” tweeted US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan yesterday.

“This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage,” said US President Joe Biden in a joint statement with the leaders of Germany, France, the UK and Italy. “The world is watching.”

Source: Middle East Monitor

Expectations that Israel will exercise very strong force against Gaza and launch a ground invasion, and that this will be followed by international condemnation, amid doubts regarding the “military achievements” that it will achieve and the extent of its influence on Hezbollah* “Gantz’s joining the government will not affect politics.”

Today, Wednesday, Israeli newspapers considered that Israel is facing a "trap" into which it has entered. The newspaper "Haaretz" indicated that Israel received a severe blow, with the widespread and sudden attack launched by the Hamas movement, last Saturday, and that it will take time until it comes out of its influence, and that the Hamas attack "changed for the worse, without a doubt, the balance of deterrence and regional stability."

On the other hand, according to the newspaper, the Israeli military response to the Hamas attack will include an unprecedented exercise of force in a civilian environment, and that “it is expected that difficulties will follow later in the international arena,” referring to international criticism and condemnation against Israel following widespread targeting of civilians in Gaza strip.

The newspaper added that, on the third hand, “it is not clear the size and duration of force that Israel should use, in order to defeat Hamas and deter Hezbollah for a long period.”

The newspaper pointed out, "Actually, Israel has not decided what the goal of the military operation is, and what it is trying to achieve: taking away military capabilities, or overthrowing the government in the Gaza Strip as well? The second goal apparently requires occupying the Gaza Strip. This was not the direction of military plans in the past."

The newspaper reported that there was a disagreement between the leaders of the Israeli intelligence services over the claim that a very severe military operation against Gaza would deter Hezbollah from joining the current war. She added that the question is whether a broad and continuous Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip “will lead to victory or involvement, and whether Hezbollah will exploit the preoccupation of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip in order to open a basic and more difficult front in the north.”

According to Maariv newspaper, the nature of the Israeli air attacks, in which 50-60 warplanes participate in each attack, is a prelude to a ground invasion, if it is decided to implement it.

She added that the destruction in the Gaza Strip will be enormous, as will the number of martyrs on the rise. “But the test of the Israeli army will be the military achievements it will achieve that will cause real damage to Hamas’ capabilities.”

The newspaper continued, "The challenge before the political level will be to describe the goal of the war and the achievements required for the army, so that it will be clear at the end of the war that the statement directed to Hamas that the situation will not remain as it was, will be of military and political importance in the future."

According to the newspaper, “Israel must end this war while Hamas is unable to manage governance or military capabilities,” and that the question of who will rule after Hamas “is no longer relevant to reality.”

The internal Israeli political arena

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper believed that it would be better for the head of the “National Camp” bloc, Benny Gantz, and the Knesset member for this bloc, Gadi Eisenkot, both of whom are former chiefs of staff of the Israeli army, to remain outside Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The Likud Party announced yesterday, following the meeting of coalition party leaders, that it had been unanimously approved to form a "national emergency government."

The newspaper pointed out that Gantz's failure to join is not due to grudges against Netanyahu and his government, nor because of the rivalry between Gantz, Eisenkot, and the Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, since they opposed his appointment as army chief of staff at the beginning of the last decade.

The newspaper considered that Gantz and Eisenkot joining an emergency government would contribute to the Israelis’ confidence in the government, “but this will not change the policy nor the situation on the ground” of the war.

She added that it is not a coincidence that Netanyahu mentioned Menachem Begin’s joining the Labor government before the June 1967 war. “Begin joined the government as a morale officer. He did not contribute anything important to the mini-government’s security decisions during that war. This is the model that Netanyahu proposes.” On Gantz, he will be nothing more than the head of the decoration committee.”

The newspaper continued, "It is not easy to manage a war when there is no trust among the members of the mini-security government, and all of them do not believe a single word issued by Netanyahu."

The newspaper considered that “only a miracle will allow the government to remain in its mandate after the horrific failure last Saturday, and the expected challenges. Gantz and Eisenkot will be involved in managing the military steps, but the damage will befall the state on another front, which is the state’s interest. If this government falls, voters will be lost.” Gantz trusts him too."

The Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, discussed with the Brazilian President’s Foreign Affairs Advisor, Celso Amorim, the seriousness of the recent Israeli measures aimed at transferring residents from the north of the Gaza Strip to its south, and forcibly displacing them in a manner that constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

The spokesman for the Secretary-General, Jamal Rushdi, said that the phone call dealt with learning about the Arab League’s vision of the dangerous developments taking place in the Gaza Strip, and he was keen to put the Brazilian official in the picture of the current developments, especially in light of his country’s assumption of the presidency of the Security Council, which places a great responsibility on it. In taking action to stop the frantic Israeli attacks against civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Aboul Gheit reviewed the danger of pushing the Gaza Strip into a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented scope, especially since Israeli military operations reflect a state of frenzied revenge without any regard to international humanitarian law, which prohibits the forced displacement of civilians under occupation, as stipulated in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Secretary-General stressed the responsibility of the international community, especially the member states of the Security Council, which Brazil currently chairs, to curb Israeli madness and set a red line for these practices. It was agreed on the necessity of an immediate ceasefire, and to pave the way for the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip to provide relief to the population.

Today, Friday, the Israeli occupation forces closed the northern entrance to Hebron, “Ras al-Jura,” with cement cubes.

Local sources said that the occupation forces brought with their heavy vehicles cement cubes and a caravan for its soldiers, and closed the main road to the city with them.

She added that Hebron has been witnessing violent confrontations with the occupation forces in support of Gaza for several days, which, since the beginning of its aggression against Gaza, have erected military checkpoints at all entrances to the city, its towns and camps, and closed a number of them with iron gates, cement cubes, and earth mounds.

In Jericho, the Israeli occupation forces closed the city's entrances with military checkpoints, and closed the southern checkpoint with an iron gate.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces tightened their military measures in the vicinity of Jericho, tightly closed the three main entrances to the city, especially the southern entrance, and prevented citizens from leaving the city, forcing them to turn off their vehicles at its military checkpoints.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the crimes of the occupation and elements of Jewish terrorism in the occupied West Bank, which have so far led to the martyrdom of 9 citizens and the wounding of dozens of people with varying degrees of injury.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued today, Friday, that the occupying state continues to destroy the Gaza Strip and displace its residents, while it continues its attempts to blow up the situation in the West Bank so that it can accelerate the pace of its annexation and impose Israeli law on it, as the occupying state proceeded to completely close the West Bank, including... Those crossings and borders, it cut off their connections, closed the entrances to towns, villages, cities, and camps, prevented the movement of citizens, and gave the armed colonists a free hand to commit more attacks and assaults on citizens, their homes, and their vehicles on the streets and roads.

The Foreign Ministry warned of these Israeli plans and their dangers to the security and stability of the region, and of the plans of Ben Gvir and his allies and followers aimed at detonating the situation in the West Bank, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities in stopping the comprehensive aggression against the Gaza Strip and ensuring the delivery of the basic humanitarian needs of citizens in the Strip, and stopping settler terrorism and terrorism. The organized state in the occupied West Bank.

This week, a spontaneous and sweeping popular national unity emerged, sweeping away the politicians who formed, inside and out, an emergency government. This government has the ability to maintain "unity" and lead the people to victory on the two fronts that the people are facing. Naturally, we all focus on the southern front, but essentially, the northern front is the most dangerous for the country's population. Without a pre-emptive strike, hundreds of thousands of missiles will fall, including many accurate missiles capable of causing a large number of deaths on the home front, and devastating destruction of infrastructure, including military infrastructure, which will limit the power of the Israeli army, especially the air force, on Decisive response.

After the "massacre" in Bari and in the Gaza village and the pictures of the kidnapped people, world public opinion allows us, more than ever before - and perhaps in the future - to launch a pre-emptive attack against the missile system that threatens us, and make Nasrallah's fate similar to that of Yahya Sinwar.

The moral frustration resulting from the shameful failure of the Second Lebanon War [the July 2006 war] prompted the Israeli government and army to allow Nasrallah to arm itself with many missiles. They threatened, and are still threatening: “If Hezbollah attacks the Israeli population, we will return Lebanon to the Stone Age.” This theory is distorted and not possible. Revenge will not bring back to life thousands of dead, perhaps tens of thousands, nor will it rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed. Through the studios, the generals who failed in the Lebanon war reassure us that “Hezbollah is a deterrent.” “Terrorist organizations” are not deterred, as was proven on Saturday. Hamas knew what awaited it after the mass “massacre.”

We must wake up from this theory that has persisted for many years, which says that we in the north are dealing with a “rational terrorist” organization. Nasrallah's organization must be overthrown now - and not just when it rains thousands of missiles on us. Now, after Joe Biden warned Iran and Hezbollah against the attack, while the Israeli army, especially the air force, has time to organize. Missing this special window of opportunity can be long regretted.

Israel has no territorial claims in Lebanon. Nasrallah knows that if we do not attack, we will never attack. Therefore, he filled his reserves, aiming to kill as many Jews as possible and avenge the Nakba. Instead of understanding his intentions well and carrying out a pre-emptive operation when his missiles were few and primitive, Israel contained him. At first, the Olmert government contained it, then the weak Netanyahu governments. We must also remember that the overwhelming majority of the heads of the security establishment supported this containment. We now see them sitting in the studios and evading their responsibilities and the sin they committed, the consequences of which are now unspeakably glaring: uprooting Gush Katif and allowing Hamas to take control of the Gaza Strip.

 Source: Haaretz

Today, Friday, settlers attacked citizens' homes in the towns of Al-Fandakumiya and Wasila Al-Dhahr, south of Jenin.

Local sources reported that the settlers of the "Homesh" settlement, which was established on citizens' lands, attacked homes in Silat Al-Dhahr and neighboring Al-Fandakumiya with stones, empty bottles, and burning tires, and as a result, confrontations broke out between the settlers and the people of the two towns who confronted them.

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Shortly before the surprise attack by Hamas on Saturday morning, intelligence personnel noticed an increase in the pace of work of the armed networks of “Hamas saboteurs” who were following them. Two sources in the Israeli security services, who revealed this to the New York Times, said that intelligence noticed something exceptional was going on, and they issued warnings to the fighters on the border with Gaza. But this warning did not lead to any action, either because the soldiers did not receive the message, or because they did not read it.

Shortly thereafter, Hamas sent drones and shut down part of the cellular communications network and eavesdropping towers on the border, with the aim of preventing remote surveillance via cameras. The drones also disabled the “see - shoot” system activated by remote monitoring units, with the aim of harming “saboteurs” approaching the border. According to Hamas, the number of drones that participated in the initiatory strike was 35, including the “Al-Zouari” suicide drone.

This is the introductory strike that allowed Hamas saboteurs to blow up the wall and expand it, using bulldozers, with amazing ease. It is this signal that allowed hundreds of additional “saboteurs” to enter, through these openings, into “Israeli territory.” In the "massacre" carried out by Hamas "saboteurs", more than 1,200 Israelis were killed, and more than 3,000 others were injured.

Hamas surprised Israel in terms of the attack, and also in terms of the various methods it used to cross the solid wall and enter Israel. A senior official in the security services said that the Israeli intelligence services had certain indicators indicating that there was thinking about a major operation by Hamas, but these signals were far from forming a clear picture, and they were certainly not able to warn about the timing. And the place. On the other hand, the behavior of Hamas and its leadership convinced Israel in the opposite direction - that Hamas was experiencing a relatively moderate period.

The surprise attack carried out by Hamas - which was mostly successful for it - revealed a serious flaw in the Israeli security establishment. According to four senior sources in the Israeli security services, the initial analysis indicated that Hamas’ success in carrying out a “massacre” was the result of a failure in the intelligence and army in Israel:

1. Intelligence officers failed to monitor the central communications networks used by Palestinian “saboteurs.”

2. Israel relied too much on surveillance, persecution, and monitoring tools that Hamas disabled relatively easily, which left the forces on the border blind and created a fog that the “saboteurs” exploited in order to storm bases and towns.

3. From the first phase of the attack, Hamas stormed a base where senior officers were located, thus also preventing communication with the rest of the forces and requesting support.

4. In Israel, they believed it when they heard Hamas officials say in the internal communications networks, which they knew the Israelis were eavesdropping on, that they did not intend to go into battle.

Former National Security Council official Yoel Gojansky said: “We spent billions collecting intelligence on Hamas. In an instant, everything collapsed, like a domino.”

The first failure occurred months before the war began, when senior army officials presented incorrect assessments of the threat from Gaza. National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi said in a radio interview 6 days before the attack that, “Since the ‘Wall Guard’ operation in May two years ago, the Hamas leadership has taken a decision to exercise unprecedented restraint.” With great confidence, he admitted that, “For more than two years, Hamas has not fired a single missile from Gaza. It is restraining itself, and knows the repercussions of another provocation. Hamas has been very deterred for at least 15 years. It is not heading towards escalation.

Even last week, when intelligence officials were informed of urgent threats to Israel, they emphasized the danger from the north. The challenge from Hamas was not mentioned. Someone said that “Hamas is deterred,” exactly as Hanegbi said publicly.

Indeed, through the conversations of Hamas activists among themselves - which they knew very well - that Israel was eavesdropping on them, they created the impression that the movement wanted to avoid the outbreak of an additional war, two years after “Guardian of the Walls.” Now, the two Israeli sources said that intelligence is examining whether these conversations are real or fake.

Two sources told the New York Times that the surveillance system was based almost solely on cameras, remote sensors, and the “see-shoot” system that is activated remotely. Senior officials in the army believed that the combination of the remote monitoring system, the solid wall and the underground barrier to prevent tunnels that pass under the wall, would make penetrating the border into Israel almost impossible, and reduce the need for a large number of soldiers present at the bases.

After installing the systems, the army began reducing the size of the forces on the Gaza border and transferring them to other areas, especially to the West Bank. General in the Reserve Army, Yisrael Ziv, who said these words to the American newspaper, added: Reducing the forces was logical, after the construction of the wall and the atmosphere that arose after that, it seemed that it was impenetrable, and no one would be able to pass through it. This reduced the level of stress among officers and soldiers, and led to a state of negligence in operational commitment. This is at a time when the army’s focus shifted to other areas, and the Southern Command did not have any scenario that raised the possibility of a major security operation like what happened.”

However, there are drawbacks to remotely controlled systems - they can be destroyed remotely as well. Hamas exploited these weaknesses by sending dozens of drones to hit the communications towers that transmitted signals to and from the systems. Without cell signals, the system becomes invalid. The soldiers at the sites and control rooms did not receive any warning about the breach, and were unable to see Hamas members on video destroying the wall with bulldozers. Even the wall itself, it turns out, was easier to penetrate than expected.

More than 1,500 “terrorists” from Gaza penetrated the wall from more than 30 points on the border, some of them via gliders that passed over the fence, and in the initial strike they reached at least 4 bases without any objection. The pictures circulated by Israeli officers show a large number of fighters who were shot in the housing rooms inside the bases, some of them while they were sleeping. Then the "saboteurs" attacked other bases.

The second operational failure was the concentration of officers from the Gaza Brigade in one large place, not far from the border. When the Gaza Brigade was occupied and the soldiers were attacked, many of the senior officers who came out to defend their soldiers, fought “valiantly,” and were killed or injured. According to two Israeli sources, some of them were captured. All of this prevented a coordinated response and a shift to attack, and made it difficult to convey the seriousness of the situation to senior officers.

“As a result, no one felt the immediate need for a massive air strike and extensive air coverage, even when photos of the attack on several towns spread on social media,” the New York Times reported, according to Israeli sources. “It took the Air Force hours to get to the area, even though the bases are minutes away.”

By Ronen Bergman

Attention is turning strongly towards Lebanon at a time when the devastation continues in the Gaza Strip, in an open war waged by Israel in the south and skirmishes in the north that may reach the level of war in light of the unprecedented tension the region is witnessing.

In the Gaza Strip, the extent of destruction during previous attacks and battles launched by Israel did not reach what it has reached in the current war, which has been ongoing since Saturday, October 7th.

The scenes broadcast by the media of the massive and massive destruction show the scale of the tragedy and humanitarian catastrophe that befell the citizens of the Gaza Strip, as more than 400,000 of them took refuge in UNRWA shelter centers after losing their homes and residences that were destroyed by the Israeli bombing.

At a time when the objectives of the Israeli battle and war targeting Hamas and the resistance in an attempt to eliminate them have become clear, the disastrous results fall on the Gazan citizen, who loses his family and relatives as victims of the bombing. He also loses his home and residence. Therefore, the tragedy is double, and rebuilding the Gaza Strip may take decades to recover from the horror of the repercussions. The serious consequences of the Israeli attack on all aspects of life.

It seems that the recent Israeli demand for the citizens of Gaza to leave, immigrate and be displaced from their homes, as the Israeli army addressed a letter to more than one million and one hundred thousand citizens to seek refuge in the south in what is described as a new catastrophe that the Gazans insist on rejecting and not leaving their areas, indicates goals that go beyond a mere war and go beyond that to a clear statement. An announcement of the displacement and displacement of Palestinian refugees from their homes and lands.

The government labor office in Gaza announced its refusal to deal with the Israeli request and considered it false propaganda aimed at displacing the Palestinians and causing a new catastrophe, as happened in 1948. The resistance factions also declared that the asylum of the citizens of Gaza would only be to their lands inside the occupied interior, in reference to clinging to the land and rejecting attempts to deport them to Egypt and Sinai..

Returning to what the occupation destroyed, the statements issued by the Israeli army spokesman indicated that four thousand tons of heavy ammunition were used, in which six thousand targets were bombed, which caused the destruction of more than four thousand homes and residential buildings, which is a very large amount of destruction that will take a long time to restore. ..

In the midst of the destruction and attempts at displacement, the world looks dangerously at what is happening and wonders whether Israel is planning to attack Lebanon as well in light of the recent tension on the northern border, awaiting the approval and support of the Americans.

The past few days witnessed great tension on the Lebanese border, as four Israeli soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian factions and Hezbollah, during missile barrages from southern Lebanon, and amid Israel’s bombardment of targets in Lebanon belonging to Hezbollah and Palestinian factions, and in Syria as well, and Aleppo Airport was taken out of service. 

These indicators indicate a possible escalation that may open the northern front as well, because the indicators of this were announced publicly through the emphasis on unity and support for Gaza from Lebanon, as well as the important messages and conclusions from the arrival of the American military fleet to the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, the visits of the American Secretary of State, his shuttle tour, and the visit of the Minister of Defense. 

All of which indicate serious and unprecedented attempts to prevent the Lebanese arena, which is controlled by Iran and its main ally, Hezbollah, from joining the war. There is no doubt that the White House message that Egypt conveyed to Iran yesterday, warning it against joining the war, confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Northern Front is an over-the-top candidate. The confrontation broke out

The picture appears to be very bleak, dark, and unreasoning, and it may deteriorate to something much worse than the current scenarios if Israel takes the step of ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, a step that would take a long period and might ignite the entire region and turn it into a regional war par excellence.

Will the diplomatic attempts undertaken by many countries, led by Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, and to a lesser extent by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, succeed in preventing the war from expanding, or will the last word be the missiles, missiles and clashes in a war scene that has been absent from the Middle East for many years...

Today, Friday, the activities and forces of the city of Jenin, its camp, and its towns participated in massive, angry marches and a halt called for by the Fatah movement in the Jenin region and the National and Islamic Action factions, denouncing the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our people, and the massacres being committed in the Gaza Strip.

The massive marches, entitled “A Friday of Resilience and Loyalty to the Martyrs, and Support and Support for Our People in Gaza, Glory,” began after Friday prayers, from the Grand Mosque in Jenin, with the participation of activities and forces from the villages and towns of the governorate, and a similar march from the camp towards the center of Jenin city, and a support stand opposite the Grand Mosque.

The participants chanted slogans denouncing the crimes of the occupation and its ongoing massacres against our people in the Gaza Strip, and calling for national unity and activating popular resistance to confront these crimes.

A massive march was also launched in the town of Ya'bad after Friday prayers and moved through the streets of the town.

Participants in the marches denounced the international silence regarding the massacres against our people, calling on all free people in the world to stand by our people who are being subjected to genocide and organized massacres by the occupation government, stressing the necessity of national cohesion, which is the solid rock for our people to be able to confront these massacres.

They called on the international community to provide protection for our people and stop the open war waged by the occupation against them.

In a related context, confrontations broke out with the Israeli occupation forces in the vicinity of Salem camp near the villages of Rummana and Zabuba, west of Jenin, and in the vicinity of the “Mira Merav” settlement established on the lands of the village of Jalboun, northeast of Jenin, and another near the “Dotan” military checkpoint, and the “Shaked” settlement near The village of Al-Arqa, during which they fired live bullets and tear gas and stun grenades.

The political class internationally, with one voice, put out statements supporting “Israel’s right to self-defense,” a right they grant to the oppressor but deny to the oppressed.

There have been decades of photos of dead Palestinian women and children, and kids being beaten, humiliated and imprisoned by Israeli soldiers. The historic killing rate in this “conflict” has been fairly consistent at about 40:1. 

None of this ever caused more than a raised eyebrow and a mild tut-tut from the western “liberal” Establishment. I can’t recall camera crews ever pursuing any Zionist politicians down the street demanding that they use the word “condemn” of the latest Israeli atrocity.

The paroxysm of hatred in the political and media class, unleashed by a single day of the boot being on the other foot is instructive. It is particularly instructive in their near complete unanimity — what percentage of the discussion on broadcast TV or radio have you heard this last 48 hours given over to Palestinian or pro-Palestinian voices?

Yet it is very plain from social media that the public is by no means as unanimous in their support of Israel as are the political and media class. 

But then the public are not bought and paid for.

Asymmetric warfare tends to be vile. Oppressed and colonized peoples don’t have the luxury of lining up soldiers in neatly pressed uniforms and polished boots, to face off against the opposing army in an equality of arms.

A colonized and oppressed people tends, given the chance, to mirror the atrocities perpetrated on them by their oppressor.

This of course feeds in, always, to the propaganda of the Imperialist. A paroxysm of resistance by the oppressed always ends up portrayed by the Imperialist as evidence of the bestiality of the colonized people and in itself justifying the “civilizing mission” of the colonizer.

Thus the “Indian Mutiny” became a Victorian tale of rape and murder of British women and of the Black Hole of Calcutta. Thus the Mau Mau were evil butchers and the IRA were terrorists, which is the modern term of art for those resisting evil and foreign rule.

The Israeli ambassador to the U.N. on Monday described the Hamas fighters as “animal like.” This of course is not true. They are people, but people who have been crazed by unbearable levels of injustice and oppression.

I am extremely sorry for all those who die, as in all wars. I am sorry even for the deaths of individual Israeli soldiers, and more so for all the innocents who died and are now dying. 

But I will not condemn Hamas. 

For this I do not even need to delve into the backstory of Hamas’ initial sponsoring by Israel to split Fatah. They have grown well past that. I do not condemn Hamas because the resistance of the Palestinian people is a reflex response to their slow genocide.

Yes it is an inchoate and violent response. Of course I wish it did not harm innocent victims.

The people I do condemn are the political class internationally who, with one voice, put out statements supporting “Israel’s right to self-defense,” a right they grant to the oppressor but deny to the oppressed. 

Those are the people who need to be condemned.

Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist

Stephane Dujarric, the official spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, confirmed to Al-Quds.com’s correspondent in Washington that the Israeli Ministry of Defense informed the United Nations in the early hours of today, Thursday evening, of the necessity of evacuating its employees and notifying the Palestinians residing north of the Gaza Valley of the necessity of evacuating to the southern part. From the Gaza Strip within the next 24 hours, indicating that the Israeli army is preparing to storm the Strip.

Dujarric said in an interview with Al-Quds that he and his colleagues spent most of the night discussing the logistical issues of transporting the Palestinian citizens in the northern Gaza Strip to safer places, but he warned, “There are about 1.1 million people residing there, in addition to those who work in the United Nations and those who reside in United Nations facilities - including schools, health centers and clinics, such a large number that it is difficult to provide mechanisms to transport them safely and securely.”

Dujarric added, "The United Nations believes that it is impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences."

He stressed that the United Nations strongly calls for the necessity of canceling any such order, to avoid what could turn what is already a tragedy into a catastrophic situation.

Dujarric confirmed that there is active movement by a number of citizens currently under the auspices of the United Nations.

“This number is approximately 1.1 million people,” Dujarric told the site. “The same applies to all UN staff and those staying in UN facilities – including schools, health centers and clinics.”

Dujarric added, "The United Nations believes that it is impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences."

"The United Nations strongly calls for the cancellation of any such order, if confirmed, to avoid what could turn what is already a tragedy into a catastrophic situation."

The Israeli occupation authorities' request coincided with the arrival of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Israel, and the end of a support visit by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as Washington affirmed its full support for Israel, whose Prime Minister vowed to "crush" Hamas after its unprecedented attack last week.

The Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" was quick to reject this matter, and the Palestinian factions fired hundreds of rockets from Gaza at Israel on Friday, hours after the Israeli army asked residents to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip.

The number of displaced people reached approximately 500 thousand.