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.

-

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.

Today, Friday, thousands of Jordanians participated in a massive march that started in front of the Al-Husseini Mosque in the center of the Jordanian capital, Amman, in rejection and denunciation of the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people and their sanctities.

The march participants expressed their solidarity and support for the Palestinian people, in light of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip.

They called on the international community to assume its responsibility for the war of human annihilation taking place in Gaza, and to force Israel to implement international conventions and treaties that allow the provision of safe passages for supplies of food, medicine, electricity, and water to the people of Gaza.

The participants raised the Jordanian and Palestinian flags, denouncing the Israeli war crimes, brutal killing policy and mass massacres committed by the Israeli war machine, calling on the Arab nation to unite firm positions to stop this barbarism against the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian national and Islamic forces called for massive marches and demonstrations throughout the West Bank, under the slogan “Friday of Rage,” in rejection of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and in support of the Palestinian resistance.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the Israeli occupation forces killed 9 Palestinians today, Friday, in different areas of the West Bank.

In Hebron, two young men were injured by Israeli occupation bullets, and dozens suffered from suffocation, during confrontations that broke out in the center of Hebron.

Local sources reported that two young men were injured by occupation bullets in the thigh and abdomen, and dozens suffered from suffocation from toxic tear gas.

A massive march had begun from the Hussein bin Ali Mosque to Bab al-Zawiya in the center of the city. Similar marches were also launched in the towns of Dura and Yatta, south of Hebron, in response to the call of the Fatah movement and the National and Islamic Action factions, denouncing the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. Including Jerusalem.

In the village of Tuwani in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, a young man was shot by a colonialist, today, Friday, and two others sustained bruises.

The head of the Tuwani village council, Muhammad Rabi, confirmed that a settler, under the protection of the Israeli occupation army, shot the young man, Zakaria Naeem Al-Adra, while he was near the village mosque, wounding him in the abdomen. He was subsequently transferred to the Martyr Abu Al-Hassan Al-Qasim Hospital in Yatta, where his injury was described as critical.

He added that the occupation army assaulted two young men with rifle butts, wounding one of them in the head and the other in the chest, after which they were transferred to health clinics in Yatta.

In Nablus, a child was injured by Israeli occupation forces’ bullets, during clashes that broke out near the Beit Furik military checkpoint, east of Nablus.

Ahmed Jibril, director of the Red Crescent Ambulance and Emergency Center in Nablus, reported that a 14-year-old child was injured by occupation bullets in the head, describing his injury as serious.

In Tubas, a number of young men were injured by live bullets, rubber-coated metal bullets, and suffocation, during confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces, east of Atuf, south of Tubas.

Moataz Bisharat, the official responsible for the settlement file in Tubas Governorate, reported that three young men were injured by live and metal bullets, one of whom suffered serious injuries, in addition to dozens of cases of suffocation.

-

By Diala Al Aza

In the Gaza Strip where children make up more than half of the population of about two million people, the war has a more severe impact because of the major effects it has on this group for many years.

Some may ask, how can parents reduce the burden of the bombing on their children's heads? Is there even time and luxury for psychological care during war?

In this report, we will answer these questions through the testimonies of some families who have experienced repeated wars in the Strip, but the current war is “unlike it,” as many Gazans describe.

“The people of the Gaza Strip agreed on one idea: we sleep together so we can die together.”

Journalist Hanan Abu Daghim said in a brief conversation I had with her via WhatsApp that she gave up her career in these circumstances in order to stay with her children.

She added: “My house in the Al-Rimal neighborhood was severely damaged. A few days ago, I moved from it to my brother’s house, where three families spent the night together. When the bombing intensifies, the children begin to recite the Shahada. When the bombing intensifies, I gather the children and try to distract them by playing together, even though I myself need someone to calm my mind.” During the bombing, it helps me psychologically. We try to overcome the situation by telling the children: It is a crisis and it will pass, and that God is with us.”

Hanan, who appreciates the role of the journalist in these circumstances, says that she believes that the safety of her family is a priority, and she adds: “I assure you that the people of the Gaza Strip are united on one idea, which is to sleep with all of their children in the same room so that if a shell falls on the house, everyone dies.” The family is together so that no one is left alive and mourns the dead.”

“When the bombing ends, I will buy you a nice gift.”

Another mother named Sahar Kamal, who lives in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, has two children. When the bombing intensifies, her daughter, Rital - 4 years old - begins to complain about the annoying sound of the bombing, which causes her a headache, so Sahar promises her “a beautiful gift as soon as the situation calms down, provided that it calms down.” Sahar also tries to make funny sounds to make her two-year-old child laugh too.

Laila Muhammad, in her thirties and mother of five children, says that as a mother she feels very afraid for her children and tries to protect them inside the house, as she considers going out and being displaced “very difficult, and in this war there is no safe place at all, and through the experience of displacement in past wars, my daughter Salma still remembers these moments.” And every day she says to me, “We don’t want to leave the house. I don’t want to die outside our house.” She feels that the missiles are chasing anyone who walks in the street because we lived through these moments before, and she is afraid of that. At night, she is terrified by the sound of the planes.

A night in Gaza: “Not even candles are available”

The situation does not seem much different to Manal Salem, who says that she sits with her children in the room and they start arranging the toys so that they do not focus on the sounds of the bombing. She added: “My eldest son, Faris, who is eight years old, goes to the bathroom a lot and sometimes urinates on himself, out of extreme fear. He hates the sound of airplanes. I am waiting for things to calm down a little so that I can go to a psychologist to treat my children and get out of this situation.”

“Children’s songs were louder than the sound of missiles.”

Iman Bashir describes this war as “unlike what the Gaza Strip witnessed in previous wars.” I had spoken to Iman, a mother of three children, during the previous war on Gaza in May 2021. At that time, she informed me of some personal attempts to help her children psychologically to deal with the effects of war, such as reading stories during the bombing, and if the bombing was loud, she would turn on the loudspeakers with some children’s songs so that they would louder than the sound of the missiles outside.

But now, during this war that began on the morning of October 7, Iman says in a very brief message via WhatsApp: “This time (the war) is different, very bad. I don’t know what to do, as my husband is outside the country and I have 3 children and more.” The situation is getting worse, there is a power outage, so I don’t know what to do. Just pray for us.”

"Continuous psychological crises"

Save the Children published a report last year, presenting a comparison of the psychological state of children in the Gaza Strip in recent years, and showed that about 88 percent of children suffer from emotional disorders in 2022 compared to 55 percent in previous years, along with a number of others. Among the psychological disorders that children suffer from, the percentage of which is increasing, such as fear, anxiety, and extreme sadness, according to the report.

The Gaza Strip is among the most densely populated areas in the world, with about 2.3 million Palestinians living in an area 41 kilometers (25 miles) long and 10 kilometers wide. About 80 percent of Gaza's population depends on international aid, according to the United Nations, and about one million people depend on daily food aid.

With every war, or after it, the sector witnesses, individuals, activists, and non-profit organizations try to help children overcome the traumas they have experienced. Among them is a young activist named Ahmed Hijazi, who documents, through his accounts on social media platforms, some simple and purposeful activities with one goal: “to make the children of Gaza happy.”

But what the young man Ahmed Hijazi presented changed as soon as the war began. He began documenting the health situation of children in the Gaza Strip, whether those who had been bombed themselves or what they are experiencing these days.

Is mental health a “luxury” in times of war?

This question may come to those who live in war conditions or even to those who are watching from a distance. In light of the lack of a safe place in Gaza, where there are no shelters and the interruption of the road network as well as electricity and water, taking care of mental health seems like an unimportant luxury. But according to psychologists, what is called “psychological first aid” is beneficial in the long term, even if you follow simple steps.

One of the non-profit organizations, for example, offers advice to families and their children on Facebook. Among the advice provided by the specialists of this organization is: “Participating children in expressing their feelings helps in overcoming the loss.”

The director of the Gaza Mental Health Program, Dr. Yasser Abu Jamea, says, “Children’s cognitive abilities are not like adults, but they sense danger significantly and noticeably, just by looking into the eyes of their families, when they notice tension in adults, and of course when they hear the sounds of bombing and explosions.”

Dr. Abu Jamaa advises people in Gaza to try to reduce some habits to reduce the transfer of stress and anxiety from adults to children, saying: “Parents should reduce looking through windows, reduce following the news all the time, and involve children in searching for a safe place in the house, or Planning to move to a relative’s house. Involving children in this decision makes them feel reassured, especially when they hear the sound of explosions.”

Dr. Abu Jamaa adds that parents should try to “follow methods that contribute to ridding their children of anxiety, such as encouraging them to talk about their fears, but without resorting to providing them with false news or fake promises. It is more appropriate to talk about fear and engage with them in normal daily activities, and try to continue.” In the daily routine as much as possible.

Schools turned into shelters

Schools are usually a haven for children to meet friends, study and play in the yards, but UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip opened their doors this year to receive displaced families. According to the latest figures issued by the agency, more than 280,000 Gazan citizens went to more than 92 schools and affiliated facilities in the Gaza Strip as of Thursday, the sixth day of the war. While thousands of others were displaced to government schools in the Strip.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees said that the schools and facilities where people have taken shelter are extremely overcrowded and have limited food and water supplies.

“I feel like my whole body hurts because I hide my sadness and crying from my children.”

Souad Jabr, a thirty-year-old mother from Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, says that mothers are living in a difficult situation in the war, so they must be strong in front of their children. She adds: "I feel like my whole body is hurting because of hiding my sadness and crying from my children. I feel that negative energy is causing spasms in my body's muscles and damaging my nerves. I try to be strong in front of my children."

Every mother tries to prepare a bag to store the necessary papers so that she and the children can evacuate quickly during the bombing. This is what happened with Souad Jabr, who left her house after the Al-Sikka area was bombed and then returned again to her house, which was slightly damaged, as “there is no safe place.” .

With the start of the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip following the Al-Qassam Brigades attack on various areas inside Israel, the Israeli Ministry of Defense issued a warning to residents of some areas in the Gaza Strip, urging them to evacuate their homes and go to points it considered “safe” for their safety.

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee posted on his account on the hte circular included 4 specific shelter areas, meaning that there is a “safe” area for each number of residential neighborhoods.

The BBC News Arabic audit team noticed a similarity between some of the videos and pictures circulating of the places bombed by the Israeli army and the places where Gaza residents were directed to take shelter.

The BBC team investigated and collected photos, videos and testimonies from residents of the areas affected by the Israeli bombing, and it became clear that two of the four areas designated by Israel as safe areas were actually bombed later than the warnings issued.

In addition to the visual evidence, the audit team heard testimonies from residents of the affected areas who confirmed that there had been a bombing and that they were not safe in the areas designated by the Israeli army. Rather, most of them were taking shelter in hospitals affiliated with UNRWA, such as Wissam Abu Jarad, who sent us exclusive pictures from inside the Al-Shifa complex, where many are taking shelter from Gaza residents. 

Source: BBC news

During his Friday meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman, Jordan's King Abdullah II warned against any attempts to displace Palestinians to neighboring countries amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The King also cautioned against any efforts to displace Palestinians from all Palestinian territories or cause their displacement, emphasizing the importance of not exporting the crisis to neighboring countries and exacerbating the refugee issue, according to a statement from the Royal Court.

The Israeli army acknowledged the killing of one of its high-ranking officers during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood launched by the Palestinian resistance since last Saturday. He is the third colonel that Israel has lost in the battle.

According to the updated lists of those killed in the Israeli army, Colonel (res.) Leon Bar (53 years old), a senior officer in the West Bank Division, was killed during combat operations in the Gaza envelope.

The confession comes days after his killing on October 8, the second day of the Al-Aqsa Flood.

The total number of Israeli deaths exceeded 1,300, including 258 officers and soldiers, according to the latest Israeli army data.

Bar is the third colonel to be lost by the Israeli army in this battle, which witnessed the killing of dozens of officers and members of the army and police.

Colonel Yonatan Steinberg (42 years old), commander of the Nahal Brigade (one of the five infantry brigades in the Israeli army), was killed at the beginning of the battle during clashes with fighters from the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), near the Israeli Kerem Shalom site in the southeast of the Gaza Strip.

Steinberg was on his way to the site run by his subordinates, but one of the resistance fighters managed to kill him during a clash.

Colonel Roy Youssef Levy (44 years old), commander of the Multi-Dimensional Unit (Ghost Unit), was also killed in clashes with Al-Qassam fighters in the Ra'im settlement.

Source: Al Jazeera + Israeli press

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Friday as part of a tour in the region aimed at providing support to Israel in its war on the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

According to Anatolia News Agency, the meeting focused on discussing the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, Thursday, the Palestinian President affirmed his rejection of the “killing of civilians” on both sides in the war between Israel and Hamas, calling for an end to the “aggression” against Gaza.

Mahmoud Abbas said during his meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman, “We reject the practices related to killing civilians or abusing them on both sides because they violate morality, religion, and international law,” calling for “the release of civilians, prisoners, and detainees, the provision of humanitarian medical and relief aid, and the opening of humanitarian corridors.” Urgent in the Gaza Strip.

The Jordanian Royal Court said that King Abdullah II stressed to the US Secretary of State the necessity of opening humanitarian corridors to bring aid into Gaza, and the importance of stopping the escalation and war on Gaza and protecting civilians.

These meetings come as part of the US Secretary of State's tour in the region, which he began with a visit to Tel Aviv, which he arrived yesterday, Thursday, to confirm American "support and solidarity" with Israel after the sudden "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance last Saturday.

During the speeches he delivered after his arrival in Tel Aviv, Blinken launched a violent attack on the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and also said that he was visiting Israel as a Jew and not as a foreign minister, stressing his country's absolute support for Israel and its "right to defend itself."

In a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken said that his visit carries a message that they will always be there for the Israelis who do not have to defend themselves alone, he said.

While the US State Department said earlier that Blinken will go to Qatar today, Friday, to meet with officials there, Blinken revealed that he will also visit Egypt and the Emirates in addition to Saudi Arabia, indicating that during his tour he will continue to “Pressure on countries to help prevent the conflict from expanding and to use their influence on Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release the Israeli hostages.”

Defense minister

Within the framework of the American support for Israel that Blinken emphasized, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is also scheduled to arrive in Tel Aviv, where he will meet with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and other members of the Israeli War Cabinet, to affirm Washington’s “firm commitment to Israel’s security.” According to a statement by the US Department of Defense.

The ministry's statement made it clear that Austin "looks forward to speaking in depth with Israeli officials about their practical planning and goals related to the conflict" with the Palestinians, and "will also discuss the aid needs of Israeli security."

Source: Agencies

The “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle imposed a confrontation different from its predecessors. It is impossible for it to end, like previous confrontations, with a ceasefire agreement and regional sponsorship of a temporary truce, after it broke all previous rules of engagement and destroyed the Israeli deterrence equation, which Tel Aviv needs an open battle without restrictions or a time limit, and unlimited international support in order to restore it. That is, to the complete annihilation of the Gaza Strip under the pretext of liquidating the Hamas movement and the rest of the armed Palestinian factions, and this is impossible.

For Hamas and the rest of the factions that operate as armed organizations outside official authority, survival can be considered a victory, regardless of the losses in people and stones. As for Israel, what happened, far from what it will end, will require decades to restore the principle of superiority in the collective consciousness of the population of Israel, and restore confidence in the army institution that failed to achieve collective security for them.

For the first time since its founding, it is threatened by counter-migration, especially by the middle class opposed to the ruling right-wing religious movements and parties, which may find a safe haven in Europe. There is also an internal demographic threat; that it is difficult to convince the residents of the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip to return quickly.

In fact, after the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” the confrontation was no longer between the Hamas movement and the Israeli occupation, but rather returned to the starting point between the Palestinian issue and the Israeli entity. That is, returning the region and the world to an existential conflict built in the Israeli mind to eliminate what remains of the other side, that is, a final liquidation of the Palestinian issue. This goal is not only to achieve a military victory, but more importantly for the Israeli ruling elite is to get rid of any future obligations towards the Palestinians as a people. 

This is clear through the systematic marginalization of the Palestinian National Authority and its weakening to justify that there is no Palestinian peace partner on the one hand, and on the other hand the policies of annexing lands in the West Bank for decades have become a geographical obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

And now the attempt to push for the displacement of the residents of Gaza towards Sinai; that threatens Egyptian national security in particular and Arab collective security in general, and takes the crisis to more dangerous levels.

This is what Saudi writer Tariq Al-Hamid pointed out in his recent article in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper entitled “Beware of Changing Maps,” where he said: “What is happening is dangerous and may change the maps and reality on the ground and may bring us back to negotiating everything we had geographically.”

In practice, it is impossible for the main parties concerned with the Palestinian issue to accept Tel Aviv’s plans, led by Riyadh and most of its Arab brothers, which presented its vision for a just and comprehensive peace based on the principle of a two-state solution and considered the Palestine Liberation Organization and the National Authority an essential partner in the solution. This was what embarrassed Hamas and reduced the influence of its regional supporters on the one hand, and on the other hand, adherence to the two-state solution constitutes a real nightmare for the ruling Israeli right, which before the crisis was facing a structural crisis and rejection by the so-called Israeli society, which is more inclined towards extremism, and this It is clear from the choices of its voters.

In the early statement issued by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and what was reported by the official Saudi media from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that “the Kingdom’s firm position towards championing the Palestinian cause and supporting efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive and just peace that guarantees the Palestinian people’s access to their legitimate rights,” Riyadh is taking a different path than everyone else, away from the excesses of “resistance” towards Palestine and the West’s irrational bias in favor of Israel, as Riyadh confirms that the Palestinian issue is stable despite the cruelty of the changes.

Sources: Asharq Al-Awsat

Today, Thursday, settlers launched attacks on citizens in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, today, Friday.

In Hebron, settlers demolished two agricultural rooms and a wall, and uprooted fruit trees, in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.

The coordinator of the Popular and National Committees to Resist the Wall and Settlements, south of Hebron, Ratib Al-Jabour, said that settlers from the “Susya” settlement demolished two agricultural rooms belonging to the citizen Hassan Ali Al-Nawaja’a. They also demolished a wall and uprooted fruit trees belonging to the citizen Awad Al-Nawaja’a.

In Nablus, today, Friday, settlers attacked olive pickers in the village of Tal, southwest of the city of Nablus.

Local sources reported that a group of settlers, protected by the occupation army, attacked farmers while they were picking olives in the Karkaba area, west of the village.

The Israeli occupation forces turned the city of Jerusalem and its old town into a military barracks before Friday prayers.

The Israeli police deployed extensively and prevented worshipers from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers, with the exception of those over seventy years of age, as the confrontations since the launch of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” against the occupation entered its seventh day.

Large Israeli police forces were deployed around the Old City and its alleys, and set up checkpoints at its entrances.

The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem revealed that “the Old City is completely surrounded, with only those over 70 years of age allowed to enter,” adding that “Al-Aqsa Mosque is almost empty of worshipers.”

Eyewitnesses explained that "the Old City and its surroundings resemble a military barracks, with the large presence of Israeli police in it, which prevents non-residents from entering it."

The conclusion about the impotence of the strong is not my idea, but rather an inference from the French strategic researcher Bertrand Badie, and he began his book: “The Impotence of Power” with this idea. After a long review of the facts and events, he concluded with the idea of the powerlessness of the strong, using the Palestinian issue as evidence of this. 

The Israelis have always been in a position of power and superiority, and the strong are the ones who can compromise without fear. Because his strength protects him. If he concedes, he will not give up a right, but rather moderate in the areas that the “excess of power” gave him, and in return, he gains peace and legitimacy. The Israelis did it twice, and both times they regretted it, backed down, and moved in more radical directions. They gave up Sinai, which they invaded in 1967, in exchange for peace with Egypt. 

Then they debated with Egypt for years over the issue of Taba, and they agreed with the Palestinians in Oslo in 1993. Then they regretted it and killed Yitzhak Rabin two years later. After that, radicals from both sides competed to thwart “Oslo” once and for all. !

International resolutions have not changed. As for the facts of the power and inability of the strong, they passed through four stages: In the first stage, there was the belief that the conflict could not be led by the Palestinians, and that the Arab countries were leading the conflict; therefore, the focus must be on forcing it to make peace so that the “issue” will end. 

In the second stage, when success seemed imminent to them, they believed that Jordan could be the alternative Palestinian homeland by spreading chaos in it and displacing the Palestinians there. However, after the first intifada, a new thinking began, represented by Yitzhak Rabin’s team, which was based on satisfying the Palestinians with a quasi-state. But after the cooperation of the radicals on both sides to thwart “Oslo,” the fourth trend emerged or the issue entered the fourth stage, which is based on permanent war and the strengthening of settlements, with an oscillating position on the part of the Palestinian Authority between weakening and canceling and indirect communication with “Hamas” on the basis of establishing a mini-state in Gaza only.

This stage is still ongoing. But after 2007, “worrying” factors appeared among the Palestinians and among the Israelis. The Gazans have never stopped ambitious in one arena against Israel, with an increasing tendency to contest the authority in Ramallah. The Iranians and Hezbollah have become an important factor in the conflict with Israel through Hezbollah and directly by supporting Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The third factor is the decline and then the cessation of the Americans and the international community from supporting renegotiation. The fourth factor is the control of the right and the establishment of settler governments and religious fanatics in Israel, and this is the main characteristic of the policies during the days of the Netanyahu governments up to the era of Donald Trump, when the old idea of ending the Palestinian issue through peace with the Arabs, all Arabs, returned!

What, according to Bertrand Badie, shows the powerlessness of the strong? The inability to achieve complete victory over the “weak” by superior force.

This is what a writer in the New York Times told them after the recent Hamas attack on the Second Yom Kippur Day on Israel. The inability of the superior force appeared in many ways. Despite intelligence, fences, iron domes, and roving fighter planes, thousands of Palestinian fighters left without anyone being aware of them, whether in terms of the major incursions into the settlements surrounding Gaza, or in terms of the thousands of rockets that covered the skies of the Hebrew state.

The second surprise was that thousands of Israelis were killed and wounded, and hundreds were captured. For the first time after 1973, Israel lost again, and it was no longer protected from that lethality by the armies. Fighters are armed groups that strike and withdraw, and their losses, if they lose, are limited. Because the ideological militias attack in small numbers, the losses of the superior state are large, and the losses of the attackers, groups or alone, cannot be compared to them. 

The strength of the weak here appears in his belief in the cause he is fighting for, and in the end the land is his land and he has not forgotten it, and is always preparing to return to it: Didn’t you see how the “Taliban” did in Afghanistan with the huge numbers of Americans and Atlanticists? It was forced to withdraw, and then the Americans and their allies were forced to withdraw and flee just as the soldiers and settlers fled from the colonies of the Gaza Strip!

What does this writer suggest to the Israelis and the Americans? Their most important mistake is not that they do not negotiate for peace after a ceasefire in the proliferating wars. Rather, they all the time want to stifle the Palestinian Authority for two reasons: it exists in parts of the West Bank, and they want to seize what remains of the West Bank under its authority. The second reason is that the authority is a vestige of Oslo, and its legitimacy is based on it and on international resolutions. They don't want this or that. As for Hamas, they have always negotiated to support it in power, and because they are not interested in seizing control of Gaza again.

The writer fears that the arrogant power will have ambitions to seize Gaza again. This threatens a major massacre, and more deaths on both sides, with the war not ending. If the power of “Hamas” and “Jihad” is broken, there will be seven or eight million Palestinians on the land of historic Palestine, in addition to refugees in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

It is best now, despite the multiplication of difficulties and the hardening of the fronts with blood and destruction, to revive Abu Mazen, if possible. The Israelis and Hamas together are the ones who destroyed the Palestinian Authority. The Israelis seek to seize control, and Hamas seeks to replace the authority. A return to Abu Mazen and to Arab mediations is what will save the possibilities for peace, even with the Arab countries. There is no Arab today who is not very proud of what Hamas has accomplished. Moreover, most Arabs do not like Iranian roles in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen! Saving Palestine or a solution for it is still possible with the help of Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, which is an Israeli and Arab interest!

There are many people in Israel and America who consider that the wars in and against Palestine have no end. This means endless suffering for the Palestinian people, whose land is still occupied and all the areas that were occupied by colonialism have been liberated. Then, the continued suffering of the Palestinians means a lack of reassurance and stability in Israel, and a tendency towards a second or third migration. One should not rely on absolute American support in order not to return to the peace process.

Strategic researcher Siham Al-Wakil, who lectured at Chatham House, pointed out the importance of what the Saudi Crown Prince proposed for an integrated peace with Israel, based on stopping wars through a two-state solution. Western presidents who issued a statement in support of Israel also spoke of freedom and justice for Israelis and Palestinians. 

The Israelis enjoy both things, so where is the freedom, justice and fairness of the Palestinian people?!

Source: Al Sharq Al Awsat

“The Middle East has never been calmer than it is today over the past two decades,” Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to US President Joe Biden, bragged about the alleged successes achieved by the US administration in “advancing the cause of peace” in a region that has not been at peace for more than 100 years. general.

Sullivan's statements of excessive naive optimism came a few days before Hamas launched its bloodiest attack on Israel to date. This sparked a kind of crisis that even pessimists in their vision of the Middle East, like the author of this article, thought was a thing of the past.

Immediately, two analyzes emerged from the attack:

The first revolves around the fact that on October 7, Israel experienced its version of the September 11 attacks that struck the United States. However, the attack that Israel faced on October 7 is worse than the attacks of September 11. It is worth noting that the attack carried out by Al-Qaeda against the United States resulted in the deaths of three thousand people, while Israel mourns more than a thousand people as a result of the recent attack. When the numbers are adjusted to reflect the difference between the two countries in terms of population, we find that Israel lost the equivalent of thirty thousand American citizens.

The second analysis indicates the failure of Israeli intelligence, which is supposed to be the best in the world, to know what is about to happen, just as the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) failed before the September 11 attacks.

However, what should be noted is that October 7 ended the situation that had existed between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip since 2009, when it was Israel that violated the previous status quo.

In general, the status quo between two warring parties is broken when one of them feels that it is untenable.

In 2009, Israel could no longer bear the daily bombing targeting its towns and villages in the south. At the time, Israeli army commanders talked about “mowing the grass” in Gaza or cutting down Hamas’ poisonous weeds.

This campaign reached its peak in 2008-2009 with the launch of Operation “Cast Lead,” which turned a large part of the Strip into rubble, while leaving the poisonous weeds almost untouched.

At the time, Israeli leaders declared their desire to “break Hamas’ bones,” but not to the point of completely incapacitating it.

In doing so, they ignored the advice of a writer from Florence: “Do not wound a deadly enemy and then leave him to recover!” Either turn him into a friend or kill him.”

For their part, Israeli leaders tried to implement a strategy they had used against hostile Arab neighbors since 1948: “Get them to the dentist every ten years to get their fangs trimmed.”

The mistake that the Israelis made was not distinguishing between the traditional state structures that administer the country, and responding to the minimum needs of its society, and a non-governmental entity that shows little interest in the people living under its rule. Indeed, Hamas was in a position to completely ignore the needs of the people living in the Strip. 

For its part, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) covers basic needs, such as food, education, and health care, with the help of more than a hundred non-governmental organizations from thirty countries, in addition to recurring donations from countries willing to show solidarity with the Palestinians. In some cases, the matter amounts to foreign donors bearing the wages of employees in the local administration.

Thanks to “gifts” from “certain friendly forces,” Hamas and its junior partner, the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, do not need to buy the weapons they depend on.

The attack launched by Hamas may have stemmed from pure opportunism, meaning that its leaders could not ignore the unprecedented political crisis caused by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to shackle the Israeli Supreme Court. They also inevitably noted President Biden's indirect campaign to push Netanyahu out of power. Also, criticism from some foreign donors that Hamas is receiving huge sums of money, without doing much to advance the “cause,” may have contributed to the group’s decision to break the status quo.

The question now: what next? Breaking the status quo can be an effective way to end the stalemate of a situation, provided that the party breaking the status quo demands something that the opponent has the ability to provide. For example, after breaking the status quo by waging the Yom Kippur War, Egypt regained its lost territories. In a similar context, Jordan guaranteed the security of its agreed-upon borders through normalization with Israel.

However, in the case of Hamas, none of these outcomes are imaginable, as Hamas does not want to acquire lands, because Israel has already withdrawn from the Gaza Strip in 2005. If Hamas were actually working to build a state, it would have been It can use the last two decades to attract foreign investment, including from wealthy Palestinians around the world, with the aim of transforming the Strip into a vibrant little powerhouse on the banks of the Mediterranean. Perhaps Israel and its friends would have helped in trying to reduce the feelings of revenge in the hearts of the Palestinians.

However, as its charter clearly states, Hamas is not interested in building a state, but rather seeks to eliminate Israel - something the Israelis are unlikely to offer it.

Therefore, Hamas may end up in a situation worse than before, with continued destruction in the Gaza Strip, its weapons running out, and its best fighters being sent into the battlefield. As for the threat of executing prisoners, including citizens of countries other than Israel, it may eliminate a large part of sympathy towards the Palestinian “cause”, especially in the West.

What is worse for Hamas is that Israel may regain the image of the victim that it had lost for reasons, including the efforts of anti-Semitic figures and movements around the world. On the other hand, the recent operations of Hamas restore the old image of the Palestinians as terrorists and hostage takers - an image that Mahmoud Abbas and his group succeeded in changing through decades of perseverance, and even humiliation.

In the midst of the formation of a new situation, the initiative remains largely in the hands of Netanyahu. Given his feeling that his turbulent career as prime minister will inevitably end, Samson may be tempted by the option of total destruction. If he chooses to do so, he will be acting out of character, given that he has so far been cautious about using the military option.

In addition to the above, the current confrontation reveals the inability or unwillingness of the Biden administration to get rid of the disastrous policy towards the Middle East that President Barack Obama previously followed by ignoring friends, in the hope of warming relations with enemies.

There's a quote by Jake Sullivan that goes like this: In the Middle East, when things seem good, you should expect bad news.

Source: Al Sharq Al Awsat

By Jonathan Landay

The United States must prepare for possible simultaneous wars with Russia and China by expanding its conventional forces, strengthening alliances and enhancing its nuclear weapons modernization program, a congressionally appointed bipartisan panel said on Thursday.

A senior official involved in the report declined to say if the panel's intelligence briefings showed any Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons cooperation.

"We worry ... there may be ultimate coordination between them in some way, which gets us to this two-war construct," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The findings would upend current U.S. national security strategy calling for winning one conflict while deterring another and require huge defense spending increases with uncertain congressional support.

"We do recognize budget realities, but we also believe the nation must make these investments," the Democratic chair, Madelyn Creedon, a former deputy head of the agency that oversees U.S. nuclear weapons, and the vice chair, Jon Kyl, a retired Republican senator, said in the report's preface.

Addressing a briefing held to release the report, Kyl said the president and Congress must "take the case to the American people" that higher defense spending is a small price to pay "to hopefully preclude" a possible nuclear war involving the United States, China and Russia.

The report contrasts with U.S. President Joe Biden's position that the current U.S. nuclear arsenal is sufficient to deter the combined forces of Russia and China.

The arsenal's makeup "still exceeds what is necessary to hold a sufficient number of adversary targets at risk so as to deter enemy nuclear attack," the Arms Control Association advocacy group said in response to the report.

"The United States and its allies must be ready to deter and defeat both adversaries simultaneously," the Strategic Posture Commission said. "The U.S.-led international order and the values it upholds are at risk from the Chinese and Russian authoritarian regimes."

Congress in 2022 created the panel of six Democrats and six Republicans to assess long-term threats to the United States and recommend changes in U.S. conventional and nuclear forces.

The panel accepted a Pentagon forecast that China's rapid nuclear arsenal expansion likely will give it 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, confronting the United States with a second major nuclear-armed rival for the first time.

The Chinese and Russian threats will become acute in the 2027-2035 timeframe so "decisions need to be made now in order for the nation to be prepared," said the 145-page report.

The report said the 30-year U.S. nuclear arms modernization program, which began in 2010 and was estimated in 2017 to cost around $400 billion by 2046, must be fully funded to upgrade all warheads, delivery systems and infrastructure on schedule.

Other recommendations included deploying more tactical nuclear weapons in Asia and Europe, developing plans to deploy some or all reserve U.S. nuclear warheads, and production of more B-21 stealth bombers and new Columbia-class nuclear submarines beyond the numbers now planned.

The panel also called for boosting the "size, type, and posture" of U.S. and allied conventional forces. If such measures are not taken, the United States "will likely" have to increase its reliance on nuclear weapons, the report said.

Source: Reuters

The Israeli military on Friday (13/10/2023) issued an ultimatum to all civilians to evacuate the city of Gaza and move to the southern areas of the enclave. They were only given 24 hours. This ultimatum is believed to be a signal of Israel's imminent ground attack on Gaza.

In recent days, the Israeli military has positioned their tanks near the border with Gaza. They have also called up at least 300,000 reserve troops. "Now is the time to go to war," asserted Yoav Gallant, Israel's Defense Minister, on Thursday (10/12/2023).

Until Thursday, Israeli fighter jets continued to bombard Gaza in response to a surprise attack launched by Hamas on southern Israel on Saturday (10/7/2023). The attack killed more than 1,300 Israeli citizens, mostly civilians. Hamas also took more than 300 people hostage from the attack.

"Civilian residents in Gaza City, evacuate yourselves to the south for your own safety and that of your families," said the Israeli military in a written statement.

They also asked residents in Gaza Strip to stay away and keep a distance from Hamas group. The population of Gaza is around 2.3 million souls, occupying an enclave of 362.5 square kilometers. The ultimatum is directed towards almost half of the entire population in Gaza Strip or around 1.1 million people.

The Israeli military has announced that they will be carrying out a "massive" operation in the city of Gaza in the coming days. Civilian residents will only be able to return to the area after the next announcement has been made.

Not only was the military ultimatum from Israel conveyed to the Palestinian residents in Gaza Strip, but it was also sent to the United Nations Headquarters. "This is chaotic, no one understands what should be done," said Inas Hamdan, an official from the Palestinian refugee agency managed by the United Nations in the city of Gaza.

UN staff evacuated

Hamdan revealed that all United Nations staff in the city of Gaza and northern Gaza have been ordered to evacuate to the south to Rafah. He also packed his belongings into a bag and shouted to his colleagues to pack up quickly.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has announced that it has relocated its operational center and international staff to the southern region of Gaza. Note: PBB should not be translated as it is a forbidden word.

The United Nations has stated that the large-scale evacuation warning they received from the Israeli military also applies to UN staff and hundreds of thousands of refugees who are sheltered in UN-owned schools and facilities.

The UN deems it impossible to make such a movement without causing a humanitarian impact. 

"The United Nations considers it impossible to make such a move without causing humanitarian impacts," said Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN. (Note: PBB is not translated as it is a forbidden word)

"The United Nations has strongly requested that such orders, if they indeed exist, be canceled to avoid the tragedy that has already occurred from turning into a situation of complete disaster," he said.

Another UN official said that the UN is currently attempting to clarify Israel's military ultimatum to the most senior official in Palestine. "This has never happened before," said the UN official who requested anonymity.

.

Nebal Farsakh, spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent in Gaza City, stated that it is almost impossible for more than 1 million people to evacuate to the south within 24 hours. "Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only thing that matters is whether you can get out, whether you will survive," he said.

"What will happen to our patients?" said Farsakh. "We are taking care of the injured, the elderly, and children in hospitals."

Farewell phrases"

Farsakh stated that many medical personnel refused to leave hospitals and did not want to abandon their patients. They, he said, chose to say "goodbye" to their fleeing colleagues.

A Hamas official stated that Israel's military announcement is "false propaganda" and warned residents not to be affected by it. The Hamas Refugee Affairs Authority said on Friday that residents in the northern Gaza area should "stay steadfast in your homes and stand firm against the psychological warfare launched by the occupying forces."

Also read: Without Humanitarian Routes, Gaza Civilians are "Just Waiting for Time"

The military ultimatum from Israel is seen as a signal of their imminent ground attack on Gaza. The Israeli military has not confirmed the decision to launch the ground attack. On Thursday, they stated that they were preparing, but no decision had been made yet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was previously determined to "destroy" Hamas. He has declared a war against the group.

Israeli military spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, said on Thursday that Israeli troops are "prepared to launch ground maneuvers" if ordered by political leaders. (AP/REUTERS)

Source: compas.id

Entire Palestinian families are still trapped under the rubble, while civil defense crews receive an increasing number of rescue calls for families who fell victim to violent Israeli air strikes on Gaza, which are increasing in intensity as tension enters its seventh day.

Photographers' cameras monitored the accumulation of bodies of martyrs of the Israeli occupation's aggression against the Gaza Strip in front of Al-Shifa Hospital in the Strip, due to the fullness of the morgues and the lack of places for this increasing number of bodies.

According to Al Jazeera, this scene is unprecedented, and the situation did not reach it in previous wars on Gaza, as the bodies of the martyrs do not find room in the refrigerators, which forced the families of the martyrs and medical teams to stack the bodies in front of the hospital after packing them in bags without doing the necessary to prepare them.

Al Jazeera's camera showed a number of people performing funeral prayers for their martyrs in front of the hospital, in light of the targeting of mosques and the fear of a repeat of this if the bodies were transported there to pray over them. It is expected that the people will bury those bodies in mass graves, as there are no longer enough graves.

The camera also showed the bodies of the martyrs of one family being transported in a cargo vehicle, where a member of that family appears carrying the body of his daughter who died in the bombing of a house in the Zaytoun area, in addition to his wife, who was pregnant, and two other of his children, his parents, his brother, his brother’s wife, and their four children.

Source: Al Jazeera

The spokeswoman for the Palestinian Red Crescent, Nepal Farsakh, spoke on Friday of the “impossibility” of deporting more than a million Palestinians to southern Gaza in less than 24 hours, according to the orders of the Israeli army.

“There is no way more than a million people can be safely transported so quickly,” Farsakh told the Associated Press.

She added: "Forget food. Forget electricity. Forget fuel. The only worry now is whether the operation will work or not, and whether you will live."

She continued: "What will happen to our patients? We have wounded. We have elderly people. We have children in hospitals."

The spokeswoman pointed out that "many doctors refuse to evacuate hospitals and abandon patients."

In the same context, Enas Hamdan, an official at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, explained to the Associated Press: “This is chaos. No one understands what to do.”

It stated: "All UN staff in Gaza City and northern Gaza were told to evacuate south towards Rafah."

UNRWA announced that it had moved its central operations headquarters and international employees to southern Gaza, to continue its humanitarian operations and support its employees and Palestinian refugees.

Source: (Associated Press)

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army issued a statement in which it asked about half of Gaza’s population to evacuate the north of the Strip and head to its south within the next 24 hours.