Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 07-08/2023
There is no difference between who calls for throwing Israel into the sea and chants death to Israel and America, and who advocates for dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza/Elias Bejjani/November 05/2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: We won’t accept reality of Hezbollah rocket attacks
Netanyahu: Hezbollah's choice of war would be a costly mistake
Gallant says Israel doesn't have any intention to fight a war against Hezbollah
Hochstein visits Beirut, calls for 'restoring calm' on southern border
US envoy Hochstein's visit to Lebanon: A message of stability
US envoy Hochstein calls for calm in South Lebanon
Army chief discusses with Hochstein developments olong southern border
Israel discusses 'mechanism' to avoid war on Lebanon front
Hezbollah fires rockets at Golan in response to Iqlim al-Tuffah strike
How Hezbollah became a critical player in the Israel-Hamas war
Contacts intensify with Lebanon in bid to contain border tensions
Report: US not opposed to appointment of army chief of staff
Three children and grandmother killed in Israeli strike laid to rest
Israel-Hezbollah border skirmishes: Latest developments
Middle East Airlines: Operating additional flights to Riyadh and Jeddah
Nabil Amr to LBCI: The liberation organization is the only legitimate place for Palestinians
Kataeb Party calls for fortifying country, emphasizes urgent need to restore institutions
Berri follows up on south Lebanon situation with Mikati, broaches developments with US envoy Hochstein, meets former Vice Speaker Ferzli
Hezbollah MP: group will respond 'double' over Lebanese civilians hurt

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 07-08/2023
One month on, what we know about the Israel-Hamas war
10 Things to Know About Hamas Tunnels
Israel fights Hamas deep in Gaza City and foresees control of enclave’s security after war
Israeli military says its ground forces are battling Hamas 'in the depths' of Gaza City
Israel open to 'little pauses' as it bombards Gaza
One month into Israel-Hamas war, more than 10,000 killed in Gaza, almost 1.5 million displaced
Israel advances rapidly in Gaza, but eliminating Hamas leaders to take time
New attacks hit US bases in Iraq, Syria as Iran ups threats over Gaza
Iran's Khamenei urges Iraq PM to pressure US over Gaza
The world is turning against Israel’s war in Gaza – and many Israelis don’t understand why
An American nurse who was evacuated from Gaza describes the hospital staff who stayed behind: 'We're going to die saving as many people as we can'
Cyprus has a plan for a humanitarian sea corridor to Gaza and will present it to EU leaders
Jewish man dies after altercation at Israel-Palestine protest
Armed drones shot down over Iraq airport where US forces based
NATO announces formal suspension of Cold War-era security treaty after Russia's pullout
Al-Mayadeen reporter files complaint against Israeli journalist who 'intimidated' her

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 07-08/2023
Jewish Americans, motivated by 'duty to protect Israel,' head overseas to fight Hamas/Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY/November 7, 2023
I’m an expert in urban warfare. Israel is upholding the laws of war/ John Spencer/CNN/November 07/2023
What I’ve learned since the attacks on Israel: people don’t deem Jews worthy of solidarity and empathy/Danny Cohen/The Telegraph/November 7, 2023
Today's Nazis Are Hamas/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/November 07/2023
Gaza: Are there any winners?/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/November 07, 2023
How will the Israel-Gaza war end?/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Arab News/November 07, 2023
America’s indifference on Gaza creates watershed moment in Arab-US ties/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/November 07, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 07-08/2023
There is no difference between who calls for throwing Israel into the sea and chants death to Israel and America, and who advocates for dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza.
Elias Bejjani/November 05/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/123949/123949/
It is essential and a moral duty to condemn the bizarre statement of the Israeli Minister of Heritage, Amihai Eliyahu, in which he called for dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza. This unethical and criminal statement raises significant and serious concerns due to the dangerous ideas and kind of hostile culture it represents and advocates for, as well as its negative impact on peace, stability, and the acceptance of the different other in the Middle East region.
Meanwhile, we must focus on this provocative and blind hostile rhetoric from its cultural and ethical aspects, and everything related to human dignity and the right to a free and dignified life for each and every person all over the world
First, it must be pointed out that the use of nuclear weapons is an inhumane and criminal option and is irresponsible, with potentially dire consequences for civilians and the environment, and because it direly violates human values and principles. This makes it imperative that security and defense strategies in all countries of the world be cautious, moderate, and far from such an option, which necessitates a continuous search for diplomatic and peaceful solutions in a bid to resolve conflicts, especially the complex Arab-Israeli conflict.
Second, the elements of fanaticism, recklessness, hatred, and the desire to kill the different other are qualities that do not foster the necessary constructive components of dialogue and understanding required to resolve conflicts in the Middle East countries. Therefore, it is necessary for leaders and officials in Arab countries, Israel, and the rest of the free world to work on achieving communication and opening channels of dialogue with all relevant parties to avoid wars, violence, and to promote peace and stability.
Third, it is vital not to view any such atrocity with one eye, and focus solely on criticizing the inhumane statement of the Israeli minister, which, in practice and reality, is not significantly different from the barbarism, hostility, and fundamentalism of those who adopt and promote slogans calling for “death to America and Israel”, and openly call for the annihilating of Israel and throwing it into the sea, as is evident in the discourse and culture of the Iranian regime and its proxy armed-terrorist militias in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, Iraq, and many other third-world countries. As well as the fundamentalist, Jihadist, and political Islamic groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Boko Haram, and dozens of alike terrorist organizations that share the same Jihadist Iranian-Mullahs’ culture and agenda.
In conclusion, there is no credibility in any criticism of the extremist and fundamentalist statement of the Israeli minister, while ignoring the culture and depravity of those who call for throwing Israel into the sea, view America and Israel as demons, and openly expressing their hatred and hostility towards them.
It is worth mentioning, that the language of violence and killing the different other does not serve the interests of any party, and does not help in resolving conflicts, in a civilized, peaceful, and constructive manner, whether large or small.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: We won’t accept reality of Hezbollah rocket attacks
Jerusalem Post/November 07/2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah against attacking Israel as he touted the IDF’s success in Gaza, insisting that Israel won’t agree to a ceasefire without the release of the hostages. “We will not accept a reality in which Hezbollah or its henchmen Hamas-Lebanon will harm our communities and citizens” on the northern border with Lebanon, Netanyahu stated in a video address to the Israeli public.He spoke as the IDF struck at Hezbollah targets, after the Iranian proxy group fired 20 rockets at Israel from Lebanon on Tuesday afternoon. “We will continue to respond with strong fire to any attack against us. We have attacked many Hezbollah targets. We eliminated many terrorists,” Netanyahu said. The Biden administration on Tuesday continued with its efforts to contain the Gaza war and to prevent a two-front war that would include Hezbollah.
US special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Lebanon in an effort to underscore that message as he met with Lebanese officials, including caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. In Washington, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters, “We have been trying to send a strong signal of deterrence to any other actor in the region, be it a nation-state or a terrorist group, that now is not the time to think about widening and escalating and keeping this conflict.”
Regarding the Hezbollah rocket launches in the North, “that does not necessarily mean that the war is widening and that these other actors have decided to go all in to help Hamas out,” Kirby said. “We do believe we have sent a strong signal about how seriously we take our national security in the region,” he said, adding that the US has beefed up its military in the region. In Israel, Netanyahu said in his video address, “If Hezbollah chooses to enter the war – it will make the mistake of its life.”
In addressing the situation in the South, “The war in Gaza is progressing with an intensity that Hamas has never known,” Netanyahu said. PM: we are increasing the pressure on Hamas every hour, every day. “Gaza City is surrounded. We are operating within it,” Netanyahu said, emphasizing that “we are increasing the pressure on Hamas every hour, every day.”He repeated statements he had said since the start of the war, that Israel would not accept any ceasefire until Hamas releases the hostages. On Monday night, he did acknowledge that Israel could consider a small tactical pause to the war for an hour or so, in an interview he gave to David Muir of ABC’s World News Tonight program. “As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there, we have had them before,” Netanyahu said.
“We will check the circumstances in order to enable humanitarian goods to come in or individual hostages to leave,” he stated on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, he spoke with US President Joe Biden about the possibility of such a pause to the war, which was sparked on October 7, when Hamas killed over 1,400 people in southern Israel and kidnapped over 240 others. According to the White House, “The two leaders discussed the possibility of tactical pauses to provide civilians with opportunities to safely depart from areas of ongoing fighting.” Such pauses, the White House said, would “ensure assistance is reaching civilians in need, and... enable potential hostage releases.”
Israel: any ceasefire must include release of all hostages
Israel has insisted that any ceasefire must include the release of all the hostages, and that even then it could happen only with the understanding that the IDF still intends to pursue its military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza. The United States has backed Israel on that point, but the two sides have differed on a mechanism for humanitarian pauses, with Israel fearing that such a break in the fighting could become a de facto ceasefire. Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the US had not put any redlines on Israel’s military operation in Gaza. He noted that if anything, it has used only a small tactical force to enter Gaza City. Netanyahu, in defending the continuation of the military campaign, told ABC, “A ceasefire would be a surrender to Hamas. It would be a victory for Hamas and you would no more have it than you would have a ceasefire after the al-Qaeda bombings of the World Trade Center” in New York in 2001. “There will be no general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of our hostages,” he stressed. A ceasefire would hamper the “war efforts” as well as efforts to secure the release of the hostages, he said. “The only thing that works on these criminals in Hamas is the military pressure we are exerting,” Netanyahu said.
PM: ground op created pressure to release hostages
“Until we started the ground operation there was no pressure on them to release hostages. What we see is that the minute we started the ground action there was pressure,” he added. Netanyahu also appeared to indicate that Israel might have some intelligence on the location of the hostages. He also addressed the civilian cost of the campaign to Palestinians in Gaza, in light of the UN’s reporting that some 1.5 million of the 2.7 million people living in the coastal enclave have been displaced due to the war. Hamas has asserted that over 10,000 people have been killed. Netanyahu said the number included at least several thousand Palestinian combatants. “Every civilian lost is a tragedy. We are fighting an enemy that is particularly brutal. They are using their civilians as human shields,” he said, referencing the fact that Hamas places its infrastructure in civilian areas. “It’s important to understand that there is no way to defeat terrorists” embedded in civilian areas without incurring civilian casualties, he stated. Muir also asked Netanyahu if he took responsibility for the Israeli security failure that led to the October 7 attack. “The responsibility of the government is to protect the people and that clearly was not met,” Netanyahu said, but he added that the issue was best addressed after the war. Netanyahu agreed with Muir that he needed to take responsibility but not while conducting a military campaign. When the war is over, he said, “tough questions are going to be asked and I am going to be among the first to answer them.”In Brussels on Tuesday, met with Jordan’s King Abdullah and accused Israel of disproportionally attacking Gaza. “Bombing down a refugee camp because it allegedly houses one Hamas leader is completely disproportionate. It is never acceptable that so many civilian casualties are caused trying to eliminate one person,” De Croo said.
“Civilians and civilian places must be protected, but of course Hamas cannot use them as a shelter either because that only complicates matters.”He also said both Israel and Hamas disregard international humanitarian law on a daily basis. He added that Hamas should also release as soon as possible innocent hostages, saying it could be an important part of halting the “spiral of violence.”
*Reuters and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Netanyahu: Hezbollah's choice of war would be a costly mistake
LBCI/November 07, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that if Hezbollah chooses to engage in war, it would be a grave and irreversible mistake. He further emphasized that there would be no ceasefire until all hostages are released. Netanyahu addressed the international community saying that "Israel's war is your war, and if we do not win, you could be the next target."

Gallant says Israel doesn't have any intention to fight a war against Hezbollah
Naharnet/November 07, 2023
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Tuesday that Israel does not have "any intention to fight a war against Hezbollah." He however warned that if Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah "commits a mistake" he will be "destroying Lebanon."Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his part reiterated that Hezbollah would be making the "mistake of its life" if it joined the war.

Hochstein visits Beirut, calls for 'restoring calm' on southern border
Naharnet/November 07, 2023
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on Tuesday said "restoring calm on the southern border" of Lebanon with Israel is "of utmost importance to the United States.""It should be the highest priority for both Lebanon and Israel," Hochstein urged after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh after he arrived in Lebanon on a surprise visit. "The United States cares about Lebanon and the Lebanese people, especially during these difficult times," he said. "The United States does not want to see the conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding to Lebanon," Hochstein stressed, while calling on all parties to "fully implement" U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Hochstein later met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and said that he has sensed from his talks that both Lebanon and Israel do not want to escalate the situation. "Hochstein's visit was decided days ago, specifically after the speech that was delivered by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," MTV reported, noting that the visit is aimed at "avoiding war, especially after the Israeli enemy's latest escalation through attacking civilians, as happened on Sunday, which changed the specified rules of engagement."

US envoy Hochstein's visit to Lebanon: A message of stability
LBCI/November 07, 2023
Lebanese officials were informed on Monday night about the visit of the US Presidential Advisor Amos Hochstein to Lebanon. This visit carried a message to Lebanon emphasizing the implementation of Resolution 1701 and the prevention of the full-scale war that erupted in Gaza from spilling into Lebanon. Hochstein also highlighted that the United States is working with Israel to prevent the situation from deteriorating along the southern borders, expressing condolences for the Lebanese civilian casualties resulting from the Israeli attacks.
However, the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, stressed to Hochstein that Israel is the one violating the rules of conflict, citing the example of its actions against a civilian family that led to the death of four civilians. He also mentioned Israeli shelling in the Bekaa and Nabatieh areas, far from the confrontation lines, and emphasized that the ceasefire is in Israel's hands. Hochstein discussed all these issues extending from Gaza to Lebanon during his meeting with the Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib.
Furthermore, some sources suggested that the Americans reiterated the necessity of controlling the situation along the southern border and not expanding the area of tension beyond 2 kilometers, as well as controlling those who attempt to expand this area from the Lebanese side, especially Palestinian factions. The discussion at the Grand Serail also touched on the first day in Gaza after the end of the war, and the Americans emphasized their desire for a situation that does not allow a repetition of what happened on October 7th.

US envoy Hochstein calls for calm in South Lebanon
LBCI/November 07, 2023
US envoy Amos Hochstein called on Tuesday for a return to calm in South Lebanon after a month of escalation between Lebanon and Israel, coinciding with the ongoing war in the besieged Gaza Strip. The border region has witnessed an exchange of shelling, particularly between Hezbollah and Israel, following an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, to which Israel responded by intense bombing of Gaza. Following his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, Hochstein stated, "The United States does not want to see the conflict in Gaza escalate and spread to Lebanon." In a brief comment to reporters, he added, "The restoration of calm to the southern borders is of paramount importance to the United States, and it should be a top priority for both Lebanon and Israel alike."

Army chief discusses with Hochstein developments olong southern border
NNA/November 07, 2023
Lebanese Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, received, at his Yarzeh office, US envoy Amos Hochstein, in the presence of US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea. Discussions reportedly touched on the general situation in the country and developments alongthe southern border.

Israel discusses 'mechanism' to avoid war on Lebanon front
Naharnet/November 07, 2023
The Israeli war cabinet has discussed a mechanism for avoiding being dragged into wars on other fronts, specifically with Lebanon, Al-Jazeera television reported. Israeli troops and militants from Lebanon’s Hezbollah and their Palestinian allies have been clashing for a month along the border following the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The deadly clashes have intensified since Israel launched a ground incursion into Gaza against Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah. Hezbollah officials have warned that if Israel kills Lebanese civilians, it will retaliate by attacking civilian targets. Israel considers the Iran-backed Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat and estimates that Hezbollah has around 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel. The group also has different types of drones and surface-to-sea missiles.

Hezbollah fires rockets at Golan in response to Iqlim al-Tuffah strike
Naharnet/November 07, 2023
Hezbollah said Tuesday that it fired rockets at Israel's artillery positions in the occupied Golan Heights in response to an overnight Israeli strike on a Hezbollah post on the outskirts of the town of Aramta in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region. Aramta lies about 20 kilometers north of the border and is a Hezbollah stronghold. The strike was one of the deepest inside Lebanon since the fighting along the border erupted on October 8. In retaliation to Tuesday's attack, Israel carried out a drone strike near a Lebanese Army post in Naqoura and fired artillery shells at the al-Labbouneh forests south of Naqoura, at the outskirts of Deir Mimas and at an open area between al-Ahmadiyeh and al-Dallafeh.

How Hezbollah became a critical player in the Israel-Hamas war
Associated Press/November 07, 2023
When Hezbollah announced last week that its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah would deliver his first public speech since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, much of the region held its breath. Would Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the Arab world's most powerful paramilitary force, continue its limited exchanges of fire with Israel or throw itself wholeheartedly into the war? In Lebanon, streets emptied as people sat glued to their screens to watch, ready to parse his words along with decision-makers in Israel and across the Mideast. Hezbollah has traded fire with Israeli troops along the border since the day after Hamas' Oct. 7 surprise attack in southern Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip. Both sides have suffered casualties, but the fear is that the conflict will escalate and spiral into a regional fight. Nasrallah nodded to those concerns in his speech Friday. "Some say I'm going to announce that we have entered the battle," he said. "We already entered the battle on Oct. 8."But he stopped short of saying Hezbollah would more fully join the fight.Here's a look at why Hezbollah and its leader are key players in the trajectory of the Israel-Hamas war. "Iran's support has helped Hezbollah consolidate its position as Lebanon's most powerful political actor as well as the most equipped military actor supported by Iran in the whole of the Middle East," Lina Khatib, the director of the SOAS Middle East Institute in London, told The Associated Press.After Hezbollah fighters ambushed an Israeli patrol in 2006 and took two Israeli soldiers hostage, Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war that ended in a draw — but not before Israeli bombardment wreaked widespread destruction in southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs. At the time, Israel's objective was similar to its current war with Hamas: eliminate Hezbollah. Instead, the group came out stronger — not only an armed force but also a key political party in Lebanon. However, domestic opponents criticized Hezbollah for maintaining its arsenal and dominating the government. Its reputation also suffered when it briefly seized a section of Beirut in May 2008 after the Lebanese government took measures against its private telecommunications network. Khatib likened Hezbollah to a "big brother" of fledgling Iranian-backed groups that "do not enjoy the same level of infrastructure or discipline."While Hezbollah is bound to Iran by doctrine, its relationship with Hamas is based on pragmatism. The Palestinian militant group was founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood movement. Its political and financial backing from Iran and Syria did not pick up until 2006. A schism erupted between Hamas and the Iranian-backed axis over the Syrian civil war, where Hamas for some time backed Syria's largely Sunni opposition fighters. Despite differences over Syria, "over the past five years, relations improved at a fast pace," said Qassim Qassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah. Although many top Hamas officials lived in Qatar and Turkey, which backed the Syrian opposition, the group's return to the Iranian fold put them in a tricky situation. Some Hamas officials, including its second-in-command, Saleh al-Arouri, have since moved to Lebanon, where they have Hezbollah's protection and a presence across Lebanon's multiple Palestinian refugee camps.
HOW FAR IS HEZBOLLAH WILLING TO GO TO PROTECT HAMAS? -
For Hezbollah, fully entering the Israel-Hamas war would risk dragging Lebanon — beset by economic calamity and internal political tensions — into a conflict it can ill afford, fueling domestic opposition to the group. But staying on the sidelines as Israeli troops take control of the Gaza Strip could compromise Hezbollah's credibility, and a Hamas defeat would be a blow to Iran. Hezbollah's steady pressure on Israel's northern border shows support for Hamas and keeps open the threat of a wider intervention. Qassir interpreted the message behind Nasrallah's speech as: "If you don't want the regional war to expand, then the war (in Gaza) has to stop."But it's unclear how long Hezbollah can maintain this delicate balancing act, with Israel seemingly determined to crush Hamas and the Palestinian death toll in Gaza passing 10,000. "If there is a full collapse in Gaza and things reach a point where they have to be fully involved, then they're ready," Qassir said.

Contacts intensify with Lebanon in bid to contain border tensions
Naharnet/November 07, 2023
Western and non-Arab nations intensified their contacts over the past hours with Lebanese officials in a bid to contain the tensions on the southern front with Israel and avoid descent into a bigger confrontation, media reports said.
“These contacts expressed desire to preserve security and stability in Lebanon, especially on the southern front, and carried a renewed U.S. assurance that Israel does not intend to engage in a confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported. Lebanese officials said that “Lebanon has been and is still in a position of self-defense in the face of the continuous Israeli attacks,” the daily said. U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein meanwhile held phone talks with several Lebanese officials in the wake of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on Friday, the newspaper added.

Report: US not opposed to appointment of army chief of staff
Naharnet/November 07, 2023
The appointment of a new army chief of staff has become the most likely choice to avoid vacuum in the army command after the expiry of the term of Army Commander General Joseph Aoun on December 10, a media report said.
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea has not insisted on extending Aoun’s term although she has considered his departure to be a great loss, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday. Quoting informed sources, the daily said “the Americans will deal pragmatically with the army command, the same as they previously dealt with the vacancy in the central bank governor post.”The sources also quoted Shea as saying that Washington prefers extension for the current commander or naming a new commander, although it considers the appointment of a chief of staff to be better than vacuum.

Three children and grandmother killed in Israeli strike laid to rest
Associated Press/November 07, 2023
A Lebanese woman and her three granddaughters were laid to rest in their hometown in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, two days after they were killed in an Israeli drone strike that hit the car they were traveling in near the Lebanon-Israel border. Hundreds of men and women marched before the four coffins, which were draped in black and white banners as they were carried through the streets of the village of Ainata. The coffins were later taken for burial in a cemetery in the nearby village of Blida. Israeli troops and militants from Lebanon's Hezbollah group and their allies have been clashing for a month along the border following the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The clashes have intensified since Israel launched a ground incursion into Gaza against Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah. Large posters of Samira Abdul-Hussein Ayoub and her three granddaughters — Rimas Shor, 14; Talin Shor, 12; and Layan Shor, 10 — were displayed in the cemetery in the southeastern town of Blida. The three girls' mother, Hoda Hijazi, was wounded in the attack and is still undergoing treatment in a hospital. Following the drone strike that killed the four, Hezbollah said its fighters fired rockets toward the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, killing one person. Hezbollah officials have warned that if Israel kills Lebanese civilians, it will retaliate by attacking civilian targets. "Protecting civilians is a main pillar of the rules of engagement with the enemy," Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayad said during the funeral.
Israel considers the Iran-backed Shiite militant group its most serious immediate threat and estimates that Hezbollah has around 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel. The group also has different types of drones and surface-to-sea missiles.

Israel-Hezbollah border skirmishes: Latest developments
Associated Press/November 07, 2023
Israel bombed Tuesday al-Labbouneh, near the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura, and the outskirts of the southern towns of Mhaibib and Aitaroun, as two Iron Dome missiles landed in an open area in the outskirts of the town of al-Tiri in south Lebanon after a failed interception attempt. Meanwhile, Israeli media said that Israeli residents of the Galilee Panhandle near Lebanon's border had been asked to stay near shelters over a suspected security incident. "An IDF tank attacked a terrorist squad in Lebanese territory that tried to launch an anti-tank missile towards Israeli territory near the Shatula area," Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. He added that earlier today, Israeli forces attacked a position of Hezbollah, "in order to remove a threat."Israel also bombed al-Bustan and Yarin, after Hezbollah targeted the Israeli Birket Risha post facing the two towns. On Monday, Hezbollah fighters attacked at least three Israeli military posts along the border around sunset, while the military wing of Palestinian group Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, fired 16 rockets from Lebanon into the town of Nahariya and the southern outskirts of the city of Haifa in northern Israel. Haifa is the furthest city targeted by rockets from the Lebanese side since the start of the Israel-Hamas war nearly a month ago. The Israeli army responded by shelling the origin points of rocket launches and carried out airstrikes on “Hezbollah targets” inside Lebanon, according to Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee. The clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces erupted on Oct. 8, a day after the war started. The fighting has been largely contained along the border but in recent days, as Israeli troops began moving ground troops into Gaza, military activities have increased. The violence along the border has forced thousands of people along both the Lebanese and Israeli sides to move to safer areas.

Middle East Airlines: Operating additional flights to Riyadh and Jeddah
LBCI/November 07, 2023
Middle East Airlines - Lebanese Airlines announced on Tuesday its plans to operate additional morning flights, in addition to its existing evening flights, to Riyadh and Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Nabil Amr to LBCI: The liberation organization is the only legitimate place for Palestinians
LBCI/November 07, 2023
Former Palestinian Authority Minister of Information, Nabil Amr, considered the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to be the "sole legitimate representative organization of the Palestinian people."Speaking on LBCI’s “Nharkom Said” TV show, he stated, "I do not deny the role of Palestinians in the deteriorating Palestinian situation, and I do not deny that the PLO has been mistreated by its people before others mistreated it, and I do not deny that there is clear fragmentation in Palestinian camps."He added, “When the PLO, which used to be a unifying entity for the Palestinian people, disappeared, we did not witness scenes like these.”He emphasized that the solution lies in "abandoning intermediaries and contractors who are trying to unite us and inviting us to their capitals as an investment in what they want. It does not prevent Fatah, Hamas, and other factions from meeting and announcing to the world that the PLO is the only legitimate place for the Palestinian people,” He continued, “It does not prevent Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or any other faction from maintaining their positions within this framework, and this does not harm liberation movements. The solution is to hold a comprehensive popular conference for all factions, declaring an end to the division."Amr said: "No one has not invested in the Palestinian division."

Kataeb Party calls for fortifying country, emphasizes urgent need to restore institutions
NNA/November 07, 2023
During its weekly meeting, chaired by Kataeb Leader MP Samy Gemayel, the Kataeb Party's Political Bureau discussed the latest developments regarding the expansion of the war zone, the targeting of civilians in Lebanon, Hezbollah's insistence on tying Lebanon to the axis of resistance and the danger of the vacuum in the army leadership.
Accordingly, the following statement was issued:
1- The Kataeb Political Bureau considers that the country is heading towards increased danger due to the ongoing war in Gaza, saying that Hezbollah's insistence on determining the country's fate and linking it to Gaza’s fate, without any regard for the Lebanese people's will, threatens the country.
The Kataeb Political Bureau emphasizes the necessity of making a historic and exceptional decision to protect Lebanon by deploying the army along the entire border densely, preventing the violation of the south, safeguarding the country and implementing UN Resolution 1701 in cooperation with international forces to de-legitimize the claim that Lebanon is protecting the axis of resistance.
The Kataeb Political Bureau condemns the targeting of Lebanese civilians, extending its condolences to the families of the innocent martyrs including children and women.
The Kataeb Political Bureau warns against any escalation that Lebanon might pay dearly for, urging the international community to fulfill its responsibility by pressuring Israel to halt the massacres and urging Iran to stop exploiting the region's peoples to serve its interests.
2- The Kataeb Political Bureau rejects Lebanon's remaining in limbo waiting for the results of regional wars.
The Kataeb Political Bureau calls for fortifying the country against the upcoming regional developments, emphasizing the urgent need to restore institutions and ensure their proper functioning, starting with the election a sovereign and reformist President to restore the state's authority.
The Kataeb Political Bureau considers that the expected vacuum in the army leadership will push Hezbollah to tighten its grip on the country under the pretext of filling the void.
The Kataeb Political Bureau stresses the necessity of adopting a solution within legal and constitutional frameworks, considering that the available option lies in postponing the army commander's retirement based a decision taken by the defence minister (in accordance with Article 55 of the National Defence Act) due to the failure to elect a President and the parliament's inability to legislate since it is an electoral body according to Article 75 of the Lebanese constitution.
The Kataeb Political Bureau holds the government collectively responsible for any security vacuum that Lebanon might experience, urging to take the initiative if the minister fails to fulfill his duties, based on the concepts of exceptional circumstances (circonstances exceptionnelles) and the supreme interests of the state (raison d’état), which allow the government to take extraordinary measures to deal with exceptional situations or threats to national security. -- Kataeb.org

Berri follows up on south Lebanon situation with Mikati, broaches developments with US envoy Hochstein, meets former Vice Speaker Ferzli
NNA/November 07, 2023
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, followed up on the development of the situation in south Lebanon, in light of the escalating Israeli aggression, as well as the latest political developments, during his meeting with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, at the former’s Ain El-Tineh residence. On emerging, in response to a question regarding scheduling a government session to extend the term of the army commander, Mikati said: “Speaker Berri and I are very keen on the military institution.”Speaker Berri later met with former Vice Speaker, Elie Ferzli, over the current situation.
This afternoon, Speaker Berri met with US envoy Amos Hochstein, and the accompanying delegation, in the presence of US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea. Discussions reportedly touched on the general situation and political and field developments, in light of the escalating Israeli aggression against Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Following the meeting, Hochstein said, "I came to Lebanon today because the United States cares deeply about Lebanon and the Lebanese people, especially during these difficult times," adding, “We extend our deepest condolences to the civilian lives lost in Lebanon, and today I had a good exchange with the Speaker. I heard his concerns and I briefed him on what the United States is doing to address them.”"The United States does not want to see the conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding into Lebanon," Hochstein said, adding, "Restoring calm along the southern border is of utmost importance to the United States, and it should be the highest priority for both Lebanon and Israel. That is what U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 is all about and what it was designed for. Let’s all use it and fully implement it."On the other hand, Speaker Berri contacted by phone the family of the martyr Samira Abdel Hussein Ayoub, offering condolences for her martyrdom and her three granddaughters in the Israeli airstrike that targeted their car on the Aitaroun -Ainatha -Blida road.

Hezbollah MP: group will respond 'double' over Lebanese civilians hurt
BEIRUT (Reuters)/November 7, 2023
A Hezbollah lawmaker said on Tuesday that the Lebanese militant group would respond "double" to any Israeli attacks on civilians after a strike that killed three children and their grandmother in south Lebanon.
The remarks reflect the volatile situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where deadly clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters are fuelling fears of a wider regional war while Israel invades the Gaza Strip. "The resistance will respond double to any aggression that targets civilians," Ali Fayyad said at the funeral of the four Lebanese killed in the south on Sunday. "It hasn't yet shown all its weight," he said, referring to the powerful Iran-backed group. He did not elaborate.
Lebanese authorities said an Israeli strike hit the car the family was travelling in on Sunday. Israel's military said its troops engaged a vehicle in Lebanon which was "identified as a suspected transport for terrorists" and it was looking into reports there were civilians inside. At the funeral, the family cried over four coffins draped in the flags of Lebanon and of a local scouts organisation. A banner of the three girls, who were aged between 10 and 14, said they were martyrs and featured the emblem of Hezbollah. Violence at the Lebanese-Israeli frontier is the deadliest there since 2006 as Israel bombards Hezbollah's Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza - a response to an Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli towns. Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis, according to Israeli figures. Israel's bombardment of Gaza has killed 10,000 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave say. Israel said on Monday it struck Hezbollah targets in response to a large barrage of rockets fired at northern Israeli cities. The violence along the Lebanese border has killed more than 60 Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians, Lebanese security officials say. At least seven Israeli soldiers and one civilian have been killed.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 07-08/2023
One month on, what we know about the Israel-Hamas war
Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN/November 7, 2023
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are fighting a war that has killed thousands and resulted in a devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The Israeli military began an offensive on the Palestinian enclave after Hamas militants launched a brutal assault on Israel on October 7 – the biggest terrorist attack in the country’s history – with gunmen killing more than 1,400 people and taking more than 200 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel’s retaliation has been fierce, with an air, sea and ground campaign on Gaza as well as a total siege on the territory to choke its Hamas rulers.
The conflict has led to a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with more than 10,000 people killed there, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah. Residents of the Strip, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians, are trapped, lacking basic supplies and with nowhere to escape Israel’s bombs.
In response, aid groups, Arab states and the United Nations have repeatedly called for a ceasefire to allow for the delivery of food, water, medical supplies and other necessities.
Israel has so far shown no signs of scaling back its military operation, which is only widening, as it vows to eliminate Hamas once and for all.
Here’s what we know about the war.
How did the conflict start?
In an operation it called “Al-Aqsa Storm,” Hamas fired thousands of rockets towards Israeli towns on October 7, before breaking through the heavily fortified border fence with Israel and sending militants deep into Israeli territory.
There, gunmen killed civilians and soldiers, and took more than 200 hostages, including dozens of foreign nationals. The attacks were unprecedented in tactics and scale, as Israel hasn’t faced its adversaries on its own territory since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It has also never faced a terror attack of this magnitude that took the lives of so many civilians.
How did Israel react?
Israel responded by launching “Operation Swords of Iron,” with the goal of eliminating Hamas. It imposed a complete siege on Gaza, blocking food, water and fuel from entering, and launched a ground offensive that saw its troops enter deep into the enclave and effectively split it in two.
Amid the bombardment, Gaza residents were advised by Israel to evacuate their homes in the north and move southwards as troops sought to encircle Gaza City, which Israel described as “the fortress of Hamas’s terrorist activities.”
Human rights groups have said Israel’s evacuation order could breach international law, and CNN has documented instances when Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli strikes around evacuation zones.
What is Hamas?
Hamas is an Islamist organization with a military wing that emerged in 1987 out of the Muslim Brotherhood, a non-violent Sunni Islamist group that was founded in the late 1920s in Egypt. Hamas, like most Palestinian factions and political parties, says that Israel is an occupying power and that it is trying to liberate the Palestinian territories. It has over the years claimed many attacks on Israel and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel. Unlike some other Palestinian factions, Hamas refuses to engage with Israel and does not recognize its right to exist. In 1993, it opposed the Oslo Accords, a peace pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that saw the PLO give up armed resistance against Israel in return for promises of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The Accords also established the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, and presents itself as an alternative to the PA.
Israel occupied Gaza from 1967 to 2005, when it unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers, but continued to exert control over the territory’s sea, airspace and land crossings. The vast majority of Gaza’s residents are descendants of refugees whose ancestors either fled or were forced out of their homes in what is now Israel. The enclave is one of the most densely populated places on earth.
What is the situation in Gaza?
Before the war, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade of Gaza that strictly controlled the movement of people and goods both into and out of the territory.
But Israel has now imposed an even tighter siege, banning the entry of food, water and fuel, which the United Nations has said amounts to “collective punishment.” Residents are grappling with severe shortages and power is running out as fuel dwindles, with hospitals ill-equipped to treat the wounded as Israel continues its bombardment. Doctors often operate on patients without anesthesia, and maternity and postnatal services are close to non-existent. As the water system collapses, some Gazans have been forced to drink dirty, salty water, sparking concerns of a health crisis and fears that people could start dying from dehydration. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that more than 1.4 million people in Gaza are now internally displaced. More than half a million are seeking refuge in facilities run by the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which are accommodating numbers three times their intended capacity. Thousands of people are sheltering in hospitals and other civilian facilities, which health workers say have been targeted by Israel. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it has documented at least 102 attacks on health care facilities in Gaza since October 7. Israel has said it is targeting Hamas operatives in the strip, and accused Hamas of embedding itself in civilian areas, as well as using civilians as human shields. Out of those who have been killed in the enclave, more than 4,100 are children, according to the Gazan health ministry.
The enclave has been described by the UN as “a graveyard for children.”
What is the Rafah crossing?
Israel has shut its two border crossings with Gaza. And with aid desperately needed, the only route for its entry into the territory is through the Rafah Crossing with Egypt. Rafah is the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, falling along an 8-mile (12.8-kilometer) fence that separates Gaza from the Sinai Peninsula. The crossing has been essential for the delivery of aid and evacuation of wounded Palestinians during previous wars with Israel. Following intense negotiations, the crossing was finally opened more than three weeks into the war, allowing a small number of wounded Palestinians and foreign nationals to leave Gaza. Aid trucks have started entering the enclave in very small numbers
How has the international community reacted to the war?
The US has largely supported Israel’s operation in Gaza throughout the war, despite heavy criticism from some opponents at home and mass protests across the world calling for a ceasefire. Arab leaders have delivered strong messages to Israel, especially against what they perceive as plans to expel Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt, and those in the West Bank to Jordan. US President Joe Biden has said that it would be a “mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will have the “overall security responsibility” in Gaza for an “indefinite period” after the war ends.
Some of Hamas’ allies in the region, such as Iran and Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, have also warned Israel and Washington against continued bombing of Gaza. Amid rising death tolls and an international outcry over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, however, the Biden administration has been warning Israel that its support for the carnage in the enclave is running out.
What will it take for de-escalation?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government opposes any temporary ceasefire in Gaza unless Hamas frees all the hostages it holds, adding that it will continue to block fuel from entering the strip. Netanyahu has however said he is open to short pauses taking place.
Israel has accused Hamas of hoarding and diverting fuel. CNN cannot independently verify the amount of fuel in the enclave. Qatar, a US ally that maintains ties with Hamas, has been trying to mediate deals to free hostages, as well as evacuate foreign nationals from Gaza.
Four hostages held by Hamas – two Israelis and two American-Israelis – have so far been freed through Qatari and Egyptian mediation.
How likely is this war to escalate into a regional conflict?
The Hamas attack raised concerns that the conflict could spread across the region, with the potential entry of Hezbollah from Lebanon as well as Israel’s arch enemy Iran. The US has warned regional players against getting pulled into the war, calling on Iran and its proxies not to escalate.
The US military has said that a guided missile submarine has arrived in the Middle East, a message of deterrence directed at regional adversaries. The Pentagon last month ordered a second carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean and sent Air Force fighter jets to the region.Iran, which backs Hamas, has denied involvement in the October 7 attack but has said that it morally supports the “anti-Israel resistance” – which includes Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militias. On Israel’s northern border, Iran-backed Hezbollah has engaged in an exchange of fire since the Gaza war began. Those altercations have however been confined to the border areas. There have also been skirmishes in Syria and Iraq, from which Iran-backed militias have launched multiple drone attacks on US forces. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have attempted an aerial attack on Israel, which Israel’s military said it thwarted.In a November 3 speech, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said his “primary goal” was to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, and said it was incumbent on the US to implement the cessation of hostilities. The speech appeared to show that Nasrallah’s immediate plans do not include broadening the conflict.
**CNN’s Abbas Al Lawati, Mohammed Abdelbary, Kevin Liptak, MJ Lee, Natasha Bertrand, Priscilla Alvarez, Jennifer Hansler, Xiaofei Xu, Tamara Qiblawi, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman, Ibrahim Dahman, Akanksha Sharma and Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.

10 Things to Know About Hamas Tunnels
DOWNLOAD INSIGHT/FDD/Novermer 07/2023
The terrorist organization Hamas operates an extensive and sophisticated tunnel system to transport weapons, store supplies, and train operatives. The network zigzags for hundreds of miles under the Gaza Strip and across the Egyptian and Israeli borders. Tunnels can run up to 230 feet deep, about the height of a 20-story building. Iran-backed Hamas used tunnels to infiltrate Israel during previous conflicts in 2006 and 2014.
1. Hamas tunnels span hundreds of miles in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly destroyed over 60 miles of Hamas’s tunnel network during the May 2021 Gaza war. After the war, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said that Hamas possesses over 300 miles of tunnels and that Israel had “only destroyed 20 percent.” Israel often refers to the network as the Gaza “metro.”
2. Hostages are believed to be held in Gaza tunnels
Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida claims that the group is holding hostages in “safe places and the tunnels of resistance.” On October 24, a freed Israeli hostage recounted her experience in captivity, explaining that she was taken through a network of tunnels akin to a “spider web.” The terrorists led the hostages to a “large hall” and then separated them into smaller groups.
3. Hamas tunnels played a central role in the 2014 Gaza war
Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on July 7, 2014, in response to repeated rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. On July 17, thirteen Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel through the cross-border tunnels, violating a humanitarian truce. The IDF launched a ground operation that night “to target Hamas’ tunnels that cross under the Israel-Gaza border,” according to the IDF. By the end of the operation, the IDF had destroyed 32 tunnels. Israel proceeded to build a 40-mile above and below ground barrier, which it completed in 2021. The barrier includes cameras, radars, and sensors, and was designed to cut off Hamas’s ability to invade Israel using its underground network.
4. Hamas tunnels are equipped with advanced technologies
Hamas tunnels are outfitted with telephone lines, electricity, and railways. Hamas terrorists reportedly planned the October 7, 2023, attack over two years, using landlines installed in the tunnels to communicate. According to IDF estimates, each tunnel costs $3 million to build.
5. Hamas builds tunnels underneath hospitals, violating international law
On October 27, 2023, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari shared evidence of Hamas hiding tunnel entry points inside Gaza hospitals. Notably, Hamas also operates a large military complex underneath Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza. International law prohibits such use of hospitals for military purposes. A 1977 protocol to the Geneva Conventions makes clear that “under no circumstances shall medical units be used in an attempt to shield military objectives from attack.”
6. Hamas operates cross-border tunnels into Egypt to smuggle weapons and personnel
The IDF confirmed on October 26, 2023, that Hamas used tunnels under the Egyptian border to smuggle weapons and ammunition into Gaza before invading Israel on October 7. The terrorists could potentially flee to Egypt using the same underground network. Historically, smugglers have leveraged the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza to transport drugs, money, and other goods into the Gaza Strip. Hamas profits from the illicit trade by taxing commercial activity through the underground network.
7. The Egyptian government has shut down numerous tunnels into Gaza
Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, tacitly allowed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to transport missiles and other weapons using the cross-border tunnel system. Cairo started to crack down on the underground network after current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in 2013. To date, the Egyptian military has destroyed numerous tunnels using a variety of tactics, including flooding them with sewage. Nevertheless, Cairo has yet to completely shut down cross-border tunnel operations.
8. Hamas operates cross-border tunnels into Israel
The most well-known case of Hamas using the tunnel system to breach Israel’s border took place during the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Israel exchanged 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners for Shalit in 2011. Hamas does not appear to have used tunnels to enter Israel on October 7. However, they remain a tactical option as evidenced by Hamas releasing footage on October 14 showing terrorists emerging from tunnels, simulating an attack on Israeli tanks, and returning underground.
9. Hamas diverts resources to construct terror tunnels
Hamas diverts concrete and other materials meant for civilian projects to build and reinforce its tunnel system. Former Israeli National Security Advisor Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror explained in 2014 that “when you look at what Hamas did with all the cement and the materials that went into Gaza for ‘building,’ and you see that most went on the tunnels, you understand that from their point of view the civilian side is not important.”
10. Hamas used child laborers to build its tunnel network
A report published in 2012 noted that as many as 160 children had died working in Hamas’s tunnel network. In a documentary produced that year, a youth laborer said, “It’s a really dangerous job. We call it ‘graveyard of the living.’”

Israel fights Hamas deep in Gaza City and foresees control of enclave’s security after war
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP)/November 7, 2023
Israel said Tuesday that its ground forces were battling Hamas fighters deep inside Gaza’s largest city, signaling a major new stage in the month-old conflict, and its leaders foresee controlling the enclave's security after the war.The push into Gaza City guarantees that the already staggering death toll will rise further, while comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about controlling Gaza’s security for “an indefinite period” pointed to the uncertain endgame of a war that Israel says will be long and difficult. Israeli ground troops have battled Palestinian militants inside Gaza for over a week, cutting the territory in half and encircling Gaza City. The army's chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that Israeli ground forces “are located right now in a ground operation in the depths of Gaza City and putting great pressure on Hamas.”Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad, speaking on Tuesday from Beirut, denied that Israeli forces were making any significant military gains or that they had advanced deep into Gaza City. “They never give the people the truth,” Hamad said. He added that numerous Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday and “many tanks were destroyed.”
“The Palestinians fight and fight and fight against Israel, until we end the occupation,” said Hamad, who left Gaza days before Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, which sparked the war.The Associated Press could not independently verify the claims of either side.
Israelis commemorated the 30th day — a milestone in Jewish mourning — since the Hamas incursion, which killed 1,400 people. About 240 people Hamas abducted during the attack remain in Gaza, and more than 250,000 Israelis have evacuated homes near the borders of Gaza and Lebanon amid continuous rockets fired into Israel. A month of relentless bombardment in Gaza has killed more than 10,300 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run territory. More than 2,300 are believed buried from strikes that reduced entire city blocks to rubble.
Around 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and many of them are crowded into U.N. schools-turned-shelters. Civilians in Gaza are relying on a trickle of aid and their own daily foraging for food and water from supplies that have dwindled after weeks of siege.
FLEEING SOUTH
Israel unleashed another wave of strikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as hundreds more Palestinians fled Gaza City to the south. Some arrived on donkey carts, most on foot, some pushing elderly relatives in wheelchairs, all visibly exhausted. Many had nothing but the clothes on their backs. “There is no food or drink, people are fighting in the bakeries,” said one man who didn’t want to give his name. Hundreds of thousands have heeded Israeli orders to head to the southern part of Gaza, out of the ground assault’s path. Others are afraid to do so since Israeli troops control part of the north-south route. Bombardment of the south has also continued. An Israeli airstrike destroyed several homes early Tuesday in Khan Younis. An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw first responders pulling five bodies — including three dead children — from the rubble. One man wept as he carried a bloodied young girl, until a rescue worker pried her from his arms, saying, “Let her go, let her go,” to rush her to an ambulance. AP video at a nearby hospital showed a woman desperately searching for her son, then crying and kissing him when she found him, half-naked and bloodied, but apparently without serious injuries. A girl sobbed next to a baby on a stretcher, apparently dead. “We were sleeping, babies, children, elderly,” said one survivor, Ahmad al-Najjar, who is the general director at the Education Ministry in Gaza. In the town of Deir al-Balah, rescue workers brought out at least four dead and a number of wounded children from the wreckage of a flattened building, witnesses said. “My daughter,” screamed a woman as she ran behind them. Israel says it targets Hamas fighters and infrastructure and accuses the group of endangering civilians by operating among them. At a school in Khan Younis, thousands of displaced were living in classrooms and the playground. One of them, Suhaila al-Najjar, said the last month had been filled with sleepless nights. “What’s to come? How will we live? Bakeries have closed, there’s no gas. What will we eat?” she said.
ISRAEL TO MAINTAIN CONTROL
Israel has vowed to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities — but neither Israel nor its main ally, the United States, has said what would come next. Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas,” without elaborating.
“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he said.
Netanyahu did not make clear what shape that security control would take. The White House on Tuesday reiterated that President Joe Biden does not support an Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip after the war. “We do think that there needs to be a healthy set of conversations about what post-conflict Gaza looks like and what governance looks like,” said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, adding that he would leave it to Netanyahu to clarify what he means by “indefinite.”Israeli officials say the offensive against Hamas will last for some time and acknowledge that they have not yet formulated a concrete plan for what comes after the war. The defense minister has said Israel does not seek a long-term reoccupation of Gaza but predicted a lengthy phase of low-intensity fighting against “pockets of resistance.” Other officials have spoken about establishing a buffer zone that would keep Palestinians away from the Israeli border. “There are a number of options being discussed for The Day After Hamas,” said Ophir Falk, a senior adviser to Netanyahu. “The common denominator of all the plans is that 1) there is no Hamas 2) that Gaza is demilitarized 3) Gaza is deradicalized.”Israel withdrew troops and settlers in 2005 but kept control over Gaza’s airspace, coastline, population registry and border crossings, excepting one into Egypt. Hamas seized power from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, confining his Palestinian Authority to parts of the occupied West Bank. Since then, Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza to varying degrees.In his ABC interview, Netanyahu also expressed openness for the first time to “little pauses” in the fighting to facilitate delivery of aid to Gaza or the release of hostages. But he ruled out any general cease-fire without the release of all the hostages.
HEAVY FIGHTING IN THE NORTH
For now, Israel’s troops are focused on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, which before the war was home to about 650,000 people. Israel says Hamas has extensive militant infrastructure within residential areas, including a vast tunnel network.
The military says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters. The Gaza Health Ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants — and slain fighters not brought to hospitals would not be in its count. Israel also says 30 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began.
Several hundred thousand people are believed to remain in the north in the assault’s path. Residents in northern Gaza reported heavy battles overnight into Tuesday morning on the outskirts of Gaza City. The Shati refugee camp — a built-up district housing refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants — has been heavily bombarded over the past two days, residents said. The war has also stoked wider tensions, with Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group trading fire along the border. More than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war began, mainly during violent protests and gunbattles with Israeli forces during arrest raids. Hundreds of trucks carrying aid have been allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt since Oct. 21. But humanitarian workers say the aid is far short of mounting needs. Egypt’s Rafah Crossing has also opened to allow hundreds of foreign passport holders and medical patients to leave Gaza.

Israeli military says its ground forces are battling Hamas 'in the depths' of Gaza City
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP)/November 7, 2023
The Israeli military said Tuesday that its ground forces are now fighting in “the depths” of Gaza City. The comments signaled a new stage by the Israeli military as it moves in toward what it says is the headquarters and stronghold of the Hamas militant group. Speaking to reporters, the chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that Israeli ground forces “are located right now in a ground operation in the depths of Gaza City and putting great pressure on Hamas.” Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel was making great progress in its war, saying that the army has killed thousands of Hamas fighters.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel will take “overall security responsibility” in Gaza indefinitely after its war with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to maintain control there one month into a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and leveled swaths of the territory. In an interview with ABC News that aired late Monday, Netanyahu expressed openness to “little pauses” in the fighting to facilitate delivery of aid to Gaza or the release of some of the more than 240 hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war. But he ruled out any general cease-fire without the release of all the hostages. The White House said there was no agreement on U.S. President Joe Biden’s call for a broader humanitarian pause after a phone call between the leaders. The war has already come at a staggering cost, and Israel unleashed another wave of strikes across the territory Tuesday. Entire city blocks have been reduced to rubble, and around 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, with many heeding Israeli orders to head to the southern part of the besieged territory, which is also being bombed.
MORE THAN 10,000 PALESTINIANS KILLED
Israeli troops have been battling Palestinian militants inside Gaza for over a week, and have succeeded in cutting the territory in half and encircling Gaza City. Food, medicine, fuel and water are running low, and United Nations-run schools-turned-shelters are overflowing. The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 10,300, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. More than 2,300 people are missing and believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, the ministry said. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and Israel says it has killed thousands of fighters. About 1,400 people in Israel have died, mostly civilians killed during the Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas. Israelis observed a moment of silence Tuesday in memory of the victims. The 30th day is a milestone in Jewish mourning, and memorial events are planned in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The military says 30 Israeli troops have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began. In southern Gaza, where Palestinians have been told to seek refuge, an Israeli airstrike destroyed several homes early Tuesday in the town of Khan Younis. An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw first responders pulling out five bodies — including three dead children — from the rubble. One man wept as he carried a bloodied young girl, until a rescue worker pried her from his arms, saying, “Let her go, let her go,” to rush her to an ambulance. AP video taken at a nearby hospital showed a woman desperately searching for her son and then crying and kissing him when she found him, half-naked and bloodied, but apparently without serious injuries. A girl sobbed next to a baby on a stretcher, apparently dead. “We were sleeping, babies, children, elderly people … I’m not sure about their fate,” said one survivor, Ahmad al-Najjar, who is the general director at the Education Ministry in Gaza. In the central town of Deir al-Balah, rescue workers ran carrying a number of wounded, dust-covered children and young girls from the wreckage of a flattened building. “My daughter,” screamed a woman as she ran behind them. The number of casualties in the strike was not immediately known. An airstrike destroyed a home in the southern city of Rafah, killing at least five people, including three children, according to the municipality and a local hospital.
ISRAEL TO MAINTAIN CONTROL
Israel has vowed to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities — but neither Israel nor its main ally, the United States, has said what would come next. Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas,” without elaborating. “I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he said. Netanyahu dd not make clear what shape that security control would take. U.S. officials have advised that Israel should not re-occupy Gaza. Israel withdrew troops and settlers in 2005 but kept control over Gaza's airspace, coastline, population registry and border crossings, excepting one into Egypt. Hamas seized power from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, confining his Palestinian Authority to parts of the occupied West Bank. Since then, Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza to varying degrees. Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem — the three territories that Palestinians want for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. It annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
HEAVY FIGHTING IN THE NORTH
For now, Israel’s troops are focused on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, which before the war was home to some 650,000 people. Israel says Hamas has extensive militant infrastructure within residential areas, including a vast tunnel network, and accuses it of using civilians as human shields. Several hundred thousand people are believed to remain in the north in the assault’s path. Thousands have traveled south in recent days on a corridor Israel has told residents to use to evacuate. But many are afraid to use the route, part of which is held by Israeli troops. Residents in northern Gaza reported heavy battles overnight into Tuesday morning on the outskirts of Gaza City. The Shati refugee camp — a built-up district housing refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants — has been heavily bombarded over the past two days, residents said. Marwan Abdullah, who is among thousands of people sheltering at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, said they heard constant explosions overnight as ambulances brought in dead and wounded from the Shati camp, about a mile away (1.6 kilometers). “We couldn’t sleep. Things get worse day by day,” he said. The war has also stoked wider tensions, with Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group trading fire along the border. More than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war began, mainly during violent protests and gunbattles with Israeli forces during arrest raids. Hamas and other militants have continued firing rockets into Israel, disrupting daily life even as most are intercepted or fall in open areas. Tens of thousands of Israelis have evacuated from communities near the borders with Gaza and Lebanon. Hundreds of trucks carrying aid have been allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt since Oct. 21. But humanitarian workers say the aid is far short of mounting needs. Egypt’s Rafah Crossing has also opened to allow hundreds of foreign passport holders and medical patients to leave Gaza.

Israel open to 'little pauses' as it bombards Gaza
The Associated Press/November 7, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will have “overall security responsibility” in Gaza “for an indefinite period” after its war with Hamas and expressed openness to “little pauses” in the current fighting to facilitate the release of hostages. His comments, in an interview that aired late Monday on ABC News, offered the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to maintain control over the territory that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians. Netanyahu ruled out any general cease-fire without the release of the more than 240 captives seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 raid into Israel, but said he was open to “tactical little pauses.” U.S. President Joe Biden had raised the need for humanitarian pauses directly with Netanyahu on a call earlier Monday, but no agreement was reached, the White House said. The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 10,000, including more than 4,100 children and 2,640 women, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
Currently:
— Israeli military says it has surrounded Gaza City and is preparing for expected ground battles.
— South Africa recalls diplomatic mission to Israel and accuses it of genocide in Gaza.
— Majority of Israelis are confident in justice of Gaza war, even as world sentiment sours.
— U.S. secretary of state ends Mideast tour with tepid support for pauses in fighting.
— A U.N. official says the average Palestinian in Gaza is living on two pieces of bread a day.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
GERMANY RELEASES $97 MILLION FOR UN PALESTINIAN REFUGEE AGENCY
BERLIN -– The German government says it is releasing 91 million euros ($97 million) for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees following a review that it launched after Hamas attacked Israel. Germany on Oct. 8 suspended development aid for the Palestinian areas pending a review, though it has kept up humanitarian aid. The Development Ministry said Tuesday that it hasn’t yet completed the review, but focused initially on U.N. agency UNRWA. It said that “as a first partial result” it has decided to release 71 million euros already earmarked for UNRWA and to add 20 million euros in new funding. It said that funding, announced by Development Minister Svenja Schulze after a meeting in Jordan with the head of UNRWA, will be used to help continue providing basic services -– particularly drinking water --- to displaced people in the Gaza Strip and help Palestinian refugees in Jordan.
BLINKEN SEEKS G7 CONSENSUS ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
TOKYO — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shifted his intense diplomacy on the Israel-Hamas war to Asia on Tuesday with an appeal for the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies to forge a consensus on how to deal with the crisis.
As he and his G7 counterparts began two days of talks in Japan, Blinken said it was critically important for the group to show unity as it has over Russia’s war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing differences on Gaza from deepening.
“This is a very important moment as well for the G7 to come together in the face of this crisis and to speak, as we do, with one clear voice,” Blinken told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa. The devastating monthlong conflict in Gaza and efforts to ease the dire humanitarian impacts of Israel’s response to the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack will be a major focus of the meeting. Yet with the Russia-Ukraine war, fears North Korea may be readying a new nuclear test, and concerns about China’s increasing global assertiveness, it is far from the only crisis on the agenda.
ISRAELIS OBSERVE ONE-MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF HAMAS ASSAULT
JERUSALEM — Israelis observed a minute of silence on Tuesday morning in memory of the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and the 348 soldiers killed since the assault, on its one-month anniversary. Israelis are marking the anniversary as a day of mourning over the attack, in which more than 1,400 people were killed and 242 were taken hostage. The one-month anniversary is a milestone in the timeline of Jewish mourning. Memorial events are scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem later in the day.
UAE TO ESTABLISH 150-BED FIELD HOSPITAL IN GAZA
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates says it will establish a field hospital in Gaza with 150 beds, a surgery department and intensive care units for adults and children. The state-run WAM news agency reported the move late Monday, saying five aircraft had flown to Egypt, where the equipment will be unloaded and transferred to Gaza. It says the hospital will be set up in multiple stages, without providing an exact timetable. The UAE was the driving force behind the Abraham Accords in which four Arab countries normalized relations with Israel in 2020. The wealthy Persian Gulf country has previously said it would provide $20 million in aid to the Palestinian people and bring about 1,000 Palestinian children, along with their families, to the UAE for medical treatment.
PAKISTAN SENDS SECOND PLANELOAD OF RELIEF GOODS FOR GAZA
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan sent a second planeload of relief goods for people in Gaza on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said. It said the humanitarian assistance consisted of hygiene kits, medicines and food. Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani expressed Pakistan’s full solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemned Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. He said Israel was targeting civilians, including women and children, and demanded an end to the strikes.
SINGAPORE WARNS AGAINST DISPLAYING EMBLEMS LINKED TO ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Singapore’s government has warned that anyone who displays or wears emblems linked to the Israel-Hamas war could be jailed, saying the conflict was an “emotive issue” that could disrupt national peace. The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement late Monday that Singapore’s laws prohibited the display or wearing of foreign national emblems, including flags and banners of any state. It also warned that promoting or supporting terrorism by exhibiting apparel or paraphernalia with logos of terrorist or militant groups such as Hamas or its military wing, Al-Qassam Brigade, will not be condoned. Those convicted face up to six months in prison or a fine of up to 500 Singapore dollars ($370) or both. Travelers who wear such apparel can also be denied entry into Singapore, it added.
NETANYAHU SAYS ISRAEL OPEN TO ‘LITTLE PAUSES’ IN FIGHTING
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was open to “little pauses” in its fight against Hamas — although it was not clear whether some kind of small stoppage had been agreed to or whether the U.S. was satisfied with the scope of the Israeli commitment. U.S. President Joe Biden had raised the need for humanitarian pauses directly with Netanyahu on a call earlier Monday, but there was no agreement reached, the White House said. Lulls in the fighting are being sought to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and the release of some of the estimated 240 hostages that Hamas seized during its Oct. 7 raid into Israel. Netanyahu, in an interview Monday night with ABC News, also said there would be no general cease-fire in Gaza without the release of the hostages.
UNITED NATIONS FAILS TO AGREE ON RESOLUTION TO HALT GAZA WAR
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council has failed again to agree on a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war. Despite more than two hours of closed-door discussions Monday, differences remained. The U.S. is calling for “humanitarian pauses” and many council members are demanding a “humanitarian cease-fire” to deliver desperately needed aid and prevent more civilian deaths in Gaza. “We talked about humanitarian pauses and we’re interested in pursuing language on that score,” U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told reporters after the meeting. “But there are disagreements within the council about whether that’s acceptable.”Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier Monday told reporters he wanted an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and a halt to the “spiral of escalation” already taking place from the occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Syria to Iraq and Yemen. Guterres said international humanitarian law, which demands protection of civilians and infrastructure essential for their lives, is clearly being violated and stressed that “no party to an armed conflict is above” these laws. He called for the immediate unconditional release of the hostages Hamas took from Israel to Gaza in its Oct. 7 attack. China, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, and the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council, called Monday’s meeting because of the “crisis of humanity” in Gaza, where more than 10,000 people have been killed in less than a month.
PROTESTERS BLOCK ROAD AT US PORT AS MILITARY CARGO SHIP DOCKS
TACOMA, Wash. — Hundreds of protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza blocked traffic on Tuesday at the Port of Tacoma, where a military supply ship had recently arrived. Organizers say they targeted the vessel based on confidential information that it was to be loaded with weapons bound for Israel. Those claims could not immediately be verified. Police said no arrests had been made. The Defense Department confirmed that the ship is supporting the movement of U.S. military cargo. The Cape Orlando drew similar protests in Oakland, California, on Friday before it sailed to Tacoma.

One month into Israel-Hamas war, more than 10,000 killed in Gaza, almost 1.5 million displaced
Beatrice Farhat/Al-Monitor/November 07/2023
The Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has entered its second month. The death toll has reached 10,328, including 4,237 children, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said on Tuesday. More than 25,000 others have been injured, the ministry says, as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. The prospects of a cease-fire remain dim after the United Nations Security Council failed again on Monday to agree on a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war. "We talked about humanitarian pauses and we’re interested in pursuing language on that score,” Washington's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, told reporters after the meeting. Other council members are calling for a complete cease-fire. Almost 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the UN. Israel urged citizens to move to the southern part of the Gaza Strip ahead of its ground invasion. The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that a corridor had been established for Gazans to flee and shared videos showing groups of civilians waving white flags as they headed south.
"The IDF has once again opened a corridor to evacuate civilians from the northern part of Gaza to the southern part," the IDF account posted on X. The Hamas Information Ministry responded, "The [Israeli] army rounded up dozens of Palestinians who asked to evacuate to the south and photographed them in a humiliating way to argue there is a flow of refugees to the south.”Rights groups have criticized Israel for failing to protect hospitals, schools and houses of worship amid its heavy airstrikes. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said on Monday that 88 of its staff members have been killed since the war started and 48 of its facilities have been damaged. UNRWA warned of a public health crisis in its overcrowded facilities, where roughly 717,000 Palestinians are sheltering. Hospitals and medical centers across the Gaza Strip have also been subject to heavy bombardment. The World Health Organization said in a Nov. 5 post on X that it had so far "documented 102 attacks on health care [facilities] in the Gaza Strip." On Saturday, at least 15 people were killed in an airstrike on an ambulance outside Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The Israeli army claimed the ambulance was being used by Hamas operatives.
"The deliberate targeting of medical teams constitutes a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions, a war crime," the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement on X.
The IDF said in a statement that “a number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike,” adding, “We have information which demonstrates that Hamas’s method of operation is to transfer terror operatives and weapons in ambulances.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack while renewing calls for an immediate cease-fire. “I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa Hospital,” he said in a statement. “Now, for nearly one month, civilians in Gaza, including children and women, have been besieged, denied aid, killed, and bombed out of their homes, "he added. "This must stop."Israel has tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas' attack. Since then, no fuel has been allowed into the Strip. A total of 569 aid trucks carrying food, water and medication have entered the enclave since the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Oct. 21, according to the United Nations. On Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk headed to Egypt and Jordan as part of a five-day regional tour amid the ongoing escalation.
“It has been one full month of carnage, of incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, outrage and despair,” Turk said in a statement, adding, “Human rights violations are at the root of this escalation and human rights play a central role in finding a way out of this vortex of pain.”

Israel advances rapidly in Gaza, but eliminating Hamas leaders to take time
Ben Caspit/Al-Monitor/November 07/2023
TEL AVIV — The Israeli army has been advancing quicker than its own commanders anticipated in encircling Gaza City and reaching Hamas headquarters, but accomplishing the goal of eliminating the group’s political and military leadership would take time, a commodity Israel is currently short of.
Taking into account American pressure for a humanitarian pause, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told American broadcaster ABC News on Monday that Israel might agree to "small cease-fires, an hour here and an hour there," for delivering humanitarian aid, emphasizing that a full cease-fire "will delay the war effort."Israel’s vision of a knockout victory over Hamas is simple: assassinating or capturing the organization’s entire military and political leadership, killing all the planners and perpetrators of the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel, eliminating all Hamas arsenals and firepower, and denying the organization any ability to run the Gaza Strip or maintain its sovereignty there.
'Give us time'
No Israeli decision-maker is willing to bet on how long it will take to achieve such ambitious goals. Politicians and generals have been preparing the Israeli public for a long war. When pressed, they talk about a month or two of high-intensity warfare, followed by a force drawdown and continued operations in Gaza to complete the tasks. This second stage would allow time to build a mechanism for transferring control of the enclave to a third party. Force commanders on the ground, some of whom spoke to Al-Monitor in recent days, believe these goals are achievable: Give us time and backup, and we will do the rest, they say. They will have their work cut out for them in convincing Israelis that the Hamas threat has been eliminated. The Oct. 7 carnage destroyed the nation’s collective and personal sense of security. Restoring Israelis' self-confidence and convincing residents of the Gaza border communities to return to their homes at the site of the worst civilian disaster to strike Israel in its 75-year history will be a residual uphill battle.
The top brass says the war plan is advancing faster than expected, with forces exerting unprecedented pressure on Hamas. Three divisions are currently operating in Gaza with artillery, helicopter gunships, drones and fighter jets backing up their advance every step of the way. The forces have encircled Gaza City from the north, south, west and east, hemming in the Hamas command and control centers located inside and below the beleaguered town. The Israeli Combat Engineering Corps has been exposing and bombing every Hamas shaft and tunnel along the troops’ advance.
According to the military, Hamas has so far avoided for the most part confronting the troops head on, opting to exploit its advantage in ambushing and attacking them from tunnels, and booby-trapping their route.
The number of Israeli casualties, as of now, is at the low end of the preliminary estimates provided by planners. Based on similar battles fought by US and other troops over the past decade — against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Mosul and Raqqa, for example — the projections indicated a daily death toll of four to 20 fighters. At the moment, the numbers are lower. On the other hand, Hamas is not showing any signs of breaking and has maintained much of its military strength.
"This will not end until we reach the command bunker of Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif," a senior Israeli military source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, referring to the top Hamas leader in Gaza and the chief of its military wing. "It will be expensive and ugly, but we will not leave Gaza before that happens."Hamas knows that ultimately it does not stand a chance against what Israel describes as an unprecedented "rolling curtain" of artillery and aerial fire.
This week, I visited the 162nd Armor Division, aka the Steel Formation, which directs all the firepower at Gaza. A representative of the military advocate’s office embedded with the unit approves the targets in accordance with the international laws of war and intelligence information. The UN and other rights groups have accused Israel and Hamas of not following international laws of war. "We enter a new area only after the population has left and we have taken all measures to get them to leave. We only strike targets used for terrorist activity and Hamas operatives," one of the senior officers explained. "We accompany the forces with a screen of fire and destroy everything that threatens them, using everything the division has to offer, including close air force cover."
In a clear indication of things to come, the military’s top spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, has repeatedly mentioned in his recent daily briefings that al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest medical facility, shields the underground Hamas nerve center and military command. Reporters have also been presented with video and audio clips, photos and testimony to prove that Hamas was launching rockets at Israel from tunnel shafts located dozens of meters from the hospital.
Hospital compound not off limits
Military and security officials admit that Israel will eventually have little choice but to roll into the compound and purge it of the Hamas commanders. To that end, advanced discussions are underway on equipping field hospitals inside or near the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian side, as an alternative to al-Shifa hospital. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have already begun setting up such facilities. Preparing public opinion for a potential operation at the hospital site as the pinnacle of its war against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly insisted that it cannot guarantee wartime immunity to hospitals harboring assailants.
A senior Israeli source told Al-Monitor that the Hamas leadership was mistaken in thinking Israel would avoid the hospital compound. “Wherever Hamas is located, we are allowed to harm it. This is a murderous ISIS-style terrorist organization that commits horrific war crimes on a daily basis. They will not escape punishment this time," he said speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israel has met the goals set out in its updated planning for the first stage of the ground offensive, launched 10 days ago. The military estimates that between 1,500 and 2,000 assailants have been killed, including some 15 officers at tactical command levels (battalion and brigade). Commanders are satisfied with what they describe as almost perfect coordination among air, ground, naval, intelligence and other support units.
But this performance does not diminish from the magnitude of the intelligence and tactical failure that allowed some 3,000 Hamas assailants to slaughter 1,400 Israelis, and take back to Gaza more than 200 hostages, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimates. The Hamas-run Health Ministry has claimed that over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7. Israeli authorities have raised doubts about those claims, but the war — now in its second month — is the deadliest since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
The military’s wish for time and patience should be addressed mainly to Washington, where patience with the disastrous civilian death toll in Gaza is waning. The demand for a humanitarian pause, already presented to Israel by top American officials, is expected to intensify as early as next week. IDF commanders say that Israel must find a way to persuade the Biden administration to allow it more time as a prerequisite for a real and effective victory over Hamas.

New attacks hit US bases in Iraq, Syria as Iran ups threats over Gaza
Jared Szuba/Al-Monitor/November 07/2023
WASHINGTON — US troops in Iraq and Syria came under a spate of new rocket and drone attacks over the weekend, as the Pentagon sent an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine into the region to join two aircraft carrier strike groups in a bid to deter Iran and its proxies from exploiting Israel’s war in Gaza.US troops at the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq’s Anbar province and at three separate bases in Syria have shot down at least six separate one-way attack drones directed at their positions since Friday, a defense official revealed to Al-Monitor on Monday.
On Sunday alone, US troops shot down drones in three attacks targeting the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq and one each targeting separate US bases at al-Tanf and Tal Baydar in Syria. US forces at al-Asad airbase shot down two attempted one-way drone attacks Sunday morning and afternoon before responding a third barrage of multiple drones and rockets Sunday night, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Pentagon officials did not say which groups were behind the latest attacks but have blamed Iran-backed militias for previous such incidents, many of which have been claimed by a media front associated with such militias. White House and Pentagon officials have said they will hold Iran accountable for attacks by its proxies and reserve the right to respond in self-defense.
No US troops were reported injured and no damage incurred in the latest attacks, Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Monday.
Nor have any US troops been injured in the attacks since President Joe Biden authorized airstrikes targeting two facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and associated groups in eastern Syria on Oct. 26, one US military official told Al-Monitor. But the number of American personnel reporting traumatic brain injuries resulting from prior attacks, including two that hit the Ain al-Asad air base and the Al-Tanf garrison on Oct. 17-18, have doubled, the Pentagon revealed on Monday. A total of 46 American personnel have reported injuries from those attacks, Ryder said, marking a significant uptick in reports of concussive injury symptoms which were first reported by Al-Monitor. In all, US troops in Iraq and Syria have come under attack 38 separate times since Oct. 17, he said.
Coalition troops successfully thwarted most of those attacks thanks to "robust defenses," the US defense official told Al-Monitor. Why it matters: Iran-backed groups are threatening to increase their attacks on American troops in the region as Israel’s war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip grinds on into its second month. The continued attacks suggest the militias are signaling they do not intend to stand down. Asaib Ahl al-Haqq on Sunday released a statement threatening to target the US Embassy and bases in Iraq. The so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a suspected media front for IRGC-backed militias in Iraq, claimed on social media on Monday to have unveiled a new missile resembling previously known Iranian models. Iran’s Defense Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani on Sunday publicly warned that Americans “will be hit hard” if Washington does not “immediately halt the war in Gaza and implement a cease-fire,” Iran International reported. President Biden and other US officials have repeatedly warned Iran and Iran-backed groups not to launch opportunistic attacks on US troops or their allies.
"We will continue to adjust our force posture in the region to make sure we can protect our troops and our facilities on the ground and continue to send a strong deterrent message," White House National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Monday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a stop in Baghdad to meet with Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani, as Washington seeks Iraqi security forces’ support in cracking down on the attacks. Blinken’s stop in Iraq, which came amid a wider diplomatic tour of the region, was not announced prior to his arrival, underscoring Washington's concerns about security.
What’s next: The White House on Monday confirmed the Biden administration still does not support the prospect of a cease-fire despite increasing international calls and repeated pleas by top UN officials. US President Joe Biden discussed with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday the potential for implementing “tactical pauses” in Israel’s campaign to allow civilians to flee and to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, Kirby said. “We believe we’re at the beginning of these conversations, not the end,” Kirby told reporters Monday. “In the early goings here, Israel was very resistant to humanitarian assistance getting in at all.”Some 30 truckloads of humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing since Sunday, marking a total of 476 truckloads since Oct. 21 — which Kirby described as "a trickle" and "not enough."
“I repeatedly made clear to Israel’s leaders that protecting civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Senate lawmakers last week, in reference to conversations held during his Oct. 13 visit to Israel. Kirby on Monday seemed to suggested that US officials have seen signs of Israeli forces attempting to minimize civilian casualties, but he did not cite any evidence for the assertion. “We have seen some indications that there are efforts being applied in certain scenarios to try to minimize, but I don’t want to overstate that," Kirby said. Health authorities in Gaza have reported more than 10,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s campaign, which began in response to an Oct. 7 terrorist attack in which Hamas fighters killed 1,400 people across southern Israel.
Israeli forces on Friday bombed the lead ambulance in a convoy of five near the al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, killing 15 people and injuring more than 60, the Palestine Red Crescent said. Israel’s Air Force alleged the ambulance it targeted was being used by "a Hamas terrorist cell," but had not released any evidence as of publictation time. Know more: Read Suadad al-Salhy's inside reporting at Al-Monitor on the rift between Iran-backed groups in Iraq over whether they should get involved in the Israel-Gaza war.

Iran's Khamenei urges Iraq PM to pressure US over Gaza
Al-Monitor/November 07/2023
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said pressure must build on the United States to end Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip, his official website reported on Monday. "The Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq can act in liaison and play an effective part in this regard," Khamenei told Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who was on a brief visit to Tehran that was focused on coordinating diplomacy at the height of the deadly Israel-Hamas conflict. The Iranian leader renewed his condemnation of Washington's support for Israel, saying the US government was "truly an accomplice to the Zionist crimes in Gaza." He claimed that there was more than enough evidence proving that "America was directly leading the war," without which Israel would be unable to press ahead. The hard-line cleric called for urgent humanitarian help for Gaza and "an end to the crimes by the Zionist entity." The Iraqi premier's visit also occurred only one day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Baghdad on an unannounced trip. Iran-backed Shiite militia groups have claimed responsibility for a chain of attacks targeting US bases in Iraq and Syria over the past two weeks. Those proxies, which Iran refers to as "resistance groups," had pledged to hit US interests if Israel refused to halt its attacks on the Gaza Strip, which were triggered by Hamas' bloody Oct. 7 operation in southern Israel. Reporting by Iran's state-controlled media did not highlight a link between Blinken's visit to Baghdad and that of Sudani to Tehran. But Iraq's Shafaaq news said Sudani was carrying messages to the Iranian leadership, including a US warning to restrain the armed proxies. In Baghdad, Blinken had already announced that the threats coming from Iran-aligned militias were unacceptable and that "we will take every necessary step to protect our people." Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, the United States has relentlessly pushed to stop other actors from being dragged in. Iran has held the same position in its official statements as well but has also warned that proxies could be activated at any moment. Tehran also insists that the United States "is not being sincere" in its overall stance on the Israel-Hamas war. At a joint press conference with Sudani in Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi said US statements about efforts for humanitarian pauses in Gaza were "absolute lies." Proof of that, according to Raisi, was Washington's veto at the UN Security Council of an Oct. 18 draft resolution proposing a cease-fire. Separately, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Iran's state TV on Monday that Tehran had received messages from Washington indicating that the latter was seeking a "cease-fire" in Gaza. He said, however, that the US support for the Israeli "massacre" was not in line with those messages. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council dismissed Amir-Abdollahian's claim about the content of the message as "categorically false." In an interview with CNN, the unnamed official said the message was indeed a warning to Tehran not to expand the ongoing conflict. The back and forth continued as Amir-Abdollahian declared on his X account that Tehran had indeed received the cease-fire message. He called on the United States to give up "hypocrisy" and put an end to what he called "the Gaza genocide."

The world is turning against Israel’s war in Gaza – and many Israelis don’t understand why
Ivana Kottasová and Adi Koplewitz, CNN/November 7, 2023
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.
Yoav Peled says he has started wondering if the world has gone mad.
Sitting outside the Kirya, Israel’s equivalent of the Pentagon in Tel Aviv, Peled was cutting pieces of yellow ribbon off a large wheel last Thursday, handing them out to strangers passing by. The bands symbolize solidarity with the roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. It is this solidarity – and specifically whether it still extends beyond Israel’s borders – that Peled was questioning.
“I used to consider myself part of the extreme liberals, whatever they call themselves. But when I see demonstrations with cries in support of Hamas and stuff like that, I doubt that the world understands complexity … and when they can’t understand complexity, they see this as a one-sided thing and their sense of justice is very simple. But it’s not simple,” he told CNN. “I think the governments understand this, but the people… I don’t know.”
As global leaders continue to pile pressure on Israel over the mounting civilian death toll from its bombardment of Gaza and huge crowds gather for pro-Palestinian protests in cities like London, Washington DC, Berlin, Paris, Amman and Cairo – almost all in support of civilians in Gaza, rather than Hamas – many Israelis are getting frustrated with what they see as unequal treatment.
It’s a feeling that cuts across the deep divisions within Israeli society: the world does not understand us.
“The world loves us as victims. I’m sorry to say that, but yes, they love Israel, they sympathize with the Jews when we are victims, when they kill us. But when we do things to protect ourselves? No,” Sigal Itzahak told CNN.
A teacher at a religious school for girls, Itzahak brought some of her students to the little plaza outside the Kirya where Peled was handing out the ribbons. The spot has become a gathering place for the victims’ families, their supporters, and well-wishers after the October 7 terror attacks.
Missing people posters and photographs of the victims are displayed on the wall of the government complex, a seemingly never-ending row of smiling faces of men, women, children, babies, soldiers, and, at times, entire families.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said more than 1,400 people were murdered in the attacks. About 240 people were kidnapped and are believed to be held by Hamas and others in Gaza. Four women – two Americans and two Israelis – have been released, while one soldier has been rescued by the IDF.
“I think any country in the world that would find itself in our situation would probably do much, much more and no one would say anything. It’s just the Jews. Because the Jews are not entitled to live in a country in peace. That’s what we want. And I’m sorry, but no one understands it,” Itzahak said.
Anger against Netanyahu
There is a lot of love outside the Kirya complex. Some people come here to pray, hug each other, and spend time together. The group of students brought by Itzahak came with dozens of freshly baked loaves of bread, a powerful and deeply meaningful gesture in Judaism. But there’s also a lot of anger and frustration. Most of it is aimed squarely at Israel’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Benny Zweig, a retired professor of sociology and political science, told CNN he has been coming to the square to protest against Netanyahu since day one of the war.
“Two shifts a day. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.,” he said, holding a sign depicting Netanyahu and other members of his government in jail.
Like many in Israel, Zweig is placing some of the blame for the brutal October 7 Hamas attack on Netanyahu. “We should have taken down Hamas a long time ago, but instead Netanyahu started allowing Qatari money in,” he said referencing Netanyahu’s decision to allow Qatar to transfer millions of dollars to Hamas-run Gaza in 2018. “You’re not going to change a terror organization’s agenda with money. Now, the price of taking them down will be much higher,” Zweig said.
It’s been a month since the attack and Ruby Chen still has had no news about his son, Itay. The second of three sons, a former Boy Scout, and a fierce basketball player, Itay was kidnapped on October 7. Like many of the families with loved ones held in Gaza, Chen is pushing for the Israeli government to do whatever it can to bring the hostages home. “It should not be the second co-objective of the war. It must be the first, the second, and the third objective to bring the hostages back,” he told CNN.
On Saturday night, Chen and hundreds of other family members of the hostages gathered outside the Kirya to demand “greater actions by the government.”
They pitched up tents in the plaza, vowing to stay until their children, siblings, parents, grandparents, and other loved ones were released.
The organizers of the event said it was not “an anti-government protest,” but their frustration was clear. In the early days after the Hamas terror attack, many of the hostages’ families were reluctant to criticize the government of Netanyahu. That has now changed.
A strongly worded statement issued by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum last week spoke of the “enormous anger” that the government was not speaking to them about the operation in Gaza.
A tense meeting between Netanyahu and some of the families, led to further heated exchanges, including a demand that the government should consider an “everyone for every one deal” floated by Hamas in a statement the terror group issued last week.
Such a deal would involve exchanging the hostages for Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons – some 6,630 people, according to estimates by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
It would be highly controversial because many of the prisoners have been either convicted or held on charges or suspicions related to acts of terrorism.
The IDF dismissed the Hamas offer as a tool of “psychological terror aimed to manipulate Israeli civilians.”
In October 2011, Israel agreed to exchange Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier kidnapped by Hamas in 2006, for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including convicted terrorists who went on to carry out further attacks. Yahya Sinwar, who heads Hamas in Gaza and was identified by the IDF as one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attacks, was one of those released in the deal.
Chen said he still believes the government should do everything it can to secure the release of the hostages. “I’m not in a position to understand the dynamics. At the end of the day, we look at the end results … I still don’t know if my kid is dead or alive. That’s the bottom line,” he added.
The families have said that no ceasefire should be agreed until all the hostages are released. And the country is behind them. Anger about the government’s response to the crisis is mounting even among some of the people who have previously supported Netanyahu and his government. “I voted for someone else, but I think he has done wonderful things for Israel, he was a soldier, he was a courageous soldier, but he has been the prime minister for 15 years, so he is to blame. And he has to go. I think everybody knows this and he knows it as well,” Itzahak said.
Support for Netanyahu and his government has collapsed, with the latest polling conducted by Tel Aviv University for Israeli media showing the vast majority of Israelis want Netanyahu to quit. But while the government’s approval ratings are nose-diving, the decision to launch a war on Hamas has firm backing from most Jewish Israelis – despite the strong international criticism. And while most of Israel’s Arab and Palestinian citizens, and a small minority of Jews, don’t approve of the war, a wide-ranging crackdown on freedom of speech means that any form of dissent against the war is risky.
Dozens of Palestinian residents and citizens of Israel have been arrested in Israel for expressing solidarity with Gaza and its civilian population. Israel Police said that as of October 25, it had arrested 110 people since the start of the war for allegedly inciting violence and terrorism, mostly on social media. Of these arrests, 17 resulted in indictments. Public displays of solidarity with Gaza or criticism of Israel’s military response are few and far between. Demonstrations against the war have been banned and more than 100 people have been arrested for posting messages of solidarity with Gaza on social media.
‘Very fine line’ in criticizing Israel
“I am 22 and I’ve been to four funerals in the past four weeks, and two more funerals in the past year, when two of my friends were killed in terror attacks,” Yonatan Rapaport told CNN at Zion Square in Jerusalem city center on Thursday.
A musician who recently finished his compulsory military service with the Israeli Navy – including stints patrolling around the Gaza Strip – Rapaport said he, too, was getting frustrated with the world’s reaction to the events in Gaza.
“When people ask, ‘why are you taking Gaza?’ what I don’t understand is – do we not have the right to protect our civilians and soldiers? What is a proportionate response? We try not to kill civilians,” he said.
“This conflict (between Israel and the Palestinians) isn’t black and white, but this war (with Hamas) is,” he added. “There’s very valid criticism of the Israeli government and Israel, but there’s a very fine line that has been crossed in a lot of these conversations between criticizing Israel and hating Jews. You can criticize Israel occupying the West Bank or Gaza, but you can’t say oh, so because of that it’s okay to kill 1,400 civilians.”Rapaport said he had criticized Netanyahu’s government before the war, opposing his plans to reform the judicial system – a major fault line that has split the country.
“After the war, I think the whole government should go. But now… we are at war. I don’t trust Netanyahu as a person, but I have to trust him as a leader,” he said.
Later that night, Rapaport joined a large circle of musicians and mostly young people sitting at Zion Square. They were playing guitars and singing classic Israeli hits.
The songs ranged from sad to hopeful. Among them, “Lu Yehi,” a song inspired by the Beatles’ song “Let It Be.” The ballad was written by Naomi Shemer in 1973, during the first days of the Yom Kippur War, and has since become synonymous with that war and hope for Israel’s victory.
On Thursday night, the song’s words rang out in Zion Square, almost exactly 50 years since its debut and with Israel once more at war.

An American nurse who was evacuated from Gaza describes the hospital staff who stayed behind: 'We're going to die saving as many people as we can'
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert,Kwan Wei Kevin Tan/November 7, 2023
An American nurse working with Doctors Without Borders has returned home after working in Gaza. Emily Callahan told CNN some of her colleagues chose to stay behind, knowing they may die there. "We're going to die saving as many people as we can," Callahan said her colleagues told her. An American nurse who returned to the US last week after working in Gaza told CNN on Monday that some of her colleagues chose to stay in the region despite knowing they could be killed. Emily Callahan, a nurse activity manager for Doctors Without Borders, had been in Gaza since August. She was evacuated on Wednesday.In an interview with CNN, Callahan described thousands of Palestinians living in unsanitary conditions while grappling with attacks from Israel as the country wages war with Hamas. "There were children with just massive burns down their faces, down their necks, all over their limbs, and because the hospitals are so overwhelmed, they are being discharged immediately after," Callahan told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "And they're being discharged to these camps with no access to running water. There's 50,000 people at that camp now and four toilets, and they're given two hours of water every 12 hours," Callahan continued. Callahan told CNN that one of her colleagues, a nurse, was killed in the first weekend of counter-strikes after Hamas launched a series of brutal terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7.
"He was killed when the ambulance outside the hospital was blown up," Callahan said. When the evacuation orders to leave Gaza came, Callahan said she immediately texted members of her hospital staff to see if they'd come with her.
"I said, 'Did any of you move south? Did any of you get out like, are any of you coming down this way?'" Callahan said. "And the only answer I got was, 'This is our community. This is our family. These are our friends. If they're going to kill us, we're going to die saving as many people as we can.'"
Now, she said she worries every day about the safety of her colleagues."I wake up every morning and I send out a text message and I ask, 'Are you alive?'" Callahan told CNN. "And every night before I go to sleep I send another message that says, 'Are you alive?'"Israel has launched a devastating and ongoing series of airstrikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip since it declared war on Hamas on October 8. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed aside calls for a ceasefire, saying it would not be possible "without the return of the hostages."
Hamas has taken at least 242 hostages since it attacked Israel in October, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Four hostages have been released by Hamas, while another was rescued by the Israeli military. "We say this to our friends and to our enemies. We will simply continue until we defeat them. We have no alternative," Netanyahu told Israeli troops at an air force base in southern Israel on Sunday. The ongoing war has resulted in civilian deaths and injuries on both sides. More than 1,400 Israelis have died, while Gaza officials say that over 10,000 Palestinians have died, with thousands more injured.

Cyprus has a plan for a humanitarian sea corridor to Gaza and will present it to EU leaders
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)/November 7, 2023
Cyprus will present its plan for a humanitarian sea corridor to Gaza when the Cypriot president meets other EU heads of state in Paris at an international donor conference for the besieged Palestinian enclave on Nov. 9, an official said Tuesday. Government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis told reporters the initiative to ship aid from the eastern Mediterranean island will be discussed at length during the conference, which will also seek to address Gaza’s pressing needs including water, electricity and fuel supply. Last week, senior U.N. officials said the average Palestinian in Gaza was living on two pieces of bread a day, while only one of three water supply lines from Israel was operational. More than 1.5 million Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza by the Israeli offensive launched in the wake of Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,400 people. President Nikos Christodoulides said Tuesday the initiative aims for a “sustained, secure high-volume flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza in the immediate, medium and long term." Ships would deliver the aid to Gaza from Cyprus’ main port of Limassol, some 255 miles away (410 kilometers.) Christodoulides said his government is working with neighboring countries including Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority as well as the US, France, the EU and the UN to set the initiative in motion. To address Israeli security concerns, the aid would be inspected at its departure point to ensure nothing is delivered that Hamas, which runs Gaza, could weaponize in its war with Israel. Hamas is on the EU and US lists of terrorist organizations. Christodoulides met briefly with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday at Larnaca airport, on the south coast of Cyprus, where they discussed the initiative. “What I can tell you is the (Christodoulides-Blinken) meeting in and of itself shows how much importance the U.S. also attaches to the Cyprus Republic’s initiative,” Letymbiotis said.

Jewish man dies after altercation at Israel-Palestine protest
The Telegraph/November 7, 2023
A Jewish man has died after suffering a head injury during a confrontation between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters in California, police and a Jewish organisation said. Paul Kessler, 69, died of blunt force head trauma a day after the altercation on Sunday, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that witnesses described the incident as battery. As of Monday night, no suspect was in custody in what the sheriff’s office said “appears to be isolated and not part of a large effort,” though it had not ruled out a hate crime. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles identified the victim as a Jewish man and labelled the incident as the fourth act of anti-Semitic violence in the Los Angeles area this year and the second since Oct 7. Separate pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations occurred simultaneously on Sunday in the city of Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles west of Los Angeles, the sheriff’s office said.
Mr Kessler was involved in a physical altercation between counter-protesters, the sheriff’s office said, citing witness accounts. It did not specify which side instigated the altercation. “During the altercation, Mr Kessler fell backwards and struck his head on the ground. Kessler was transported to an area hospital for advanced medical treatment. On Nov 6 2023, Mr Kessler succumbed to his injuries,” the statement said. Deputies asked the public for help in what it called “an active and ongoing investigation”. The sheriff’s office said it would hold a news conference on Tuesday about the incident. The leader of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, citing conversations with local government officials, said a pro-Palestinian protester had struck the victim on the head with a megaphone.
Culture of real terror
Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and chief executive of the group, said investigators have identified the person but that they have not made an arrest because the inquiry was ongoing. “This is what’s happening in America right now. There is a culture of fear and a culture of real terror against the Jewish community happening,” Mr Farkas said. Mr Kessler, who was carrying an Israeli flag at the demonstration, came from a family of philanthropists who were devastated by his death, Mr Farkas said. The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, also expressed grief over what it called a “tragic and shocking loss”, while also asking people to “refrain from jumping to conclusions” or “sensationalising such a tragedy for political gains”.
Muslims stand with Jewish community
“CAIR-LA and the Muslim community stand with the Jewish community in rejecting any and all violence, antisemitism, Islamophobia, or incitement of hatred,” the statement said. Emotions have run high in the United States over the war between Israel and Hamas, with US officials and civil rights groups warning of increased threats against Jews, Muslims and Arab Americans since fighting broke out on Oct 7. In September, an Illinois man was charged with hate crimes for stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and wounding his mother in an attack that officials said targeted them for their religion in a response to the war.

Armed drones shot down over Iraq airport where US forces based
CAIRO (Reuters)/November 07, 2023
Three armed drones were shot down on Tuesday in two separate attacks over Erbil airport in northern Iraq where U.S. forces and other international forces are stationed, Iraqi Kurdistan's counter-terrorism service said in a statement.
The attacks are the latest in a series on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria as tensions soar in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war. A group called the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" said it targeted Al-Harir military base, which is about 70 km northeast of Erbil airport. The defence system at a military base near the airport successfully defended against the drones, the statement said. There were no casualties or damage to infrastructure, a U.S. Defense Department official said. Coalition forces have been attacked at least 38 times since Oct. 17, most of these attacks failed to reach their targets, thanks to our robust defences, the U.S. official added. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani has pledged to pursue those responsible for recent attacks on three military bases in Iraq hosting international coalition advisers, including Ain al-Asad in western Iraq, a military base near Baghdad's international airport and Harir in Erbil.

NATO announces formal suspension of Cold War-era security treaty after Russia's pullout
BRUSSELS (AP)/November 07, 2023
NATO on Tuesday announced the formal suspension of a key Cold War-era security treaty in response to Russia’s pullout from the deal just hours earlier. The alliance also said its members who signed the treaty are now freezing their participation in the pact.
Most of NATO’s 31 allies have signed the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders. It was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later. NATO said its action was required because “a situation whereby Allied State Parties abide by the Treaty, while Russia does not, would be unsustainable.”Earlier in the day, Moscow said it had finalized its withdrawal from the treaty, also known as CFE. The long-expected move came after both houses of the Russian parliament approved a bill proposed by President Vladimir Putin denouncing the CFE. Putin signed that bill it into force in May this year. The treaty was one of several major Cold War-era treaties involving Russia and the United States that ceased to be in force in recent years. Russia suspended its participation in 2007, and in 2015 announced its intention to completely withdraw from the agreement. In February 2022, Moscow invaded Ukraine, sending hundreds of thousands of Russian troops into the neighboring country, which also shares a border with NATO members Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said the process of the formal withdrawal from the treaty has been completed, without elaborating what that entailed. It blamed the U.S. and its allies for the withdrawal and the West’s allegedly “destructive position” on the treaty.
“We left the door open for a dialogue on ways to restore the viability of conventional arms control in Europe,” it said. “However, our opponents did not take advantage of this opportunity.”The statement further said that “even the formal preservation” of the treaty has become “unacceptable from the point of view of Russia’s fundamental security interests,” citing developments in Ukraine and NATO’s recent expansion. In Brussels, NATO said that its allies who had signed on “intend to suspend the operation of the CFE Treaty for as long as necessary, in accordance with their rights under international law.” The alliance underlined that its members remain committed “to reduce military risk, and prevent misperceptions and conflicts.” NATO said that its members will continue to “consult on and assess the implications of the current security environment and its impact on the security" of the alliance.

Al-Mayadeen reporter files complaint against Israeli journalist who 'intimidated' her
gence France Presse/November 7, 2023
A journalist with Lebanese Al-Mayadeen television channel has filed a police complaint against an Israeli journalist who she alleged had "intimidated" her. Hana Mohamed said Israeli journalist Haim Etgar confronted her at a post office after allegedly impersonating a postal employee and "threatening" her.
"This is not the first time that this journalist has chased Arab journalists and intimidated them," she told AFP. "When a journalist gives himself the authority to question another journalist like a policeman it legitimizes racist attacks on anyone," Mohamed said. Etgar posted on his Instagram account a video of him following Mohamed out of the post office to her car, asking about her take on the war, Mayadeen's coverage and accusing her of broadcasting "fake news," such as that the Israeli army is using chemical weapons. "We tried to ask questions, as always politely and without physical contact," Etgar wrote, alleging that Mayadeen was affiliated with Hezbollah. "We didn't get answers." There was no indication from police as to whether they were launching an investigation following the complaint.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 07-08/2023
Jewish Americans, motivated by 'duty to protect Israel,' head overseas to fight Hamas
Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY/November 7, 2023
A columnist with The Jerusalem Post and former deputy communications director for Benjamin Netanyahu, Freund, like a lot of other Jewish Americans, was horrified by Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israeli border communities that left 1,400 people dead.
But there's something, or someone, else keeping him up at night. Five someones, actually.All of Michael Freund's sons are serving in the Israeli military, a conscripted military service made up of more than 169,000 troops.
"It's been a very difficult time," Freund told USA TODAY. "But I am very proud of them for doing their duty to protect Israel, the land and the country and the people."
It's unclear how many dual citizens and Americans are serving in Israel. The Israeli military, Israeli Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry and Prime Minister's Office each told USA TODAY they are not currently tracking that information. But Freund said the attacks ignited a collective sense of urgency to unite against an enemy bent on Israel's destruction.
"It's a stressful time for everyone," said Freund, a New York native who lived in Israel for several years before returning to the U.S. temporarily. "Everyone knows someone or is within a couple degrees of separation to someone who was killed or injured or kidnapped (on Oct. 7)."
American identities but a 'strong sense of civic duty'
Freund's sons grew up mostly in Israel and hold dual citizenship there and in the U.S., where they would spend weeks each summer at camp and visiting family. His youngest was already in the midst of his mandatory military service, while his other sons are reservists who were called up after the Hamas attacks.
His sons are "all good baseball fans," said Freund, whose own Jerusalem Post webpage notes his Mets fandom, "and there's a strong American element to their identities."Two of Freund's older sons are married and one has a young child. So worry about the five Freunds is by no means limited to their dad.
But asked if he felt any ambivalence about his sons' service, Freund didn't hesitate.
"Absolutely not," he said. Serving one's country is "a duty and a responsibility and in times of national crisis every person has to step forward and contribute as best they can. I did what I can to raise them with strong sense of civic duty toward their country and their fellow Jews."He also sees their commitment as emblematic of a generation that gives him hope even in the midst of a conflict with no easy end in sight. Israeli youths understand the stakes of the fight against Hamas and "rather than running away from the danger, they run toward their responsibility," he said.
"As much as they say a son looks up to his father, in this case, the opposite is no less true."
A sister's service makes brother proud
Yosef Lazar said his sister, one of 12 Lazar children, was always "a very girly girl."
But when she enlisted in the Israeli military at 19, he said, Sara Lazar became a soldier's soldier, proud to be one of the few women serving in a combat unit.
Growing up in Brooklyn, Sara talked for years about going to Israel and joining its military, her brother remembered. "But being my sister, I thought she was nuts. Then at 19, she was like, 'OK, I'm going for real.'"Her family worried she might come back a different person − tougher, perhaps, or hardened by the military's demands.
"When she's in our house in America, she's always wearing jewelry and wants to look her best," Yosef said. "But then there's this opposite side to her that she shows (in the military)." Sara served 18 months in the Israeli military and came home "still herself, that girly girl," said her brother, who recently moved from New Jersey to Florida.
When Hamas attacked Israel, though, Sara was determined to go back, two years after her initial service ended. "The second after our holiday ended, she was ready to hop on a plane," Yosef said. "She was like, 'I'm ready to go and they need me.'" He wasn't sure she was serious, but when the siblings connected, she was already en route. Their parents initially tried to talk Sara out of going back, worried about her safety. "Obviously, they're protective like any parents," Yosef said, but they are still supportive. He's concerned for his sister, too, but also proud. "When you tell your friends, my sister happens to be in the Army, and they think she’s doing intelligence or in the kitchen and then, here’s a picture of her in a combat unit. ... That's pretty cool."
Going not to fight Hamas, but to help Israelis
Michael Balaban lives outside Philadelphia and is a volunteer and board member with the Lower Merion Fire Department's Penn Wynne-Overbrook Hills Fire Company.
"People are talking a lot about the war aspect," he said. "But there's a people aspect of this as well." Balaban went to Israel shortly after war broke out and was preparing to return the day after he spoke with USA TODAY. Balaban, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, met with top-level politicians and families of victims of the Oct. 7 attacks. He visited hospitals to talk to wounded soldiers and met with federation members and staff who were already in Israel.
As Israeli first responders were called up for military service, or were killed or wounded in the Hamas attacks, first responders from the U.S. rushed to fill the void left by their absence, Balaban said.
He's working with the Emergency Volunteer Project, a disaster relief and response that deploys volunteer doctors, nurses, EMTs and firefighters to Israel during crises. At least 55 firefighters have already gone to Israel, and another deployment was preparing to go within the next several days. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is funding at least one deployment.
"What's interesting to me is, most of them aren't Jewish," he noted. "Some of them are; I am. ... But I asked, 'Why are you doing this? I have a stake in this land.'"
A volunteer from Texas told him the fight against Hamas was a battle between good and evil. Balaban agrees, noting Israel's position as a rare U.S. ally in the Middle East, a country that values democracy and freedom. He wants people in the U.S., and everywhere else, to know the true source of the conflict. "I don’t know anyone in Israel who believes residents of Gaza shouldn’t be able to live a productive, prosperous and peaceful life, but they can’t do it as long as they are under authority of Hamas," he said, calling civilian deaths and the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the territory "tragic." He's taking a group of 15 clergy members to meet with and counsel victims of violence, and their families, people who have been displaced or barely escaped the horrors Hamas wrought at places like Kfar Aza and Be'eri, two of the kibbutzim brutally attacked on Oct. 7. Family members, including their adult children, are worried as Balaban and his wife go to Israel. But, he said, "they know the role we play in our community."

I’m an expert in urban warfare. Israel is upholding the laws of war
 John Spencer/CNN/November 07/2023
Editor’s Note: John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point, codirector of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project and host of the “Urban Warfare Project Podcast.” He served for 25 years as an infantry soldier, which included two combat tours in Iraq. He is the author of the book “Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connection in Modern War” and co-author of “Understanding Urban Warfare.” The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
All war is hell. All war is killing and destruction, and historically civilians are inordinately the innocent victims of wars. Urban warfare is a unique type of hell not just for soldiers, who face assaults from a million windows or deep tunnels below them, but especially for civilians. Noncombatants have accounted for 90% of casualties per international humanitarian experts in the modern wars that have occurred in populated urban areas such as Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa, even when a Western power like the United States is leading or supporting the campaign.
The destruction and suffering, as awful as they are, don’t automatically constitute war crimes – otherwise, nearly any military action in a populated area would violate the laws of armed conflict, rules distilled from a complicated patchwork of international treaties, court rulings and historic conventions. Scenes of devastation, like Israel’s strikes on the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza earlier this week, quickly spark accusations that Israel is engaging in war crimes, such as indiscriminately killing civilians and engaging in revenge attacks. But war crimes must be assessed on evidence and the standards of armed conflict, not a quick glimpse at the harrowing aftermath of an attack.
Hamas forces indisputably violated multiple laws of war on October 7 in taking Israelis hostage and raping, torturing and directly targeting civilians, as well continuing to attack Israeli population centers with rockets. Years of intelligence assessments and media reports have shown that Hamas also commits war crimes by using human shields for its weapons and command centers and by purposely putting military capabilities in protected sites like hospitals, mosques and schools.
On the other hand, nothing I have seen shows that the Israel Defense Forces are not following the laws of wars in Gaza, particularly when the charges that the IDF is committing war crimes so often come too quickly for there to have been an examination of the factors that determine whether an attack, and the resulting civilian casualties, are lawful. The factors that need to be assessed are the major dimensions of the most commonly agreed to international humanitarian law principles: military necessity, proportionality, distinction, humanity and honor.
President Joe Biden and multiple European countries, including the UK, Germany and France, are supporting Israel’s self-defense even as they express concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Though Gaza’s legal status is unresolved under international law, Israel needs no permission to enter the territory and resort to using force in order to wage defensive operations because Israel’s right to immediate and unilateral self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter is universally recognized.
Israel has pledged to obey international law, and one of its cornerstones is proportionality. The concept is often misunderstood to allow only for equal numbers of civilian casualties on both sides, with any lopsided numbers considered disproportionate. But proportionality is actually a requirement to take into account how much civilian harm is anticipated in comparison to the expected concrete and direct military advantage, according to UN protocols. In other words, a high civilian death count in Jabalya could potentially be considered legal under international law so long as the military objective is of high value. The Israel Defense Forces said the intended target in this case was the senior Hamas commander who oversaw all military operations in the northern Gaza; neutralizing him is an objective that most likely clears the proportional bar. Furthermore, Israel pointed out that the loss of life was compounded because Hamas had built tunnels that weakened the targeted structure that then collapsed in the strike.
The attack also passes muster on the level of “military necessity,” the principle that the action was necessary to pursue an allowed military goal (killing enemy troops), rather than an illegal goal (causing civilians to suffer). The IDF has said that its aim is to remove the rockets, ammunitions depot, power and transportation systems Hamas has embedded within their civilian population. So far, a number of military experts have assessed that Israel appears to be trying to follow the law of armed conflict in its Gaza campaign.
Of the remaining principles of the law of war – distinction, humanity (which, as the International Committee of the Red Cross phrases it, “forbids the infliction of all suffering, injury or destruction not necessary for achieving the legitimate purpose of a conflict”) and honor in conduct of waging war – the principle of distinction is the most complex. Distinction requires Israel to “distinguish between the civilian population and combatants” and between civilian facilities and military targets, while taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. So far I have seen the IDF implementing – and in some cases going beyond – many of the best practices developed to minimize the harm of civilians in similar large-scale urban battles.
These IDF practices include calling everyone in a building to alert them of a pending air strike and giving them time to evacuate – a tactic I’ve never seen elsewhere in my decades of experience, as it also notifies the enemy of the attack – and sometimes even dropping small munitions on top of a building to provide additional warning. They have been conducting multiple weeks of requests that civilians evacuate certain parts of Gaza using multi-media broadcasts, texts and flyer drops. They’ve also provided routes that will not be targeted so that civilians have paths to non-combat areas, though there have been some tragic reports that Palestinians from northern Gaza who have relocated to the south were subsequently killed as the war rages throughout the strip.
When Hamas uses a hospital, school or mosque for military purpose, it can lose its protected status and become a legal military target. Israel must still make all feasible attempts to get as many civilians out of the site as possible, but the sites don’t need to be clear of civilians before being attacked.
Unfortunately, it’s essentially impossible to empty a city of all civilians before conducting an urban battle. Some people always stay, and it can be impossible for the elderly, infirm, hospitalized and similar to evacuate. In the densely populated Gaza Strip, where most Palestinians have nowhere to fully escape the dangers of the war, the proportion of those who remain is likely to be higher, as border crossings remain closed to nearly all Gazans, many Palestinians object to leaving and Hamas has warned others not to go.
Still, even if Hamas has no interest in meeting its obligation to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, Israel does and should. The IDF should take steps like constraining its forces to smaller portions of larger urban areas while continuing to provide safe areas and routes out of the combat areas. It should continue its calls for civilian evacuations. It should restrict the use of air strikes and artillery near certain safe areas or gatherings of civilians. It should continue to cooperate with the US in facilitating the entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza (though it’s reasonable to block fuel, which Hamas can use in its attacks and which the group is also stockpiling while refusing to share it with its own people).
There is no escaping that pursuing a terrorist organization touches off a nightmarish landscape of war. The visually repulsive imagery in Gaza essentially recreates the same scenes that unfolded under American and allied campaigns fighting Al Qaeda, ISIS and other terror groups, because that is what it looks like when you are forced to uproot a sadistic terror organization embedded in an urban area. Sadly, successful US-led or supported campaigns in places such as Mosul and Raqqa caused billions of dollars in damage and killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians; that is the hellish reality of defeating terrorism.
Like all similar conflicts in modern times, a battle in Gaza will look like the entire city was purposely razed to the ground or indiscriminately carpet bombed – but it wasn’t. Israel possesses the military capacity to do so, and the fact that it doesn’t employ such means is further evidence that it is respecting the rules of war. It is also a sign that this is not revenge – a gross mischaracterization of Israeli aims – but instead a careful defensive campaign to ensure Israel’s survival.

What I’ve learned since the attacks on Israel: people don’t deem Jews worthy of solidarity and empathy
Danny Cohen/The Telegraph/November 7, 2023
A month ago today, the terrorist group Hamas launched a barbaric attack on the people of Israel. I have learnt an awful lot since that murderous day. I have learnt so much that it has changed the way I see the world and made me wonder whether things will ever be the same again.
I learnt that massacres of Jews for no other reason than they are Jewish can still happen. That pogroms did not end in the 20th century as I had come to believe.
I learnt that Jews could experience a level of barbarism at the hands of their enemies so extreme that it is hard to process. Families burned to death in their houses. Children murdered in front of their parents. Women raped before being killed. Kidnappings. Beheadings. Unspeakable cruelty. I realised that this genocidal barbarism had not ended with the fall of the Nazis in 1945. It could be repeated with a sinister contemporary twist, the kidnappings and butchery streamed live on Facebook for the world to see.
I learnt that the Jewish pledge of ‘‘never again’’ after the Holocaust did not come true. That it could happen again. That it had.
And I learnt that many people just didn’t care. That as it was Jews being massacred it could be overlooked and ignored. That it was somehow different. That silence and apathy could again feed the poison of Jew hatred as it had done in the 1930s.
I watched as just days after the massacres in Israel a group of well-known entertainers calling themselves Artists for Palestine spoke up for the people of Gaza but had no empathy to extend to Jewish people. For some reason they forgot to even mention the murder of 1,400 Jews and the kidnapping of hundreds more. I discovered that the terrorist attacks of Oct 7 were somehow different from the Black Lives Matter movement or the plight of Ukraine and were not worthy of solidarity or remembrance, whether that be in student unions or at Wembley Stadium.
Out on the streets of Britain, I learnt that anti-Semitism is alive and well. I watched as tens of thousands marched in opposition to Israel, a country still burying its dead and searching for its kidnapped children. Masked men called for jihad against Jews. Genocidal chants rung out in central London. I wondered where these people were during recent Middle East conflicts when lives were being lost in the Syrian civil war or the battle to destroy Islamic State. We did not see them on the streets en masse then. Their vitriolic anger seems solely focused on the Jewish State, their protest a statement of anti-Semitism as much as a call to support the innocent in Gaza.
Talking to friends, I heard racist horror story after racist horror story, right here in Britain. The poster of kidnapped Israeli children defaced with Hitler moustaches. Threats and intimidation on university campuses. The toxic waste of social media overflowing with anti-Semitism. Jewish people in our country taking unprecedented steps to protect their safety and that of their children.
British Jews must carry on
I should also say that amidst this rude awakening there have been sparks of light, reasons for optimism and gratitude. I have seen the UK Government stand up firmly against terrorism and support Israel’s right to self-defence. I have watched President Biden stand by Israel and warn off its enemies. I have been moved to tears by messages from many non-Jewish friends, expressing sympathy, support and solidarity.
Now, the question that really matters is what should I and other Jews do with all we have learnt? What can we take from this rude awakening other than pain, sorrow and grief? Should we be fearful? Should we hide? Should we make plans to travel, just in case? If we did, where would we go?
To these questions I have a very clear answer. What I have learnt in the month since the Hamas attacks has left me very certain of how we must respond.
British Jews must proudly carry on our Jewish life. We must not be intimidated. We should not live in fear. We must stand up to prejudice wherever we see it. We must take the hands of our non-Jewish friends who support us and work with them to ensure that anti-Semitism does not prevail.
The Jewish people have been here before - not once, not twice but countless times.
The Jewish people have been here before and got through it. And we will get through it again.

Today's Nazis Are Hamas
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/November 07/2023
Gays for Gay-Killers, Jews for Jew-Killers, Feminists for Wife-Beating, Progressives for Fascists
[B]igots hate Jews and their nation-state. This has nothing to do with support for the Palestinian people, who are horribly oppressed by Hamas. If they really wanted to support the Palestinian people, they would be demonstrating for Palestinian freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom not to be used as a human shield, due process, equal justice under law, and especially freedom from the corrupt and repressive governance of their own leaders, some now safe from the devastation they began from their five-star hotels in Qatar.
Nor does it reflect support for stateless, oppressed or occupied national groups in general. These selective bigots are silent about the stateless Kurds , the oppressed Uyghurs and other groups that deserve their support. They only focus on the Palestinians because they are allegedly oppressed by Jews. It is hatred of Jews, not love of the Palestinians or other groups that motivates these bigots.
Let us remember that these shows of support for Hamas began before Israel even responded to the Hamas barbarity. They were shows of support for what Hamas did to innocent Jews: rapes, beheadings, torture, mass murder and kidnapping.
Many university students and faculty, not only in Germany but at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown and other American universities, supported Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Today's Nazis are Hamas. Today's enablers of Nazism are the students and others who support Hamas. History will judge them the way history has judged Nazi collaborators.
Many university students and faculty, not only in Germany but at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown and other American universities, supported Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Today's Nazis are Hamas. Today's enablers of Nazism are the students and others who support Hamas. History will judge them the way history has judged Nazi collaborators.
Among the groups that have supported the rapes, beheadings, burning alive, mass murder and kidnappings of Jews by Hamas have been some that purport to speak for gays, Jews, feminists and progressives. If any of these groups were actually to travel to Gaza, they would be murdered by Hamas.
Hamas has no tolerance for gays, Jews, feminists or progressives. Indeed, among the people beheaded, raped, murdered and kidnapped were gays, Jews who support Palestinians, feminists, progressives and non-Jews. None of that matters to Hamas. If you are a Jew or an Israeli or just happen to be in the way, you are a target of their barbarity.
Why do so many people from groups that Hamas seeks to destroy support that racist organization? The answer is clear: these bigots hate Jews and their nation-state. This has nothing to do with support for the Palestinian people, who are horribly oppressed by Hamas. If they really wanted to support the Palestinian people, they would be demonstrating for Palestinian freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom not to be used as a human shield, due process, equal justice under law, and especially freedom from the corrupt and repressive governance of their own leaders, some now safe from the devastation they began from their five-star hotels in Qatar. Nor does it reflect support for stateless, oppressed or occupied national groups in general. These selective bigots are silent about the stateless Kurds , the oppressed Uyghurs and other groups that deserve their support. They only focus on the Palestinians because they are allegedly oppressed by Jews. It is hatred of Jews, not love of the Palestinians or other groups that motivates these bigots.
Let us remember that these shows of support for the terrorist group Hamas began before Israel had even responded to the Hamas barbarity. They were shows of support for what Hamas did to innocent Jews: rapes, beheadings, mass murder, kidnapping and torture too unspeakable to show. It was the victimization of Jews that stimulated these displays of antisemitism. There were few criticisms of Hamas for what it did. The most ferocious demonization was against Israel for what it is: the nation-state of the Jewish people. Never mind that there are many Arab and Muslim states. As is typical of bullies, victimizing Jews came when Israel was at its weakest and most vulnerable, still grieving the loss of so many innocent civilians.
Among the most hypocritical supporters of Hamas are "Gays for Gaza." Rainbow flags and posters identifying the protesters as gay were rampant at anti-Israel demonstrations calling for the end of that nation. In Gaza, such signs are illegal. Anyone displaying them would be killed, as was Hamas commander Mahmoud Ishtiwi, who was caught having sex with another man, and promptly tortured and killed.
Gay men in Gaza seek asylum In Israel. The city of Tel Aviv is among the most accepting of gays in the world. But none of this matters to the gay bigots: they put their hatred of Jews above their concern for gay Palestinians.
Even worse is the misnamed group, Jewish Voice for Peace, which has long served as a front for Hamas and other anti-Israel terrorist groups. It claims to be anti-Zionist, opposing the existence of Israel, but many of its members and supporters are overtly antisemitic.
If its Jewish members (many are not Jews, despite its name) sought to protest in Gaza, they would be murdered or kidnapped. Hamas, like the Nazis, does not distinguish among Jews based on their politics, as evidenced by the fact that some of the Jews killed on October 7 were critical of the Israeli government and perhaps even of Zionism. But that did not matter to the rapists and beheaders of Hamas. To them a Jew is a Jew, regardless of whether they belong to Jewish Voice for Peace or Likud.
Then there are the feminists, progressives and labor unions that support the Hamas brutality and oppose the existence of Israel.
Hamas is the among the world's most anti-feminist group. It subjugates women to the whims of their husbands and fathers, and tolerates, if not encourages, wife-beating and "honor killing" women who supposedly dishonor their families.
Hamas imprisons progressive critics and does not permit independent labor unions. Its members exploit workers, and use child laborers and child soldiers. But not a word of criticism from the bigots who are willing to give Hamas a pass on their fascism as long as they murder Jews. If this is not antisemitism, I don't know what is.
Yes, Jews, too, can be antisemites. So can gays, feminists, progressives, socialists and others on the hard left. Hitler was a vegetarian. Some leading Nazis were gay. Gertrude Stein, a Nazi collaborator, was gay and a Jew. Many university students and faculty, not only in Germany but at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown and other American universities, supported Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Today's Nazis are Hamas. Today's enablers of Nazism are the students and others who support Hamas. History will judge them the way history has judged Nazi collaborators.
*Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.
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Gaza: Are there any winners?
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/November 07, 2023
One thing is for sure: as Benjamin Netanyahu said after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, Israel’s response “will change the Middle East”— perhaps the only words of wisdom the Israeli prime minister has uttered since this crisis began.
Indeed, the first change may be in the occupant of his office. Polls show Netanyahu’s personal approval rating having slumped to 27 percent, there are protests outside his home over what Israelis overwhelmingly view as a security lapse on his watch, and a raft of media opinion pieces hold him personally responsible — as Haaretz put it: “The disaster that befell Israel … is the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu.”Second, as previously predicted in this column, the Hamas leaders who declared victory on Oct. 7 and thought that by holding hostages they could negotiate better terms have now put the world in a situation where it needs to negotiate only limits to the Israeli reaction — which, after long years of experience and five wars since 2006, Hamas should have known was never going to be proportionate.
This is not to say that Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian land and the continuing undermining of Palestinian rights is not to blame for the escalation to where we are today — but rather that whatever strategic gain Hamas wildly imagined it would achieve is not materializing. In other words, no matter how this ends, the current leaderships of both Hamas and Israel are finished — a fitting end for a couple who have for so long been unlikely tag-team partners in their unwavering commitment to killing any prospect of peace.
In fact, Netanyahu — who could be described as the Francis Underwood of Israeli politics — has not only survived this far but has become his country’s longest-serving prime minister by deploying one simple tactic: avoiding any serious engagement with resolving the Palestinian issue, and doing anything possible to undermine a solution for it.
This has unbelievably included going as low as empowering his sworn enemy Hamas in Gaza, and undermining the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, where Hamas doesn’t exist.
But don’t just take my word for it. “For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces,” read a headline in The Times of Israel. Worse, as recently as 2019 Netanyahu reportedly said: “Those who want to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state should support the strengthening of Hamas.”However, even a serial survivor like Francis Underwood eventually runs out of luck: everything collapses like a house of cards when you upset 80 percent of your voters, members of your own Cabinet, and the 121 countries who opposed Israel at the UN last month, albeit in a non-binding vote — all that plus still outstanding corruption charges that mean when Netanyahu leaves office his next destination may well be a prison cell.
Hamas, on the other hand, has a different equation. Even if Israel succeeds in its impossible mission of killing all the group’s estimated 40,000 fighters, or expelling them and their leaders from Gaza (while completely disregarding legal, humanitarian and political consequences) they will have “killed only the combatants but not the cause” — as Queen Rania of Jordan told Becky Anderson in her CNN interview. So, are there any winners? Well, apart from extremists finding justification in the current events to attack mosques and synagogues; there is a hopeful argument that the intensity, severe casualties and ugliness of this war — and its already global ramifications — will now force the international community to accept that no more patch-up solutions are possible. The only way to ensure this doesn’t happen again is finally to have a just and fair peace that gives Palestinians land, freedom and hope. As argued here before, now is the time to double down on peacemaking efforts, and this starts with ending the illegal occupation — a hard ask given that the only country with genuine influence over Israel has vetoed even a ceasefire.
Indeed, as if we did not know this before, when the current US government shamelessly supports an occupying power that has killed more than 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them children, it no longer holds the moral high ground to preach to others about not doing enough to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the end, no one put it better than UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres when he said: “The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity.”
• Faisal J. Abbas is the editor-in-chief of Arab News.
X: @FaisalJAbbas

How will the Israel-Gaza war end?
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Arab News/November 07, 2023
Discussing the start and the developments of the deadly war taking place in Gaza is inescapable, but so are the questions of how this war will end, who will raise the white flag first and at what price.
The ongoing Israeli military assault, which has spared no civilian lives or facilities, is more than a mere response to the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. Judging by the sheer size of the Israeli response, a change in the political reality is about to unfold before us.
In the aftermath of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the region would never be the same again. This claim was echoed loudly in Western capitals, which were quick to announce their support and to back efforts to expel Hamas from Gaza.
Today, we stand before a horrific humanitarian crisis, a bloody military battle and the prospects of a different political project. Israel may achieve its ambition and wipe out the armed group as we know it, yet the Palestinian cause and rights are here to stay, with or without Hamas in the picture. Israel will still be in danger, as evidenced by the scale of Hamas’ latest attack, despite years of blockade and surveillance by Israel.
Judging by the sheer size of the Israeli response, a change in the political reality is about to unfold before us. Three important observations must be made here.
First, Netanyahu and Hamas may be enemies, but they are allies in the effort to thwart the peace project in the region.
Second, neither will emerge victorious in this war: Hamas may lose Gaza, while Netanyahu not only risks losing the leadership of the Israeli government following the Oct. 7 failure, but he also may go to jail on the charges of corruption leveled against him before the war. Finally, deadly as it may be, this war will breathe new life into the peace project. The expulsion of Yasser Arafat and his fighters from Lebanon was the end of Fatah as a military organization, but Arafat knew how to play his political cards. He repositioned and managed to return to Palestine as leader of the Palestinian Authority, no less, following the Oslo Accords.
Today, history may repeat itself, even in light of the worst humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for 50 years.
In a few weeks, the war will end and the fronts will fall silent. Then, it will be time for politics. While bombs rained down from the skies above Gaza, Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh dropped a metaphorical bombshell of his own when he announced the group’s readiness to accept peace in the form of a two-state solution. Haniyeh is well aware of what the war could be hiding next. Hamas is not strong enough to repel the US-backed Israel, especially without any support from its allies. Haniyeh wants Hamas to have a political front that could reap the benefits of the Oct. 7 attack.
But he and former leader Khaled Mashal must first overcome a big hurdle: the leaders of Hamas in Gaza do not recognize any role for their peers abroad. It has even been leaked that the supporters of Haniyeh and Mashal were removed from leadership roles as far back as 2017, when the military leadership headed by Yahya Sinwar took control of the movement. Today, Hamas is cornered and blockaded, which could mean a guaranteed seat at any future negotiating table for its leadership abroad. However, the movement tried, through last month’s attack, to nip any such negotiations in the bud.
But a challenge arises here. The US has listed Hamas on its terrorist blacklist, so any American undertaking of a peace project would force Washington to backtrack.
Even if Hamas agreed to disarm, no Arab state would be willing to take the movement under its wing
Arafat was once banned from entering the US or meeting with American officials, with alternatives like Haidar Abdel-Shafi and Hanan Ashrawi appearing in his place during the 1991 Madrid Conference. Eventually, the Americans had to sit down with Arafat because no peace or negotiations were possible without him. Granted, the extremist movement of Hamas is not the same as Fatah, but it is still impossible to ignore and its concession would strengthen the position of the PA in potential negotiations.
Until then, the road is fraught with traps. Israel has vowed to annihilate the 35,000-strong movement, but such a goal is militarily impossible without both sides incurring horrific civilian and other losses.
Will Hamas agree to step away from the scene in order to curb the loss of lives among civilians and its own fighters?
Moreover, even if Hamas agreed to disarm, no Arab state would be willing to take the movement under its wing and bear the potential dangers that would accompany such a move. Caught between a rock and a hard place, the two sides of the conflict may finally agree to a compromise, which no one is better positioned to engage in than the PA. Thus, the lights will again shine at the end of Gaza’s dark tunnels.
As for the prospects of peace and disarmament, that is a subject for another time.
*Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a veteran columnist. He is the former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, where this article was originally published. X: @aalrashed

America’s indifference on Gaza creates watershed moment in Arab-US ties
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/November 07, 2023
No one knows how Israel’s war on Gaza, which is now in its second month, will end and what the final civilian death toll will be. But when the guns finally go silent and the dust settles, the Middle East and indeed the rest of the world will wake up to a new reality. Whatever happens to Hamas will mean little compared to the human cost already endured: more than 10,000 deaths, almost half being women and children, and more than 25,000 injured. The level of destruction is beyond description, not seen anywhere since the Second World War.
Most of Gaza has been turned into a wasteland and no one knows if Gazans will ever be allowed to return to their bombed-out homes to resume whatever is left of their miserable and tragic lives.
But beyond the humanitarian fallout, which will linger for years, there will be multiple political accounts that need to be settled. In the eye of the storm will be the future of US-Arab ties and where the shaky alliance with the West will go from here.
In Amman last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the foreign ministers of five key Arab countries, in addition to a Palestinian Authority representative. They all called on the US to accept the need for an immediate ceasefire and to allow the unfettered delivery of much-needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip, now a disaster zone. Instead, Blinken rebuffed their calls and repeated the now overused statement that Israel has the right to defend itself and that any truce would favor Hamas. He pretended to sympathize with Palestinian civilian losses, urging Israel to abide by the rules of war — whatever that means — and tossed the Arab world a bone: a commitment to a two-state solution. In short, the US took Israel’s side completely and ignored the pleas of its Arab allies.
Even though Blinken said he supported humanitarian pauses, none have come into effect so far. Israel’s pummeling of the entire Gaza Strip has only picked up pace, targeting fleeing civilians, hospitals, ambulances, civil defense and medical workers, and journalists. The carnage went on as Blinken continued to warn against expanding the conflict beyond Gaza.
This complete indifference to the Arab point of view, which has nothing to do with defending Hamas but is centered on protecting civilians and ensuring humanitarian assistance, has become a watershed moment in US-Arab ties. Washington could not care less for the sentiments of millions of Arabs, or those of millions of people all over the world. It has unabashedly taken the side of Israel, even when the war violates all definitions of self-defense and all the scopes of international laws and conventions.
Even though Blinken said he supported humanitarian pauses, none have come into effect so far.
And when Arab diplomats pointed to the escalating situation in the West Bank, where Israeli soldiers and radical settlers are shooting and terrorizing Palestinians, all Blinken could do was to ask Israel to do something about the spiraling violence and then say that he was assured that something would be done.
The level of public rage against the US position on the war in the Arab world must not be ignored. It is putting Arab governments under pressure. It is shaking the foundations of the alliance between the US and its Arab partners.
The chasm between these allies and Washington could expand depending on the outcome of Israel’s war on Gaza. A forced displacement of millions of Palestinians into Egypt would bring that relationship to the brink, leaving Cairo and Amman in a tough and precarious position. Jordan has already said that such forced displacement would be considered a declaration of war. No one knows, not even the US, how far Israel will go with its current military campaign. And it is now clear that the Biden administration does not have the leverage to stop Israel from going as far as pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into the Sinai desert.
The final outcome of the war on Gaza could push relations with Washington to a breaking point. No Arab country can take the risk of abandoning the Palestinian cause. In fact, the events following Oct. 7 have proven — for Israel, the Arabs and the rest of the world — that ignoring the strife of Palestinians will keep the region on edge and will not bring peace and security to Israel.
President Joe Biden and Blinken are yet to say what Arab leaders need to hear: that, following this horrific round of violence, the US will make amends by addressing the core of the region’s troubles — the Palestinian issue. The problem is that, even if they do deliver such assurances, few will take them seriously.
The level of public rage against the US position on the war in the Arab world must not be ignored.
For more than 30 years, the US has taken hold of the so-called peace process, whose aim was to deliver a two-state solution. But Washington has failed to play the role of an honest broker. It has looked the other way while an extremist Israel grabbed more Palestinian lands, demolished Palestinians’ homes, empowered Jewish settlers, marginalized the Palestinian Authority and enforced an illegal siege on Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants. The US ignored warnings by its Arab allies that the region was at a boiling point and that, unless the Palestinian issue was resolved in a just way, chaos would erupt. And that is exactly what is happening now.
No more US assurances will suffice. The US monopoly of the so-called peace process has to end. Israel’s impunity must also end. Israel’s war on Gaza and its collective punishment of Palestinians ahead of possible ethnic cleansing must be addressed and cannot be ignored. The fact that Israel has committed multiple war crimes in Gaza cannot be swept under the carpet. The entire rules-based world order is about to keel over as a result of Western complicity and its application of double standards.
What is immediately needed following the war is to have an international peace conference, in which Russia, China, the Arab region and the rest of the Global South play a key role. The US cannot be trusted to chair, on its own, another round of peace talks that ends up buying time for Israel to complete its usurpation of whatever is left of Palestinian land. The two-state solution was declared dead a long time ago thanks to Israel’s policy of colonizing the West Bank while forcing millions of Palestinians in Gaza into another Nakba.
Israel’s right to exist has been enshrined in peace treaties and in the Arab Peace Initiative. But this is not a blank check that can be cashed at the teller at the expense of millions of Palestinians, who have the right to self-determination and a state of their own. The war on Gaza has brought us to the moment of truth: Israel wants to liquidate the Palestinian issue once and for all and let the region pick up the tab. That will not happen and the US must not allow it to happen. The US is not an honest broker and the Arab world cannot allow it to continue to buy time for Israel as it embarks on a pernicious scheme to normalize the occupation and dispose of millions of Palestinians.
America’s Arab allies need to send a stern message to the US that choosing Israel, no matter what it does, over its allies and their genuine interests can no longer continue.
• Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator in Amman. X: @plato010