MOHANAD HAGE ALI

The party may escalate on the southern border with Israel, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will reach the level of bombing cities.

The speech last week of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah left many in Lebanon and beyond relieved, as he defended his organization’s limited engagement in the Gaza war and called the Lebanese front against Israel a “solidarity and support” front. Nasrallah did so mostly to underline the party’s secondary role in the conflict, in which Palestinian fighters are taking the lead.

However, beyond the clearer points he made, there were two implicit messages in Nasrallah’s emphasis on Hamas’s independence of decision-making, its central role in the fight against Israel, and the certainty of its victory in the battle.

The first was that, since Hezbollah wasn’t aware of the operation of October 7, it also was not prepared militarily for a wider escalation with Israel. Perhaps that explains the slow build-up of violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border, and the reported movement of the party’s combatants from parts of Syria back into southern Lebanon. Engaging in a wider escalation, therefore, required better preparing the southern Lebanese front. And here, Hezbollah is not only engaged in military preparations, but also political and logistical preparations, namely for a wider displacement of Lebanese civilians out of the border region and to secure political backing from significant political actors. That effort is ongoing.

The second was that Nasrallah’s emphasis on a Hamas victory created a tacit redline around its defeat. Despite his relatively restrained tone, Nasrallah and other Hezbollah officials have stressed that Hamas will win the Gaza war just as Israel failed in its declared intention of destroying Hezbollah in the Lebanon war of 2006. The 2006 analogy means that if Hamas cannot slow down Israel’s advances in Gaza and sees its firepower diminished, northern Gaza reoccupied, over 1 million Palestinians displaced, unprecedented destruction, and tens of thousands of people killed or injured, it would be difficult for the organization to claim a victory.

Such an outcome would ultimately be costly for Hezbollah and its allies, first and foremost because Israel would most likely seek to reestablish a new deterrence equation on its northern border once Gaza has been neutralized. Hezbollah understands the profound impact of October 7 on Israel’s military doctrine, in that the Israelis have engaged in a disproportionate response so as to deter their enemies in the future. This also means they are less likely to abide by tacit rules of engagement. In light of this, a wider escalation now by Hezbollah could be better than allowing Israel to choose the timing of a confrontation to its advantage.

However, such an escalation could still remain within the current boundaries. Rather than escalating to the bombing of strategic sites and major urban areas, it could involve attacking a larger number of Israeli positions, and even perhaps conducting ground attacks along the lines of Hezbollah’s tactics in the 1990s, when fighters would take over Israeli military bases inside occupied areas of Lebanon, then withdraw before any retaliation. This escalation will probably avoid the use of medium-range missiles. Hezbollah would likely only bomb Israeli cities within the established rules of engagement, namely in retaliation for Israel’s targeting of Lebanese cities. That said, ground attacks and wider clashes along the border would definitely increase the risks of a major uptick in the level of violence.

Second, Israel has now declared that it seeks to assassinate Hamas leaders, some of whom are based in Lebanon. Given Israel’s previous assassination attempts in the country, including an attempt to kill Hamas operative Mohammed Hamdan in 2018, there is a high possibility of such an operation taking place inside Lebanese territory. While Hezbollah deterred Israel previously, this is more doubtful after the October 7 attacks and as the Gaza conflict subsides.

Third, even if Hezbollah manages to avert a wider conflict with Israel and unilaterally deescalates in southern Lebanon, a change in Israel’s leadership is likely. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may well be forced out of office in favor of Benny Gantz, which may bring with it a renewed Israeli determination to deter and weaken the party. Such a change in leadership could also be coupled with support from Western countries, especially if takes place in parallel with revived negotiations with the Palestinians, to which the Arab states would agree. This could further embolden Israel to adopt an aggressive policy against Hezbollah in order to prevent the party from derailing such a process.

Finally, Nasrallah and Hezbollah need to build a Lebanese alibi for the war, aside from solidarity with the Palestinians. This is needed both for the party’s constituency and for internal political reasons. Nasrallah’s first speech after the October 7 attack and Israel’s campaign in Gaza began the build-up for the case, threatening Israel if it decided to attack Lebanon. Now that Israel has killed Lebanese civilians, including three young girls and their grandmother, the case is growing, and will probably be the focus of Nasrallah’s next speech tomorrow.

With the current trajectory of Israel’s Gaza operation, it would be highly unlikely if a wider escalation by Hezbollah did not occur in Lebanon. The timeframe is narrowing for such an intervention to have an impact on the outcome in Gaza. If Hamas’s pushback against Israeli advances wanes in the coming weeks, Hezbollah could emerge as a target of Israel’s military.

Hezbollah and Palestinian factions are already engaging Israel’s military across the southern border. A further Hezbollah military escalation could raise the pressure on the Israelis, boost the morale of Palestinian fighters in Gaza, and perhaps pave the way for a negotiated ceasefire. Such a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon is Hezbollah’s preferred outcome, as the party does not want to unilaterally deescalate while Israeli retains the option of continuing to strike across its northern border. While Hezbollah is conscious that an expanded war would be catastrophic for Lebanon, it appears to believe such a war as inevitable. Therefore, it is conceivable that it may prefer to decide on the timing itself and not hand that advantage to Israel.

Carnegie Endowment 

Increasing numbers of families are rushing to leave Gaza City to escape death and hunger, with the escalation of battles between Israel and Hamas to the sound of bursts of gunfire, the sound of explosions, and the roar of drones.

Destruction reigns in the place. When darkness falls in the early evening, a spot of light shines from Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, which has an area of 365 square kilometers and is home to 2.4 million people, and which is surrounded between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

Journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh, a senior correspondent for the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel, told Agence France-Presse, “The situation is very difficult in Gaza. The bombing is affecting all areas.”

Al-Dahdouh had just left the city, where hundreds of thousands of its residents had left, in compliance with the orders of the Israeli army, which said it was now deploying its tanks in the northern Gaza Strip and in “the center of Gaza City.” Caregivers and international organizations have reported its spread at hospital doors.

"Tragedy"

Previously, the streets of the city, with a population of 600,000 people, were bustling with activity before the war began on October 7 due to a surprise attack by Hamas.

The Corniche has always been a favorite place for families who want to go out and have fun, and for runners who want to maintain their fitness. Restaurants and cafes flourished, and UN schools organized two or three class periods a day to accommodate all students, which caused traffic jams due to the crush of cars and horse-drawn carriages at the end of each class.

Now, after five weeks of unprecedented intense fighting in the Strip, despite being exposed to four wars between 2008 and 2021, nearly half of the homes have been damaged and destroyed according to the United Nations, and thousands have been killed, some in strikes that targeted UN schools or hospitals where they believed they were Safe.

Since October 7, the Hamas government's Ministry of Health has reported the killing of more than 11,000 people, the majority of whom are women and children, and the injury of more than 27,000 others.

Now, thousands are once again walking the route south.

Jawad Harouda, a Palestinian artist, finally agreed to leave the Beach camp, located on the northern coast, after the bombing approached it on Thursday evening.

He told AFP, "It is a tragedy... Last night, I did not think that my children and I would be able to get out safely, given the intensity of the bombing and the gunfire we saw."

Munir al-Rai was also displaced from the Beach camp, where his parents took refuge after the “Nakba” that followed the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and caused more than 760,000 Palestinians to flee or were expelled from their lands, according to the United Nations.

"nothing at all"

He told Agence France-Presse that the Israeli army launched “random” raids in the Shati camp.

While he was carrying his child on his shoulders, he added, “Houses fall on the heads of their occupants, children and women, none of whom remain in pieces.”

Israel, which announced in an amended toll on Friday that it had reduced the number of casualties since the attack launched by Hamas on its territory from 1,400 to 1,200 dead, is waging a guerrilla war in urban areas to “eliminate” Hamas, which it accuses of hiding in tunnels under civilian homes and even in hospitals.

But beyond the whirring of bullets and incessant airstrikes, food shortages have prompted many to leave.

Before continuing on his way with groups of exhausted families, Muhammad Talabani, a displaced person from Gaza City carrying his daughter in his arms and a bag on his back, said, “There is no food or drink. We go to stores to buy diapers, milk, or anything else for the girl, but we do not find anything, even canned food.” Not available at all."

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs announced on Thursday that bakeries in the northern Gaza Strip had stopped operating. The largest, in Gaza City, was closed on Tuesday when Israeli bombing destroyed the solar panels that supplied it with electricity.

The hungry residents then rushed to the flour stores, because, according to the United Nations, Gazans had nothing left to eat except raw onions.

Malta has circulated a new draft resolution focusing on Gaza’s children, Al Jazeera has learned. Will the US veto it?

By James Bays

Tense and difficult negotiations continue at the United Nations Security Council in an effort to break the deadlock crippling the world’s most powerful decision-making authority – as death and despair rain down on Gaza.

Al Jazeera has learned that Malta’s ambassador to the UN, Vanessa Frazier, has circulated a new resolution among the Council members for consideration and a potential vote, hoping to finally pass a resolution on the war on Gaza, after serial failed efforts over the past month.

Malta is one of 10 elected members of the Council and has been the penholder on children in armed conflict since 2022. This position gives Malta the opportunity to play a leading role in the UNSC’s efforts to protect children in conflict zones. Diplomatic sources have told Al Jazeera that this new resolution is being drafted with a focus on children in the hopes that all 15 members of the UNSC can agree on protections for children in the ongoing conflict.

On Friday, Adele Khodr, UNICEF Middle East and North Africa regional director, said, “Children’s right to life and health is being denied.” The UN agency went on to warn that the lives of one million children in the besieged enclave are “hanging by a thread” as child health services almost collapse across the Gaza Strip.

There is renewed hope that the UNSC will finally respond to the war on Gaza, not only because there have been new attempts to find compromise language that will appeal to all its members, including the United States, but also because there has been a shift in the stance of the US itself. President Joe Biden called for a humanitarian pause to Israel’s war for the first time on November 2.The US says it is actively engaging with the elected members – Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and the UAE. This is significant because its veto power has been one of the reasons why several of the previous Council resolutions have failed since violence broke out on October 7.But, as ever, in the Council, there is much wrangling over the exact language of the resolution. Russia and China have vetoed a US resolution calling for a “humanitarian pause”, a phrase suggesting it would be conditional and time-limited. Most of the rest of the Council wants the resolution to include the word “ceasefire”. 

The choice of a single word in the resolution – pause or ceasefire – has meant an impasse in the UN’s top body, empowered with the maintenance of international peace and security.

With the Maltese resolution, sources told Al Jazeera, a key question that might come up for debate is the duration of the pauses in fighting. Humanitarian groups, and even US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have said the four-hour pauses that Israel has agreed to are currently not enough to ease humanitarian suffering meaningfully. However, it is unclear whether the US will agree to pauses that last several days at a stretch.

Still, one thing has changed since the previous resolutions. The UN General Assembly – which represents all of the UN member states – has expressed its clear opinion, calling for a humanitarian truce that passed on October 27 with 120 votes out of the 193 members. Such a resolution is not binding but has moral weight as a temperature check of the world’s mood.

Why has the UN failed to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza?

Previous UNSC draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza have failed. Two resolutions drafted by Russia did not get enough votes, with the US among the countries that voted against them. Even though a resolution proposed by Brazil received 12 votes out of the 15 member states, the US vetoed the draft. And, Russia and China vetoed a resolution drafted by the US.

While the five permanent members of the UNSC – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US – have the power to veto any resolution that they do not like, it remains reasonably rare. The US and Russia are the two countries that have exercised their veto power the most in the past. In recent years, the US has mostly used its veto to protect its ally Israel.

This was not always the case. Prior to the 1970s, the US often allowed resolutions to pass that Israel did not like. In 1956, it voted with other UNSC members to criticize Israel for a military operation in Gaza the previous year. Egypt controlled Gaza at the time.

Will Israel abide if a resolution passes?

More recently, on December 23, 2016, during the last days of the Barack Obama administration, the UNSC passed Resolution 2334.This resolution reaffirmed that Israel’s settlements in occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, “had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law”. It added that the settlements were a major obstacle to the vision of a two-state solution. There was considerable pressure from Israel and within the US for the Obama administration to veto it, but in the end they abstained. The resolution passed with 14 votes.

While the Council’s resolution, which also called for immediate steps to prevent violence against civilians, is “binding international law”, it was ignored by Israel.

What happens if a country defies a UNSC resolution?

If the resolution is broken, the next step is for the Council to take punitive action. This would be done in a follow-up resolution, which addresses the breach and calls for action.

The UN has taken action in the past by sanctioning breaching countries. However, in recent years, there has been pushback from permanent members Russia and China, who are not keen on the UNSC adopting new sanctions.

Under the UN Charter, the Council can go even further and order the authorization of an international force. A notable example of this was in 1991 when a US-led military alliance was created to reverse the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The problem lies in any potential follow-up resolution. There are virtually no circumstances under which the Biden administration would support a punitive resolution that would take forceful action against Israel.

Currently, there are backchannel efforts from the US administration to try and get Israel to restrain its military operations and stop killing civilians. But they are not working.

Israel does not currently seem at all concerned about accountability under international law. Israel and the US are not signatories to the Rome Statute that set up the International Criminal Court (ICC).The court has made it clear that it does have jurisdiction regarding crimes committed in the Gaza conflict. Violations of UNSC resolutions and breaches of international humanitarian law, such as targeting hospitals and indiscriminate bombardment of civilians, could form part of a compelling case.

But even if the ICC takes action, there is no way that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would voluntarily surrender himself into custody in The Hague. The same way, we have not seen Russian President Vladimir Putin offer himself up to the ICC judges when an arrest warrant for war crimes was issued against him by the ICC in March.

All this does not mean that circumstances will not change at some point. And if you breach international law, there is no statute of limitation on war crimes. The ICC and a separate International Independent Commission of Inquiry, set up by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, are gathering evidence on the current conflict. This will remain on the record for the world to see.

What has the UN done so far?

If we go back into history, the UN has established peacekeeping forces to tackle issues involving Israel. This includes the UN Emergency Force (UNEF), which deployed international peacekeepers on the border between Egypt and Israel in 1956.Two other missions are still operating, to this day. The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was established in 1974 after the agreed disengagement of the Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. In 1978, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was formed to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and to restore international peace and security.

These forces have a mandate to report any breaches, monitor the situation and provide a calming presence.

Yet, there are limits to what these forces can accomplish by way of establishing peace. There is currently no calm on the front line between Lebanon and Israel, known as the Blue Line, with the heaviest clashes for years between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. The Golan Heights situation has also been very tense for a long time, including during the Syrian war.

But all that only matters if the UNSC can first agree on a resolution. It is about to be tested again.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will meet on Wednesday in the United States, the White House has confirmed.

The meeting in California, the first between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies in a year, will include talks on trade, Taiwan and managing their tense relations.

Xi plans to visit the US from Tuesday through November 17, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. He will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco and is scheduled to meet with Biden on the sidelines.

Xi and Biden have not met since attending the G20 summit in Bali last year.

Biden administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity said the two presidents would meet in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thousands of protesters are expected to descend on San Francisco during the summit, which kicks off on Saturday.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement the leaders would discuss the “continued importance of maintaining open lines of communication” and how they “can continue to responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community”.

The meeting is not expected to lead to many, if any, major announcements.

“Nothing will be held back. Everything is on the table,” a US official told reporters.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met on Thursday in San Francisco, the latest in a string of senior level engagements between the countries in recent months aimed at easing tensions. Yellen and He are set to continue talks on Friday.

In September, the US and China launched new economic and financial working groups to enhance communication on issues of mutual interest, a move Yellen, who visited China in July, called “an important step forward in our bilateral relationship”.

But differences between the two sides have sharpened over the past year with Biden ordering a suspected Chinese spy balloon to be shot down after it traversed the continental United States and Chinese anger over a stopover in the US by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen this year, among other issues.

China claims the island of 23 million people as its territory. Taiwan is to hold elections in January, an event that typically draws an angry response from Beijing.

Beijing has historically tried to influence the results through a range of tactics from online misinformation campaigns to staging military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, an overt reminder that it has not ruled out trying to take the island by force.

Biden and Xi are also expected to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the presidential election in Taiwan.

China has said it is neutral in the Ukraine war but has been accused of propping up Russia’s economy in the face of Western sanctions.

China and the US also have disputes in areas such as trade and technology.

Last year, the US introduced a series of export controls meant to hobble China’s growing microchip industry. That move prompted accusations from Chinese officials that Washington is seeking to maintain the power and influence of its tech industry by working to “maliciously block and suppress Chinese companies”. 

Biden is also likely to press Xi on using China’s influence on North Korea during heightened anxiety over an increased pace of ballistic missile tests by North Korea as well as Pyongyang providing munitions to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Newsweek magazine published a recent opinion poll that showed that a majority of American adults would not be willing to serve in the army if the United States entered into a major war, while public confidence in the armed forces appears to be declining.

The magazine pointed out that these numbers come at a time when all branches of the armed forces have struggled in recent years to achieve their recruitment goals, indicating a growing apathy towards military service.

She pointed out that the opinion poll - conducted by the research institute Echelon Insights on 1,029 potential voters in the period from 23 to 26 October last year, after Hamas led its unprecedented armed attack on Israel on the 7th of the same month - showed that 72% of respondents would not They would be willing to volunteer to serve in the armed forces if America entered into a major conflict, compared to 21% who were willing to volunteer, and the remainder were unsure.

The magazine also referred to another poll conducted by Gallup last June, which showed that confidence in the army declined for the sixth year in a row to 60%.

She added that in 2023, the army and air force failed to achieve their goals by recruiting about 10,000, while the number of conscripts in the navy was less than 6,000, and since 1987 the number of active personnel has decreased by 39%.

It quoted experts in the field that such a shortage is worrying in light of an increasingly volatile global picture, as the American leadership does not know when it will next have to use its full military power.

Experts add that there is a complex mix of factors contributing to the issue of military recruitment, including adapting the issue to a younger target generation who is more engaged with modern technology, as well as an economic outlook that is proving to be a challenging environment for recruiting efforts.

It quoted the CEO of Military Recruitment Experts, David Eustice, as saying that there were other factors in the recruitment process itself that had an impact on the number of recruits arriving at the training camp, including daily limits on the number that could be recruited, in addition to increased medical examinations and knowledge of the criminal record of the applicant for recruitment.

Newsweek concluded its report that the military also faces a high level of unfitness for service among the general population, and as of 2020 estimates indicated that 77% of those between the ages of 17 and 24 were unfit for medical reasons, drug use, or criminal records.

From Aljazeera Net

The editor-in-chief of the Middle East Eye website, the British writer David Hearst, said that the Gaza war undermines America's influence in the world, citing that American diplomats and intelligence leaders regularly receive testimony confirming that American support for the genocide in Gaza is destroying the image of the United States in the Islamic world.

Hearst  added - in his article - that for US President Joe Biden, Israel is an out-of-control train that has effectively destroyed the strategic military presence of the United States in the region, the Abraham Accords, and much of Washington’s authority in the Islamic world and the countries of the South.

He also said that in this war, America is not even leading from behind - Barack Obama's joke about overthrowing the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi - but rather it is being dragged behind.

Painful encounters

Hirst pointed out that American diplomats and intelligence leaders face painful meetings with their Arab and Turkish counterparts on their regional tours, and they are told to their faces - during meetings that last for hours - that Israel is carrying out genocide in retaliation, and that the United States supports this, and that its support for this war undermines its image in the world. Islamic.

He stressed that the Americans finally understood that their policy in the Middle East - which declared that “America is back” - is in deep trouble.

Strongest responses

The writer stated that the strongest reactions to the Israeli bombing of Gaza, despite its weakness and fragility, came from Egypt and Jordan, the two countries that recognized Israel first, as “both of them are in fact exposed to severe danger due to their dependence on aid and money from the West.” Egypt has made it clear that ethnic cleansing In Gaza is unacceptable, and they will not hand over a grain of Sinai sand to resettle Gazans.

As for Jordan's position, it was stated by its Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi, who said that any expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza would be tantamount to a "declaration of war" against Jordan.

Hearst also referred to Bolivia's withdrawal of its ambassador from Israel and the severing of its diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, and China's position opposing the bombing of Gaza, as well as the positions of Qatar, Turkey, Malaysia, and others.

Big transformation

Hearst said that most of all is that the Gaza war will produce a major transformation in the international community, with America once again ceding its influence to the rest of the world, stressing that its sphere of influence is rapidly shrinking due to its arrogance.

He concluded his article by saying that when the West was put to the test, it proved unable to modify a policy of blind and irrational support for Israel that had long passed its expiration date.

Source: Middle East Eye

Maariv Weekly Poll: 59% of Israelis support a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of prisoners and abductees, and the percentage of those who believe that Gantz is most suitable to assume the position of Prime Minister of Israel rises to 52%.

An Israeli public opinion poll conducted by the Maariv newspaper yesterday (Thursday) showed that if the Israeli general elections were held now, each of the party camp lists supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would obtain 43 seats (one seat more than the number of seats it obtained in this week’s poll). last), while the lists of the parties camp opposing him will obtain 67 seats (one seat less than the number of seats they obtained in last week’s poll). The coalition list between Hadash [the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality] and Ta’al [the Arab Movement for Change] and the Ra’am list [the United Arab List] will each get 5 seats, and the Balad list [the National Democratic Rally] will not be able to exceed the electoral threshold (3.25%).

According to the poll, the Likud Party list, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will get 18 seats, the “Official Camp” coalition list, headed by “War Cabinet” Minister Benny Gantz, will get 40 seats, and the “There is a Future” list, headed by Knesset member Yair Lapid, 14 seats.

The poll showed that the “Religious Zionism” party list, headed by Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will get 4 seats, the “Otzma Yehudit” [“Jewish Power”] list, headed by Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, will get 5 seats, and the Shas party list of Haredi Jews will get 5 seats. [Religious extremists] Easterners get 9 seats, while the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party list gets 7 seats, and the “Israel Our Home” party list, headed by Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman, gets 9 seats, and the Meretz party list gets 4 seats, while The Labor Party list, headed by Knesset member Merav Michaeli, will not be able to exceed the electoral threshold.

52% of respondents said that the head of the “Official Camp” coalition, Benny Gantz, is the most suitable to assume the position of Prime Minister of Israel, while only 26% of them said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the most suitable.

59% of respondents confirmed that they support a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of prisoners and abductees held by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, while 30% of them confirmed that they oppose any ceasefire without any relation to the issue of prisoners and abductees.

44% of respondents said that they support Israel’s continued presence in the Gaza Strip, after the end of the current war, while 41% of them said that they support Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and handing over its rule to another party, either international or Palestinian.

The survey included a sample of 515 people, representing all categories of the adult population in Israel, with a maximum error rate of 4.3%.

Al-Monitor website said that despite the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since last October 7, Israeli leaders admit that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is still far from the point of collapse despite the destruction of the infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip.

A senior Israeli military source told Al-Monitor - who requested anonymity - that the movement still retains most of its strength.

He added that the movement's fighters are hiding underground and can move between the south and north of the Gaza Strip through the vast network of tunnels that Hamas dug under Gaza.

The Israeli officer said that the Hamas command structure has borne the brunt of the damage so far, while most of the movement's fighters, estimated at 20,000, were not injured.

Military experts believe that eliminating Hamas is not an easy matter from a military standpoint, because the resistance factions are still capable of fighting, and it may take months and perhaps even years, according to some analysts.

The Wall Street Journal quoted an informed source as saying that the American intelligence community doubts Israel's ability to achieve its declared military goal of eliminating the Hamas movement.

The source added that the Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip could cause harm to the Hamas movement and its infrastructure, but it will not be able to eliminate Hamas’ ideology.

For 36 days, the Israeli occupation army has been waging an air, land and sea war on Gaza, during which it destroyed residential neighborhoods on top of their residents. 11,78 Palestinians were martyred, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people, and 27,490 were injured with various injuries, according to official sources.

Sama News

We, the leaders of the countries and governments of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States, gathered at the kind invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, decided to merge the two summits that the Organization and the League had decided upon. Organizing it, in response to two generous invitations from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (presidency of the two summits) and from the State of Palestine, as an expression of our unified position in condemning the brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and an affirmation that we confront together this aggression and the humanitarian catastrophe that It causes, and we are working to stop it and end all illegal Israeli practices that perpetuate the occupation and deprive the Palestinian people of their rights, especially their right to freedom and an independent state with sovereignty over their entire national territory.

As we express our thanks to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, His Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, for the generous hospitality.

Emphasizing all the decisions of the Organization and the League regarding the Palestinian issue and all the occupied Arab territories,

Recalling all the resolutions of the United Nations and other international organizations regarding the Palestinian issue, the crimes of the Israeli occupation, and the right of the Palestinian people to freedom and independence in all of their occupied territories since 1967, which constitute a single geographical unit.

Welcoming United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/ES-10/L.25 adopted by the tenth emergency session on 26 October 2023,

We affirm the centrality of the Palestinian cause, and that we stand with all our energies and capabilities alongside the brotherly Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle to liberate all of their occupied territories and to fulfill all their inalienable rights, especially their right to self-determination and to live in their independent, sovereign state along the lines of June 4, 1967. Its capital is Al-Quds Al-Sharif,

We affirm that a just, lasting and comprehensive peace, which constitutes a strategic option, is the only way to guarantee security and stability for all the peoples of the region and protect them from cycles of violence and wars. It will not be achieved without ending the Israeli occupation and resolving the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution.

We affirm the impossibility of achieving regional peace by bypassing the Palestinian issue or attempts to ignore the rights of the Palestinian people, and that the Arab Peace Initiative supported by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is an essential reference.

We hold Israel responsible for the continuation and aggravation of the conflict as a result of its aggression against the rights of the Palestinian people and Islamic and Christian sanctities, and its systematic policies and practices and its illegal unilateral steps that perpetuate the occupation, violate international law, and prevent the achievement of just and comprehensive peace.

We affirm that Israel and all countries in the region will not enjoy security and peace unless the Palestinians enjoy them and regain all their stolen rights, and that the continuation of the Israeli occupation is a threat to the security and stability of the region and to international security and peace.

We condemn all forms of hatred and discrimination and all proposals that perpetuate the culture of hatred and extremism.

We warn of the disastrous repercussions of the retaliatory aggression launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip, which amounts to a mass war crime, and the barbaric crimes it also commits during it in the West Bank and Holy Jerusalem, and of the real danger of the expansion of the war as a result of Israel’s refusal to stop its aggression and the inability of the UN Security Council to enforce the law. International to terminate it.

We decide:

1- Condemn the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the war crimes and barbaric, brutal and inhuman massacres committed by the colonial occupation government during it, and against the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank and Holy Jerusalem.

2- He rejected describing this war of revenge as self-defense or justifying it under any pretext.

3- Demanding the Security Council to take a decisive and binding decision that imposes a cessation of aggression and curbs the colonial occupation authority that violates international law, international humanitarian law and international legitimacy resolutions, the latest of which is United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. A/ES-10/L.25 dated 10/26/ 2023, and considering failure to do so is complicity that allows Israel to continue its brutal aggression that kills innocent people, children, the elderly, and women, and turns Gaza into ruin.

4- Calling on all countries to stop exporting weapons and ammunition to the occupation authorities that are used by their army and terrorist settlers to kill the Palestinian people and destroy their homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and all their capabilities.

5- Demanding the Security Council to take an immediate decision condemning Israel’s barbaric destruction of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, preventing the entry of medicine, food and fuel into it, and the occupation authorities cutting off electricity, water supply and basic services there, including communication and internet services, as collective punishment that represents a war crime according to international law, and the necessity The resolution requires Israel, as the occupying power, to abide by international laws and immediately abolish these barbaric and inhumane measures, and to emphasize the necessity of lifting the blockade that Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip for years.

6- Breaking the siege on Gaza and imposing the entry of Arab, Islamic and international humanitarian aid convoys, including food, medicine and fuel, into the Gaza Strip immediately, calling on international organizations to participate in this process, and emphasizing the necessity of these organizations entering the Gaza Strip, protecting their crews and enabling them to fully carry out their role, And support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

7- Supporting all steps taken by the Arab Republic of Egypt to confront the consequences of the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza, and supporting its efforts to bring aid into the Gaza Strip in an immediate, sustainable and adequate manner.

8- Requesting the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court to initiate an immediate investigation into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in all the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and assigning the General Secretariats of the organization and the League to follow up on its implementation, and establishing a specialized legal monitoring unit. A joint document documenting the Israeli crimes committed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and preparing legal arguments on all violations of international law and international humanitarian law committed by Israel, the occupying power, against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, provided that The unit submits its report 15 days after its establishment to be presented to the League Council at the level of foreign ministers and to the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization, and thereafter on a monthly basis.

9- Supporting the legal and political initiatives of the State of Palestine to hold the Israeli occupation authorities responsible for its crimes against the Palestinian people, including the advisory opinion process of the International Court of Justice.

10- Assigning the two secretariats to establish a joint media monitoring unit that documents all the crimes of the occupation authorities against the Palestinian people and digital media platforms that publish them and expose their illegal and inhuman practices.

11- Assigning the foreign ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its capacity as the presidency of the summit (32), and starting immediate international action on behalf of all member states of the organization and the League to formulate an international move to stop the war on Gaza, and to press for the launch of a serious and real political process to achieve lasting and comprehensive peace in accordance with international references. Approved.

12- Calling on the member states of the organization and the League to exercise diplomatic, political and legal pressure and take any deterrent measures to stop the crimes of the colonial occupation authorities against humanity.

13- Denounce double standards in the application of international law, and warn that this duality seriously undermines the credibility of states that protect Israel from international law and places it above it, and the credibility of multilateral action and exposes the selectivity of applying the system of human values.

14- Condemning the displacement of about one and a half million Palestinians from the north of the Gaza Strip to its south, a war crime according to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and its 1977 Annex, and calling on the states parties to the convention to take a collective decision condemning and rejecting it, and calling on all United Nations organizations to confront the attempt to consolidate this colonial occupation authorities. The miserable inhuman reality, and stressing the necessity of the immediate return of these displaced people to their homes and areas.

15- Complete and absolute rejection and collective response to any attempts at individual or collective forced transfer, forced displacement, exile or deportation of the Palestinian people, whether inside the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, including Jerusalem, or outside its territory to any other destination whatever, considering this a red line and a crime. war.

16- Condemning the killing and targeting of civilians, as a principled position based on our humanitarian values and consistent with international law and international humanitarian law, and emphasizing the need for the international community to take immediate and rapid steps to stop the killing and targeting of Palestinian civilians, in a way that confirms that there is absolutely no difference between life and life, or discrimination over Based on nationality, race or religion.

17- Emphasizing the need to release all prisoners, detainees and civilians, condemning the abhorrent crimes committed by the colonial occupation authorities against thousands of Palestinian prisoners, and calling on all concerned countries and international organizations to put pressure to stop these crimes and prosecute their perpetrators.

18- Stop the murders committed by the occupation forces, the terrorism of settlers and their crimes in Palestinian villages, cities and camps in the occupied West Bank and all attacks on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and all Islamic and Christian sanctities.

19- We call on the international community to hold Israel responsible as an occupying power, in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law, to achieve immediate, secure and sustainable access to deliver humanitarian support and basic materials to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

20- Emphasizing the need for Israel to implement its obligations as the occupying power, and to stop all illegal Israeli measures that perpetuate the occupation, especially the construction and expansion of settlements, the confiscation of lands, and the displacement of Palestinians from their homes.

21- Condemning the military operations launched by the occupation forces against Palestinian cities and camps, condemning settler terrorism, and calling on the international community to place their associations and organizations on international terrorism lists and provide protection for the Palestinian people, so that they can enjoy all the rights that the rest of the peoples of the world enjoy, including human rights and the right to protection. Development, security, self-determination, and the embodiment of the independence of his state on his land.

22- Condemning the Israeli attacks on the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and Israel’s illegal measures that violate freedom of worship, and affirming the necessity of respecting the existing legal and historical status in the holy sites, and that the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, with its entire area of 144 thousand square meters, is a place of pure worship. For Muslims only, and that the Jordanian Department of the Jerusalem Endowments and the Affairs of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is the exclusive legal authority with jurisdiction to manage the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, maintain it, and regulate access to it, within the framework of the historical Hashemite custodianship of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and to support the role of the Al-Quds Committee and its efforts in confronting the practices of the occupation authorities in Holy city.

23- Condemning the acts and statements of extremist and racist hatred by ministers in the Israeli occupation government, including the threat of one of these ministers to use nuclear weapons against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, a serious threat to international peace and security, which requires supporting the conference to establish a zone free of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction. The other conference in the Middle East held within the framework of the United Nations and its objectives to confront this threat.

24- Condemning the killing of journalists, children, and women, targeting paramedics, and the use of internationally banned white phosphorus in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, condemning the repeated Israeli statements and threats to return Lebanon to the “stone age,” the necessity of preventing the expansion of the conflict, and calling on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate Israel’s use of Chemical weapons.

25- Reaffirming adherence to peace as a strategic option, to end the Israeli occupation and resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict in accordance with international law and relevant international legitimacy resolutions, including Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 497 (1981), 1515 (2003) and 2334 ( 2016), and emphasizing adherence to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 with all its elements and priorities, as it is the unified, consensual Arab position and the basis of any efforts to revive peace in the Middle East, which stipulates that the precondition for peace with Israel and the establishment of normal relations with it is ending its occupation of all Palestinian and Arab lands. Embodying the independence of the independent, fully sovereign State of Palestine along the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and restoring the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination, the right of return and compensation for Palestinian refugees, and resolving their issue justly in accordance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. 194. For the year 1948.

26- Emphasizing the need for the international community to move immediately to launch a serious and real peace process to achieve peace on the basis of a two-state solution that meets all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, especially their right to embody their independent, sovereign state along the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, to live in security. And peace alongside Israel, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative with all its elements.

27- We stress that the failure to find a solution to the Palestinian issue for more than 75 years, and the failure to address the crimes of the Israeli colonial occupation and its systematic policies to undermine the two-state solution by building and expanding colonial settlements, as well as some parties’ unconditional support for the Israeli occupation and protecting it from accountability, and rejecting Listening to continuous warnings about the danger of ignoring these crimes and their dangerous effects on the future of international peace and security is what led to a serious deterioration of the situation.

28- Emphasizing that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and calling on the Palestinian factions and forces to unite under its umbrella, and for everyone to bear their responsibilities in light of a national partnership led by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

29- Rejecting any proposals that would establish the separation of Gaza from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and that any future approach to Gaza must be in the context of working on a comprehensive solution that guarantees the unity of Gaza and the West Bank as the territory of the Palestinian state, which must be embodied in a free, independent, sovereign state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Lines of June 4, 1967.

30- Calling for the convening of an international peace conference, as soon as possible, through which a credible peace process will be launched on the basis of international law, international legitimacy resolutions and the principle of land for peace, within a specific time frame and with international guarantees, leading to an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, Including East Jerusalem, the occupied Syrian Golan, the Shebaa Farms, the Kafr Shuba hills and the outskirts of the Lebanese town of al-Mari, and implementing the two-state solution.

31- Activating the Islamic financial safety net in accordance with the resolution of the fourteenth session of the Islamic Summit Conference, to provide financial contributions and provide financial, economic and humanitarian support to the government of the State of Palestine and UNRWA, and to emphasize the need to mobilize international partners to reconstruct Gaza and mitigate the effects of the comprehensive destruction of the Israeli aggression as soon as it stops.

32- Assigning the Secretary-General of the Organization and the Secretary-General of the League to follow up on the implementation of the decision and present a report on it to the next session of their councils.

A demonstration in which tens of thousands are expected to participate will take place in the British capital on Saturday, amid heavy security guarding, to demand a ceasefire in the month-long conflict between the Israeli army and Hamas, in a demonstration that sparked a political crisis in the country.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which responded with intense bombing of the Gaza Strip, the demonstrators, who came out in large numbers over four consecutive weekends, have been demanding a ceasefire.

Organizing the demonstration despite the government's criticism sparked a political crisis. Interior Minister Suella Braverman is now facing harsh criticism calling for her dismissal for questioning the neutral position of the police who refused to ban the demonstration.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned London Police Chief Mark Rowley that he would hold him "responsible" for any unrest, especially if demonstrators disrupt the Armistice Day commemoration, which falls on the same day in the capital.

The organizers of the demonstration pledged to avoid the Whitehall area in central London, where the ceremony, which the Prime Minister will attend, is scheduled to take place.

The Chief of Operations at the London Police, Lawrence Taylor, who expects more than 100,000 demonstrators to participate, indicated that this weekend will be “particularly tense and difficult,” expressing his fear that rioters will come to the place, increasing the possibility of clashes.

On Friday, the police reported the deployment of huge forces, with about two thousand elements mobilized to ensure the security of the celebrations and the demonstration.

Interior Minister Suella Braverman described the marches calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as "hate marches," noting that police officers "make choices" when it comes to demonstrations, and considered that they ignored "pro-Palestinian mobs" during marches protesting the war between Israel and Hamas.

These statements sparked a torrent of criticism, and opposition representatives called on Sunak to dismiss her.

Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer said Braverman was "out of control" and that Sunak was "too weak to act on it".

Braverman's tendency to stoke culture wars may be useful to the Conservative Party as it attempts to repair its significant decline to Labor in the opinion polls ahead of the election, which must be held by January 2025.

According to an opinion poll published by the conservative newspaper The Telegraph, 52% of Britons believe that the demonstration should have been banned, and this percentage stands at 72% among conservative voters.

Wafa - Minister of Health, Mai Al-Kaila, said, “Targeting hospitals, medical and ambulance teams in the Gaza Strip, in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression for the 36th day in a row, is a “war crime” and genocide.

Al-Kaila explained in a press conference, held today, Saturday, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Health in the city of Ramallah, to find out the latest developments regarding the ongoing aggression against hospitals and medical staff and the Gaza Strip in general, that the situation in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip has reached an unprecedented situation in history, with hospitals and staff being targeted. Medical and ambulance vehicles.

She explained that international law, international humanitarian law, and international treaties have become a dead letter after these massacres committed in the Gaza Strip, because they cannot protect the hospital from bombing, and cannot stop the Israeli machine of destruction and killing against hospitals, doctors, the sick, the wounded, and displaced civilians. .

She pointed out that the occupation bombed the Baptist Hospital, leaving more than 500 martyrs, and tried to disavow its crime, but today, in a live and direct broadcast, and in a frank confession and in front of the whole world, it bombs hospitals, cutting off fuel, medicines, medical supplies, electricity, and water, with the result being certain death for patients. Either due to thirst, burns, lack of medicine, or bombardment with lethal weapons by the Israeli occupation.

She continued, “The Israeli machine of destruction and killing is still waging its aggression against the Gaza Strip for the 36th day, as the number of martyrs since the beginning of the aggression against the Gaza Strip has reached more than 11 thousand martyrs, including more than 4,500 children, 3,000 women, and 700 elderly people, while the number of wounded has reached More than 27 thousand wounded, most of them women and children.

Minister Al-Kaila noted that Al-Shifa Hospital was bombed and targeted, and the power supply to large parts and sections of it was cut off, as the fourth floor of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital and the outpatient clinics were bombed, and the power supply to pediatric intensive care, where 39 children were threatened with martyrdom, was cut off.

She added that Al-Awda Hospital was bombed and parts of the building were destroyed, and a number of ambulance vehicles and the hospital’s courtyards were destroyed. The medical staff in the hospital were informed of the need to evacuate it immediately, leaving the patients without the slightest medical care. However, the medical staff remained determinedly in the hospital, in addition to the Baptist Hospital. Al-Ahly Al-Arabi, in which the orthopedic and surgery department remained functioning after the bombing, with the available capabilities.

Since dawn today, Saturday, Israeli occupation forces have surrounded the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City, which is being subjected to violent and intense bombardment, amid a complete power outage.

According to medical sources, an infant died due to exposure to the cold in the nursery, and four patients in the intensive care unit died due to a power outage in the Al-Shifa Complex, the surroundings of which are subject to continuous bombing.

According to eyewitnesses, the occupation tanks targeted a medical team that was heading to inspect the martyrs and wounded inside the compound’s courtyards, and a group of displaced people who tried to leave it, a short while ago, with shells.

The pediatric intensive care departments and oxygen machines stopped working in the Al-Shifa Complex, and the occupation forces bombed the surgery building on the fifth floor, resulting in many wounded, and there is no communication between the departments, or even movement within it.

Medical teams have also been working with 37 premature babies in incubators manually for 3 hours, amid warnings that others will be martyred in the coming hours.

Occupation vehicles have been besieging the complex since dawn today, as all the neighboring buildings were bombed, and thousands of wounded and displaced people are trapped inside, without electricity, food, water, or fuel, and dozens of martyrs’ bodies are piled up in its courtyards, and a fire broke out next to the kidney department, and in IDP camps, amid fears that it will spread to other places.

According to eyewitnesses, the occupation vehicles are only 500 meters away from the Al-Shifa Complex, targeting anyone who moves inside its courtyards.

The Journalists Syndicate has warned of a massacre that may occur against journalists present in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in light of the targeting they are being subjected to, after communication with them has been cut off.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, there is difficulty evacuating Al-Shifa Medical Complex, because there are more than 60 patients in intensive care, more than fifty infants in the premature and incubation departments, and more than 500 patients in the dialysis departments.

Occupation tanks, which entered overland a few days ago, surrounded four hospitals west of Gaza City.

According to the Ministry of Health, 198 health personnel and 36 civil defense personnel were martyred, and more than 130 were injured, while 60 ambulances were damaged, including 53 that were completely out of service, and 51 out of 72 primary health care centers due to damage resulting from the bombing or lack of fuel. 24 hospitals were asked to evacuate in the northern Gaza Strip (the total capacity of these hospitals is 2,000 beds).

55% of health sector partners also suspended their operations due to major damage to infrastructure, while the ongoing aggression led to the displacement of most health personnel, forcing hospitals to work with less than a third of the necessary capacity to treat the large number of wounded, and hospitals are still suffering from a severe shortage of fuel, leading to strict rationing and limited use of electricity generators for essential functions only.

She noted the possibility of stopping the neonatal incubators that house 130 children, pointing out that there are 350,000 patients with non-communicable diseases, and 1,000 patients in need of dialysis, as 80% of the dialysis machines are in hospitals in northern Gaza.

The ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October has resulted in more than 11,078 martyrs, including 4,506 children and 3,027 women, in addition to the injury of 27,490 citizens, the majority of whom are women and children, an infinite toll.

Today, Saturday, November 11, marks the 19th anniversary of the martyrdom of the iconic president and leader Yasser Arafat, “Abu Ammar.”

“Abu Ammar” was martyred under difficult internal and external circumstances, from which our people and their liberation cause are still suffering, as a result of the occupation, aggression, and the ongoing Israeli siege... martyrs, wounded, and thousands of fighters languishing in detention centers, the spread of colonialism, the demolition of homes, and the dismemberment of the homeland.

The date of November 11 of every year will remain a painful memory that remembers the passing of a leader who fought a liberation struggle for our national cause for decades, and faced countless military and political battles for it, until it ended with his martyrdom in 2004, after an Israeli siege and aggression. It lasted more than three years for its headquarters in the city of Ramallah.

The various stages of the national struggle since the beginning of the contemporary revolution have benefited from the great skill of the leader and martyr, Yasser Arafat, and his will and steadfastness in the face of all challenges, as he turned many setbacks into victories that were recorded in history and that future generations will remember for a long time.

In this way, the martyr Yasser Arafat was physically absent from Palestine, but his legacy of struggle is still firmly established among our people and their leadership.

The late President “Abu Ammar” was born in Jerusalem on the fourth of August 1929, and his full name is “Muhammad Yasser” Abdul Raouf Daoud Suleiman Arafat Al-Qudwa Al-Husseini. He received his education in Cairo, and participated as a reserve officer in the Egyptian army in confronting the tripartite aggression against Egypt in 1956. .

The late leader studied at the Faculty of Engineering at Fouad I University in Cairo, and participated since his youth in the resurrection of the Palestinian national movement through his activity in the ranks of the Palestine Students Union, of which he later assumed the presidency.

He also participated with a group of Palestinian patriots in establishing the Palestinian National Liberation Movement “Fatah” in the 1950s, and became its official spokesman in 1968. He was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in February 1969, after the position had been previously held by Ahmed Al-Shugairi and Yahya Hamouda.

In 1974, Abu Ammar gave a speech on behalf of our Palestinian people, before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and then said his famous sentence: “I came to you carrying the revolutionary’s rifle in one hand and an olive branch in the other, so do not drop the green branch from my hand.”

As Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Command of the Palestinian Revolutionary Forces and the Lebanese National Movement, Abu Ammar led the battle against the Israeli aggression against Lebanon during the summer of 1982. He also led the battles of steadfastness during the siege imposed by the invading Israeli forces around Beirut for 88 days, which ended with an international agreement requiring the departure of Palestinian fighters. From the city, and when journalists asked Yasser Arafat the moment he left by sea to Tunisia on a Greek ship about his next stop, he answered, “I am going to Palestine.”

Leader Yasser Arafat and the leadership and staff of the Liberation Organization were guests in Tunisia, and from there he began completing his diligent steps towards Palestine.

On October 1, 1985, Yasser Arafat miraculously survived an Israeli raid targeting the “Hammam Al-Shat” suburb in Tunisia, which led to the death and injury of dozens of Palestinians and Tunisians. By 1987, things began to relax and become more active on more than one level. After reconciliation was achieved between the opposing Palestinian political forces in a unified session of the Palestinian National Council, Arafat began to lead wars on several fronts. He supported the legendary steadfastness of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, directed the stone intifada that broke out in Palestine against the occupation in 1987, and fought political battles at the international level in order to enhance recognition of the Palestinian cause and the justice of their aspirations.

Following the declaration of independence in Algeria on the fifteenth of November 1988, the late, on the thirteenth and fourteenth of December of the same year in the United Nations General Assembly, launched the Palestinian Peace Initiative to achieve just peace in the Middle East. The General Assembly at that time moved to Geneva due to its refusal to The United States granted him a travel visa to New York, and this initiative was based on the decision of the American administration headed by Ronald Reagan on the 16th of the same month, to initiate a dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization in Tunisia as of March 30, 1989.

Yasser Arafat, at the head of the PLO cadre, returned to Palestine, in accordance with the Oslo Accords, which was signed in 1993 between the organization and the Israeli government in the White House, on the thirteenth of September.

On January 20, 1996, Yasser Arafat was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority in general elections, and the process of building the foundations of the Palestinian state began from that time.

After the failure of the Camp David negotiations in 2000 as a result of Israeli intransigence and Yasser Arafat’s keenness not to neglect Palestinian rights and violate their principles, the Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out on the twenty-eighth of September 2000, and occupation forces and tanks surrounded President Arafat in his headquarters, under the pretext of accusing him of leading the uprising, and invaded several cities in an operation. It called it the “defensive wall,” and kept the siege imposed on it in a narrow space that lacked the minimum conditions for human life.

The Journalists Syndicate warned of a massacre that might occur against journalists present in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in light of the targeting they are being subjected to.

The head of the union’s freedoms committee, Muhammad al-Laham, said in a statement on Friday evening that the union had lost contact with dozens of male and female colleagues who were covering the Israeli aggression on the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital.

Al-Lahham added that there were many attempts by the union to communicate, without any response from any male or female colleague who remained until Friday afternoon in the vicinity of the hospital, which portends a serious danger to their lives and makes their fate unknown until this moment.

Al-Laham called on Red Cross crews and international organizations present in Gaza to intervene and provide protection for journalists in light of the escalation of their targeting and incitement campaigns against them.

Brazil arrested two this week over a potential ‘terrorist threat,' with Israel soon claiming the suspects were part of a Hezbollah cell seeking to attack 'Jews and Israelis'

Authorities in Brazil harshly criticized Israel’s recent claim that Hezbollah was involved in “terrorist” activity in the South American country, chastising Tel Aviv for using this case to “promote their own interests.” “The case is ongoing and must not be used by outside governments to promote their own interests,” Brazilian Justice Minister Flavio Dino said on 9 November. “The warrants served yesterday regarding a possible case of terrorism are derived from decisions by the Brazilian Judiciary. If evidence exists, the Federal Police must investigate, to confirm or not the investigative hypotheses,” Dino added. The minister expressed Brazil’s appreciation for “international cooperation” but rejected “any foreign authority considering directing Brazilian police bodies, or using investigations that we are responsible for to promote their political interests.” He emphasized that the ongoing investigation began before the outbreak of the Gaza-Israel war. Brazilian police on 8 November arrested two individuals suspected of planning “terrorist attacks.”

The two were detained in an operation to “disrupt the preparation of terrorist attacks and secure evidence on the possible recruitment of Brazilians to carry out extremist acts in the country,” police said. The arrest was allegedly carried out in coordination with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. In a statement on 8 November, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Security forces in Brazil, together with the Mossad and its partners in the Israeli security community, as well as other international security and law enforcement agencies, thwarted an attack in Brazil that Hezbollah, under the direction and funding of Iran, was planning to carry out." The statement claimed that the alleged Hezbollah cell was planning attacks on “Jews and Israelis” in Brazil. "These days, against the backdrop of the war against the terror group of Hamas, the terror group of Hezbollah and the Iranian regime continue to operate worldwide to carry out attacks against Israeli, Jewish, and western targets." 

This is not the first time Israel claims it thwarted Iran-linked attacks in foreign countries. Several Latin American countries have downgraded diplomatic relations with Israel in response to the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. In late October, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that what is happening in Gaza "Is not a war. It is a genocide that led to the killing of [thousands of] children who had nothing to do with this war. They are the victims of this war.”

Source: The Cradle

Last night, the Security Council discussed the health situation in the Gaza Strip.

Members listened to two briefings from the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and from the Director-General of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Marwan Al-Jilani.

Ghebreyesus said, "Since October 7, the World Health Organization has documented the occurrence of about 250 attacks on health care in Gaza and the West Bank, in which about 100 United Nations employees in Gaza were killed."

He added, "As we speak, there are reports of gunfire outside Al-Shifa and Al-Rantisi hospitals," in addition to the fact that half of Gaza's hospitals and two-thirds of its primary health care centers are out of service, and even other facilities are operating beyond their maximum capacity.

"The health sector in Gaza is collapsed, but it is still providing some life-saving care," he said.

He explained that the best way to support health workers and those who serve them is to provide the tools they need to provide care, such as medicine, medical equipment, and fuel for hospital generators, noting that field hospitals and emergency medical teams can complement and support the work of hospitals and medical workers in Gaza, but they cannot To replace them.

For his part, Al-Jilani called on the council members via video technology to “do everything in their power to prevent more deaths and more suffering,” speaking about the situation in Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, which was exposed to gunfire on Friday.

Al-Jilani called on the Security Council and the international community to ensure the implementation of an effective and immediate ceasefire, and the immediate arrival of fuel to Gaza “to prevent further deaths and unnecessary suffering,” and the need to increase humanitarian aid and ensure unconditional relief reaches the northern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of refugees remain there. They have no safe places to go.

Al-Jilani expressed his hope that the Council and the international community would listen to the “blood-soaked cries of children,” stressing that “the health sector is under attack in Gaza.”

In turn, the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, said that the Palestinians bear “death, displacement, pain and suffering in a way that the human mind cannot comprehend, and greater than any human heart can bear.”

Mansour added, “Bombs fall everywhere: north, south, east, west, and on schools, universities, hospitals, United Nations shelters, cars, convoys, people walking, and ambulances, and kill civilians, doctors, journalists, United Nations employees, and humanitarian rescue teams,” wondering where the Palestinians should go. ?.

Mansour called on the Security Council to “stop the massacre now,” stressing the need to implement the General Assembly’s resolution.

As Benjamin Netanyahu has remained steadfast in opposing a ceasefire, up to 80 percent of Israelis say they want the premier to resign after the war

Nearly sixty percent of Israelis are in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza to secure the release of prisoners held by Hamas, according to a new poll published by Hebrew newspaper Maariv on 10 November. “Against the backdrop of increased American pressure and raising the issue of prisoners to the top of the list of priorities among the public, 59 percent of Israelis conditionally support a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, with the main condition for them being the return of all the prisoners,” Maariv said. 

The poll adds that only three percent of Israelis believe an unconditional ceasefire should exist. The Maariv survey comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ultimately rejected calls for a general ceasefire unless all prisoners are released. Israel has instead agreed on daily “humanitarian pauses,” the White House said on Thursday. Washington is reportedly pushing for a pause of at least three days to make way for prisoner release talks – which are currently being mediated by Egypt and Qatar. 

Hamas recently released several Israeli prisoners in exchange for the entry of aid into Gaza. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement’s Quds Brigades said this week that it is willing to release two prisoners for humanitarian purposes. However, the resistance has said that it will only agree to release all its prisoners in exchange for all of those who are being held in Israeli jails, amounting to over 10,000 Palestinians. Per recent polls, 70 to 80 percent of Israelis say they believe Netanyahu should resign after the war for his responsibility in the 7 October attack by the Gaza resistance. 

The Israeli army has faced unprecedented resistance during its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israel has admitted to the deaths of 38 soldiers since expanding ground operations on 27 October and is believed to be hiding many more casualties. According to the Maariv poll, “41 percent support leaving the Gaza Strip, compared to 44 percent who want Israel to remain in control of it.”

A recently leaked intelligence document details an Israeli plan to force the Gazan population into the Sinai desert and reoccupy the strip after the war is over. Israel has denied claims that it plans to reoccupy the strip. However, a US official said on Wednesday that it is likely to impose an initial security presence in Gaza following the war. The poll has also further reflected Israeli society’s dwindling support for Netanyahu. “On the question of suitability for the Prime Minister position, Minister Benny Gantz (former defense minister) … receives 52 percent support compared to 26 percent support for Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Source: the Cradle

Southern Israel was on high alert, Friday, after attacks by armed groups in Yemen and Syria, reflecting, according to the New York Times, the growing regional threats that Israel faces from Iranian-backed militants throughout the Middle East.

On Thursday, the Israeli army said that an organization in Syria launched a drone that hit a school in the city of Eilat in the south.

The army did not mention the name of the organization that launched the drone towards Eilat, which overlooks the Red Sea and is about 400 kilometers away from the nearest point on Syrian territory.

'Multiple fronts'

The Yemeni Houthi group, allied with Iran, has also been launching missile and drone attacks on Israel since October 7, but they were either shot down or failed to hit their targets.

The Houthis, who control vast areas of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, announced on Thursday that they had fired ballistic missiles at various Israeli targets, including what the group’s military spokesman described as “military targets in Eilat.”

Israel said it used its "Arrow" defense system to intercept ballistic missiles about 96 kilometers off the coast of Eilat, but did not specify their source.

The Israeli army said this month that it deployed boats armed with missiles in the Red Sea as part of its military reinforcements, the day after the Yemeni Houthi movement announced launching missile and drone attacks on Israel and pledged to carry out more.

The recent attacks, according to the New York Times, came amid growing concern about the ability of Iranian-backed militias to open multiple fronts against Israel.

These interconnected militias form the so-called “Axis of Resistance” and also include Hezbollah in Lebanon and groups in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and allow Iran, according to the newspaper, to project power and influence throughout the Arab world, while also acting as a deterrent against any Israeli strike on Iran and its nuclear program. .

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant accused Iran of being behind the recent attacks, saying that "all roads lead to one place: Tehran."

Regarding the Houthi strikes on Israel, Mohammed Al-Basha, chief Middle East analyst at the American Navanti Consulting Group, says that the group “seeks to achieve strategic goals through its participation in a regional conflict, including ensuring political influence in Yemen and the region.”

Al-Basha explained to Agence France-Presse that the rebels are seeking “to gain recognition and legitimacy as an important player in regional conflicts,” in addition to “renewing and mobilizing their popular base.”

The Houthis have controlled the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, since they seized it in 2014 during the country's ongoing devastating civil war.

Since then, the Houthis' ties with Iran have grown, enabling the group to increase its weapons capabilities. The militants are now able to launch more accurate and longer-range missiles, according to the New York Times.

In Syria, which has long had tense relations with Israel, Iranian-backed groups have flourished since the Syrian regime lost control of a number of areas of the country at the beginning of the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. These groups, trained by Hezbollah, have given them important proxies. For Iran in Syria, according to the same source.

"Share the burden"

By launching attacks on Israel from Syria and Yemen, the newspaper notes, “Iran is using its proxies to share the burden of retaliatory strikes.”

Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said, “The axis of resistance is a loose alliance,” noting that it is “like NATO... the battle of one member is the battle of all.”

The New York Times explained that Hezbollah is largely viewed as "the most advanced militia in this axis, as it possesses missiles and missiles that can penetrate deep into Israel and precisely target important infrastructure."

While Hezbollah fired missiles at northern Israel, it mostly refrained from fully joining the fighting and opened a second front against Israel, according to the newspaper, which indicated that analysts believe that “Tehran likely considered Hezbollah a very important card that it did not want to use.” "It's there now."

Washington warned Iran and its allies against expanding the scope of the conflict, and deployed a submarine and two aircraft carriers in the region to “deter” the entry of other parties into the war.

Iran denies its involvement in the attacks that targeted Israel and American forces in the Middle East.

Tehran's ambassador to the United States, Amir Saeed Irawani, said on Thursday that separatist groups are responding to the Israeli attack that killed more than ten thousand Palestinians in Gaza.

"It is a natural reaction from resistance groups. It is their choice and their direction," Irawani said in an interview with CNN.

However, the White House rejected the ambassador's assumptions.

Source: Alhurra

Despite the Israeli army's advance in northern Gaza, the long-term Israeli strategy regarding the Strip remains "shrouded in ambiguity" for most Israelis, Palestinians, as well as Israel's allies, according to a report by the Financial Times.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent army forces to the Strip last month, he pledged that Israel would “eliminate” Hamas.

In the past few days, Israeli forces have completely surrounded Gaza City, and the Israeli army has said for days that its forces are fighting Hamas in the heart of the city, according to Reuters.

The war broke out between Israel and Hamas after a surprise attack launched by the movement on military sites and residential areas adjacent to the Gaza Strip on October 7, which led to the killing of 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to a revised toll published by the Israeli authorities on Saturday, and 239 people were kidnapped.

In response to the deadliest attack inside Israel since its founding in 1948, Israeli forces launched the most devastating attack on Gaza since they withdrew from the Strip in 2005.

Since then, Israel has responded with intense air, sea and ground bombardment on the besieged Gaza Strip, followed by a ground operation that is still ongoing. The death toll in Gaza reached 11,078 dead, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people, and 27,490 people were injured, in addition to 2,700 missing under the rubble, according to the report. What the Hamas Ministry of Health announced on Friday.

When and how will the war end?

As Israeli forces push deeper into the besieged Strip, there remains “lack of clarity about Gaza’s post-war future.” No one knows when or how the war will end, the Financial Times asserts.

The newspaper notes that "it is also not clear what it means in practice to destroy an organization with both political and military arms, which over the past 16 years has been an integral part of the bureaucracy and provision of public services in Gaza."

The picture is made more ambiguous by the fact that the American, Israeli, and Palestinian leadership could change during what is likely to be a “prolonged campaign.”

No one knows what will be left of Gaza, home to 2.3 million people and already devastated by month-long bombing and blockade, when the fighting finally ends.

Emile Hakim, director of regional security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, believes that what Israel does now will determine what you can do next.

While Israeli officials are tight-lipped about their long-term plans, some Western officials wonder whether such plans actually exist.

A Western official whose name was not mentioned by the Financial Times said, “The Israelis haven’t really thought about it. This makes it very difficult for anyone else to plan.”

The future of Gaza after the war

As international pressure for a ceasefire mounts, Netanyahu this week gave the clearest signal yet about his government's thinking about the immediate post-war period.

He said in an interview with Fox News that Israel “has a clear plan for what it is working to achieve through the war against Hamas,” ruling out “occupying or ruling Gaza” or a ceasefire at the present time.”

“I think it is clear what the future of Gaza should look like. Hamas will disappear,” Netanyahu said, adding, “We must destroy Hamas, not just for our sake, but for everyone’s sake. For the sake of civilization, for the sake of Palestinians and Israelis alike.”

Netanyahu explained, “They must see Gaza demilitarized, free of extremism, and rebuild it.” He added, “We do not seek to rule Gaza. We do not seek to occupy it, but we seek to give it and ourselves a better future. We have to make sure that this does not happen again.” .

Israeli officials acknowledge that this may include forces stationed in Gaza after the end of the war, according to the Financial Times.

A senior Israeli official, whose name was not mentioned by the Financial Times, said, “We will have to deploy our forces in different areas to enable operational flexibility,” adding, “We all woke up on October 7 to a new reality...and this means for all of us not to think from the perspective of the past.” .

Some in the Israeli security services believe that “a situation similar to what is happening in parts of the West Bank,” with Israeli forces exercising security control alongside the Palestinian civil authority, is the most likely outcome.

“There are two practical things you need to do to prevent the buildup of terrorism in Gaza,” says Amir Avivi, former deputy commander of the IDF's Gaza Division.

You need to control the Egyptian border, and you need something like Area B in the West Bank, where you can go in and out and arrest “terrorist cells like we do there,” Avivi adds.

Does Israel control Gaza?

But others on the Israeli right have called on Israel to exercise more open control over Gaza, and even reintroduce Israeli settlements, which most of the international community consider illegal, into the Strip.

“There is no status quo, and nothing is sacred,” Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch said earlier this week.

Such talk, coupled with Israel's displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents from the northern Gaza Strip, has raised fears among Palestinians that Israel may eventually end up controlling Gaza.

One Palestinian analyst, whose name the newspaper did not mention, asked, “Who is the Israeli politician who will launch a campaign to withdraw from northern Gaza?” adding, “It will be another West Bank, but worse than that, because there will be no Palestinians.”

But the Israeli leadership denies this, and the senior Israeli official says: “I do not think we want to control two million Palestinians.”

Regarding the future mechanisms for Gaza, there are two conditions: the first is that it cannot be Hamas under any circumstances, and secondly, we must maintain operational superiority,” according to the Israeli official.

Different scenarios

Although the UN played a key role in running Gaza's public services before the war, such as schools, few believe it will be able to take over the entire civil administration of the Strip.

As the war progressed, many Israeli officials accused the United Nations of "siding with the Palestinians."

The former head of the research department in the Israeli army, Yossi Kuperwasser, says, “No international force will do this,” speaking about what he calls “the failure of the United Nations mission in Lebanon to prevent clashes along the Lebanese-Israeli border.”

Kuperwasser asks, “Where are the UNIFIL forces when Hezbollah launches attacks on us?”

The Arab countries have no desire to accept what they consider the "poisoned chalice" of playing any role in Gaza, according to the Financial Times.

But the bigger question is whether any attempt to reinstall the Palestinian Authority in Gaza would create more problems than it solves.

“No Palestinian agency, including the Palestinian Authority, can take over Gaza in the context of the alliance between us and Israel against Hamas,” says a senior Palestinian official.

He and Arab officials insist that the only viable option to "neutralize Hamas' armed ideology is to create a Palestinian state alongside Israel."

“The only positive thing is that everyone realizes that there has to be some kind of push toward establishing a Palestinian state, otherwise none of this will improve,” the Western official says.

However, this possibility seems to be a “far-fetched aspiration.”

The official points out that reaching a settlement to the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires three main elements: “a committed American administration and Israeli and Palestinian leaders who are serious about peace.”

Source: Alhurra

London - The anti-Zionist Israeli historian Avi Shlaim does not give up on reading what is happening in Palestine starting on October 7th. Rather, he insists that what happened has its roots since 1967.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Shlaim emphasized that the only way to understand the Israeli war on Gaza is to understand the historical context, before explaining the reasons that lead him to be convinced that this war is “meaningless.”

The professor of international relations at St. Anthony's University, affiliated with the University of Oxford, confirmed that the "revenge" approach used by Benjamin Netanyahu's government "will not lead to any results," presenting his expectations for Netanyahu's political fate, as well as his vision of the Western response to the war on the Gaza Strip and the reasons for support. Absolute for Tel Aviv.

Historian and academic Shlaim belongs to the elite of new Israeli historians who are working to reread the origins of Israel and confront the narratives that it promoted. He believes that Israel after 1967 has become a brutal colonial power whose army’s mission is to protect the security of the occupation, and it practices the apartheid system. He expressed his ideas In his books, including “The Politics of Partition” and “A Brief History of War and Peace in the Middle East” (1995), and “The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World” (2001).

In your opinion, what are the real reasons behind the situation we are living in?

The point I want to emphasize is that this conflict did not begin on October 7. People do not ask why Hamas carried out this attack. The answer will be found in the historical context, and the answer to everything that happens is in history, which takes us back to the year 1967, the date of the occupation of Israel. for the Palestinian territories.

The Israelis claim that they gave the Palestinians the opportunity to turn the Gaza Strip into the Singapore of the Middle East, which did not happen. They turned the Gaza Strip into an open prison.

Media attention focused on the Hamas attack. Although, in my opinion, the Israeli reaction is completely disproportionate. I condemn both matters. I condemn the Hamas attack. Because it also targeted civilians, and killing civilians is wrong, but on the other hand, the Israeli reaction was cruel, brutal and completely disproportionate. Then, revenge is not a policy, and is not considered a solution. What Israel is doing is state-sponsored terrorism, and it is much more dangerous than attacking... Israel.

How do you evaluate Netanyahu and the West’s handling of this war?

I expect that Netanyahu will not be able to survive politically, and then there is the Western handling of this crisis, which is characterized by hypocrisy and double standards.

A clear example of Western hypocrisy is what happened in January 2006 when Hamas won in free and transparent elections, but Israel refused to recognize the Hamas government, and the European Union and the United States decided to support Israel in its decision, by imposing economic sanctions in order to weaken Hamas. And force it to voluntarily relinquish power in Gaza.

In 2007, Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip. This siege is illegal and illegitimate, because it is considered a form of collective punishment against civilians. Now Israel is taking more dangerous steps similar to a medieval siege when it says it will prevent water, food, medicine and fuel from more than 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip.

Until now, the Western powers are still completely biased towards one party. On the one hand, they condemn Hamas and describe it as a terrorist organization, but on the other hand, they do not look at the Israeli reaction, nor do they direct any criticism at it, and for this reason they are complicit in the attack on Gaza and on civilians. In practice, they gave Israel the green light to do the most horrific things instead of calling for a ceasefire.

Will what is happening lead to more confrontations and conflicts?

We must note that Jewish hostility to Arabs in Israel is no longer the same as before, but has increased significantly over the past 20 years, since Israel began moving more towards the right politically.

The current government, which has forces of religious Zionism, is the most extreme right-wing government, the most chauvinistic (fanatical), and the most racist government in the history of Israel. As a result of the current war in Gaza, the public will move more toward the right, and become more hostile to the Arabs.

What do you think of the attempts to silence all voices critical of the occupation under the pretext of anti-Semitism?

Israel and its friends around the world confuse “anti-Semitism” with anti-Zionism. I define “anti-Semitism” as hatred of Jews only because they are Jews, and this has nothing to do with Israel.

As for anti-Zionism, it is a completely different matter. It is criticism and opposition to the Zionist ideology, which is the official ideology of the State of Israel, especially with regard to the policies dealing with the Palestinians, including occupation, the apartheid regime, and the harsh and violent use of force as we are experiencing these days in Gaza.

Source: AlJazeera

UNICEF: “The lives of one million children in Gaza are hanging by a thread, with health services for children almost collapsing across the Strip.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that the lives of one million children in Gaza are "hanging by a thread" with health services for children almost collapsing across the Strip.

UNICEF added in a statement, Friday evening, on her website, “The almost complete collapse of medical and health care services throughout the Gaza Strip, especially the northern regions, threatens the life of every child in the Strip.”

UNICEF: explained: “During the past 24 hours, medical care in Al-Rantissi and Al-Nasr Children’s Hospitals almost stopped, as there was only a small generator supplying energy to the intensive care and neonatal intensive care units.”

UNICEF: continued: “There are reports of attacks and intense hostilities near Al-Rantisi Hospital, where, according to reports, there are children undergoing dialysis and in intensive care.”

Reports said that Al-Nasr Children's Hospital was damaged again yesterday (Thursday) in an attack, including life-saving equipment. Another children's hospital in the north has already stopped operating due to damage and lack of fuel, and a specialized maternity hospital is in dire need of fuel to continue its work.”

“Children are being deprived of their right to life and health,” said Adele Khodour, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Protecting hospitals and delivering life-saving medical supplies is a duty under the laws of war, and both are required now.”

The population of Gaza belongs to an unusually young group, as UNICEF estimates indicate that there are approximately one million children living in the Gaza Strip, which means that approximately half of Gaza’s population are children.

For 35 days, the Israeli occupation army has been waging its devastating air, land and sea war on Gaza, during which it annihilated entire residential neighborhoods on top of their residents, killed 11,078 Palestinians, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people, and injured 27,490 with various injuries.

Yesterday, Friday, 168 countries voted on a resolution supporting the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, in the Third Committee, the “Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs” of the United Nations General Assembly.

(5) countries opposed the resolution (Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, and the United States), and (9) countries abstained from voting.

The resolution reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to have their independent state, Palestine. It urges all states, specialized agencies and organizations of the United Nations system to continue supporting and assisting the Palestinian people to achieve their right to self-determination as soon as possible.

The resolution stressed the urgent necessity to end, without delay, the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, and achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, based on the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, the Arab Peace Initiative, and the road map plan, to find A permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on two states.

The Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to the United Nations in New York, Riyad Mansour, praised the overwhelming support for the resolution, considering it the only option for all countries committed to international legitimacy. He also stressed that the support of many countries for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination reflects their experience and struggle against colonialism, and just as these countries achieved their freedom and independence, Palestine will not be the exception and will take its natural place among nations as an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged "Israel to stop" the bombing that kills civilians in the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with the BBC, Macron said, “We share (Israel’s) pain and we share its desire to get rid of terrorism, but in reality today there are civilians being bombed, these children, these women, these elderly people are being bombed and killed,” and "There is no justification or any legitimacy for this. Therefore, we urge Israel to stop."

The French President added that what he called the reaction must be in accordance with the international rules of war and international humanitarian law.

In response to a question about Israel violating international law in its war on the Gaza Strip, Macron stressed that he is “not a judge,” expressing his concern that the “intensive bombing” of Gaza would lead to “discontent” in the region.

These statements came after a “humanitarian conference” organized Thursday in Paris at the initiative of the French President, during which he called for working to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. He also stressed that “there is no other solution except a humanitarian truce first” to move towards “a ceasefire that allows the protection of... "All civilians who have no connection to terrorists."

More than 11,000 people, including more than 4,506 children, were martyred, according to the latest toll announced by the Ministry of Health in Gaza on Friday, as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7.

Source: French

Analysis by Ishaan Tharoor

A few days after Hamas’s horrific Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel, a top Israeli military official was blunt about his nation’s military response. Israeli security officials repeatedly stress the steps they take to minimize civilian harm and claim they are only striking legitimate military targets. In recent days, Daniel Hagari, spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces, accused Hamas of “cynically” deploying its assets in civilian areas and near critical infrastructure, like hospitals. 

But when speaking in the offensive’s early stage, Hagari revealed that the “emphasis” of the IDF’s reprisal was “on damage and not on accuracy.” At that time, Israeli warplanes had already dumped hundreds of tons of bombs on targets in the Gaza Strip. 

The ongoing campaign in the month since has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the besieged territory, including those of more than 4,000 children. It’s triggered a humanitarian crisis, displacing the bulk of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and driving tens of thousands into a desperate search for food, safety and water. Hunger and disease stalk Gaza’s blasted neighborhoods. 

Aid agencies place little hope in Israel’s latest decision to offer four-hour “pauses” in its operations so that residents in north Gaza can trek southward. There are reams of commentary on what Israel’s strategy and endgame may be as it seeks to nullify the long-standing threat posed by Hamas and purge the Islamist militant faction from its Gaza redoubts. But looming behind it — and implicit in Hagari’s “emphasis” on damage over accuracy — is a long-standing Israeli military doctrine that appears to be in play now.The so-called “Dahiya Doctrine” took shape in the wake of the bruising 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Dahiya refers to the southern Beirut suburbs where Hezbollah maintained its strongholds and which were pummeled by Israeli jets after hostilities began when Hezbollah fighters abducted two Israeli soldiers. The onslaught then took Hezbollah by surprise, whose senior leadership had not expected to see their headquarters turned into rubble nor had planned for such a relentless bombardment. “I said that we shouldn’t exaggerate, that Israel will just retaliate a bit, bomb a couple of targets and that would be the end of it,” a Hezbollah operative told former Washington Post reporter Anthony Shadid in 2006.Press Enter to skip to end of carouselIsrael-Gaza warWhy are Israel and Hamas at war? A basic explainer.

The doctrine that emerged out of the conflict was most famously articulated by IDF commander Gadi Eisenkot. “We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases,” he told an Israeli newspaper in 2008. “This isn’t a suggestion. 

This is a plan that has already been authorized.” Around the same time, former Israeli colonel Gabriel Siboni wrote a report under the aegis of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies that argued the necessary response to militant provocations from Lebanon, Syria or Gaza were “disproportionate” strikes that aim only secondarily to hit the enemy’s capacity to launch rockets or other attacks. 

Rather, the goal should be to inflict lasting damage, no matter the civilian consequences, as a future deterrent. “With an outbreak of hostilities, the IDF will need to act immediately, decisively, and with force that is disproportionate to the enemy’s actions and the threat it poses,” he wrote. “Such a response aims at inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes.”The doctrine appeared to be in operation during a round of hostilities between Hamas in Gaza and Israel at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. 

A U.N.-commissioned report regarding that conflict, which saw the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians and Israelis, determined that Israel’s campaign was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.” 

The doctrine endured in the years since. “Israeli military correspondents and security analysts repeatedly reported that the Dahiya doctrine was Israel’s strategy throughout the war in Gaza this past summer,” observed Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi in the fall of 2014, after another Israeli campaign left more than 1,460 civilians dead, including almost 500 children. “Let us be frank: this is actually less of a strategic doctrine than it is an explicit outline of collective punishment and probable war crimes.”He added: “Not surprisingly, one found little mention of the Dahiya doctrine whether in statements by U.S. politicians, or in the reporting of the war by most of the mainstream American media, which dwelt on the description of Israel’s actions as ‘self-defense.’”Israel’s war in Gaza and the specter of ‘genocide’In the present environment, Israel’s right to self-defense has indeed been championed by lawmakers and commentators across the West.   

Given the unprecedented scale and horror of the Oct. 7 attack, there appears to be a hardened consensus in Israel that its military should do whatever it takes to neutralize Hamas. To that end, a host of Israeli politicians have called for the wholesale destruction of Gaza, the depopulation of the territory and even its resettlement by Israel. Eisenkot is now a member of Israel’s unity “war cabinet.” 

No Israeli politician or security official has explicitly invoked the “Dahiya doctrine” as a template for the destruction unleashed in Gaza. “I don’t think this doctrine applies today,” Siboni, now of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told French newspaper Le Monde last month, arguing that everything Israel is targeting are explicitly military targets. 

Siboni added that Israel’s efforts to coax Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee to the south was a sign of its humanitarian approach. “As for those who remain, too bad,” he told Le Monde. “They choose to put their lives on the line.”

By Ishaan Tharoor

H is a foreign affairs columnist at The Washington Post

Majid Kayali

Death is tired of the killing of Palestinians, while the killers in Israel are not tired of mass massacres, and the prisons are tired of detaining Palestinians, and of the largest prison system, known as the largest open prison in history (according to the title of a book by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe), while the Israeli jailer is not satisfied with that, In one of the most tyrannical and brutal occupation regimes the world has ever known (according to Israeli writer Gideon Levy).

In fact, history has never known an occupier who absents the colonized people, or tries to banish them from existence, or get rid of them, or demand that they guarantee their security, neither in the experience of French annexed settler colonialism in Algeria, nor in the experience of British colonialism in India, nor in the experience of Dutch settler colonialism in South Africa (Of course, with the exception of pre-modern colonial experiences in the Americas and Australia).

Now, that is, as of the moment of writing this article, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel has reached 11,000, a third of them children, and tens of thousands wounded. It has destroyed more than 60 percent of Gaza’s architecture and homes, completely or partially, and caused the displacement of two-thirds of its population, in uncontrollable unprecedented brutality, in a war that does not seem to end soon, or that Israel (with American support) does not want to end, perhaps until the demolishing of last hospital, the last oven, the last school, the last house, and the last Palestinian.

The meaning is that this war has become outside politics, with the pure killing, pure destruction, and pure displacement that Israel has been pursuing for over a month now becoming a goal in itself, especially with the cutting off of all means of life (water, electricity, medicine, food, and home). This confirms that Israel is waging, these days, a war of extermination against the Palestinians of Gaza in particular, and against the Palestinians between the river and the sea in general, which lends legitimacy to likening Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians, even before the war, to the policies of the Nazi army in Europe, during World War II (according to Abraham Burg’s description) , former Speaker of the Knesset.

In this war, Israel is trying to exploit the Hamas attack, on the 7th of last month, as an opportunity for it to complete what it was unable to do in the First Nakba (1948), which is the event upon which its establishment was founded, at the expense of the Palestinian people, 75 years ago. The Palestinians did not forget, and their memory is passed on to their children and grandchildren who refuse to forget, and their resistance has not stopped, in this form or level or another, despite all the high costs. That is, Israel wants to use this war to uproot a part of the Palestinians from their land, burn out their consciousness, and extinguish their resistance, in its various forms, in a tremendous process, unprecedented in its brutality.

The other use that Israel is trying is its attempt to impose a new narrative on the world, enabling it to regain its monopoly on the status of the victim, by presenting the Hamas attack as a parallel event to the Holocaust, or as a parallel to the terrorist attack on September 11 (2001) in the United States, as if this attack had nothing before it, or as if Israel had been a compassionate mother to the Palestinians for 75 years, or since it occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for 56 years, or since it besieged Gaza for 16 years.

However, this narrative did not deceive anyone, after all the dehumanizing massacres in the world, as even among Israel and Jews in the world, protests emerged against the genocide and mass killing of Palestinians. This is Judith Butler (an American/Jewish philosopher), with her criticism of the “Hamas” operation, but she refused to submit to Israeli blackmail, stressing that the “Hamas” operation cannot be viewed as an isolated event from what came before it, or without a connection to the policies that Israel is pursuing against the Palestinians. . “Let us be clear,” Butler says, “Israeli violence against Palestinians is overwhelming: relentless bombing, killing of people of all ages in their homes and in the streets, torture in prisons, various methods of starvation in Gaza, and the dispossession of homes. And all of this violence...is perpetrated against a people suffering under the laws of apartheid, colonial rule, and statelessness... I condemn violence unconditionally, and at the same time, like many others, I want to be part of the imagination and struggle to achieve true equality and justice in the region, in the way that It leads to forcing groups like “Hamas” to disappear, ending the occupation, and allowing new forms of political freedom and justice to flourish. Without achieving equality and justice, and without ending the stateof violence practiced by Israel, which itself was founded on violence, it is unthinkable to imagine any future, Including a future of true peace.”(10/20/2023).

This was also confirmed by Israeli analyst Yossi Klein. In his opinion, “the attack that occurred on Saturday did not occur in a vacuum. The atrocities were another chapter in a story that lasted 57 years... Everyone described our situation as sitting on “the crater of a volcano about to explode,” or on “A barrel of explosives.” When the volcano explodes, they invent a fact to justify stupid ignorance... We do not have the courage to confront the Palestinian issue that was brought upon us by the events of October 7... because of extremist nationalism, incitement, hatred, arrogance and racism.” (“Haaretz”, 11/2/2023).

The Israeli historian Ilan Pappé was bolder in expressing his opinion, saying: “The moral compass is what pushed me, and others in our society, to stand by the Palestinian people... This is what allows us, at the same time, to admire the courage of the Palestinian fighters who took over... on twelve military bases, and their defeat over the strongest army in the Middle East... and raising many questions about the moral or strategic value of some of the measures that accompanied this operation... I have doubts about the awareness of those who decided to decorate the Parliament building in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris with colors of the Israeli flag... as a mandate to continue the genocide that Israel is now committing against the people of Gaza...” (Palestine Chronicle, 10/10/2023).

In short, Israel, in all this hatred against Gaza, is not only trying to avenge the blow that undermined the image of what it considers to be the holiest of holies, that is, the Israeli army, which it has always claimed is invincible. Rather, in this war, it is trying to exploit its narrative of the oppression it was subjected to a century ago in Europe, to demand that the West, in this pathological neurosis that it is experiencing, compensate it by supporting its brutality against the Palestinians, and forcing surrender on the Palestinian people, to brute force, and to the Israeli narrative that means the death of the Palestinian, or his alienation from time and place, and even from himself, so that he turns into an object. It lacks meaning, or is a hidden entity, behind the insulating walls, in the country and abroad, without history, identity, culture, or narrative.

As for Gaza’s share with Israel, it is an attempt to turn it into a cemetery, after it was a prison, among the largest open-air prison in history, for Palestinians from the river to the sea who have no rights, according to an expression by the Israeli writer Ilan Pappe, after it failed to drown in the sea, as some had once wished. The leaders of Israel who were incapacitated by this part of Palestine called Gaza, which is a narrow strip with an area of only 365 square kilometers.

The American Wall Street Journal quoted an informed source as saying that the American intelligence community doubts Israel's ability to achieve its declared military goal of eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The source added that the Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip could harm Hamas and its infrastructure, but it would not be able to eliminate Hamas' ideology.

A congressional official confirmed to the newspaper that the most realistic goal is to buy Israel security for years but not forever, without further details.

The newspaper also quoted Israeli officials as saying that Hamas leaders may maintain the core of their forces despite the intense attacks.

An Israeli officer added that the more complex stages of the war may not have begun yet, as the more the Israeli army penetrates, the more difficult the battle becomes.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced on Friday that it had targeted eight Israeli army tanks in Gaza with “Al-Yassin 105” missiles, in addition to targeting a gathering of Israeli forces northwest of the city. While the Israeli army admitted the killing of 356 soldiers and officers, 39 of them were killed since the start of the ground operation in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army also announced that its forces killed about 30 Palestinian militants in ground operations within 24 hours.

The Israeli army claimed that its forces stormed Hamas military sites and took control of buildings containing missiles, drones, maps and mortar shells, in addition to storming the office of Muhammad al-Sinwar, brother of the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya al-Sinwar.

For 35 days, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, “during which it destroyed residential neighborhoods on top of their residents,” causing the death of 11,78 Palestinians, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people, in addition to about 27,500 injured. Also, 183 Palestinians were martyred, and 2,280 were arrested in the West Bank, according to official sources.

Source: Al Jazeera + Wall Street Journal

Late on Friday evening, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the merging of the emergency Islamic and Arab summits, so that they will be held as one summit today, Saturday.

A statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry said, “In response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in Gaza, and after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia consulted with the League of Arab State and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, it was decided to hold an exceptional joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh today, Saturday, instead of the “Extraordinary Arab Summit.” and the “Extraordinary Islamic Summit,” which were scheduled to be held on the same date.

The ministry added that this decision “comes from the leaders of all countries’ awareness of the importance of uniting efforts and coming up with a unified collective position that expresses the common Arab and Islamic will regarding the dangerous and unprecedented developments witnessed in Gaza and the Palestinian territories that require Arab and Islamic unity to confront them and contain their repercussions.”

According to sources for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, “half of the foreign ministers of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation demanded merging the two summits, and Saudi Arabia agreed to that.”

The same sources confirmed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the reason for the joint summit, that is, merging the two summits, is due to the lack of consensus on important decisions against the Israeli occupation, as influential countries in the Arab League prevented the adoption of serious proposals that would carry pressure measures on the Israeli occupation to stop its aggression. These influential countries lobbied in favor of replacing the procedures with dull paragraphs.

This matter is considered contradictory to the request of the Palestinian leadership, which insisted that the emergency Arab summit be separate from the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, so that there would be greater interest in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and so that the summit could come up with important recommendations.

In a context related to the Arab Summit, sources revealed to Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that Libya requested the addition of 8 proposals to the draft final statement of the summit, reiterating its expression of “its permanent and complete solidarity with the Palestinian people in confronting the Israeli aggression and its standing with them in everything that would end this aggression.” .

Among the Libyan proposals is “affirming the right of the Palestinian Arab people to resist the brutal Zionist occupation, defending their filth, honor and homeland, rejecting the re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, and opposing the attempts of the aggressing Zionist entity to deviate from defining the concept of legitimate defense.”

Libya also stressed the need to take “practical steps” to prosecute Israel internationally for all its crimes against the Palestinian people.

While it urged Tripoli to work “to provide urgent and material support to meet all the needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” while urgently delivering supplies of energy, water, medicine, and mobile hospitals, it proposed forming a mini-Arab ministerial committee to employ the tools and capabilities of the Arab economy to put pressure on influential countries to force Israel to stop its aggression. The Palestinians and binding them to international legitimacy resolutions, in addition to expanding the list of economic measures against Tel Aviv to include closing Arab airspace to Israeli aviation until the aggression against the Palestinian people stops.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation had announced the holding of an emergency summit on Sunday, November 12, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to discuss the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli bombing of the Strip enters its second month.

In a statement by the organization last Monday, it was decided to hold an emergency summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on November 12, based on an invitation from Saudi Arabia, in its capacity as the current chair of the summit.

The statement stated that the summit will be held “next Sunday in the city of Riyadh with the aim of discussing the brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people,” without further details.

On the twenty-eighth of last October, President Mahmoud Abbas had called for an emergency Arab summit to be held, but his request faced Arab reluctance and delay, so its date was set for the eleventh of this month. That is, after 15 days, in light of daily massacres carried out by the occupation in the Gaza Strip.

David Satterfield, the US special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East, confirmed that “there are international parties that are holding discussions with Israel regarding the issue of deploying hospital ships, and I believe that the French government has been very public about this matter.” He added “With regard to other arrangements to supplement medical care in the south (south of Gaza), the United States is working, in cooperation with a variety of other international organizations, to see what can be done with regard to transferring field hospitals to safe areas of the south to increase the ability of hospitals there to provide medical care.” “Our focus has been on transferring humanitarian aid to meet as much as possible under the current circumstances the needs of Palestinian civilians in southern and central Gaza on as sustainable a basis as possible,” Satterfield said in a telephone interview. 

He explained: “We have now increased the level of assistance to about 100 trucks per day, and we are looking forward to a higher level of assistance to transport appropriate essential humanitarian aid - according to UN agencies - to southern Gaza.” He added: “We realize that even 150 trucks per day meets the minimum level to provide basic humanitarian assistance for survival. Much more is needed. 

Commercial shelves must be restocked, and bakeries must reopen.” He expressed his hope that "the humanitarian pauses that have been announced will allow this type of movement to be facilitated - the removal of wounded civilians and the removal of citizens." He added: "But again, everything we are doing now is just the beginning, and we realize that it will require more work, and it will be done quickly." “The future of Gazans is in Gaza and nowhere else,” Satterfield stressed. “We do not, as a matter of basic principle, support or wish to see the displacement of Gazans. Now, within Gaza itself, those now in the south must have every ability to Return to the north when it is safe to do so, and we do not see any ongoing displacement, even inside Gaza, from north to south.” He stressed that "we see a future in Gaza determined by the Palestinians. 

We see that there is an absolute need for a joint approach to the West Bank and Gaza, and not to separate them. 

We believe that the two-state solution is the only guarantor of a peaceful future for Israel, as well as for the Palestinians." He said: “Now, how to reach those goals is an issue that must be discussed, and it depends, of course, to a large extent on how this campaign ends, and whether Hamas will be eliminated as a threat, as a force capable of dictating things to the people of Gaza.” He added: "We said publicly that two things should not happen: the Israeli occupation, or Hamas remaining in power, and whether there is an international or regional shift towards a Palestinian role in Gaza and the West Bank, which we believe is necessary, all of this must be resolved." Regarding whether the United States supports the presence of Arab forces in Gaza, Satterfield said: “We are now focusing on providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the safe exit of Gaza for foreign citizens.” Regarding the future of Gaza after the war, Satterfield said: “We believe that there must be a fundamental Palestinian role in deciding the future of the West Bank and Gaza, and there cannot be a siege on Gaza, and there cannot be a separation of Gaza as a political issue from the future of the West Bank.” The two-state solution - including Gaza and the West Bank - is the surest way to meet the needs, the real needs, of both Israelis and Palestinians.” Regarding the high number of civilian martyrs, he said: “The loss of one innocent life is too many. The loss of thousands is simply unacceptable. We are doing everything we can to provide advice in various forms to Israel, and its army, to try to reduce the level of losses.”

Source: Sama News

The Israeli army continues its war on the Gaza Strip, during which it "destroyed residential neighborhoods on top of their residents" and killed 11,078 persones, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people.

Israel targeted all hospitals in northern Gaza, which are threatened with stopping providing services to the sick and wounded due to the near exhaustion of fuel, while clashes took place between the resistance factions and the occupation forces in several areas, including the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, whose gate was bombed more than once.

At a time when the Israeli war and intense raids on populated residential areas throughout Gaza continue, discussions are taking place under Qatari mediation, with the participation of the head of US General Intelligence and the head of the Mossad, in order to reach a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Hamas movement.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the Israeli army had committed “12 massacres in the past hours that claimed the lives of 260 persons,” bringing the death toll of the war on the besieged Strip to 11,078 persons, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people, and 27,490 thousand others injured.

The Israeli army announced the killing of two soldiers during clashes in northern and central Gaza. One of them was killed last night, while the death of the other was confirmed on Friday, after he was wounded on Wednesday, bringing the number of its soldiers killed since the ground invasion to 39.

Despite his assertion that the United States and Israel are “full partners in the genocide process in the Gaza Strip,” American journalist Chris Hedges acknowledged that Washington fears the consequences of the war launched by Israel on Gaza, stressing that the American administration “does not have the ability to influence Israel and its deterrence” because of the strength of the Israeli lobby in the United States.

He said that prolonging the war in Gaza would cause regional and local harm to the United States, and it was concerned about matters in the region getting out of control, which could lead to creating a conflict with Lebanese Hezbollah or even with Iran.

He also pointed out that "blind American support for Israel in the last decade is not in the interest of the United States."

However, the American journalist admitted, however, that the United States and Israel are “participants and fully involved in perpetuating the war on Gaza,” noting that the “humanitarian aid” that is being talked about is aimed at emptying the northern region of the Gaza Strip of residents who are being transferred to the region in South.

He stressed that the Americans know what Israel wants to do, and said that their focus at the present time is on exerting influence on what Gaza will look like after the war.

Despite his talk about Washington and Tel Aviv's partnership in the war of extermination in Gaza, Hedges confirmed to Al Jazeera as part of the daily analytical pause, "Gaza...what next?" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "fully accepts that US President Joe Biden will suffer collateral damage," explaining that if Biden is influenced politically during the upcoming presidential elections, former President Donald Trump will come, which is what Netanyahu wants. He recalled that the Israelis had insulted Biden when he was Vice President, during a visit he made to occupied Jerusalem in which he called for not expanding settlements, and said that the insult was directed directly at Biden.

On the other hand, the American journalist spoke that things in Gaza are not going as he says, and the Israelis hope that they killed more than 40 journalists in the Gaza Strip, in addition to cutting off the Internet and communications to cover the massacres taking place there, stressing that the time period they specified to carry out their mission ( And regarding what the New York Times reported from current and former American officials saying that the Netanyahu government has a limited time to complete its missions in Gaza, the military and strategic expert, Fayez Al-Duwairi said that despite the Israeli incursion into some areas of the Gaza Strip, the decisive battle has not yet begun.

He said that the Israelis used all types of crime and all their capabilities, but they were unable to achieve their goals that they and the Americans announced, which were the elimination of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the absence of any future role for it in the Palestinian arena.

Al-Duwairi explained that the occupation, until this moment, has not entered the decisive battle, and that its means, capabilities, and mechanisms have not lived up to the level of achieving the military goal, which is to disarm Hamas.

He added that Hamas is "an idea and a doctrine that cannot be eliminated," and even if that happens, factions emanating from it will emerge and will be more determined to demand the realization of justice.

Source: Al Jazeera