31 Oct 2023- Aljazeera
- Gaza’s interior ministry says an Israeli air attack has hit apartment blocks in a residential area of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing and wounding dozens. Director of nearby Indonesian Hospital says at least 50 people killed.
- Israeli troops push deeper into Gaza, with witnesses reporting heavy clashes after tanks reached a residential area in Gaza City..
- Bombardments reported across the besieged territory as Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire.
- At least 8,525 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israeli attacks since October 7. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel.
We’re watching genocide live,’ former UN officials says
Aicha Elbasri, from the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, says the green-light from the international community for Israel’s “crimes” means the carnage will only continue.
“What we are seeing today is one of the darkest hours of our times. We’re watching genocide live – the crime of crimes,” the former United Nations official told Al Jazeera.
Asked why Israel continues to commit massacres of civilians in Gaza, Elbasri replied: “Israel doesn’t have to justify – Israel is above the law. Israel is above the moral compass. It’s been permitted to carry out the worst crimes against humanity without any sense of accountability to anyone.
“As long as Washington is on its side, as long as the Europeans are giving it the license to kill, as long as Arabs also aren’t taking any steps that could make Israel think again about its plan – I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything else.”
The world is signing the death warrant’ of wounded Gaza people
Ahmad al-Kahlout, director of Gaza’s civil defence, has pleaded for international help to get fuel to overloaded hospitals after the latest Israeli attack killed and wounded hundreds of people in the Jabalia refugee camp.
“The beds are not enough, the dead and wounded are on the floor. We can’t guarantee treatment for anybody. Without fuel, our operations will completely stop. The intensive care patients, the kidney patients will all lose their lives. The world is signing the death warrant of these people,” al-Kahlout told Al Jazeera
Chaotic scenes at Jabalia camp
The latest images and video from Jabalia refugee camp show buildings heavily damaged as rescuers and volunteers use their bare hands to search for survivors in huge amounts of concrete debris.
“It’s a massive massacre. It is hard to count the number of buildings that have been destroyed here,” Al Jazeera’s Anas Sharif, who is at the scene, reports.
People in different parts of the devastation can be seen frantically trying to pull people from the rubble – many of the victims women and children. Others are seen standing and crying, fearing family members and friends may be among the dead.
Destroyed vehicles litter the scene. Members of the civil defence units are on the ground looking for survivors. An aerial shot of the area shows tall buildings completely levelled to the ground.
Immediate humanitarian ceasefire ‘absolutely imperative’
An immediate humanitarian ceasefire is an “absolutely imperative” in Gaza, the UN human rights office said.
“Colleagues across the UN are talking about the need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva.
Considering “the picture that they painted, of how desperate the situation is,” a truce at this point is absolutely vital, Throssell said, adding: “I think going forward, of course, one also would hope that this would move towards cessation of hostilities because really, the only answer to this is really an end to the violence.”
‘Stop this mass killing’: Doctor says US and Europe need to step in
Dr Mads Gilbert, a pro-Palestinian activist who has worked in Gaza, says his sources on the ground say Israel bombed 15 civilian homes in the Jabalia camp.
“The last number I got was about 100 killed and 300 injured. There is absolutely no doubt that this is a mass murder. The hospital system in Gaza cannot accommodate 300 new injuries,” Gilbert told Al Jazeera.
He noted that the main hospital al-Shifa will run out of fuel to power its generators and keep life-saving operations ongoing on Wednesday.
“It’s a continuation of an attack on the civilian society and the diminishing capacity of the healthcare system. I wonder when [US] President Joe Biden and EU President Ursula von der Leyen are going to say “enough is enough, stop this mass killing”. More than 3,000 dead children, and we know hospitals cannot cope.
“These scenes now show flagrant violations of international law. Not only are they bombing civilian areas, they are also attacking hospitals.”
Israeli airline El Al takes longer flight path to Thailand
El Al has begun flying an hours-longer route between Tel Aviv and Bangkok to stay further away from Iran – which backs Hamas.
El Al flight ELY 85 did not take the airline’s new route over Oman, according to media reports.
Instead, it reverted to a longer route, in which it first flew south over Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea before turning east over the Horn of Africa and heading into the Indian Ocean.
Iran has warned Israel of a regional escalation if its military entered Gaza. The big question is whether Iran will – directly – join a war over Gaza. Some analysts suggest Tehran would lose more than it would gain by getting involved in a major war.
Read the full analysis here.
WHO warns of health disaster in Gaza
The World Health Organization has issued a grave warning that Gaza was on the brink of a “public health catastrophe” due to overcrowding, widespread displacement, and severe damage to water and sanitation facilities.
Earlier, we reported that a UNICEF spokesperson expressed concerns about infant deaths caused by dehydration, as only 5 percent of the normal water supplies remained accessible.
Gaza has become ‘a graveyard of children’
UNICEF says at least 940 children have been reported missing in Gaza, adding infant dehydration is a growing threat with only five percent of normal water output.
“Gaza has become a graveyard of children,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told a UN press briefing in Geneva.
About 3,500 children have been killed in the war so far, Gaza’s health ministry says.
Elder reiterated the UN children’s agency call for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access to supplies for the enclave. Children in Gaza are dying not only from Israeli air strikes but also because of a lack of medical care, he said.
