10- October-2023″
Hospitals overwhelmed as the Israeli army continues bombardment of the Gaza Strip, four days after Hamas sent rockets and fighters into Israel in an unprecedented attack.
Bombardments hit close to Rafah border crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, reports say.
Palestinian health ministry, the WHO call for humanitarian corridor “to ensure the entry of urgent medical aid” into Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals.
The latest death toll stands at 770 Palestinians in Gaza and more than 900 people in Israel.
Hamas’s surprise attack on Saturday came after Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in recent days and a record number of Palestinians were killed by Israel in recent months.
Journalists are civilians, must not be targeted: CJP
Sherif Mansour of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged “all sides” to remember that journalists are civilians and should not be targeted amid the ongoing fighting.
“Accurate reporting is critical during times of crisis and the media has a vital role to play in bringing news from Gaza and Israel to the world,” he said in a statement.
At least six Palestinian journalists have been killed in a matter of days, media networks and press freedom monitors have said.
You can read more here about the journalists that have so far been reported killed in the fighting.
International airlines suspend flight services with Israel: A list
Several airlines have suspended or cancelled flights to Israel in light of the latest conflict.
This article has all the info.
Iraqi politician threatens to target US interests if Washington intervenes
Iraqi politician Hadi al-Amiri has threatened to target United States interests if Washington intervenes to support Israel in its war on Gaza.
“If the Americans intervened openly in this conflict … we will consider all American targets legitimate … and we will not hesitate to target it,” al-Amiri said during a gathering in Baghdad.
Al-Amiri’s comments come as the US announced on Sunday that it would provide additional munitions to Israel and was moving a carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Al-Amiri leads the Badr Organisation, which comprises a large part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), the state paramilitary organisation that contains many Iran-backed groups.
US citizens hold press conference on captured family members
US relatives of missing people who are being held hostage by Hamas have held an emotional news conference in Tel Aviv, appealing to the Israeli and US governments to bring their loved ones back.
One woman described how her son was taken from a music festival, where 260 people were killed.
According to witnesses; reports and the Israeli police, her son, who had lost his arm from the elbow down, was put in a pickup truck with two young women and three other men.
The family, who originally grew up in Chicago before later moving to Israel, described their captured son as a “smiley, fun-loving guy”.
Another person also recounted his final conversation with his mother, 66, who was taken from her house on Saturday morning.
“It is our hope, which is a little bit ridiculous at this stage, to say that the optimistic scenario here is that she’s held hostage in Gaza and not dead on the streets of the kibbutz [a communal place of work] where we grew up”.
“I want to bring forward the responsibility that the Israeli government has to bring back all the hostages,” the man said, choking up. “I want also to speak about the responsibility that the US administration … has for the lives of every US citizen that is out there; they are responsible to bring the US citizens back home safe and sound. We expect nothing less.”
The United Nations secretary-general says he is “deeply distressed” by Israel’s complete siege of the Gaza Strip on day four of the deadly assault.
Israel-Gaza war: Which international actors can play peacemaker?
With the outbreak of an intensified war between Israel and Palestine, can mediation efforts help
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said bombardment has “just started” after at least 900 Israelis were killed in the unprecedented Hamas attack on Saturday
Most Western nations have shied away from calling on Israel to slow its brutal military response.
More than 700 Palestinians have been killed in three days of intense bombing, with 2.4 million Gazans having nowhere to go amid an Israeli land, sea and air blockade.
Can the international community intervene to stop Israel from exacting collective punishment on more than two million Palestinians?
“I think it’s early to talk about mediation, because [right now] Israel is reacting based on anger and revenge,” Professor Mahjoob Zweiri, director of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera.
Here’s a closer look at the countries and international organisations that may play peacemaker
The Arab League
The Arab League’s foreign ministers will meet on Wednesday in an emergency summit.
The extraordinary session was requested by the Palestinian delegation, the League’s statement said.
Secretary-General Hoss犀利士 am Zaki said the ministers would discuss Arab efforts to “stop the Israeli aggression” on Gaza
The possible outcomes of tomorrow’s meeting remain unclear.
Zweiri says the Arab League has no role to play. “It’s a reflection of the fragmented Arab governments. It has no tools.”
China
Beijing expressed deep concern over the escalation of conflict and called for “calm”.
Observers have wondered if China will try to promote itself as a regional peacemaker after it successfully brokered a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
In April, the country’s then-foreign minister, Qin Gang, told the Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers that China was ready to facilitate efforts towards peace talks.
China supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on pre-1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as the capital of a sovereign Palestinian state. It has also advocated for international development assistance for Palestinians.