Israel-Gaza war live: Israeli air strikes hit areas near al-Shifa hospital
People gather by the rubble of a building that collapsed after Israeli bombardment
By Virginia Pietromarchi and Mersiha Gadzo
Published On 9 Nov 2023
9 Nov 2023
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Al-Qassam Brigades says it is confronting Israeli forces as they try to advance deeper into Gaza City.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in intense overnight Israeli bombardments in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north and Sabra in western Gaza.
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5m ago (07:10 GMT)
Palestine files complaint with atomic agency over Israel’s nuclear bomb threat
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki has filed a formal complaint with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) against Israel over its minister’s threat to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, al-Malki sent an official letter to IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Wednesday, stating that the nuclear threat is “completely consistent with the prevailing discourse in Israel” against Palestinians.
The threat entails “an official recognition that Israel possesses nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction”, he said.
Earlier this week, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, told Israeli media that dropping a “nuclear bomb” on Gaza is “an option”. The Israeli government distanced itself from the comments and Eliyahu was suspended from ministerial meetings.
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Does Israel pose a nuclear threat to the world?
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11m ago (07:05 GMT)
WATCH: Gaza’s water crisis
Israel’s siege and attacks have created a water crisis for the people of Gaza, forcing them to form long queues and wait for hours for a chance at getting just a meagre supply.
“We can’t find water,” resident Mohammed Raqiba said. “The whole area is surviving on this water hose. Around 20,000 families drink from this water hose.”
Watch our video report below:
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Gaza suffers from water crisis due to Israeli siege
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16m ago (07:00 GMT)
Netanyahu must call elections after three months of war ending: Israeli minister
PM Netanyahu will have to call for elections within three months of the war ending, an Israeli minister has said.
Such a move, Labour Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur told the Maariv newspaper, should take place before the setting up of any investigative commission.
“The public will have its say and then we’ll see if Netanyahu gets a mandate,” said Ben-Tzur, from the ultra-Orthodox religious Haredi Shas party.
“Decency requires that after such a terrible event, the public must have its say. The government will not be able to continue functioning in the current situation.”
Officials and the public have shown growing dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s refusal to shoulder blame for the October 7 attack.
Last week, polls published in Israeli media suggested that the premier’s Likud party would see a steep drop in its seats in the Knesset from 32 to 18.
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30m ago (06:45 GMT)
Explainer
Why is Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital at the heart of Israel’s war?
As we’ve been reporting, the Israeli army has been carrying out strikes near al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in Gaza and one of the few still functioning.
Located in the northern Remal neighbourhood of Gaza City, close to the port, the site originally housed British Army barracks. It became a hospital in 1946, undergoing successive expansions under Egyptian rule and during the Israeli occupation in the 1980s.
Al-Shifa is now at breaking point, battling to treat thousands of patients as it comes under direct attack from the Israeli military.
Go here to learn about the hospital’s significance and why it’s being targeted.
INTERACTIVE_GAZA_al-Shifa_NOV8_2023-1699442409
(Al Jazeera)
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36m ago (06:40 GMT)
‘Great deal of damage’ at al-Shifa Hospital from Israeli air raids
From Hani Mahmoud in Khan Younis, southern Gaza
The more there are talks about a potential ceasefire, the more intense air strikes get.
Last night, in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, very close to the main road leading to the entrance of the hospital, the front and the back [of the road] were major targets of multiple Israeli air strikes, destroying properties in addition to the infrastructure and roads leading to it.
The hospital [also] sustained a great deal of damage, severing major departments including the X-ray department.
This all came right after increased talks about a possible ceasefire for the release of some 10-15 captives, but the air strikes continued to pound not only the northern part of Gaza but the southern part too, including the city of Khan Younis.
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40m ago (06:35 GMT)
WATCH: Children continue to be targeted by Israeli attacks
This video, shared on Instagram by Palestinian photojournalist Mahmoud Ahsi and verified by Al Jazeera, shows the fear, trembling and crying of children after they were injured in the continuous Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Out of the 10,659 Palestinians killed since October 7, more than 4,300 are children, according to the health ministry.
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46m ago (06:30 GMT)
Israeli army says it took control of Hamas outpost after 10-hour battle
The Israeli army says fighting continued overnight in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, with its soldiers taking over a Hamas outpost.
During a 10-hour battle, the military said its soldiers confronted and killed Hamas fighters, adding that weapons were confiscated and tunnel shafts destroyed.
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51m ago (06:25 GMT)
Breaking
Ramallah camp raided by Israeli army
Israeli forces have raided Amari camp in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
Initial reports say a number of people have been wounded and arrested.
We’ll bring you more details shortly.
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1h ago (05:56 GMT)
Palestinian killed by Israeli fire in Bethlehem
A Palestinian has died after being shot by Israeli forces in Bethlehem, occupied West Bank, medical sources say.
Muhammad Farid Thawabta was shot during a raid on Wednesday.
The number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7 has risen to 165.
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1h ago (05:40 GMT)
‘From the river to the sea’: What does the Palestinian slogan really mean?
A slogan calling for freedom from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea has drawn scrutiny after pro-Palestinian demonstrators across the Western world were met with attempts to curtail its use.
From Beirut to London, from Tunis to Rome, calls for a ceasefire ending Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza were interspersed with the slogan: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
To the crowds waving Palestinian flags, the chant reverberating across the globe expresses the desire for freedom from oppression across the historical land of Palestine. But for Israel and its backers, who label the phrase as pro-Hamas, it is a veiled call to violence that bears an anti-Semitic charge.
What does the slogan really mean? Read about it here.
SWITZERLAND-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-DEMO
[Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]
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1h ago (05:30 GMT)
Israeli soldiers openly documenting abuse
Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting that Israeli soldiers are openly documenting their abuse of Palestinians and the number doing so is increasing.
Haaretz reported that photos and videos circulated on social media show Israeli soldiers beating and humiliating detained Palestinians.
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1h ago (05:20 GMT)
Six killed in Israeli attack near Khan Younis, several wounded in Gaza City
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, civil defence and ambulance crews have recovered the bodies of six people killed following an Israeli attack on a residential building in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
A number of wounded people in the attack were also transferred to Nasser Hospital for treatment.
In a separate air attack at dawn on Thursday, a house near the Shawa Square area of Gaza City was also hit and several people were wounded.
The injured victims were transferred to the al-Shifa Hospital.
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2h ago (05:10 GMT)
Hamas conducts ‘hit-and-run attacks’ in northern Gaza: Think tank
Hamas fighters operating in the northern Gaza Strip are conducting “hit-and-run attacks” against Israeli forces as the armed group likely intends to focus its main defensive efforts on the centre of Gaza City, Washington, DC-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), reports.
Harassing Israeli forces north of Gaza City with anti-tank rockets and mortars while preserving its more advanced weapons and tactics is “consistent with Hamas’s intent to fight a ‘long war … to force’ Israel into a ceasefire”, the ISW said.
“Hamas has not used more complex or advanced systems and tactics, such as house-borne improvised explosive devices, explosively-formed penetrators, advanced anti-tank missiles, or larger and more complex road-buried improvised explosive devices,” the think tank said.
“This suggests that Hamas is weighting its main effort in Gaza City rather than the northern Gaza Strip.”
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2h ago (05:00 GMT)
Another Israeli soldier killed in Gaza
The Israeli military identified on Thursday the latest soldier killed as 29-year-old Eliahou Elmakayes.
The military said Elmakayes, who served in the engineer corps, was killed during Wednesday’s fighting. Three others were injured.
As of Wednesday, more than 31 Israeli soldiers have been killed during the Gaza ground offensive, and at least 260 injured. The official figures do not yet include the numbers announced on Thursday.
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2h ago (04:50 GMT)
Australian Greens call for ‘ceasefire now’ in Senate protest
Australian Greens representatives have held up signs saying “ceasefire now” in the Australian Senate while chanting “ceasefire now”.
Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John asked for a motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to be moved in the Senate at around 3pm local time [04:00 GMT].
Ten of Steele-John’s colleagues held up the signs after the motion was denied.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, speaking immediately after the protest, said, “It is right to say there is a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” adding that Australia had expressed support for a “humanitarian pause”.
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2h ago (04:35 GMT)
Erdogan, Raisi expected to raise Gaza crisis at Uzbekistan summit
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi are expected to attend a summit in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, amid renewed diplomatic interest in the region amid the conflict in Gaza.
The war between Israel and Hamas is not on the official agenda, but discussion about the crisis will likely be a priority.
Tehran, which backs the Palestinian group Hamas, said it wants to discuss the conflict, according to the state-run news agency IRNA.
Raisi already discussed the conflict during a meeting with Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon on Wednesday, according to the AFP news agency.
Erdogan – who has hardened his tone against both Israel and its Western supporters – is also likely to bring the issue to the table.
Over the weekend, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel, Sakir Ozkan Torunlar, as it called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Iran has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
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2h ago (04:25 GMT)
Photos: Romanians, Moldovans return from Gaza
A plane carrying 93 Romanian citizens, members of their families, and 36 Moldovan nationals evacuated from besieged Gaza landed in Bucharest on Wednesday night after departing from Cairo.
“[I] will continue to work until we recover the last Romanian from Gaza who wishes to come,” said Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who met the evacuees in Cairo, Egypt.
The Rafah crossing in Gaza has been opened a handful of times since November 1, allowing mostly foreign nationals to leave the Palestinian enclave, but it remained closed on Wednesday for “unconfirmed reasons”, the UN said.
families including children can be seen exiting a plane onto the tarmac at night
Romanians and Moldovans can be seen exiting a plane at a Romanian air force base near Bucharest on November 8, 2023 [Daniel Mihailescu/AFP]
an elderly man in a wheelchair can be seen being escorted by four people wearing red ambulance uniforms
Romanian paramedics help an elderly Romanian man after he was evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday [Daniel Mihailescu/AFP]
a blue bus can be sin with an ambulance behind it driving at night
Romanian citizens and their families, evacuated from Gaza, settle in buses at a Romanian air force base near Bucharest [Daniel Mihailescu/AFP]
a man can be seen holding a small child standing inside a full bus
Romanian citizens and their families are transported by bus at a Romanian air force base near Bucharest after their evacuation from Gaza via Egypt [Daniel Mihailescu/AFP]
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3h ago (04:15 GMT)
Huge blast reported near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City
We are receiving reports of a large explosion near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Reuters news agency reports that people gathered outside the hospital could be seen running for cover following the sound of a huge impact.
The heads of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier that conditions at al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, were “disastrous” with emergency rooms overflowing with the sick and wounded.
Doctors are being forced to provide treatment in the hospital’s “corridors, on the floor, and outdoors”, they said.
INTERACTIVE_GAZA_al-Shifa_NOV8_2023-1699442409
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3h ago (04:05 GMT)
Netanyahu pursuing ‘policy of vengeance’ against Palestinians, ex-French PM says
In an interview with France Info, former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears “direct responsibility” for failing to protect Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7.
Villepin, who also once served as French foreign minister, said that the second failure of Netanyahu was encouraging “a policy of occupation and colonisation” of Palestinian territory.
Referring to the Israeli government’s response to the October 7 Hamas attack, Villepin said “force does not ensure the security” of the Israeli people.
He added that the rationale for bombing Gaza was flawed and that the Netanyahu government had pursued “a policy of vengeance”.
While Israel has the right to defend itself, it does not have the right to carry out the indiscriminate killing of civilians, he said.
Dominique de Villepin, former French Prime Minister and head of Republique Solidaire center-right political party, speaks during a news conference in Paris December 13, 2011. De Villepin said on Sunday he would run for the 2012 French presidential election as an independent candidate. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE – Tags: POLITICS)
Dominique de Villepin, former French prime minister and foreign minister, said in the France Info interview that it is the responsibility of the international community to tell Netanyahu that the war in Gaza ‘is not acceptable’ [File: Charles Platiau/Reuters]
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3h ago (03:55 GMT)
Washington Post takes down ‘racist’ cartoon against Palestinians
The Washington Post has taken down a cartoon by Michael Ramirez that sparked outrage and was widely condemned as racist and dehumanising against Palestinians, acknowledging that it was divisive.
The cartoon portrayed a Hamas representative – featured as a heavy-set man with a wide nose and dark eyes – tying four children and a woman in a hijab to himself with a speech bubble that read, “How dare Israel attack civilians…”.
“A cartoon we published by Michael Ramirez on the war in Gaza, a cartoon whose publication I approved, was seen by many readers as racist. This was not my intent,” Washington Post opinion editor David Shipley said in a note on the publication’s website.
“I saw the drawing as a caricature of a specific individual, the Hamas spokesperson who celebrated the attacks on unarmed civilians in Israel,” Shipley wrote. “However, the reaction to the image convinced me that I had missed something profound, and divisive, and I regret that.”
“Our section is aimed at finding commonalities, understanding the bonds that hold us together, even in the darkest times,” he added.
Read more here about the cartoon and how people responded.
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3h ago (03:45 GMT)
Gaza aid conference in Paris must call for ‘immediate ceasefire’: Amnesty
Amnesty International said heads of states attending today’s conference in Paris on humanitarian aid for Gaza must call for an “immediate ceasefire” amid Israel’s bombardment of the besieged enclave that has killed more than 10,500 Palestinians so far.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the conference, which is expected to be attended by the prime ministers of Greece, Ireland and Luxembourg, along with EU chiefs Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen.
“More than two million people in the Gaza Strip are struggling to survive amidst Israel’s relentless attacks that have caused an unprecedented number of civilian casualties and destruction and exacerbated this humanitarian crisis to catastrophic levels,” Amnesty’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said.
“We call on states to push for an immediate ceasefire by all parties,” Callamard said. “We call on states to live up to their joint and individual responsibility to cooperate in providing humanitarian assistance in times of emergency. They cannot sit by and witness this suffering any longer,” she said.
The Palestinian Authority will send its prime minister and Egypt a ministerial delegation, AFP reports.
FILE – A woman holds-up a white shirt trying to prevent being shot, as Palestinians flee Gaza City to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din street in Bureij, Nov. 7, 2023. Americans have become more likely to describe Israel as an ally that shares U.S. interests and values since the war with Hamas began, but they’re divided over whether Israel has gone too far in its response to last month’s attack, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman, File)
A woman holds up a white flag to prevent being shot at by Israeli forces as Palestinians flee Gaza City to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, on November 7, 2023 [Mohammed Dahman/AP Photo]
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3h ago (03:35 GMT)
Republican presidential nominees voice support for Netanyahu at debate
Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, Republican Party nominees for US President, voiced support for Israel in a debate on Wednesday night.
Florida Governor DeSantis said he would tell Netanyahu to “finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas”.
Former UN ambassador Haley criticised the Biden administration for pressing Israel to implement humanitarian pauses.
“The last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do,” she said.
The frontrunner in the Republican presidential race Donald Trump, who is defending himself in four criminal and at least three civil trials, did not attend the debate but held his own separate event nearby.
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3h ago (03:25 GMT)
Israel losing support it gained after Hamas attack among US public: Poll
The number of younger supporters of the US Democratic party who say they are less likely to vote for President Biden over his stance on Israel-Palestinian issues has more than doubled since October, a new poll by the University of Maryland has found.
They are also now “twice as likely” to view Biden as “too pro-Israeli” and the number of those “who want the United States to lean toward the Palestinians have measurably increased”, according to the university’s “Critical Issues Poll”.
“Young people [under 35] across the partisan divide were less likely to want the United States to take Israel’s side compared with October, but the change among young Democrats was especially striking,” Professor Shibley Telhami, director of the poll, said of the latest findings.
“The percentage of young Democrats who said Biden was too pro-Israeli doubled, going from 20.6 percent in October to 41.5 percent in November, while a negligible number [from 0 to 2.4 percent] said he was too pro-Palestinian,” Telhami said.
“What we find so far is that much of the initial bump in support for Israel that the American public exhibited early after the Hamas attack has not survived the reactions to the Israeli attacks in Gaza,” he said.
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3h ago (03:20 GMT)
For those just joining us, here’s a recap of the latest developments
At least 19 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air attack near a hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, and four were killed in a strike in Khan Younis, according to Wafa.
Israeli forces have killed one Palestinian in a raid near Hebron.
Israeli bulldozers destroy streets during a raid in Jenin.
Two Israeli settlers were shot in the occupied West Bank near Nablus, one is in critical condition.
US Senator Chris Murphy says the civilian death toll in Gaza is “too high” and urges Israel to “abide by laws of war”.
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4h ago (03:15 GMT)
WATCH: Newborns struggle for life in wartime
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Gaza’s premature babies: Newborns struggle for life in wartime
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4h ago (03:01 GMT)
Deaths reported as Israeli air strikes hit vicinity of two Gaza hospitals
At least three people were killed and dozens of others injured, after an Israeli air strike at dawn on Thursday hit the vicinity of Al-Nasr Hospital in western Gaza, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa.
Wafa also reported that Israel fired several missiles around the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, resulting in missile fragments falling into the hospital courtyard.
Al-Shifa Hospital is the largest medical facility in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
At the same time, Israel also fired flares into the sky of Gaza City, with a particular focus on the al-Shati Camp.
Shells and missiles were also launched in the direction of Rafah. There were no immediate reports on casualties in the attack.
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4h ago (02:55 GMT)
Why are US Republicans pushing for aid to Israel but not Ukraine?
As wars continue to rage in both Ukraine and Gaza, another battle is playing out in the United States Congress: over which country should receive aid money.
In recent months, congressional Republicans have expressed increasing scepticism towards approving more funds for the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as his country seeks to repel a full-scale Russian invasion.
But that opposition has grown since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, with some Republicans positioning aid for Israel and Ukraine as an either-or proposition.
Read more here.
Mike Johnson and other members of Congress stand on the steps of Congress, each holding a small votive candle.
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, centre, and his colleagues hold a candlelight vigil for Israel on the steps of the House of Representatives on November 7 [Alex Brandon/AP Photo]
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4h ago (02:35 GMT)
More than 1,000 USAID employees sign letter backing Gaza ceasefire
More than 1,000 staffers at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have signed a letter calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
The signatories include officials from across USAID’s departments and overseas missions.
They’ve joined a growing number of government employees voicing dissent against US support for Israel’s military offensive there, including Congressional staffers who staged a walkout on Wednesday.
Read more from Al Jazeera’s Ali Harb here.
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4h ago (02:30 GMT)
Emergency workers search for survivors of latest Israeli strike on Jabalia
Footage obtained by Al Jazeera Arabic showed the rescue efforts carried out by emergency workers and residents of Jabalia after the latest Israeli bombing in the area in northern Gaza early on Thursday.
Rescuers are seen digging through the rubble of a partially collapsed concrete building, where they found injured and dead victims of the strike.
Earlier, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, had reported that a strike near the Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in Jabalia killed at least 19 people and wounded several others.
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4h ago (02:20 GMT)
Watch: Emotional Rashida Tlaib asks why Palestinian cries ‘sound different’
While most US politicians serving in Congress have continued to back Israel, signs of dissent are growing.
On Wednesday, more than 100 US congressional staffers staged a walkout to demand a ceasefire.
Their action came after Congress voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American woman elected to the House of Representatives.
In an emotional speech, defending her calls for an immediate ceasefire, Tlaib told her colleagues: “What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all.”
Here’s a look at where the US Congress stands on Israel and Gaza.
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War growing pressure over US support for Israel
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5h ago (02:10 GMT)
Heavy gunfire exchange heard amid clashes in occupied West Bank
Heavy gunfire has been heard as armoured Israeli vehicles entered the occupied West Bank town of Tubas.
In a video posted by Al Jazeera Arabic on X, two Israeli vehicles were also seen driving through a barricaded street in Tubas.
Earlier, Al Jazeera reported that one person was killed by Israeli forces following the latest Israeli raid in the West Bank early on Thursday.
[Translation: Armed confrontations erupted between Palestinian youths and occupation forces during their storming of the city of Tubas in the occupied West Bank.]
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5h ago (02:05 GMT)
Britain’s foreign secretary to meet Middle Eastern counterparts
British Foreign Minister James Cleverly has travelled to Saudi Arabia after the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Tokyo, according to Reuters news agency.
Cleverly will meet with foreign ministers from the Middle East, who are gathering in Saudi Arabia ahead of an Arab League emergency meeting about Gaza on Saturday, the report said, citing the UK foreign office.
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5h ago (01:55 GMT)
Egypt rejects future role in Gaza’s internal security: WSJ
As the US scrambles to put together a plan for the ‘day after’ any possible defeat of Hamas in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reports that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has rejected a proposal for his country to manage security in the Palestinian enclave until the Palestinian Authority can take over.
The exchange came during a meeting between CIA director William Burns, who is currently visiting the Middle East region, and el-Sisi.
The WSJ report added that Egypt also rejected any role in the elimination of Hamas because it needed the group to help maintain security at the Egypt-Gaza border.
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5h ago (01:45 GMT)
Sick, wounded treated in hospital ‘corridors, on the floor, outdoors’: UN officials
Conditions at Gaza’s largest hospital – Al-Shifa – “are disastrous” with emergency rooms overflowing and doctors forced to treat the sick and injured in “corridors, on the floor, and outdoors”, two senior UN officials have warned.
The heads of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said there are almost two patients for every bed available at the Al-Shifa Hospital and the number of wounded is increasing by the hour.
“Patients are undergoing immense and unnecessary pain as medicines and anaesthetics are running out. In addition, tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the hospital’s parking lots and yards,” UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint statement.
“Medical facilities are running out of supplies and fuel. So far, no fuel has been allowed into the Gaza Strip, including to Al-Shifa Hospital for over one month now,” they said.
“Without fuel, hospitals and other essential facilities such as desalination plants and bakeries cannot operate, and more people will most certainly die as a result.”
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5h ago (01:35 GMT)
Palestinian man shot through the heart in Hebron: Doctors
A Palestinian man has been shot and killed by Israeli forces in the village of Tabaka in Hebron governorate.
Anas Abu Atwan was 29 years old and recently married, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from the West Bank, says.
Abu Atwan was taken to a hospital, where doctors said he had been “shot in the back and through the heart,” Basravi added.
His death came as Basravi says there were “clashes between the Israeli military and unarmed Palestinians hurling rocks” in Hebron on Wednesday night.
The number of people killed in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the war is now 165, Basravi added.
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6h ago (01:15 GMT)
Arab-American Michigan mayor voices support for Rashida Tlaib
Ali Harb
Ali Harb
Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, home to a large Arab American community, has decried attacks against US House Representative Rashida Tlaib, who was formally rebuked by her colleagues over her criticism of Israel.
Hammoud lauded Tlaib – who represents parts of Detroit and its suburbs, including Dearborn – for “courageously speaking out in opposition of the US government-backed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank”.
Tlaib is the only Palestinian American member of Congress.
“Make no mistake: Dearborn will not forget this state-sanctioned oppression of our community,” Hammoud, a former Democratic state lawmaker, wrote in a social media post.
“We stand with and wholeheartedly support our Congresswoman and thank her for her courage.”
The mayor’s message comes as President Biden suffers a drastic drop in support in Arab American communities over his unconditional support for Israel.
Hammoud was elected as the first Arab-American mayor of Dearborn – a city known as the “Capital of Arab America” – in 2021.
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6h ago (01:05 GMT)
What to read: Some highlights from our recent coverage
If you’re just joining us, here’s a selection of Al Jazeera’s recent writing from Gaza and around the world:
Q&A – Former UN expert stresses Israel’s occupation of Gaza never ended
Opinion – Ukrainian letter of solidarity with the Palestinian people
Analysis – How would Israel fare in Gaza’s tunnels?
Feature – One crisis to the next: British Palestinians fleeing Gaza stuck in Egypt
Exclusive – Spanish Minister: Israel must end ‘genocide’ of Palestinians in Gaza
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6h ago (01:00 GMT)
Four reported killed in latest Israel strike on Khan Younis
At least four people have been killed and dozens others wounded after an Israeli artillery fire and shelling in the southern Gaza Strip.
A Wafa report said that a house was hit in the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, resulting in casualties.
An Israeli aircraft also bombarded a bakery in the al-Shujayea neighbourhood, as well as several targets in Beit Lahiya.
Flares were also reportedly fired in the skies of the al-Shati refugee camp, while Israeli naval vessels fired rounds towards western Gaza.
[Translation: A number of people killed and wounded arrive at a hospital following an Israeli air strike on Khan Younis.]
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6h ago (00:55 GMT)
Two settlers shot in occupied West Bank
Zein Basravi
Zein Basravi
Reporting from Ramallah, occupied West Bank
What we understand is that in the last hour or so, this shooting incident took place near the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, east of Nablus.
Two Israeli settlers were reportedly targeted by an armed Palestinian fighter. Those settlers that were injured in the attack, their injuries are so serious, [with] one of them in critical condition, that they had to be evacuated by helicopter for treatment in a hospital in Tel Aviv.
Roads in and around all of Nablus have been shut down. Those roads are now seeing a heavy Israeli military presence as they carry out a search to try and locate this Palestinian suspect who did escape the scene.
The worry is that when incidents like this take place, the reprisal by the Israeli military will be heavy, will be swift, so residents of that area are now bracing for yet more intense raids.
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6h ago (00:50 GMT)
CIA Director pushing to get deal done
Patty Culhane
Patty Culhane
reporting from Washington, DC
I think CIA Director Bill Burns is probably really going to be pushing to see if they can get that deal done: a three-day pause in the fighting in exchange for 10 to 15 captives being released.
There was some talk that there would also be a Hamas-provided list of all the hostages in captivity.
It is interesting if you look at where he’s [Burns] gone. First Israel, Egypt, [and] now Qatar. Those are the three countries that are intricately involved in making a hostage release and a humanitarian pause work.
Bill Burns is not just the CIA director. He’s actually spent most of his career in the State Department and is probably the most respected official in the Biden administration when it comes to the Middle East.
So he is going to stop in Qatar. Obviously, hostages are going to be the main topic of conversation there, along with humanitarian aid. And obviously, where I’m sure he’ll hear calls for an immediate ceasefire.
From there, we believe he’s going to Jordan where he used to be the US ambassador. And then the United Arab Emirates, with potentially other stops along the way.
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6h ago (00:45 GMT)
US senator says civilian deaths in Gaza ‘too high’, urges Israel to ‘abide by laws of war’
US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the civilian death toll in Gaza “has been too high” and has expressed concern at Israel’s military strategy in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Along with 20 colleagues in the Senate, Murphy sent a letter on Wednesday to US President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, urging that Israel “abide by the laws of war”, including protection of civilians, and to “learn from the mistakes the United States made in our fight against terrorism” two decades ago, the French news agency AFP reports.
“I am concerned that if Israel’s strategy and end goal is to defeat Hamas, then this pace of civilian casualties, which certainly comes with a moral cost, also comes with a strategic cost,” Murphy told AFP in an interview.
Israel has a right to defend itself, but avoiding civilian casualties is crucial, Murphy said.
US Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) speaks during a press conference following Senate Democrat policy luncheons at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on June 7, 2022. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)
US Senator Chris Murphy speaks during a press conference in 2022 [File: Nicholas Kamm/AFP]
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6h ago (00:40 GMT)
Israeli forces use bulldozers to destroy streets in Jenin city: Media
Israeli forces are using bulldozers to destroy streets in Jenin city in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
A large force of Israeli soldiers travelling in a convoy of some 70 military vehicles with four bulldozers stormed Jenin in the early hours from several directions supported by helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft.
Gunfire has been heard and confrontations with young Palestinians are taking place. Israeli snipers have deployed to the roofs of high-rise buildings, according to Wafa.
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6h ago (00:35 GMT)
106 trucks entered Gaza from Egypt on Wednesday: PRCS
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says that 106 trucks entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday, bringing in much-needed aid.
Five ambulance vehicles also arrived from Kuwait through the crossing.
The PRCS says that the total number of trucks that have entered since October 21 is now 756, but that is still far below what the besieged enclave needs, and fuel is still not permitted to enter.
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6h ago (00:30 GMT)
Here are the other military developments in the region linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict
As Israeli forces continue to bombard Gaza overnight, there have also been several developments in the military front across the region.
The Pentagon says it targeted a facility in eastern Syria being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups to target US troops in Iraq and Syria. At least nine people affiliated with Iran-backed groups in Syria were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Three pro-Iran fighters were killed in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets near Damascus, the SOHR also said.
US officials have confirmed that Yemen’s pro-Iranian Houthi rebels had shot down a drone in airspace over Yemeni territorial waters.
Drone attack targets the United States’ al-Harir airbase in northern Iraq.
Israel carried out an aerial attack targeting military sites in southern Syria, the Syrian state news agency SANA said, citing a military source.
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6h ago (00:20 GMT)
Developing
Scores killed in latest Israeli strikes on Jabalia, Sabra and Khan Younis
The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, is reporting early on Thursday that at least 30 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed overnight in the latest Israeli bombardment in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
According to the report, dozens were also injured in an attack that destroyed two residential buildings located in the refugee camp.
Wafa is also reporting that an Israeli aircraft earlier targeted a civilian car next to Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in Jabalia, killing 19 people and wounding a number of others.
Five more bodies were also taken to the Indonesian Hospital and two to Kamal Adwan Hospital following the bombing of a house in Jabalia.
At least eight others were also reported killed in al-Sabra in the western part of Gaza.
Meanwhile, 10 people, including a child, were killed in a separate strike on the home of the Abu Taim family in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis.
TOPSHOT – A fireball erupts in the Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment, near a position across the border in southern Israel on November 8, 2023 amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
A fireball erupts in the northern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on Wednesday [Jack Guez/AFP]
