Author name: Helping Gaza

Israel’s intensifying ‘aggression’ against Gaza civilians makes spillover inevitable, Iran’s top diplomat says. An expansion of the scope of the war in Gaza is “inevitable” due to Israel’s heightened aggression, according to Iran’s foreign minister. Hossein Amirabdollahian made the statement in a phone conversation with Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Iran’s Press TV reported on Friday. “Due to the expansion of the intensity of the war against Gaza’s civilian residents, expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Amirabdollahian said. It is unclear what he meant by an “inevitable expansion” of the conflict. Separately, Amirabdollahian said on his X account on Thursday: “Time is fast running out for Tel Aviv’s crimes to continue.” “The only benefit of Netanyahu was that he made the foundations of the fake Israeli regime more shaky and showed the criminal, violent, and aggressive face of the Zionist regime in the massacre of women and children in Gaza,” he added. “Undoubtedly, the future belongs to Palestine,” Amirabdollahian wrote. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group, which is allied to Hamas, have swapped attacks. More than 60 Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians have been killed, Lebanese security officials say. The violence has also killed at least seven Israeli soldiers and one civilian. United States and coalition troops have been attacked at least 40 times in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed forces as tensions soar over Israel’s bombardment. Forty-five US troops have been injured. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement has also launched repeated missile and drone attacks on Israel since October 7, all of which were either shot down or fell short. In a move viewed as a show of force to regional rivals, and especially Iran, the US announced last week that it has deployed a nuclear-capable submarine in the Middle East.

Jens Stoltenberg says members of the military alliance support humanitarian pauses in the war to allow aid to reach Gaza amid the worsening humanitarian crisis. Stoltenberg told reporters that international law must be respected and civilians must be protected. He also warned against the conflict spilling out into a regional war. “The war in Gaza must not turn into a major regional conflict. Iran and Hezbollah must stay out of this fight,” he added.

We’re getting reports that a rocket has landed in Eilat City in southern Israel. Warning sirens were not activated and the source of the rocket was not immediately known. Last week, Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Eliat and warned that more strikes would follow “until the Israeli aggression stops” and Palestinians are “victorious”. We’ll bring you more details shortly.

Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have intensified in the last three hours. Medical sources have told Al Jazeera that the death toll in the Jenin refugee camp has increased to nine in their wake. Witnesses in Jenin are reporting explosions, at least five in the last half hour alone, and attribute them to armed Israeli drones. Israeli forces have also dropped leaflets saying that the raids will only intensify.

Al Jazeera has spoken to survivors of several Israeli attacks in Gaza. Here’s what they had to say: Hadeel Mohammed Abdel-Aal says she – “like any woman in the world” – wants nothing but “security and peace”. “I’m a civilian, I have nothing to do with anything. We’ve seen the worst part of the war, they’ve bombarded our street, they shelled our next door neighbours, and targeted the water tanks,” she told Al Jazeera. “It is the miracle of all miracles” to still be alive, Abdel-Aal said, standing inside one of Gaza’s remaining hospitals that is still operational. “We have escaped certain death,” she said. Similarly, Abu Arar says he and his family are “civilians and defenseless”. He recalled how an attack on a nearby building destroyed the entire area he lived in. “No one in the world can force us to leave Gaza. We’ll stay in Gaza, and our children will stay in Gaza,” he said.

The past month saw escalating Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in Jerusalem and inside Israel. By Linah Alsaafin and Zena Al Tahhan Published On 7 Nov 20237 Nov 2023 Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Over the past month, the world’s attention has been almost exclusively focused on what is often described as the Israel-Hamas war. More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army in the besieged Gaza Strip since October 7 by heavy aerial and artillery bombardments – more than 4,000 children and 2,550 women. KEEP READING list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4 Who are Israeli settlers, and why do they live on Palestinian lands? list 2 of 4 What is the Palestinian Authority and what is its relationship with Israel? list 3 of 4 What trauma do children suffer in Israel’s war on Gaza? list 4 of 4 What is Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades? end of list Some 24,800 others, including 10,000 children, have been injured, and 1.5 million people – some 60 percent of the population – have been forcibly displaced from their homes hoping to escape death, with many of them killed while sheltering in hospitals, schools and refugee camps. But aside from attacks on the Gaza Strip, Israel and Israeli settlers have simultaneously intensified attacks against Palestinians beyond the enclave. Here’s what to know about that: Intensified killings Under Israel’s 56-year military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israeli forces have regularly opened fire at unarmed Palestinians during daily raids and confrontations. Matters on the ground were already tense in those areas well before October 7. In fact, the United Nations had declared 2022 the “deadliest” year for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2006. Israeli forces had killed 170 Palestinians in those areas in 2022, including more than 30 children, while more than 9,000 others were injured. The number of Palestinians killed in 2023 has already significantly surpassed last year’s death toll. Since January 1, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 371 people in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Nearly half of those – 163 people – were killed just in the past month. At least 43 of them were children. More than 2,300 others have been wounded over the past month, including at least 244 children, with more than half of them injured in protests against the bombardment of Gaza. Sign up for Al Jazeera Week in the Middle East Catch up on our coverage of the region, all in one place.Sign up By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Settler attacks and forced displacement Deadly attacks by Israeli citizens living in hundreds of fortified illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem have severely increased since October 7. Some 700,000 settlers live in the midst of and around Palestinian neighbourhoods and cities under heavy protection. The vast majority of illegal Israeli settlements have been built either fully or partially on private Palestinian land. Settlers, many of whom are armed, have shot and killed at least eight Palestinians in those areas over the past month. They have been raiding Palestinian villages on a daily basis, assaulting residents and their properties, and have injured at least 64 people in the same period. Since October 7, the UN has recorded 202 settler attacks against Palestinians, with 28 incidents resulting in Palestinian casualties, 141 incidents resulting in damage to property, and 33 incidents leading to both casualties and property damage. “This reflects a daily average of seven incidents, compared with three since the beginning of the year,” the UN said. “Over one-third of these incidents included threats with firearms, including shootings”. The UN noted that “in nearly half of all incidents, Israeli forces were either accompanying or actively supporting the attackers.” The increase in settler violence since October 7 has directly led to the forced displacement of at least 905 Palestinians from their homes such as in the South Hebron Hills, and in Wadi al-Seeq near Ramallah. According to the UN, that figure comprises 111 households, and includes 356 children. On October 13, several days after Hamas’s attack, Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir began to distribute thousands of assault rifles to Israelis, with priority to settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and to Israelis living alongside Palestinians in “mixed cities” inside Israel such as Lydda and Ramle. The latest settler killing of a Palestinian took place on October 29, when settlers shot dead 40-year-old Bilal Saleh while he was harvesting the olive trees on his land in the village of al-Sawiya south of Nablus city. Earlier in October, settlers attacked the village of Qusra, also in Nablus, killing three residents. During their funeral the next day, settlers attacked the village once more, killing three more Palestinians, including a father and his son. Arrests and conditions for prisoners Another main major development since October 7 is the sharp increase in the number of Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces. In two weeks, Israel had more than doubled the number of Palestinians in its custody. Around 3,200 Palestinian labourers from Gaza who were arrested inside Israel early in the war were released by Israel last week. Many of those who were already inside the prisons, or were newly detained, have been assaulted by Israeli forces, according to prisoner testimonies and rights groups. At least two prisoners lost their lives in Israeli custody shortly after they were arrested since October 7. A third, a Palestinian worker from Gaza who had cancer, was announced dead by Wafa news agency on Monday. “The prisoners are undergoing the harshest beatings and torture in Israeli prisons at the moment,” Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, told Al Jazeera. “More often than not, six or seven guards beat one prisoner all over his body, using sticks, handcuffs, their boots – whatever they have. Some of the prisoners have suffered broken bones and teeth as a result,” he said. “The arrest campaign is part of the Israeli aggression waged on the Palestinian people. These arrests are not specific

Yousri Al Ghoul, a Palestinian political writer, said Israel is committing “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza. Al Ghoul left al-Shati refugee camp to Jabalia in northern Gaza. “We didn’t know where to go,” he told Al Jazeera. Al Ghoul said he and his family did not make the trip to the south due to safety concerns. He said people who made it south have told him that Israeli troops set up multiple checkpoints, “killed many and took many as prisoners … stole their money, stole their jewelry, everything they have”. “No place in Gaza is safe,” he said. “We don’t have fuel, we don’t have bakeries, we don’t have bread, we don’t have … water. “Everyone here, even children, think of death.”