Israel’s response to the September 11 attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens in Tel Aviv have been shaken: a grieving Israeli woman says she is devastated
TEL AVIV, Israel — A scattered group of runners hustled along the sparkling blue water of the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa Port early Saturday morning.
They gathered in solidarity with the hostages still held by Hamas. The runners wore Israeli flags or race bibs which bore the names of people who were taken by Hamas and said “Bring them home”.
People gathered in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to demonstrate in support of hostages. The Prime Minister’s government has been criticized for a perceived failure of properly preparing for and reacting to the attack by Hamas.
At a crowded rally in downtown Tel Aviv Saturday night, makeshift memorials were erected inside the plaza of the city’s art museum square honoring those still missing. Friends and families of Israelis being held hostage wore shirts with their names and faces on them.
Margalit Zur, a 77-year-old Israeli woman who called for the immediate return of the hostages during the rally Saturday said her trust in her government and her feeling of safety in Israel have been shaken.
“I really can’t sleep. It’s bad, she said. I can’t comprehend what has happened. It’s not possible. And I think our government shouldn’t do anything before all of them are back home safe.”
The Gaza Strip is still open: Netanyahu’s frustrations with Hamas and the United States in the wake of the September 11 Gaza attacks
In the four weeks since the conflict began, over 10,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu continues to refuse calls for a cease-fire or a pause in the fighting, meaning there’s no end in sight.
“I made it clear that we are going with full steam ahead, and that Israel refuses any temporary ceasefire that does not involve the release of the kidnapped Israelis,” Netanyahu said in a statement Friday.
Israeli bombs hit refugee camps. Health officials said at least 33 people were killed and many others were wounded in the Sunday attack on the Maghazi refugee camp.
Hospitals that haven’t been touched by attacks are overcrowded and barely functioning due to low supplies and little to no fuel, according to the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
WHO warned this week that the bombardments, lack of food, barely working health centers and collapsing infrastructure poses particular risks for pregnant women and children.
There are an estimated 50,000 women who are pregnant in Gaza. Fifteen per cent of them are likely to experience pregnancy or birth-related complications and need additional medical care,” the WHO said this week.
The Secretary of State is working with the U.S. partners in the Middle East to broker a deal that would allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and for civilians to be protected.
He made an unannounced visit to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday following a visit to Jordan. A spokesman for Abbas said that the Palestinian president had called for an immediate cease-fire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
After painstaking negotiations between Israel, Hamas and Egypt, officials agreed to allow one border crossing to Egypt in Rafah to open, allowing some aid to enter and some foreign nationals and a few Palestinians to leave.
This weekend, officials in Gaza closed the exit because foreignpassport holders would not be allowed to leave unless patients from the hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza can get to the crossing.
The United Nations estimates that of the roughly 300,000 people trapped in northern Gaza, only 2,000 were able to move south this weekend, according to monitors on the ground.
The IDF claimed Hamas militants attacked the roadway. Hamas said the availability of a safe corridor was “a lie” and that the Israeli military was using it to attack civilians.
At least 500 trucks have been able to deliver aid through the Rafah crossing since October 21.
The movements by Palestinians elsewhere have also been limited. Israeli authorities have also indefinitely paused the worker permits for the more than 110,000 Palestinians that worked in Israel or Israeli settlements.
In a statement on Sunday morning, Israel said it had hit over 2,500 terror targets during the last four weeks in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. Capitol Address to the Palestine Synchrony: Israel’s First Protest in the Third Day of the Israeli Insurrection
In Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of people gathered Saturday for one of the biggest pro-Palestinian protests in the U.S. since the Israeli incursion began.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy is one of the first senators to publicly express concerns over Israel’s response to Hamas, calling for a more “deliberate and proportionate counterterrorism campaign.”
Our forces are fully operational, with full power. Our victory will be decisive and clear. Netanyahu said it will send a message to enemies and will echo for a long time.
In a recent speech, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah did not announce an all-out war with Israel but warned that the group’s actions would depend on the situation in Gaza.
According to Yaacov Amidror, the former general and national security adviser in Israel, the goal of removing Hamas is likely to take two to six months.
Taking full control of the Hamas-controlled enclave may be the easy part. Finding a viable replacement to take over running Gaza, is another thing entirely.
Israel cut off the north of Gaza from the south when it reached the coast of the besieged area on Sunday.
Jordan’s surprise trip to the West Bank during Sunday’s visit to the Gaza Strip: State of the Art, the State of Public Works, and the Status of the Palestinian Civil Society
“In the last twelve hours, soldiers of the division struck around 50 targets, including combat zones, operational residences, outposts, military locations and underground infrastructure, and eliminated terrorists in close-quarter combat,” the military said.
Phone, 4G cellular networks as well as internet services were cut off in Gaza for several hours. The networks looked to be at least partially restored by Monday morning.
As the Israelis continued its military operations around Gaza City, many Palestinians have been trying to head south as the IDF has urged civilians to do.
The ones that have escaped have mostly traveled by foot, with adults and children lugging bags full of stuff, and elderly people pushing wheelchairs. Some people waved white pieces of cloth to show that they were not criminals.
The group traveling in Gaza toldNPR that they had to walk past dead bodies as bombs dropped to get to their destinations. They wouldn’t give their names because of security concerns.
His surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday resulted in him meeting with the prime minister in Baghdad for over an hour. In the West Bank, on one of his trips, he had a sit down with the Palestinian Authority President.