The Gaza Demonstration for Righteous Action: U.S. Armed Forces in Gaza and Israel’s Violation of the Fourth Amendment

Thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of Washington and other cities across America on Saturday to protest the scope and scale of Israel’s retaliation in Gaza for last month’s terrorist assault by Hamas.

The Saturday marches, organized in many cities, continued the call for a cease fire and the lifting of the siege that followed huge demonstrations a week ago in Asian and European capitals.

As Israel ramps up attacks on Gaza, the U.S. support for Palestinian civilians has gone up.

The constellation of causes that have long connected themselves to Palestinian politics were poised to be reflected in the Saturday demonstrations.

Many lifted placards high, broadcasting messages like “let Gaza live” and “fight like Hell for the living” in preparation for the protest. There was a Palestinian flag on the ground as more than a dozen adults and children stretched out another flag. Around 1 p.m., a Muslim call to prayer sounded through the plaza.

Some protesters sat on a ledge outside the White House Visitor Center to make a point to President Biden. “Stop U.S. military aid to Israel,” their signs read. You lost my vote, said another.

Israeli army forces invade Gaza City: The impact of a bombing campaign on civilians living inside the country during the October 27 Israeli invasion of Gaza

“We don’t have internet to listen to the news and know what is happening — but we can hear it,” said Majdi Ahmed, 32, a taxi driver taking shelter in a hospital in the city.

Other Gaza City residents were trying to listen to the sound of gunfire and assess the Israeli advance by using their mobile phones.

Saher Abu Adgham, 37, a Palestinian graphic designer, had been searching the streets of Gaza City for firewood to boil some rice. As dusk approached, he bedded down at home in case the army advanced at nightfall.

The Israeli army’s approach to Gaza City has been frightening for the civilians who have seen one of the most intense bombing campaigns of the 21st century.

The wall of the school was destroyed. The minaret was tilted to one side. The roof of a beachfront villa had vanished, leaving a maroon sofa exposed to the elements.

After eight days of fighting, the Israeli army has taken control of the northern portion of the coastal road in Gaza.

Shortly after the journalists entered Gaza through a hole in the wall lining its perimeter, a mortar shell landed close to the armored vehicle that carried them south.

Thousands of troops began their incursion down the coastline on Oct. 27, one part of a three-pronged invasive force that aims to vanquish Hamas, which led a brazen raid on Israel last month that killed roughly 1,400 people.

Long lines of infantry marched south along the road, blowing plumes of dust into the air. In the sand dunes east of the road, long rows of tanks and armored vehicles dominated the landscape, stretching toward the horizon.

Source: Blinken Travels to Israeli-Occupied West Bank

Ben-Anat: Finding the enemy is like Catching the mouse… Or what happens when you can’t find a soldier?

Colonel Ben-Anat said that catching the enemy was like catching a mouse. You have to find him. You know he’s there. You don’t know where he is — but you know when you catch him, he’s done.”

Some soldiers are boiling sweet corn and carrots, chatting and joking with each other. Men grow mustaches in the month of November as part of Movember, an annual global fund-raising campaign.

All the political divisions in Israel of the past year — in which thousands of military reservists had threatened to refuse to serve in protest of the Israeli government — had vanished, the colonel said. There were many men who were in the reserve force.

Even as some of them cooked and rested, other had their guns drawn. At any moment, the colonel said, Hamas fighters might emerge from hidden shafts that lead to a vast underground tunnel network, hundreds of miles along, and ambush the Israeli troops.

To reach the front, the journalists drove in a convoy of five tanks and two armored vehicles. A reporter for The Times traveled in a vehicle. It had no windows: To see his surroundings, the driver looked at a digital screen that showed a live video of the road ahead.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, dozens of Palestinians have been killed in airstrikes since the beginning of the war.