LIVE | Israel-Hamas War Day 27: Israeli troops advance as diplomatic efforts aim to pause Gaza fighting
Israeli airstrikes destroy apartments in Jabaliya refugee camp for second straight day as dual passport holders and seriously injured Palestinians leave Gaza
Israel’s ground troops were advancing toward Gaza City as diplomatic efforts intensified for at least a brief pause in the fighting in Gaza's deadliest war.
US President Joe Biden suggested a humanitarian “pause” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected back in the region on Friday. Arab countries, including those allied with the US and at peace with Israel, have expressed mounting unease with the war.
The opening of the Rafah border crossing, allowing hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded Palestinians to leave Gaza, followed weeks of talks among Egypt, Israel, the US and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,061, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 130 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said it is proving very difficult to bring about a pause in the Israel-Hamas war to allow humanitarian aid to reach people in Gaza.
Cleverly said that “pretty much the whole world has been agreed that we need to get increased volumes of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
“We, the US, voices all over the world have been pushing for, you know, these humanitarian pauses -- temporary, localized, specifically for humanitarian purposes. They've proven to be very, very difficult to achieve,” he told reporters at an AI Safety Summit in England.
Cleverly, who has made several trips to the Middle East since the war began, said “we will keep pushing to get those humanitarian pauses … for as long as it takes.” He said the UK position remains that “calls for a broad ceasefire are premature.”
Injured allowed to leave
Hundreds of dual passport holders and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza on Wednesday (November 1) after more than three weeks under siege, while Israeli airstrikes destroyed apartments in a densely populated area for the second straight day.
The group were the first people to leave Gaza — other than four hostages released by Hamas and another rescued by Israeli forces — even as bombings have driven hundreds of thousands from their homes, and food, water and fuel run low.
It remained unclear whether more people would be allowed to leave Gaza in the coming days.
The latest strikes in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City demolished multi-story apartment buildings, and dozens of men later dug through the rubble, searching for survivors, according to footage from Al-Jazeera television, one of the few media outlets still reporting from northern Gaza. It showed several wounded people, including children, being brought to a nearby hospital.
The Hamas-run government said the strikes killed and wounded many people, but the exact toll was not yet known.
The toll was also unknown from Tuesday’s strikes on buildings in the same camp, though the director of a nearby hospital said hundreds were killed or wounded. Israel said those strikes destroyed military tunnels beneath the buildings and killed dozens of Hamas fighters, including a senior commander involved in the militants’ bloody October 7 rampage that ignited the war.
In a sign of increasing alarm over the war among Arab countries, Jordan on Wednesday recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s ambassador to remain out of the country. Jordan, a key US ally, signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994.
Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Ayman al-Safadi, said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel “stopping its war on Gaza … and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing”. He warned that the conflict could spread and threaten “the security of the entire region”.The Gaza Strip's largest hospital is on its last supply of fuel has it struggles to cope with hundreds of wounded people while hosting thousands of displaced Palestinians in the Hamas-Israel war, a senior doctor said.
“The high number of displaced people are no longer living in the courtyard of the hospital but are also living inside the hospital, including the corridors,” U.K.-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians quoted Shifa Hospital's chief of surgery, Dr. Marwan Abusada, as saying. Abusada warned that illnesses can spread because of the overcrowding and poor conditions.
Abusada said the overwhelmed hospital is struggling to treat more than 800 wounded people, most of whom suffer from medium or critical injuries. "The medical team can in no way treat all these injuries, specifically with a lack of medication,” Abusada said, citing the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the small number of aid vehicles entering the territory daily.
Sweden announced Thursday it will donate an extra 150 million kronor ($13.4 million) in humanitarian support for Gaza in addition to the 560 million kroner ($50 million) in aid to Palestinians it has already earmarked for the whole of 2023.
“It's about the most basic things for people to get through the day,” International Development Cooperation Minister Johan Forssell said. The aid will mostly be channeled through various U.N. organizations, he said. In neighboring Norway, the government said Thursday it is increasing support for Palestinian children in Gaza via the U.N. Children's Fund by donating 25 million kroner ($2 million). International Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim said ”the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza is absolutely terrible and it is devastating to see how children are affected.”
Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia has launched a campaign to raise relief funds for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday that King Salman has donated about $8 million to the fund and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has donated over $5 million. Funds will be raised through the online donation platform Sahem, which the kingdom has used to contribute to relief efforts in other countries. Contributions to the campaign exceed $15 million with more than 30,000 donors.
Before the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Saudi Arabia had been in talks with the U.S. over normalizing ties with Israel. The kingdom has called for a halt to the violence and for progress toward establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Democrats in Michigan have warned the White House that President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict could cost him enough support within the Arab American community to sway the outcome of the 2024 election in a state he almost certainly can't afford to lose in his bid for reelection.
The situation has prompted the White House to discuss ways to alleviate tensions with some of the state's prominent Democrats, including several who have been vocal critics of the president about the war.
“The message has been relayed. We've had calls with the White House. We've had calls with DNC officials,” said Abraham Aiyash, the third-ranking Democrat in the state House of Representatives, referring to the Democratic National Committee. “We've been clear in saying the humanity should matter, but if that is not a calculation that you're going to make in this moment, recognize that there will be electoral reverberations to this.” Michigan was a critical component of the so-called blue wall of states that includes Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that Biden returned to the Democratic column, helping him win the White House in 2020. Since then, Democrats have felt more confident about their standing in Michigan, particularly after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer notched a commanding 10-point reelection victory last year.
Israeli troops meanwhile appear to be advancing on three main routes, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. research group. One thrust came from Gaza's northeast corner. Another, south of Gaza City, cut across the territory, reaching the main north-south highway.
The third, from Gaza's northwest corner, has moved about 5 kilometers (3 miles) down the Mediterranean coast, reaching the outskirts of the Shati and Jabaliya refugee camps, on the edges of Gaza City. Airstrikes on Wednesday and Thursday destroyed apartment blocks in Jabaliya, but the number of dead and wounded remained unknown. Israel said the strikes killed militants and demolished Hamas tunnels.
Palestinian militants fired antitank missiles, set off explosive devices and hurled grenades at Israeli troops during an overnight battle, the Israeli military said Thursday. It said soldiers returned fire and called in artillery, as well as strikes from a helicopter and a naval ship. The report could not be independently confirmed.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain in the path of the fighting in northern Gaza, despite Israel's repeated calls for them to evacuate the region and head to the territory's south, which is also being bombarded. Casualties on both sides are expected to rise as Israeli troops advance toward the dense residential neighborhoods of Gaza City. Israeli officials say Hamas' military infrastructure, including tunnels, is concentrated in the city and accuse Hamas of hiding among civilians.
Hospitals in Gaza say their emergency generators are running dangerously low on fuel amid a territory-wide blackout. The World Health Organization said the lack of fuel puts at risk 1,000 patients on kidney dialysis, 130 premature babies in incubators, as well as cancer patients and patients on ventilators.
Israel has refused to allow fuel in, saying it fears Hamas would steal it for military purposes. The military released a recording of what it said was a Hamas commander forcing a hospital to hand over some fuel. The recording could not be independently verified. Only hours of electricity remained at Gaza City's largest hospital, Shifa, according to its director, Mohammed Abu Salmia, who pleaded for “whoever has a liter of diesel in his home” to donate it.
The Turkish-Palestinian Hospital, Gaza's only facility offering specialized treatment for cancer patients, was forced to shut down Wednesday because of lack of fuel, leaving 70 cancer patients in a critical situation, the Health Ministry said. The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where many of those wounded in the Jabaliya strikes were being treated, was forced to turn off most lights and its mortuary refrigerators. “These exceptional measures will allow the Indonesian Hospital to work for a few more days,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. “However, if we cannot secure electricity or fuel then we will face a disaster.”
Egypt has said it will not accept an influx of Palestinian refugees, fearing Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza after the war. Those remaining in Gaza face an increasingly dire humanitarian situation, with basic supplies running low and hundreds of thousands packed into hospitals and U.N.-run shelters. Israel has allowed more than 260 trucks carrying food and medicine to enter from Egypt, but aid workers say it's not nearly enough.
Israel's ground troops advanced toward Gaza City on Thursday, as the US and Arab countries intensified diplomatic efforts to ease the siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and bring about at least a brief stop to the fighting to help civilians.
President Joe Biden suggested a humanitarian “pause” on Wednesday, as hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded Palestinians were allowed out of Gaza for the first time, exiting via Egypt's Rafah crossing. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected back in the region on Friday.
Arab countries, including those allied with the US and at peace with Israel, have expressed mounting unease with the war. Jordan recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel's envoy to remain out of the country until there's a halt to the war and the “humanitarian catastrophe” it is causing. More than 3,600 Palestinian children have been killed in 25 days of fighting, as bombings have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and food, water and fuel run low.