Palestinians report Israeli airstrikes overnight, including in southern Gaza

AP

Jerusalem, November 4

Palestinians in Gaza reported apparent Israeli airstrikes overnight on Saturday across the besieged enclave, including explosions in the south where Israel had told civilians to seek refuge as its ground operation intensifies in northern Gaza.

Calls for a humanitarian pause increased with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), reporting the average Palestinian in Gaza is surviving on two pieces of bread a day, and only one of three water supply lines from Israel is operational.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, “We are going full steam ahead” unless the hostages held by Hamas are released.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,227, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids. The UNRWA says 72 of its staff members have been killed.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the October 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel to Gaza by the militant group.

Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel, and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.

Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:          

PALESTINIANS IN GAZA REPORT AIRSTRIKES OVERNIGHT

Cairo

Palestinians in Gaza reported Israeli airstrikes overnight on Saturday across the besieged enclave, including the southern part where Israel had told civilians to seek refuge as its ground operation intensifies in northern Gaza.

Raed Mattar, who had fled northern Gaza early in the war and was sheltering in a school in the southern town of Khan Younis, said he heard explosions, apparently from airstrikes.

“People never sleep,” he said. “The sound of explosions never stops.”       

Airstrikes were also reported in Gaza, the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants. Strikes hit the western outskirts of the city and near Al-Quds Hospital.

The Israeli military repeatedly hit close to the hospital in recent days, said Adly Abu Taha, a Gaza resident who has sheltered in the hospital grounds for the past three weeks.

“The bombardment gets closer day by day,” he said over the phone. “We don’t know where to go.”      

JAPAN ANNOUNCES USD 65 MILLION IN HUMANITARIAN AID FOR THE GAZA STRIP

Tokyo

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa announced a USD 65 million in humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip on Friday as she condemned attacks on civilians and promised Japan’s continued support for a two-state solution of the conflict.

Kamikawa met Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and her Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, during a visit to the region on Friday, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The aid would cover support for the Palestinians and supplies for the Gaza Strip, in addition to USD 10 million in humanitarian aid, she said.

Speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital of Amman after her Israel visit, Kamikawa said she urged the Israeli and Palestinian ministers to improve humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and to calm the situation as soon as possible.

INDONESIA SENDS ITS FIRST SHIPMENT OF AID FOR GAZA           

Jakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia dispatched a batch of humanitarian aid for people in Gaza on Saturday, its first since the latest Israel-Hamas war began.

The 51.5-ton aid was sent off directly by President Joko Widodo from Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base. Widodo said the medical equipment, food, blankets, tents and other supplies came both from the government and from Indonesian civilians, collected by humanitarian agencies.

The aid would be transported by two Hercules aircraft and an Airbus cargo plane to el-Arish Airport in Egypt. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, has long been a strong supporter of Palestinians. The country does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

“This is a form of Indonesian solidarity, a form of Indonesians’ concerns for humanity,” Widodo said, “because the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza is unacceptable and must be stopped as soon as possible.”  

UN CHIEF RENEWS HIS DEMAND FOR A HUMANITARIAN CEASE-FIRE          

United Nations

The United Nations (UN) chief renewed his demand for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, saying civilians “have been besieged, denied aid, killed and bombed out of their homes” for nearly one month in Israel’s retaliation after Hamas’ surprise attacks.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on late Friday that he is “horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital,” calling the images of bodies strewn on the street “harrowing”.            

The secretary-general said international humanitarian law must be respected, including protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure — and not using civilians as human shields. He also called for the delivery of humanitarian supplies across Gaza “at a scale commensurate with this dramatic situation.”  

PEOPLE IN GAZA ARE DESPERATE FOR FOOD AND WATER, UN OFFICIAL SAYS      

United Nations

“Maya! Maya! Water! Water!” is now the refrain from people on Gaza streets, the Gaza director for the UNRWA said on Friday.

Thomas White described Gaza as “a scene of death and destruction.” No place is safe now, he said, and people fear for their lives, their futures, and that they would not be able to feed their families.

UNRWA is supporting about 89 bakeries across Gaza aiming to get bread to 1.7 million people, White said in a video briefing to diplomats from the UN’s 193 member nations. The average person in Gaza is living on two pieces of bread made from flour the UN had stockpiled in the territory, he said.

But “now people are beyond looking for bread. They’re looking for water,” he said.

UN deputy Middle East coordinator Lynn Hastings, who is also the humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said only one of three water supply lines from Israel is operational and “many people are relying on brackish or saline ground water, if at all.” 

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