We are glad to be able to report that NCF members Wael Dahdouh and Adel Zaanoun are still alive in Gaza City. The video to the left is our most recent communication from Adel. Israel’s army has increased its operations in Gaza, forcing an estimated one million Palestinians to flee from their homes. Since the ground offensive began, almost 20,000 of Israel’s armed forces have been deployed in Gaza. Due to the continuous violence, half of Gaza’s population has been relocated south. Israel says it has targeted Hamas’ tunnel network, a major military aim. Doctors in Gaza are suffering acute medical supply shortages, and enduring moral agony as they must choose which patients to rescue. The video below at the end of this blog was also made by Adel. It shows a voluntary worker in Gaza consoling a child, the only survivor after his entire family were killed in the bombing.
The ground battle escalates
According to Israel’s military, Israel’s armed forces have surrounded Gaza City and are hitting Hamas facilities as well as demolishing tunnels used by militants to conduct assaults. Airstrikes continue alongside escalating ground attack in what Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, describes as the second stage of the battle. Lt Col Richard Hecht, spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), claimed the army had not set siege to Gaza City and was still advising inhabitants to evacuate south to regions Israel has classified as “safe,” despite the fact that they are also constantly attacked with airstrikes. Israel has activated 300,000 reservists in addition to its existing force of 160,000.
The armed branch of Hamas is reported to number over 25,000 people. It also claims to have a 500km (310 mile) network of subterranean tunnels connecting its command centers across Gaza.
After two Israeli bombings destroyed an entire block of apartment buildings in the Bureij refugee camp and damaged two UN schools-turned-shelters, dust-covered Palestinians of all sizes came to a hospital that was already overcrowded. Some of the images are too graphic to share but, advisedly, we do include a link if you wish to see them. this conflict is turning Gaza crimson.
Rushdi Abualouf, the BBC’s reporter in Gaza, said that five distinct clashes were taking place in the north and surrounding Gaza City. The largest, he claimed, was to the northwest of the strip, where “very few” people remained. In confrontations overnight and into Thursday, the IDF claimed to have killed “dozens” of Hamas fighters. 28 of Israel’s own forces have been killed thus far during the ground attack in Gaza. Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Minister of Defence, stated that 10,000 bombs had been dropped on Gaza City alone since the crisis began.
The Death Toll
As of today (6 November 2023), the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing military offensive has climbed to 10,022, since October 7. These figures include 4,104 children, according to health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra. There are conflicting claims for the number of injured which vary between 24,000 and 32,000. The independent medical humanitarian charity Doctors Without Borders, confirmed earlier last week that there were around 20,000 injured persons in Gaza. In addition, the Palestinian Authority health ministry in the occupied West Bank said yesterday that 152 Palestinians have been killed and 2,100 wounded since 7 October.
The death toll of Israelis killed since October 7th is officially 1,538, a figure which includes 341 soldiers (as of Saturday 4 November which are the latest figures we have).
How many more fatalities?
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, heavy shelling has also continued surrounding the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City. It is estimated that 14,000 people are taking refuge there. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Israel’s military instructed personnel to leave on Sunday before the attacks, but it was difficult to relocate the hundreds of patients being treated there.
An Israeli air strike on an ambulance being used to evacuate the wounded from besieged northern Gaza killed 15 people and injured 60 others.
Khan Younis, a southern metropolis of 400,000 inhabitants, has seen its population rise to over 1.2 million since the last battle began. Many families share homes or sleep in tents.
The United Nations
UNWRA, the UN organisation for Palestinian refugees, is hosting around 600,000 people in its schools and other buildings.
The United Nations has warned that Gaza has only 5% of its typical daily water flow, and that baby fatalities from dehydration are a “growing threat.”
Normally, Gaza receives 500 lorry loads of goods every day, but barely a trickle has been flowing through Egypt’s Rafah gate the only access route for humanitarian relief.
There have also been no fuel shipments, which are required to provide electricity for hospitals, shelters, bakeries, water treatment and pumping facilities, and the sewage system. Israel has refused to allow gasoline delivery because it believes Hamas would use it for military reasons.
The most recent information about the hostages?
According to the Israeli military, Hamas is still holding at least 241 captives in Gaza. There are 20 youngsters and at least ten individuals over the age of 60 among them. Soldiers were also abducted. The WHO says it is “gravely concerned” about their plight, particularly that of youngsters, the elderly, and those in poor health, and has appealed for their immediate release.
US Vice President Joe Biden has also stated that the war should be paused to provide time to “get the prisoners out.” But a mere pause in the hostilities, which may be agreed to (though thus far Israel has refused), would only increase the despair of Gazans, who seek a cease-fire or a peace process rather than a short respite before the bombing resumes.
Hamas claims to have concealed the hostages around Gaza, including in underground tunnels. It claims that Israel’s air strikes have killed more than 50 captives and that seven hostages were killed in the raids on the Jabalia refugee camp. Although these numbers cannot be verified.
Return of cross-border Palestinian labourers to Gaza
On Friday, Israel returned hundreds of Palestinians to war-torn Gaza as part of a crackdown on workers and labourers from the region who had previously been granted permission to work in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Many workers returned through the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom in Israel, which is located east of the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and has been blasted by Israeli planes and tanks for weeks.
“We used to serve them, work for them – in houses, restaurants, and markets – for the lowest wages, and now we’ve been humiliated,” Jamal Ismail, a labourer from the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, said.
Previously, Israel gave over 18,000 permits allowing Gaza Palestinians to enter Israel and Israel-controlled areas of the West Bank to work in industries such as agriculture or construction.
The strategy, however, has been abandoned since Israel launched its military attack to eliminate Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza.
In response to images showing men walking into Gaza, Miriam Marmur, advocacy director of the Israel’s non-profit group Gisha, told Al Jazeera that they could not corroborate Palestinian media claims that 7,000 individuals had been forced to walk into Gaza.
The Northern Front
Hezbollah’s leader dangled the option of a wider war on the Lebanon front. But it is unlikely to happen. If only because British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, has defused tension by actually phoning his Iranian counterpart (a gesture of rather more significance than Blinken’s futile visit to the Middle East). British foreign minister James Cleverly has urged Iran to use its influence with groups in the Middle East region to prevent an escalation of Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
The video below was made and forwarded by Adel Zaanoun, the AFP correspondent in Gaza, who also happens to be head of the NCF in Gaza. It shows a volunteer in a hospital in Gaza consoling this child, the only survivor after his entire family were killed in the bombing.
