The image above is sent us today by the NCF’s friend in Gaza, Fathi Sabbah. Fathi writes: “Doctor Hassan Zein Al-Din is a model of a patriotic human doctor. Today, Zain Al-Din traveled 15 kilometers on his bicycle from Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip to Gaza City to reach his patients and treat them.”
Why this is, for us at the NCF, the saddest of days
We draw your attention to the constant background hum of the drones in Gaza in all of the videos we have shared (edited out of BBC reports). Low-flying drones do not need to be noisy. Indeed in all other war zones they are silent. We presume the use of noisy drones (rather than silent ones) is unintentional. But they are certainly leading to mental health problems amongst children as the sound is constant, day and night, and of course (for children) frightening. Most of the videos we have shared in recent days have been from our friend and colleague in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh. The following are chronological as they came to us during the course of the day:
Pictured is NCF member and Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh. He is saying (yesterday): Asalalmu Alaykom (Peace be upon you). I would have liked to wish you any positive good news, even if only in the slightest. But it is Gaza. Last night was the hardest, bloodiest, and craziest in terms of the non-stop bombing. Click here to access on Instagram
In the next we share he says: As you notice: more raids, a very, very, very violent series of Israeli raids that drop lava and large numbers of new, distinctive missiles that are different from the missiles used before, in this area of the Zaytoun neighborhood. This scene remained like this for half an hour, and the Israeli planes continued to launch more of these missiles in the manner you are seeing, in what is known as the destroying of the largest possible number of homes and the policy of removing residential squares and changing the geography in these residential neighborhoods in Gaza City and the rest of the Gaza Strip. Click here to access on Instagram
And just recently Wael sent: May God grant us peace. Q: What is this? A: A shrapnel of the missile that targeted the nearby area, thank God, came near the camera and we were next to the camera where we were filming the Israeli raids. Click here to access on Instagram
All of Wael’s family, everyone but Wael, are killed
Wael, our dear friend and NCF member in Gaza, whose broadcasts we have been sharing with you, has just had his entire family killed, whilst he was sharing these observations with you. All of them, every last one, his wife, his son, his daughter, were killed moments ago by Israel. Only Wael remains alive.
Aljazeera' s brave veteran journalist Wael Dahdouh's wife, son and daughter were killed in an Israelis airstrike which targeted a shelter house they had fled to. Wael received the news while on air covering the nonstop Israeli strikes on Gaza! pic.twitter.com/yT7jYdG8jn
— Mohamed Moawad (@moawady) October 25, 2023
The rest of today’s report follows:
A Palestinian comment
The Senior Palestinian member of the Next Century Foundation, Ms Mona Al Ghussein, comments: “With the greatest respect to everyone, without addressing, acknowledging the root cause of the ongoing decimation of the Palestinians there will be no step forward. The conversation should be about clarifying and explaining very publicly this root cause and insisting that UN resolutions and international law are upheld by all parties and Israel, Hamas is not the cause of occupation brutalisation and the murders of countless innocent Palestinians over decades. It is a very slippery road for all of us if we continue to support the corruption of the issues by Western leaders and blatant disregard for international law and humanity”.
Hostage Release
Hamas armed wing released two captives with Qatar and Egyptian mediation, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Their husbands are still in captivity. 85-year-old grandmother Yocheved Lifshitz (who was released by Hamas alongside 79-year-old Nurit Cooper during the night), turns back and shakes hands with one of the two heavily armed Hamas militants saying ‘ Shalom’ three times (meaning peace in Hebrew), Mrs Lifshitz’s husband Oded (83) was, like his wife, a peace activist, and he had many Palestinian friends in Gaza. He used to regularly drive Palestinian cancer patients from Gaza (and sometimes from the occupied West Bank) to be treated in Israeli hospitals. Both of the ladies’ husbands are still Hamas’s captives.
The War
Though it seems probable that Israel will undertake a ground offensive in Gaza, and that Hezbollah will enter the war, these potential developments are no longer certainties. Israel is under pressure from hostage family members to go slow with a ground offensive, and Israel is now dependent on a new coalition government that does not unreservedly back the defence minister’s strategy of a ground war.
Similarly, senior Iranians claim that their government is being more cautious than its public statements intimate.
In the latest strikes by Israel, large numbers were killed and maimed, including high proportions of women and children, most particularly in the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza and in southern Khan Younis. These strikes have resulted in the deaths of an absolute minimum of 436 Palestinians in the past 24 hours. Accurate figures are impossible to acquire however the Gaza Health Ministry claims that 704 were killed in the past day, and 16,297 wounded. In the occupied West Bank, 96 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded since Oct. 7. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of over 5,087 Palestinians in Israel’s attacks on Gaza and over 1,400 people in Israel since October 7.
The United States has urged Israel to delay its ground offensive.
The EU foreign policy chief supports a pause in the fighting.
On the northern front, the United Nations migration agency reports that over 19,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon since early October. Israel has conducted cross-border strikes in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Premier Netanyahu’s popularity has collapsed. But though under immense pressure to resign, he retains his position as long as the current coalition government holds together,
Humanitarian
The Ministry of Health in Gaza has issued a warning that hospital electric generators will stop operating in the next 48 hours due to a fuel shortage. This comes as Israel intensifies its air raids. The ministry’s spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, noted on Telegram that the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza is slow and cannot significantly alter the situation on the ground. On Monday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 32 health centres were no longer operational due to Israel’s restriction of access to essential supplies, including fuel. This situation has been exacerbated by Israel’s bombing campaign. The ministry emphasized the urgent need to prioritize the distribution of aid to hospitals, calling on the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to facilitate the delivery of fuel and blood supplies to the enclave.
The situation on the ground remains fast-moving and complicated. There is no sign of a ceasefire while Western governments are generally sympathetic to Israel’s desire to punish Hamas. With Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes causing a significant number of civilian casualties in Gaza, concerns are mounting among Israel’s allies that the Netanyahu government’s response might be excessive.
