Here is the situation on Tuesday, November 7, 2023:
The latest developments
Tuesday marks one month since Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza. There’s a growing chorus calling for a ceasefire as the death toll in Gaza has crossed 10,000. Gaza’s Ministry of Health says at least 2,660 people are missing. The Israeli military action came after a deadly attack by the Hamas armed group killed more than 1,400 people in Israel on October 7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday rejected calls for a ceasefire until more than 200 Israelis in Hamas captivity are released. In an interview with ABC News, he also suggested that Israel will manage Gaza’s security long after the end of its war with Hamas.
On Monday, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered at the Port of Tacoma, in Washington state, to block a military supply vessel they believed was carrying weapons to Israel.
Human impact and fighting
About 70 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced due to non-stop bombing and shelling, according to Gaza’s media office. On Monday, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 5,000 people moved from north Gaza to the south just on that day, following Israel’s division of the enclave into two parts.
Job losses in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are costing Palestinians $16 million a day, according to the International Labour Organization.
Israeli bombing over the past day hit Rafah in the south and hospital vicinities in Gaza City, killing dozens.
A submarine that the United States deployed to the Middle East on Sunday is a guided missile submarine variant and not capable of firing nuclear weapons, a US defence official told the Associated Press news agency.
Hamas armed wing said it fired 16 rockets at Israel from southern Lebanon in response to Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Diplomacy
South Africa and Chad have become the two latest countries to recall their ambassadors to Israel, according to South Africa’s minister in the president’s office and Chad’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Monday that the EU is increasing aid to Gaza by $27m (€25m).
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said the country will not recognise unilateral sanctions on supporters of Hamas and other Palestinian groups. He said that if the US imposes such sanctions, it may affect Malaysia’s assessment of the US government, companies and its investments as well.
The UN Security Council held a closed-door meeting on the Israel-Gaza war on Monday. Representatives of the United Arab Emirates and China issued a joint statement calling for an “urgent humanitarian ceasefire” after the meeting that the two member states requested.
Arrests and attacks in the occupied West Bank
In a raid on Monday, Israeli forces arrested Ahed Tamimi, a prominent 22-year-old Palestinian activist, for “inciting terrorism”. She was taken from the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Nine Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank over the past 24 hours, including two who died in Israeli custody, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Zein Basravi. The conditions of the two detainees’ deaths have not been made clear.
Confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians have been reported in Tulkarm, the West Bank from Monday up until Tuesday morning, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. At least five Palestinians have been injured in the raid, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
Source: Al Jazeera, The Standard and News Agencies
