Israel-Palestine live: Week three ends with over 7,000 Palestinians killed
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In an interview with Sky News on Wednesday Dan Gillerman, Israel's former ambassador to the UN, said he was "puzzled" by concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza and went on to describe Palestinians as "inhuman animals".
Journalist Mark Austin had asked Gillerman whether he believed collective punishment techniques used in Gaza, such as the blockade on fuel, were necessary.
The former senior Israeli diplomat responded: "I'm very puzzled by the constant concern, which the world and also Britain is showing for the Palestinian people and is actually showing for these horrible inhuman animals who have done the worst atrocities that this century has seen."
Gillerman went on to compare the Israeli response to the Hamas-led attack on 7 October to British involvement in the Afghan war after the 9/11 attacks.
Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael al-Dahdouh, led the funeral prayer for his family on Thursday morning after they were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted their home in al-Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night.
Al-Dahdouh was live on air covering Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip when the attack occurred.
The Al Jazeera correspondent Wael al-Dahdouh has buried several members of his family killed by Israel on Wednesday.
Dahdouh's wife, son, daughter and grandchild were killed in an airstrike while the journalist was reporting for the network.
After finding out about the killings, he said they were, "no more, no less, than a calamity", adding that the deaths were a "custom of the occupation".
Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said the US had asked officials in Qatar, where the network is based, to tone down their coverage.
Israel is also moving ahead with plans to shutter Al Jazeera's operations in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Popular TikTok influencer Guy Christensen, who goes by the name @yourfavoriteguy, has shared a screenshot of an email he claims was sent by a Zionist organisation, which offers him money to support Israel.
In the email, Christensen, who has close to three million followers on the platform, is purportedly offered $5,000 to “pledge” his support for Israel.
The message also says that Christensen, who has previously stated his support for the Palestinian cause, had fallen for the lies of “rabid dogs”.
In a video accompanying the screenshot, Christensen reaffirms his support for the Palestinian cause and calls the apparent attempt to change his views “absolutely disgusting”.
While Middle East Eye cannot independently verify the claims, a number of other influencers have also reported being approached by pro-Israel groups to publicly declare their support for the state.
Israel offers an influencer $5,000 to post a propaganda video to his 3 million TikTok followers
— Remi Kanazi (@Remroum) October 25, 2023
He says no amount of money can get him to do that and shouts “Free Palestine!” at the end of the video pic.twitter.com/VnjgfbXYUc
Veteran US Senator Bernie Sanders has called for a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid into Gaza.
In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the centre-left politician also called for the release of hostages held by Palestinian groups and reiterated his belief in Israel’s “right to defend itself”.
Sanders, although popular with the American left, has always been a vocal supporter of Israel, although not as uncritically as his colleagues in the US Congress.
Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas. But innocent Palestinians also have a right to life and security. I’m calling for a humanitarian pause by all parties so that critical aid can be delivered to the suffering people of Gaza and for the immediate release of all…
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 25, 2023
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made his strongest comments on the ongoing war in Israel-Palestine so far.
"It’s not a war, it’s a genocide that has killed nearly 2 thousand children who have nothing to do with this war, they are victims of this war," he said in comments reported by the country's publicly owned news outlet Agencia Brasil.
"I don’t know how a human being is capable of war knowing that the result of that war is the death of innocent children," Lula added without mentioning either Israel or the Palestinians by name.
The veteran left-winger said he was also working with Qatar to make sure Brazilians in Gaza were returned home safely.
According to Agencia Brasil, there are 30 Brazilians in Gaza. It is not clear whether that number includes a Brazilian hostage held by Palestinian armed groups in the area.
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan told Pope Francis in a phone call on Thursday that Israel's attacks on Gaza amounted to a massacre, and that the silence of the international community was "embarrassing", the presidency said.
In the call, Erdogan said that all countries must raise their voice against the humanitarian crisis in the region, according to a statement by the Turkish presidency.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) warned that it would have to halt operations in Gaza by Wednesday night unless fuel was delivered.
“No fuel will further strangle the children, women and people of Gaza,” a Unrwa statement read.
Officials on the ground in Gaza say this will have a huge impact on the remaining hospitals, which are running on generators, as well as bakeries which are serving thousands of people daily after Israel stopped all food, water and electricity from entering the Strip.
Relief operations will also be forced to come to a halt if fuel supplies do not reach the Strip, worsening the humanitarian crisis.
Israel banned all fuel into Gaza from 9 October, which has had a catastrophic impact on the besieged enclave, debilitating hospitals, desalination plants and bakeries.
At the weekend the Unrwa commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement: “Without fuel, we will fail the people of Gaza whose needs are growing by the hour, under our watch. This cannot and should not happen.”
Ione Belarra, the Spanish minister of social rights, posted a video on the social media platform X calling on European states to “stop the genocide in Palestine”.
She outlines four different ways European states can help put an end to the bombing of Gaza.
In her video, she says: “First suspend diplomatic relations with the state of Israel, implement strong sanctions as was done with Putin, impose an arms embargo, and as was also done in the case of the war in Ukraine, bring Netanyahu and all the political leaders responsible for carrying out bombings against the civilian population before the International Criminal Court.”
“Let’s take action, it is still possible to stop the genocide,” she added.
Earlier this week, tensions between Spain and Israel escalated when Israel accused members of the Spanish government of supporting Hamas - leading to a sharp response from Madrid.
At least seven Palestinians have been killed, and dozens more wounded, in Israeli air strikes which have struck the al-Dahra neighbourhood in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
Video footage shared online showed smoke billowing above a school where civilians were sheltering.
Zvi Yehezkeli, an Israeli journalist, said that Al Jazeera journalist Wael Aldahdouh’s family was intentionally targeted during Israeli air strikes on Wednesday, in a televised interview with the Israeli Channel 13.
When asked about the scale and the damage of Israeli bombings, he explains they don’t have the full information but that there would likely be casualties.
“Hamas until now may not be able to evacuate and this is the same for many areas in the Gaza Strip, generally we know our targets, for example today the target was the family of the Al Jazeera journalist,” he said.
Aldahdouh, a veteran journalist for Al Jazeera, has been covering the war since it started on 7 October. Israeli air strikes killed his wife, son, daughter, and grandchild, who was under 1 year old.
Since the war started the Israeli government has approved "emergency regulations" that would shutter broadcasters deemed to be acting against the "security of the state". Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said earlier that the emergency legislation was aimed at closing Al Jazeera.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has shared a video from Al-Quds hospital in central Gaza, where thousands of people are taking shelter from ongoing Israeli bombardment of the besieged region.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the organisation said that the 12,000 people taking refuge within the hospital were in "desperate need of the basic necessities of life".
The video shows a reporter from the Al-Mayadeen touring the grounds of the hospital, as well as the inside.
Men, women and children are seen resting on makeshift bedding within the hospital's main lobby.
Hospitals, as well as houses of worship, have become sites of refuge, under the presumption that they are less likely to be attacked by Israeli forces.
🚑 We are currently sheltering 12,000 displaced individuals at PRCS's Al-Quds Hospital in #Gaza. They sought safety after losing their homes and loved ones and they are now in desperate need of the basic necessities of life, amidst the ongoing aggression that has continued for… pic.twitter.com/QRHGeGiRae
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) October 26, 2023
Palestinians in Gaza's Khan Younis neighbourhood woke up to heavy destruction and dozens dead, following a night of Israeli air strikes.
Israeli culture and sports minister Miki Zohar has slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he is responsible for the Hamas assault on 7 October.
“It’s clear to me that Netanyahu and the entire government of Israel, and those who this happened on their watch, are responsible. That’s also clear to the prime minister,” he said on the Israeli Army Radio.
Zohar, who is from Netanyahu’s Likud party also said: “we can’t deal now with questions of guilt because we are in a war, I don’t want to investigate now what happened in the intelligence branch, or the operational branch, or on the political level. There will be an independent state commission of inquiry.”
Hundreds of Palestinian journalists have had to flee their homes due to intense Israeli bombing since the war started on 7 October, leaving them to face countless challenges.
Now in its third week, the war has wreaked havoc on entire neighbourhoods in Gaza, with journalists forced to work from hospitals, cars and makeshift tents.
"It's been two weeks that I've worked from the Nasser hospital," Wissam Yassin told AFP. She works for the US Arabic-language television channel Alhurra.
"I sleep in the car. I drink very little water in order not to have to go to the toilet," she said.
"The bombing is all around us. Several times we've had to abandon our cameras and not go on air for live broadcasts.
Yassin has covered several Israeli offensives against the Gaza Strip, but said she has "never experienced such difficult conditions".
"I left my home in Gaza on the morning of October 7 and haven't been back since," she said.
"Sometimes I don't answer calls from my nine-year-old daughter Bana because her crying is heartbreaking and I have no words to calm her."
"It's a tragic situation, and I haven't been able to see my family for two weeks. I think about them all the time, and that just piles up the pressure on me," said Houda Hijazi, a 25-year-old journalist for a Spanish language broadcaster.
"I manage to grab a shower every two or three days inside the hospital" in bathrooms reserved for staff, she said.
Israel has cut off all electricity, fuel, water and food for the Gaza Strip since 9 October, leaving the densely populated area overwhelmed and with little to no resources.
The majority of people are seeking shelter in schools, with thousands of people sharing one toilet.
Turkey's TRT World correspondent Nizar Saadawi, 36, said there are also "communications problems caused by raids which targeted the network".
"Staying in touch with our colleagues, our families and our sources is becoming difficult," he said.
"When it started I slept on my flak jacket in the car park between vehicles, but a couple of days ago we managed to get a mattress and set up a kind of tent with a tarpaulin," Saadawi said.
Since the start of the war, at least 24 journalists have been killed.
