Israel-Palestine live: Week three ends with over 7,000 Palestinians killed

Good evening MEE readers, 

As we come to the end of the 19th day since the war began, the number of Palestinians killed and missing in Gaza has now exceeded the numbers of the victims in the Srebrenica genocide.

The current death toll in Gaza stands at 6,546, with over 1,900 others missing. Sixty-five percent of Palestinians killed this week were in south Gaza, where Israel had forcibly ejected 1.1 million people, according to the health ministry.

Here's what you may have missed from the last few hours: 

• An Israeli air strike has killed the wife, daughter and son of Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh. The attack was strongly condemned by the media network, as well as by a senior Qatari government minister.
   
• An exclusive story by MEE revealed that Palestinian resistance groups expect Israel to flood Hamas tunnels with nerve gas and chemical weapons under the surveillance of US Delta Force commandos, according to senior a source familiar with the groups.
   
• Competing US and Russian resolutions on the war failed to pass at the UN Security Council on Wednesday. The US resolution called for humanitarian pauses in the fighting, while Russia's version called for an immediate ceasefire.
   
• The US is reportedly planning to send its entire Iron Dome stockpile to Israel, including two batteries and 300 interceptors.
   
• Families in Gaza are now wearing ID bracelets in case they die. They say it will help identify loved ones as Israeli bombs continue to be dropped all across the enclave.

• President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey “owes nothing” to Israel and announced he would no longer visit the country as previously planned. He added that Hamas was not a terrorist group, labelling them instead as a liberation movement fighting to “protect their land and citizens”.

• Around 7,000 patients in Gaza's hospitals face imminent death, as fuel is set to run out in the besieged enclave. Doctors and health officials say newborn babies in incubators, wounded people in ICU units, and kidney dialysis patients are among those at risk of death

We're working hard to provide you with up-to-date information around the clock, and are going to continue doing that throughout the night. You can also find our coverage across Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

At least 24 journalists have been killed since the war broke out on 7 October, according to the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ). 

Twenty of them are Palestinians, while three Israeli journalists and one Lebanese have also been killed. 

In addition, eight journalists were injured and three were reported missing or detained. 

“CPJ emphasises that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.

“Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heartbreaking conflict. All parties must take steps to ensure their safety.”

Palestinian resistance groups expect Israel to flood Hamas tunnels with nerve gas and chemical weapons under the surveillance of US Delta Force commandos as part of a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, a senior Arab source familiar with the groups has told Middle East Eye.

Israel and the US hope to achieve the element of surprise in order to penetrate Hamas tunnels, rescue an estimated 220 hostages, and kill thousands of soldiers belonging to Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, the source said in a statement, noting that the information comes from a leak originating in the US.

Middle East Eye cannot independently verify the information in the leak.

“The plan hinges on the element of surprise so as to decisively win the battle, using internationally forbidden gases, particularly nerve gas, and chemical weapons. Large quantities of nerve gas would be pumped into the tunnels,” the source said.

US Delta Force will oversee “large quantities of nerve gas being pumped into Hamas tunnels, capable of paralyzing the bodily movement for a period of time between six and 12 hours.”

You can read MEE editor-in-chief David Hearst's full exclusive story below. 

Exclusive: Israel will flood Hamas tunnels with nerve gas under US navy supervision

Thousands of students across schools and universities in the US walked out of their classrooms on Wednesday, calling for an end to the US-backed assault on Gaza and US military funding to Israel. 

The National Student Walkout Day took place at 1pm local time and was organised by the National Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Dissenters, a new movement focused on reclaiming resources from the war industry and “reinvesting in life-giving institutions, and repairing collaborative relationships with the earth and people around the world”.

Students from over 100 universities and high schools all throughout the country took part in the walkout, including Princeton University, Columbia University, and UCLA. 

Read more: Thousands call for end to Israel's Gaza assault during US student walkout 

Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the US House of Representatives, is an evangelical Christian with close links to Israel's far right, according to a report by Haaretz. 

The Republican lawmaker travelled to Israel in 2020 on a trip organised by a group whose chief executive lives on an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, the report stated.

He visited the Kohelet Policy Forum during the trip, the right wing think tank that has helped shaped the far-right Israeli government's controversial judicial reforms. 

He also visited Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during the trip, as part of one of the frequent Israeli incursions led by right-wing groups and lawmakers. 

Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic site where unsolicited visits, prayers and rituals by non-Muslims are forbidden, according to decades-long international agreements. 

Johnson later said the status quo at Al-Aqsa was due to "the radical left" and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. 

Competing US and Russian resolutions on the Israel-Palestine war have failed to pass at the UN Security Council in New York.

The US resolution called for humanitarian pauses in the fighting, while Russia's version called from an immediate ceasefire. 

Washington's resolution received ten votes in favour, three against (Russia, China and the UAE), and two absentions. 

The US, China, France, the UK, and Russia - the five permanent members - have the power to veto resolutions.

Russia's resolution garnered four votes in favour, two against (the US and UK) and nine abstentions.

The Biden administration is stuck threading the needle between unconditional support for Israel’s war on Gaza, preventing a wider regional conflict, and its discomfort over Israel's endgame. 

On Tuesday, White House spokesman John Kirby sought to put to bed rumors that US unconditional support might be wobbling. The comments suggested that a delay in a ground invasion would not lead to a respite in fighting and would benefit Hamas. 

A former senior US official familiar with the Biden administration’s thinking told Middle East Eye that as the war enters its next stage, Washington believes it is seeing the benefits of its unconditional support for Israel.

“Our engagements with the Israelis are helping them to think carefully about what they are about to do, to put up guardrails, and to check rash impulses,” said the former official.

You can read MEE reporter Sean Matthews' full analysis piece below. 

Read more: Israel delays ground invasion as US presses for post-Hamas plan

Fans of Scottish football team Celtic waved Palestine flags during their Uefa Champions League match against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night. 

The flags could be seen all over the stadium, as supporters sang "You'll Never Walk Alone". 

The fans defied a directive from the club, which said that flags and symbols related to Israel or Palestine "should not be displayed at Celtic Park at this time". It is likely that Celtic will be fined by Uefa for Wednesday night's gesture.

Celtic fans have a long history of supporting the Palestinian cause, including by waving flags and unveiling banners during matches. 

Nazir al-Nashash, a young aspiring Palestinian footballer, was killed along with his father and uncle after an Israeli missile struck their home over the weekend.

The al-Nashnash family had fled to their home in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north when Israel started a relentless bombing campaign, following Hamas' surprise attack.

On Saturday, 20-year-old Nazir, his father Atta, 43, and his uncle Nael had returned to their six-storey building in the camp to retrieve some belongings and necessities, Emad al-Nashash, a family relative, told Middle East Eye.

"Upon their entry, an Israeli aircraft targeted the house with a first missile and then another, resulting in the complete destruction of the house and the tragic loss of their lives," said Emad.

Read more: Rising Gaza football star and father killed in Israeli strike

Lolwah al-Khater, Qatar's international cooperation minister, has strongly criticised the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Wael al-Dahdouh's family. 

"Had this happened to an Israeli journalist, the 'civilized' world would now be shedding tears condemning the 'barbaric' Palestinians," she wrote on X.

"But of course the victims are just Palestinians, so I guess that’s ok; they’re used to it and there many of them anyhow!"

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi on Wednesday warned his armed forces and the general public to rein in their anger and enthusiasm, in an apparent reference to the outrage felt in Egypt at the Israeli military onslaught on Gaza.

Speaking during an inspection of the Fourth Armoured Division of the Third Field Army in the Suez Governorate, some 15 km from Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, Sisi said the role of his army is to protect his country’s borders and national security “without aggression”.

Meanwhile, he warned against acts resulting from “anger”, “enthusiasm", and “illusions of power,” as thousands of Egyptians took to the streets on Friday to denounce Israel's attacks and demand action from Sisi and Arab leaders.

More here: Egypt’s Sisi warns against actions resulting from ‘anger’

Al Jazeera has published a statement condemning Israel, after an air strikes killed the family members of one if its senior journalists.

The wife, daughter and son of Wael Al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Arabic's Gaza bureau chief, were killed by an Israeli air strike south of the enclave on Wednesday.

Here is the full statement from the network: 

"The Al Jazeera Media Network extends its sincere condolences and sympathy to our colleague Wael Al-Dahdouh on the loss of his family in an Israeli airstrike.

The indiscriminate assault by the Israeli occupation forces resulted in the tragic loss of his wife, son, and daughter, while the rest of his family is buried under the rubble.

Their home was targeted in the Nuseirat camp in the south of Gaza, where they had sought refuge after being displaced by the initial bombardment in their neighborhood, following Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call for all civilians to move south.

Al Jazeera is deeply concerned about the safety, and well-being of our colleagues in Gaza and hold the Israeli authorities responsible for their security.

The Network strongly condemns the indiscriminate targeting and killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, which has led to the loss of Wael Al-Dahdouh's family and countless others.

We urge the international community to intervene and put an end to these attacks on civilians, thereby safeguarding innocent lives."

US President Joe Biden criticised Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in illegally occupied territory, during remarks made in Washington on Wednesday.

"I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank," Biden said, accusing them of pouring gasoline on a fire. "They're attacking Palestinians in places that they're entitled to be."

Biden added that he believed Israel had the right to defend itself, while protecting civilians in Gaza. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a television address to the Israeli public on Wednesday evening. 

He said that everyone involved would be held to account for security failings that led to Hamas' attacks on southern Israeli communities on 7 October. 

"The scandal will be fully investigated," he said. "Everyone will have to give answers, me too. But all this will happen only after the war."

He added that Israeli would launch a ground invasion of Gaza, but would not provide further details. 

"We have already killed thousands of terrorists and this is only the beginning," Netanyahu said.

"Simultaneously, we are preparing for a ground invasion. I will not elaborate on when, how or how many. I will also not elaborate on the various calculations we are making, which the public is mostly unaware of and that is how things should be."

Egypt used violence against residents of the Sinai region who were peacefully protesting to demand authorities allow them to return to their homes, according to a statement signed by five human rights organisations. 

On Monday, hundreds of displaced people took to the streets of North Sinai, days after discussions were touted about Palestinians in Gaza being resettled in the peninsula. 

According to the rights groups, which include Sinai Foundation for Human Rights and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, authorities fired bullets to disperse demonstators, and arrested nine of them.

Since 2013, the Egyptian army has destroyed over 12,000 homes in the province and closed off 6,000 hectares of farmland, displacing thousands.

Cairo has justified the demolitions and evictions as necessary in its fight against Wilayat Sina, a local Islamic State (IS) group affiliate responsible for attacks against civilians and military targets.

Egypt has begun logistical preparations for setting up tents in the Sinai cities of Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah in the event of a mass exodus of Palestinians, according to a report in Mada Masr earlier this month.

Palestinians from Gaza told MEE that forced displacement to Sinai would be akin to a "second Nakba".