Middle East & North Africa

Turkiye prepares to notify ICC about Israel’s war crimes

31 October 2023; MEMO: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week in a pro-Palestinian rally that they would declare Israel a “war criminal” to the world. Authorities are now exploring ways to bring crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians before the International Criminal Court (ICC), Daily Sabah reports.

Israel was defeated militarily and is now taking revenge on children, says Meshaal

01 November 2023; MEMO: The head of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement abroad, Khaled Meshaal, has said that the Israeli occupation authorities have not yet absorbed the shock of 7 October and are confused, afraid of more resistance surprises. Meshaal made his comment to TRT Arabi on Tuesday.

Egypt activists demand Rafah Crossing remain open after Jabaliya massacre

01 November 2023; MEMO: Egyptian activists renewed their demand for their government to completely open the Rafah border crossing and allow all aid into the Gaza Strip. Their calls came after the Israeli occupation army committed a new massacre in the Jabaliya camp, killing and injuring more than 400 people, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Israel has lost all sense of statehood and acts like an organisation, says Erdogan

01 November 2023; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of losing its sense of statehood and acting instead like an organisation, Anadolu has reported. “It must be stopped immediately,” he added.

“The Israeli administration, backed by unconditional support from Europe and America, has been committing crimes against humanity in front of the entire world for exactly 25 days,” he said in a speech to the Turkish people after a government meeting in Ankara on Tuesday evening.

Israel deploys missile boats in Red Sea as Houthis attack from Yemen

01 November 2023; MEMO: The Israeli military has said that it has deployed missile boats in the Red Sea a day after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement revealed that it had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and vowed to carry out more. Images disseminated by the Israelis showed Saar-class corvettes patrolling near Eilat port in the Red Sea.

Israel sees this as a new front as its war in Gaza draws retaliation from Iran-aligned, pro-Hamas forces elsewhere in the region.

Israeli military says at least 240 hostages held in Gaza

TEL AVIV, October 31. /TASS/: At least 240 hostages are now being held in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said, citing the latest data.

"We have notified the families of the 240 hostages," he said at a news conference.

Hagari also said that 315 Israeli soldiers have been killed since fighting began on Oct. 7.

U.S. Airstrikes Hit Trucks On Syrian-Iraqi Border

DAMASCUS, Oct 31 (NNN-SANA) – U.S. airstrikes hit truckloads of construction materials, on the Syrian-Iraqi border yesterday, media reports said.

According to the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV, seven trucks transporting construction materials were targeted by U.S. bombings in eastern Syria, near the border with Iraq.

In response, 15 rockets were fired back, targeting a U.S. base in the al-Omar oil field, in the outskirts of Deir al-Zour, said the report.

Lebanon's Hezbollah works to curb hefty losses in Israel clashes, sources say

BEIRUT, Oct 31 (Reuters) - With dozens of Hezbollah fighters killed in three weeks of border clashes with Israel, the Lebanese group is working to stem its losses as it prepares for the possibility of a drawn-out conflict, three sources familiar with its thinking said.

The Iran-backed group has lost 47 fighters to Israeli strikes at Lebanon's frontier since its Palestinian ally Hamas and Israel went to war on Oct. 7 - about a fifth of the number killed in a full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

Gaza government says Israel tanks withdraw from main highway after brief incursion

30 October 2023; MEMO: Israeli tanks have withdrawn from Salah Al-Din Street in Gaza City after a brief incursion, the government in the Gaza Strip said on Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“There are no Israeli tanks in Salah Al-Din Street and life has returned to normal,” the Government Media Office said in a statement.

Earlier, witnesses told Anadolu that Israeli tanks moved Sunday night from Juhor Ad-Dik town in the eastern Gaza Strip to Salah Al-Din Street, south-east of Gaza City.

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