Palestine

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take flour and basic hygiene products, a U.N. agency said Sunday, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order three weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.

Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage” in the war, which was ignited by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 incursion into Israel. Israel also pounded the territory from air, land and sea.

27 October 2023; MEMO: Remarks by President Joe Biden expressing scepticism about the rising death toll in Gaza have drawn outrage from human rights groups and accusations of further dehumanising Palestinians.

Human Rights Watch has strongly rejected claims that the death toll released by the Gaza Health Ministry cannot be trusted, following comments by Israel and the US President.

27 October 2023; MEMO: The International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), on Friday, described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” as the lack of fuel, it said, would turn the hospitals into graves, Anadolu Agency reports.

27 October 2023; MEMO: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced, on Friday, the entry of an international medical team into Gaza, along with six trucks loaded with medical materials and water purification supplies to support medical care in the blockaded Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

27 October 2023; MEMO: Palestinian group, Hamas, on Friday denied Israeli allegations that it is using a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip for military purposes, Anadolu Agency reports.

"The Israeli claims about Al-Shifa Hospital are false" said Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s Political Bureau.

In a statement, he also warned that

27 October 2023; MEMO: Israeli security forces restricted young Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for prayers on Friday and deployed in strength across the Old City and beyond to quell any unrest spilling over from the conflict in Gaza, Reuters reports.

In the Occupied West Bank, Israeli troops killed four Palestinians during raids, the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said.

28 October 2023; MEMO: Communications and internet services in the Gaza Strip were completely cut off on Friday evening amid heavy Israeli bombing of feeder lines, towers and networks, a service provider said, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Palestine Telecommunications Company said in a statement that

"Landline, wireless and internet communications services were completely cut off amid intense Israeli bombing on the lines with the West Bank, and on the towers and networks"

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military on Friday said its ground forces were “expanding their activity” in the Gaza Strip, as the army moved closer to a full-on ground invasion of the besieged territory.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the army’s spokesman, said aerial attacks had been targeting Hamas tunnels and other targets.

“In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening,” he said. “The IDF is acting with great force ... to achieve the objectives of the war.”

Tehran, IRNA - Several coastal areas of the besieged Gaza Strip witnessed fierce overnight clashes between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli occupying forces, who infiltrated the Gaza border.

Coastal areas of Rafah and Khan Yunis, along with the eastern regions of Khan Yunis, Al-Bureij camp, and Beit Hanoun, were scenes of fierce clashes on Thursday night, with special Israeli army units facing resistance as they attempted to infiltrate Gaza through the sea, Palestinian sources reported.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops and tanks briefly raided northern Gaza overnight, the military said Thursday, engaging with Hamas fighters and targeting anti-tank weapons in order to “prepare the battlefield” before an expected ground invasion.

The raid came after after more than two weeks of devastating airstrikes in the small, densely-populated territory — with more than 250 in the past 24 hours — and as the U.N. and other world leaders warn of a dire humanitarian crisis getting worse.