₦airaland Forum

This is how things stand now

-Israel’s defence minister has ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, including a ban on food and water.

-Air raids have targeted the Jabalia camp, one of the most crowded camps in Gaza, killing and wounding dozens.

-Israel’s military has also called up 300,00 reservists as it plans to go “on offensive”.

-The European Commission says it’s putting its full portfolio of development aid to Palestinians, worth 691 million euros ($729m), under review.

-The Lebanon-Israel border has become an “active borderline” following reports from the Israeli military that armed infiltrators had entered the country from Lebanon.

-The death toll surpasses 1,300 as Israel strikes Gaza and fierce battles intensify between Hamas gunmen and Israeli troops.

-Israel’s response to the unprecedented attack will “change the Middle East”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.

‘Hamas does not represent the entire Palestinian population’: EP member slams aid decision

A Swedish politician and member of the European Parliament has criticised a decision to suspend European Union aid to Palestinians, a move announced by Oliver Varhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement.

“Hamas does not represent the entire Palestinian population,” Evin Incir told Al Jazeera.

“This is something that Commissioner Varhelyi knows very well, but it seems to be his goal in life to withdraw and hold in the money from the Palestinian Authority and the people of Palestine. I do not understand where these bad feelings from his side come from towards the Palestinian people. But I know one thing: to punish the Palestinian people for the terrorist attacks of Hamas would not serve anyone anything good. It will only fuel the ongoing violence.”

Incir accused Varhelyi of trying to take the EU on a “dangerous path”, saying he knows its funds do not go to Hamas.

“He is trying to lie in the face of the European people and trying to connect the EU financial support to Hamas. It doesn’t go there. It goes through the Palestinian Authority.”

Palestinian group takes responsibility for incursion into Israel

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad has taken responsibility for a failed effort to infiltrate Israel from neighbouring Lebanon.

“Al-Quds Brigade claims responsibility for the afternoon operation on the south Lebanon border,” the armed group said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it had “killed a number of militants” who crossed into Israel from Lebanese territory.

Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 560

At least 560 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel since October 7, says the health ministry in the besieged coastal enclave.

The ministry also said some 2,900 people have been injured.

In Gaza, the situation is ‘very dangerous’

Hind Khoudary, a journalist in Gaza, has described the situation in the enclave as “very dangerous”.

“I saw thousands of Palestinian refugees in UNRWA schools without electricity, without water, without food. Everyone was saying that they can’t even afford water, they left their homes after receiving those text messages from the Israeli army that they needed to leave their houses,” she told Al Jazeera.

“At the same time, there is no safe space for Palestinians to go, even the UNRWA schools,” Khoudary said, referring to schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Beit Hanoun hospital out of service due to Israeli shelling

Israeli shelling near Beit Hanoun’s hospital – the only one in the town – has put it out of service, Gaza’s ministry of health says.

The ministry attributed the suspension of services to “repeated targeting of the hospital vicinity”.

Hezollah member ‘killed in Israeli bombardment’ of Lebanon

A Hezbollah member has been killed in an Israeli attack on southern Lebanon, Reuters and AFP have reported, as the risk of Hezbollah being dragged into the Israel-Hamas conflict increases.

Reuters said it received the information from two sources close to Hezbollah and a Lebanese security source while AFP said Hezbollah officials had confirmed the news.

There has been no comment on the reports from Hezbollah.

We’ll have more information on the reports as soon as we get it.

What is the ‘total blockade’ of Gaza?

Israel has announced the “total blockade” of Gaza, including a ban on food and water, as part of its retaliatory measures.

During the announcement, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant justified the move by describing Palestinians as “beastly people”.

But Israel has had Gaza under a land, air and sea blockade since 2007.

Israel attacking Gaza’s civilian infrastructure: AJ correspondent

Reporting from Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says the Palestinian territory is witnessing heavy bombardment on a scale not seen in previous wars with Palestinians’ homes and civilian infrastructure targeted by missile fire.

“The Israeli army went mad against the Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation air force has managed to carry out dozens and hundreds of strikes against Gaza’s civilian infrastructures and residential areas,” he said.

Mexico’s Lopez Obrador not willing to take sides in conflict

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says his government does not want to take sides in the ongoing fighting between Hamas and Israel.

Lopez Obrador made the comments during a news conference, where he added that his administration was in favour of peace. Furthermore, he urged the United Nations to call an assembly of its members to try to end the fighting.

Israel announces launch of largest wave of air attacks on Gaza

The Israeli army says it is carrying out one of the largest waves of air attacks against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israeli media has also reported that Israel has hit 1,000 targets in Gaza, adding that the military has announced it will continue hitting the territory, even if it comes at the cost of harming Israeli captives in the enclave.

In Gaza, residential buildings, mosques, a university, a hospital and a telecommunications company have all been hit, according to Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum.

The correspondent said that Israeli drones continue to roam the skies of Gaza, as plumes of smoke rise from the rubble of destroyed buildings.

Gaza hospital system could collapse, medical advocate warns

Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, a medical referent for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, warns that the territory’s health system could collapse in the coming days due to power cuts imposed by Israel.

“There are as well now cuts in the telecommunication and internet in several areas,” Abu Mughaiseeb told Al Jazeera as explosions sounded in the background. If things do not calm down, he warned, “I think the situation will collapse in the hospitals.”

He added that there is “no safe place” in Gaza. “The civilians who were injured or killed, they are collateral damage, and then they will be numbers — just numbers, added numbers.”

Aim of operation in Gaza is to remove Hamas’s capacity to attack Israel: Netanyahu

Netanyahu says the war’s aim is to deprive Hamas of the capacity to harm Israel, Israeli Army Radio reports.

“If there is accurate intelligence information about the location of Israeli captives, certainly Israel will refrain from attacking that location, but as long as such information does not exist, all Hamas targets will be attacked,” the prime minister was cited as saying.

A senior Israeli political official said the government has information to indicate that Iran pushed Hamas into action and is prompting Hezbollah to prepare for a campaign.

UN chief calls for end to attacks

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is addressing the situation in Gaza and calls for an end to attacks and the release of all hostages.

Erdogan urges Israel against ‘indiscriminately’ attacking Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken to his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, urging him against “indiscriminately” attacking Gaza, the Turkish presidency says.

Erdogan also spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the situation in Gaza, a statement carried by the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said.

According to WAFA, Erdogan said that Turkey was working extensively to stop “the cycle of violence” there.

UN chief Guterres says he is ‘distressed’ by Gaza siege

Guterres has called on all warring parties to respect international humanitarian law, saying he is “distressed” by Israel’s push to impose a full blockade on Gaza.

“I am deeply distressed by today’s announcement that Israel will initiate a complete siege of the Gaza Strip – nothing allowed in, no electricity, food or fuel,” Guterres said.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza was extremely dire before these hostilities. Now it will only deteriorate exponentially.”

The UN chief also put the current violence in the context of the broader conflict, saying the latest developments did not happen “in a vacuum”.

“The reality is that it grows out of a longstanding conflict with a 56-year-long occupation and no political end in sight. It’s time to end this vicious cycle of bloodshed, hatred and polarisation,” Guterres said.

Gaza witnessing ‘constant, massive’ bombardment, AJ correspondent says

Reporting from outside the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford says the territory is enduring a rain of missile fire from consecutive air raids by Israeli forces.

“It is a massive, constant bombardment,” Stratford said.

He added that there is a huge Israeli military build-up near the border of the Palestinian enclave, which “would suggest that there is going to be some sort of ground invasion”.

Israeli army says attacks on Gaza to continue even if threat to captives

Israeli Army Radio reports that air strikes on Gaza will continue even if that bombardment threatens the lives of Israeli captives.

“Attacks on the Gaza Strip will be carried out powerfully and widely, even at the cost of harming Israeli hostages who are in captivity in Gaza,” said the broadcaster, which is operated by the Israeli military.

The report, however, clarified that Israeli forces would avoid attacking areas where intelligence indicates captives are being held.

Qassam Brigades threaten to execute Israeli captives

Hamas’s Qassam Brigades have threatened to execute Israeli captives if Israel continues to bombard and kill civilians in Gaza.

“Any targeting of innocent civilians without warning will be met regretfully by executing one of the captives in our custody, and we will be forced to broadcast this execution,” said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the brigades, which are the armed wing of Hamas.

“We regret this decision, but we hold the Zionist enemy [Israel] and their leadership responsible for this.”

US warns against anyone seeking ‘to take advantage’ of violence

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan says Washington is working with its partners “to warn anyone who might seek to take advantage in this situation”.

He also said he spoke with Israeli officials to reiterate President Joe Biden’s “unwavering support for Israel” and discuss next steps.

“We are also doing all we can to determine the whereabouts of missing US citizens,” Sullivan said in a social media post.

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council had previously estimated that nine US citizens had been killed and said others are still unaccounted for.

Israeli foreign minister: More than 100 people taken captive by Hamas

Foreign minister Eli Cohen has said that the Israeli authorities now believe that 100 people were taken captive by Hamas and taken to Gaza.

Following the announcement from the Al-Qassam Brigades threatening to execute captives, and the reports that Israel will continue to bomb Gaza despite the presence of the captives, their lives are now in extreme danger.

Palestinian man killed by Israeli fire in West Bank

A 31-year-old Palestinian man has succumbed to head wounds sustained from Israeli live fire in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s ministry of health has said.

Muntaser Abdelhamid Zaakik died after being shot in Beit Ummar, near Hebron, the ministry said.

Hamas’s threat against captives shows ‘desperate’ situation: Analyst

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara has said that Hamas’s threat to execute Israeli captives is a sign that the situation on the ground in Gaza is becoming “desperate”.

“Hamas is under more and more pressure to react to the ongoing bombardment and onslaught on the civilian population of Gaza,” Bishara said.

He noted a pattern of escalation between the parties. “We’ve noticed quite clearly that the greater the oppression, the greater the use of force against the Palestinian, the uglier the Palestinian resistance has become over the years,” he said.

Crossing between Gaza and Sinai disrupted after strike, say sources, witness

Operations at the Rafah crossing on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula were disrupted following a nearby air strike on the Gaza side, three Egyptian security sources and a witness have told Reuters.

The border crossing was partially closed following the strike, according to two of the security sources.

With Israel enforcing a total blockade on Gaza, the Egyptian border is the only open access point for Palestinians in the territory.