Preparing for ground invasion… three circles of failure (on Oct 7): IDF
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is preparing for a ground invasion which will aim to destroy Hamas as a “terrorist entity” and ensure that Gaza isn’t used as a “staging ground” for attacks, the Israeli military’s international spokesperson, Lt Col (reservist) Peter Lerner, told The Indian Express Monday. The invasion, he said, is contingent on IDF’s “operational superiority” and the government’s decision to go ahead.
In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express from the Tel Aviv headquarters of IDF, Lerner said that the “top priority,” was the freedom of at least 222 Israeli hostages even as he identified “three circles of failure” behind the October 7 attacks: intelligence failure, the collapse of the physical barrier and insufficient defence forces on the ground. (Read more)
Doctors in Gaza say patients arriving at hospitals are showing signs of disease caused by overcrowding and poor sanitation after more than 1.4 million people fled their homes in the enclave for temporary shelters.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than one-third of hospitals in Gaza and nearly two-thirds of primary health care clinics had shut due to damage or lack of fuel.
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UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned in a post on messaging platform X that it would halt operations in Gaza on Wednesday night because of the lack of fuel. However, the Israeli military on Tuesday reaffirmed it would bar the entry of fuel to prevent Hamas from seizing it. (Reuters)
On October 7, when Hamas began its devastating attack on Israel, Yocheved Lifshitz was one among the many who were taken hostage into Gaza. On Tuesday, she and another woman were released after their two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave, leaving around 220 hostages still in Hamas’s hands.
“I’ve been through hell, we didn’t think or know we would get to this situation,” the 85-year-old told reporters, seated in a wheelchair outside the Tel Aviv hospital where she was taken following her release, according to CNN.
Explaining how the kidnapping took place, she said in Hebrew, “I was kidnapped on a motorbike on my side while they were driving toward Gaza,” Lifschitz said. Her daughter explained how her head lay on one side of the motorbike while her feet dangled from the other. (Read more)
“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.” This statement, made in November 1938, as war clouds were hovering over Europe, is perhaps among Mahatma Gandhi’s most widely quoted statements. It is also his most misunderstood statement.
The ongoing Israel-Hamas violence has seen this quote resurrected. Some of those who quote these lines are non-Gandhian to the core and support various forms of political violence. Some cherry-pick and conveniently ignore Gandhi’s other positions; for example, his opposition to the Partition of India and his absence from the Red Fort when Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the national flag. Above all, many may not have read the article — ‘The Jews’ published in Harijan on November 26, 1938 — in its entirety. Indeed, even those who derided him as a member of the bourgeoisie and British agent during the freedom struggle find it useful to quote this statement to explain their position on Palestine. Read More
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala will visit Israel on Wednesday, and will be accompanied by chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer. In a statement the Czech government said the aim of the visit was discuss support for Israel and coordinate ahead of the next EU summit, news agency Reuters reported.
Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said on Tuesday that three hospitals in the Gaza Strip were out of action because they had run out of fuel to run their electricity generators. Al-Kila said in a press conference in Ramallah that there was an urgent need to establish a safe corridor to move injured and critically ill people to get treatment in Egyptian hospitals.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed on Tuesday that an international coalition fighting against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria be widened to include the fight against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Macron gave no detail on how the US-led coalition of dozens of countries, of which Israel is not a member, could be involved. Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Macron stressed that France and Israel shared terrorism as their "common enemy". “France is ready for the international coalition against Daesh in which we are taking part for operations in Iraq and Syria to also fight against Hamas,” he told reporters, referring to Islamic State.
704 people in Gaza have been killed in the last 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement on Tuesday. The tally is the highest daily number published since Israeli strikes against Gaza began earlier this month. The statement added that there had been 47 “massacres” involving the Israeli military in the last 24 hours. The ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, said those killed included 305 children, 173 women and 78 elderly individuals.
At least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. It said the number included 2,360 children, and it said 704 Palestinians had been killed in the previous 24 hours alone, Reuters reports. The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel's military dropped leaflets in Gaza on Tuesday, urging Palestinians to give them information about hostages being held by Hamas and offering them protection and a reward.
The Palestinian militant group seized more than 200 people during cross-border raids into Israel which killed 1,400 people on Oct. 7. The Palestinian health ministry says Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed over 5,000 people since then.
“If your will is to live in peace and to have a better future for your children, do the humanitarian deed immediately and share verified and valuable information about hostages being held in your area,” the military said in the leaflet. “The Israeli military assures you that it will invest maximum effort in providing security for you and your home, and you will receive a financial reward. We guarantee you complete confidentiality.”
The leaflet listed phone numbers to call with information. (Reuters)
On October 7, when Hamas began its devastating attack on Israel, Yocheved Lifshitz was one among the many who were taken hostage into Gaza. On Tuesday, she and another woman were released after their two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave, leaving around 220 hostages still in Hamas’s hands.
“I’ve been through hell, we didn’t think or know we would get to this situation,” the 85-year-old told reporters, seated in a wheelchair outside the Tel Aviv hospital where she was taken following her release, according to CNN. Read More
Addressing the media, French President Emmanuel Macron said the international community has to avoid escalation of the conflict in the region. He specifically called on Hezbollah and Iran to act responsibly and proposed that the coalition that fought against ISIS, should fight against Hamas. He added that Israel and France are united by the same grief, and called again for the release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. He said terrorism is a common enemy of Israel and France
With French president Emmanuel Macron by his side, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated at a press briefing that Hamas must be destroyed, and warned that the war may take some time. He added that after it is finished, nobody will live anymore “under Hamas tyranny”. Macron landed in Tel Aviv today, hours after two elderly Israeli women who taken hostage by Hamas after the October 7 attack were released.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called for an unimpeded flow of aid into Gaza, trapped in a humanitarian crisis after two weeks of Israeli air strikes. “We call for an unimpeded and continuous flow of humanitarian assistance and medical assistance to continue coming into Gaza,” said Tamara Alrifai, spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
“The trucks that have come in so far are just a trickle in the face of the immense needs of people on the street.”
UNRWA said fuel, which has not been sent to the Gaza Strip along with the humanitarian aid, was crucial. “Fuel is extremely urgent because without fuel, the trucks themselves cannot move,” Alrifai said. “Without fuel, the generators cannot produce electricity for hospitals, for bakeries and for the water desalination plant.” Aid deliveries into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt began on Saturday after intense diplomatic efforts, but UN agencies say it is insufficient to meet the needs of the 2.3 million population.
An elderly Israeli hostage who was released by Hamas overnight said she was beaten by militants as she was taken into Gaza on Oct. 7, but was then well-treated during her two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was one of two women freed late Monday, leaving around 220 hostages still in the hands of Hamas. Seated in a wheelchair, a frail looking Lifshitz told reporters that a doctor had visited her while she was held in a network of tunnels within Gaza and that all her needs had been taken care of. (AP)
Awad Darawshe, shot in the abdomen, bled to death under the stage at the trance music festival that Hamas gunmen transformed into a killing field. A Palestinian Israeli paramedic, he died in a desperate attempt to save the lives of Jews at the Tribe of Nova peace-and-love gathering that marked the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Darawshe, 23, was at the festival as part of a small team of paramedics working for Yossi Ambulances, an Israeli company recruited to take care of routine medical emergencies. His colleagues fled when the shooting began, but he “felt compelled to help people as one human being to another,” said Mohammad Darawshe, a cousin who is a prominent mediator between Palestinians and Jews.
A young Palestinian Israeli citizen committed to peace and killed by Islamic Hamas terrorists in the Jewish homeland, Awad Darawshe may appear to be an apt symbol of the utter defeat of the bridge-builders still committed to a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet, often marginalised, mocked as naive and targeted as traitors, some of these stubborn advocates of peacemaking now see an opportunity, however remote, in the aftermath of Hamas’ slaughter of more than 1,400 Israelis. (Read more)
Amid its ongoing conflict with Hamas, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said today it carried out strikes at more than 400 terrorist targets in the past 24 hours.
French President Emmanuel Macron, on meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv today, said that he is there to express "support and solidarity". "What happened on October 7 was a terrorist attack against your people and your nation...," he said.
Two Israeli hostages who had been abducted by Hamas following the October 7 attack have been released for “humanitarian reasons” and reunited with their families.
Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, were released from Gaza into Egypt late on Monday. The duo were then transferred to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital via a military helicopter. Lifshitz’s husband Oded too was taken captive. “He was not with my mum, so my mum doesn’t know where he is,” Lifshitz’s daughter told BBC. (Read more)
Members of the Students' Federation of India organized a pro-Palestine demonstration on their way to the Israel Embassy. The protest took an intense turn as police officials were observed dragging the students, and later, the students were detained.
At least 10 British nationals have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas and a further six remain missing, junior British finance minister Victoria Atkins told Times Radio today. (Reuters)
Qatar's ruling emir said Israel should not be given a green light for unconditional killing
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in his annual speech to open the Gulf Arab state's advisory Shura council, said the fighting between Israel and Hamas was a dangerous escalation that threatened the region and the world.
He added that Qatar will use conservative energy pricing in its general budget. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Reuters TV showed.
He is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and centrist opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid. (Reuters)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Jordan’s King Abdullah II amid the Israel-Hamas conflict as the two leaders shared concerns regarding terrorism, violence and loss of civilian lives.
ome of Israel's actions in its war against Hamas, like cutting off food and water for Gaza, could "harden Palestinian attitudes for generations" and weaken international support for Israel, former US President Barack Obama said.
In rare comments on an active foreign policy crisis, Obama said any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs of the war "could ultimately backfire."
"The Israeli government's decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a captive civilian population (in Gaza) threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis; it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel's enemies, and undermine long-term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region," Obama said. (Reuters)
The Pentagon has sent military advisers, including a Marine Corps general versed in urban warfare, to Israel to aid in its war planning and is speeding multiple sophisticated air defense systems to the Middle East days ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza.
One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against the Islamic State and served in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the most heated urban combat there, according to a US official who was not authorised to discuss Glynn's role and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Glynn will also be advising on how to mitigate civilian casualties in urban warfare, the official said. (AP)
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is preparing for a ground invasion which will aim to destroy Hamas as a “terrorist entity” and ensure that Gaza isn’t used as a “staging ground” for attacks, the Israeli military’s international spokesperson, Lt Col (reservist) Peter Lerner, told The Indian Express Monday. The invasion, he said, is contingent on IDF’s “operational superiority” and the government’s decision to go ahead.
In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express from the Tel Aviv headquarters of IDF, Lerner said that the “top priority,” was the freedom of at least 222 Israeli hostages even as he identified “three circles of failure” behind the October 7 attacks: intelligence failure, the collapse of the physical barrier and insufficient defence forces on the ground. (Read more)
Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the terrorist group on Tuesday released two more hostages, The Times of Israel reported, adding that they were identified as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz. According to the report, a military helicopter ferrying the two freed hostages landed on the roof of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Citing a nurse at the Ichilov Hospital, The Times of Israel reported that Cooper and Lifshitz appeared to be in good health after arriving at the Israeli Medical Centre, directly upon their release from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
The two elderly hostages had an emotional reunion with their families, the nurse told The Times of Israel. Both the freed hostages were on medication that they may not have received during their two weeks of captivity.
The nurse said the hospital authorities will come to a better understanding of their condition in the morning, The Times of Israel reported. (ANI)