Journalism of Courage
Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip crossed over and infiltrated into southern Israel on October 7, and fired thousands of rockets into the country, as the ruling Hamas announced the beginning of a new operation. (AP Photo)
Israel, perpetually in a state of military readiness, wasted no time to hit back, launching its own rockets into targets in Gaza and declaring a “state of war alert”. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told the media that Hamas has started a war that “Israel will win”. (AP Photo)
As the war marks its one-month anniversary today, the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 10,000, including more than 4,100 children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids. In Israel, over 1,400 people have been killed in the October 7 attack and 242 people have been taken hostage by the militant group. (AP Photo)
On the sixth day of the war, Israel called on all civilians in the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which has a population of more than 1 million people, to relocate south within 24 hours ahead of a likely ground offensive. (AP Photo)
On October 12, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, India issued a statement on the matter, saying “there is a “universal obligation to observe international humanitarian law”. India reiterated its traditional position on the Israel-Palestine conflict and called for the resumption of “direct negotiations” towards establishing a “sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine. (AP Photo)
The next day, an Israeli shell landed on a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in southern Lebanon, killing Reuters videographer, Issam Abdallah, and leaving six other journalists injured. (AP Photo)
UN chief Antonio Guterres on October 16 called on Hamas to immediately release all hostages without conditions and urged Israel to allow rapid and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo)
A massive explosion at the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of women, children and civilians the next day. Hamas attributed the blast to an Israeli air strike. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council rejected a Russian resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas as the draft did not get a minimum number of votes to be passed. (Reuters Photo)
On October 18, wrapping up a rapid trip to Israel, US President Joe Biden met Israeli PM Netanyahu to offer support. Following the visit, Israel allowed limited aid from Egypt for the civilian population in the south Gaza Strip. In picture, Palestinian ambulances with people wounded in the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip arrive at the border crossing with Egypt. (AP Photo)
On October 20, Hamas released an American woman and her teenage daughter who had been held hostage in Gaza. This marked the first instance of a release among the approximately 200 individuals abducted by the militant group from Israel during its rampage on October 7. (AP Photo)
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza reopened on October 21 to allow much-needed aid to reach Palestinians for the first time since Israel sealed off the territory. (Reuters Photo)
85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and another woman were released on October 24 after their two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave. The two freed hostages were taken out of Gaza at the Rafah crossing into Egypt, where they were put into ambulances, according to footage shown on Egyptian TV. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Tel Aviv to express "support and solidarity". (AP Photo)
On October 27, India abstained in a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The resolution, which does not contain the words ‘Hamas’ and ‘hostage’, was carried with 120 votes in favour and 14 against. Before this vote, an amendment to the text proposed by Canada, naming Hamas, was rejected because it failed to get the support of two-thirds of members present and voting. India voted in favour of this amendment, along with 86 other nations.
With internet and mobile service cut off, Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers in the northern Gaza Strip on October 28. Israel entered a new phase of its war against Hamas with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming that the military has opened a “second stage” in the conflict by sending ground forces into Gaza and intensifying attacks from the ground, air and sea. (AP Photo)
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it carried out simultaneous attacks on Israeli positions at the Lebanese border on November 4, as residents of south Lebanon reported some of the fiercest Israeli strikes yet during weeks of cross-border clashes. (AP Photo)
On November 5, Israeli airstrikes hit the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip early, killing at least 40 people, Gaza health officials said. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas demanded an immediate Israeli ceasefire at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah, while Gaza’s health ministry said dozens died in a strike on a refugee camp overnight. (AP Photo)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that his country will have “overall security responsibility” over the Gaza Strip “for an indefinite period” after the war against Hamas ends, as the conflict marked its one-month anniversary. He said he would consider “tactical little pauses” in Gaza fighting to facilitate the entry of aid or the exit of hostages, but again rejected calls for a general ceasefire. (AP Photo)
PM Narendra Modi spoke to Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on Monday on the situation in West Asia arising out of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the two leaders stressed on the need for de-escalation, continued humanitarian aid and an early restoration of peace. (AP Photo)
