Families of kidnapped hostages joined thousands of supporters in protesting at Hostage Family Square in front of the Kiryato on Saturday, demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ensure the release of Israeli hostages.
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Families of kidnapped hostages joined thousands of supporters in protesting at Hostage Family Square in front of the Kiryato on Saturday, demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ensure the release of Israeli hostages.
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TEL AVIV, Israel – A scattered group of runners rushed across the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean at Tel Aviv’s Jaffa Port early Saturday morning.
They gathered to campaign not for themselves, but for the more than 240 hostages still being held by Hamas. Each of the runners carried Israeli flags or a bib that read “Bring them home” and carried pictures and names of people captured by Hamas.
That same evening, people in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv gathered in demonstrations in support of the hostages. In further protests, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was criticized for allegedly failing to adequately prepare for and respond to the Hamas attack.
At a crowded rally in downtown Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, makeshift memorials were erected in the square of the city’s art museum to honor those still missing. Friends and families of the kidnapped and worried Israelis wore shirts and signs with the names and faces of the hostages.
The events took place over the weekend, one month since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed at least 1,400 people.
Margalit Zur, a 77-year-old Israeli who called for the hostages’ immediate return during Saturday’s rally, said her trust in her government and her sense of security in Israel had been shaken.
She said she could hardly think of anything other than the children and babies kidnapped by Hamas.
“I really can’t sleep. It’s terrible,” she said. “I cannot understand the tragedy. It is impossible. And I don’t think our government should do anything until everyone is safely back home.”
Families of kidnapped hostages join thousands of supporters in protesting, demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ensure the release of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday.
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Families of kidnapped hostages join thousands of supporters in protesting, demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ensure the release of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday.
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In the four weeks since that attack, Israel’s escalating military response to the Hamas attack has killed nearly 10,000 people in Gaza and triggered a dire humanitarian crisis there.
There appears to be no end in sight to the nearly month-long war as Netanyahu continues to reject calls for a ceasefire or a cessation of fighting.
“I have made it clear that we are continuing with full force and that Israel rejects any temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of the kidnapped Israelis,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Friday.
Here is where things stand a month after this war between Israel and Hamas began:
The Palestinians suffer the greatest losses
People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Sunday.
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People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Sunday.
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According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, nearly 10,000 people have died in Gaza since October 7. The majority of those killed were women and children. Nearly 25,000 people were injured and thousands more are estimated to be missing.
A third communications failure began on Sunday evening in Gaza, Isolation of the Palestinians from the outside world.
Hospitals and refugee camps have been hit several times by Israeli air strikes.
Israeli warplanes struck Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp early Sunday, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens, health authorities in the region said.
The World Health Organization said in a bulletin that it had documented 102 attacks on health facilities in Gaza since October 7.
According to the World Health Organization and the United Nations, hospitals that have not been affected by attacks are overcrowded and barely functioning due to low supplies and little or no fuel.
The WHO warned Friday that the bombings, food shortages, barely functioning health centers and collapsing infrastructure pose particular risks to pregnant women and children.
“There are an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, of whom more than 180 give birth every day. 15 percent of them are likely to experience pregnancy or birth-related complications and require additional medical care,” the WHO said.
People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, November 5, 2023.
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People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, November 5, 2023.
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There is little sign of diplomatic efforts
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken undertook another whirlwind tour of the region this weekend to partner with the U.S. to prevent an expansion of hostilities and to continue trying to negotiate a deal that would allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and to protect civilians .
On Sunday, he made an unannounced visit to Iraq and met for more than an hour with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad.
Blinken also made trips to Israel and Jordan and met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday.
A spokesman for Abbas said he had called for an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
But while Blinken was meeting with Abbas, protesters took to the streets in Ramallah and burned pictures of the secretary.
Asked about progress toward a ceasefire or pause in hostilities so that humanitarian aid can reach the people of Gaza, Blinken said his team continues to work with the Israeli government to “work through the details.”
But, he said, the release of the hostages held by Hamas is part of those talks.
“The prospect of getting the hostages back can also advance other things that we have committed to, as have the Government of Israel and other partners in the region – particularly providing more humanitarian assistance to people who need it in Gaza,” he said .
Demonstrators demonstrate against a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he met the president of the Palestinian Authority on Sunday.
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Demonstrators demonstrate against a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he met the president of the Palestinian Authority on Sunday.
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Few people stuck in the Gaza Strip have been able to leave the Strip
After careful negotiations between Israel, Hamas and Egypt, officials agreed to allow a border crossing into Egypt to open in Rafah, allowing some aid to enter and some foreign nationals and some Palestinians to leave.
But officials in Gaza closed that exit this weekend and said foreign passport holders will not be allowed to leave unless patients from hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza Strip are allowed access to the crossing.
On Saturday, Israel Defense Forces announced a short three-hour window to allow the approximately 300,000 people stuck in the northern Gaza Strip to travel safely to the southern Gaza Strip. Only a few had access to this so-called safe passage.
The IDF said Hamas fighters attacked the street. Hamas said the availability of a safe corridor was “a lie” and that the Israeli military was using it to attack civilians.
Aid has been slow to enter Gaza, but humanitarian groups have called for more supplies to reach the Palestinians.
This was reported by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society Over the weekend, we noted that at least 451 trucks, around 30 per day, have been able to transport relief supplies through the Rafah border crossing since October 21st.
“However, Israeli authorities have not yet allowed the import of fuel,” the organization said.
Palestinian movements elsewhere were also limited. Israeli authorities have also indefinitely suspended work permits for the more than 110,000 Palestinians who worked in Israel or Israeli settlements.
Calls for a ceasefire are increasing
People march during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington on Saturday.
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People march during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington on Saturday.
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Hamas’s brutal attack shocked Israel and the world, but Israel’s offensive in response has also stunned many in its aggression.
In a statement on Sunday morning, Israel said the combined activities of its ground, air and naval forces in the Gaza Strip had “attacked over 2,500 terrorist targets” during their offensive over the past four weeks.
The IDF maintains that it only targets infrastructure that it believes harbors Hamas fighters within or in the group’s underground tunnels.
Over the weekend, protesters around the world called for an end to violence and a ceasefire from Israel.
In Washington, DC, at least tens of thousands of people gathered on Saturday for one of the largest pro-Palestinian protests in the US since the Israeli invasion began.
The Biden administration said it remains committed to Israel and its “right to defend itself.”
US lawmakers still largely support Biden’s pro-Israel position
Concern is growing on Capitol Hill over the high number of casualties in Gaza, but few lawmakers have publicly called for a pause in the fighting.
In early November, 18 House members rejected the Biden administration’s pro-Israel stance and signed a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy is one of the first senators to publicly express concern about Israel’s response to Hamas, calling for a “more deliberate and proportionate anti-terrorism campaign.”
“The current civilian death toll in Gaza is unacceptable and unsustainable. I urge Israel to immediately reconsider its approach and move to a more deliberate and proportionate counter-terrorism campaign that surgically targets Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and the terrorist infrastructure, while placing greater priority on security granted to civilians in accordance with the law of armed conflict,” he said in a recent statement.
Israel launched its ground offensive. What is the end game?
An image taken from the southern Israeli border town of Sderot shows smoke rising over buildings in the Gaza Strip during an Israeli military operation on November 4, 2023.
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An image taken from the southern Israeli border town of Sderot shows smoke rising over buildings in the Gaza Strip during an Israeli military operation on November 4, 2023.
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About three weeks after the Hamas attack, the Israeli government launched a military ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
“Our armed forces are operating at full strength on all fronts. Our victory will be decisive and clear. “He will send a message to our enemies – one that will resonate for generations,” Netanyahu said on Friday.
On Sunday evening, the military’s 36th Division reached positions along the Gaza coast following an expansion of Israeli ground operations over the past seven days, the IDF said.
“In the last 12 hours, the division’s soldiers attacked approximately 50 targets, including combat areas, operational sites, outposts, military positions and underground infrastructure, and eliminated terrorists in hand-to-hand combat,” the military said.
Tensions are rising on the Israel-Lebanon border as Hezbollah continues to fire rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah did not announce all-out war with Israel in a recent speech, but threatened that the group’s actions depend on developments in Gaza.
However, the IDF’s primary focus remains on eliminating Hamas.
According to the IDF, around two dozen soldiers have been killed in military operations in Gaza so far.
The goal of toppling Hamas is a major military challenge that will likely take two to six months, according to Yaacov Amidror, the former general and national security adviser in Israel.
Zur, the woman who attended a memorial event for the kidnapped Israelis, said her grandson was among the fighters in Gaza.
“I’m terribly worried. His mother, my daughter, is broken. I mean, she’s so worried and we don’t know what’s going on,” she said.
Complete control of the Hamas-controlled enclave could be the easy part. Finding a viable replacement to lead Gaza is another matter entirely.
Israel doesn’t want to do that, said Amidror.
“We don’t want to take responsibility for two million Palestinians rebuilding Gaza,” he said.
There is currently no clear candidate as to which company or government could potentially undertake such a monumental task.