December 1, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Displaced Gazans expressed frustration after the Israel Defense Forces dropped leaflets in the southern city of Khan Younis on Friday that called the area a “fighting zone” and told residents to “evacuate immediately.”

Displaced Gazan Ghassan Al-Qudra told Reuters on Friday he had originally left Al-Qarara village and traveled further south to Khan Younis.

“All of a sudden, after the temporary truce, they (Israel) came up with new orders telling us that the people from Al-Qarara, Habathan and al-Fuzaa, had to leave to Rafah,” said Al-Qudra. 

Displaced mother Salma Mohamed Ben Suhaila also spoke to Reuters. 

“We were in our home and everything was calm and all of the sudden they told us to go to Rafah. Where are we supposed to go? We can't, they are forcing us to leave,” she said. 

“They are lying to us. Who are these unjust people? They are unjust,” she added. 

More context: The IDF dropped leaflets in areas of southern Gaza that included a QR code that connects an interactive map showing Gaza divided up into hundreds of numbered districts showing “evacuation zones.”

But telecommunications and electrical infrastructure in Gaza suffered extensive damage over the course of weeks of bombardment between October 7 and the start of the temporary truce on November 24, leaving many residents with unreliable access to the internet and power.

Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 left Israel flat-footed, sparking a backlash that is still rippling through the country.

The operation saw at least 1,500 Hamas fighters pour across the border into Israel, in an assault that killed at least 1,200 Israelis, while others are still held hostage by the militant group.

But a report from the New York Times claimed Israel obtained Hamas’ plan for the attack more than a year in advance.

The report says Israeli officials dismissed the plan as aspirational and deemed it too complex for the group to carry out. Other outlets, including Israeli newspaper Haaretz, have also reported the claim.

What did Israel reportedly know about the attack?: Israeli officials obtained a document describing Hamas’ battle plan for its October 7 terror attack more than a year before the militant group carried out the assault, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing documents, emails and interviews.

The roughly 40-page document did not give a date for the attack, but outlined “point by point” the kind of deadly incursion that Hamas carried out in Israeli territory in October, according to the Times, which reviewed the translated document.

Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan, assessing that it would be too difficult for Hamas to carry out, according to the Times.

The document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” detailed an assault that would overwhelm fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and target key military bases. It was followed with precision by Hamas on October 7, the Times said.

On that day, Hamas militants struck across the border from Gaza in a coordinated assault in what was the deadliest single-day assault on Israel since the country’s founding in 1948.

Read more about Hamas' October 7 attack here.

The seven-day Israel-Hamas truce ended on Friday after negotiations reached an impasse and Israel accused the Palestinian militant group of violating the agreement by firing at Israel.

The nearly eight-week war that preceded the lull in fighting caused widespread destruction and saw more than 14,800 people killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, which draws its data from Hamas-run health authorities in the Gaza Strip. For the next round of fighting, however, the United States has made it clear to Israel that scale of devastation should not be repeated.

Whether Israel will listen is a different matter. Analysts say the war is bound to continue until Hamas is crushed, and it may be much fiercer this time.

Benny Gantz, who is part of the war cabinet, said Wednesday the fighting would “expand to wherever it is needed throughout the Strip. There will be no cities of refuge.”

It is unclear if there will be another truce, but with more than 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity, it could theoretically be revived for several days if both parties agree to extend by one day for every 10 hostages released, analysts said.

Meanwhile, the US is piling pressure on Israel to avoid mass civilian casualties in the next rounds of fighting.

Read Ebrahim's analysis of the Israel-Hamas war here.

Hamas and Israel are still talking indirectly about hostages and the US believes a pause could resume as soon as Friday, according to a senior State Department official traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Blinken boarded his plane to leave Israel moments after the IDF announced a resumption of the fighting.

On the flight, according to the pool traveling with him, the senior official told journalists that the discussions continue despite the fact that Hamas did not hand over the expected list of hostages to be released on an eighth day of pause, which has so far not materialized.

In a statement released from his office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said fighting resumed against Hamas in Gaza after the group broke the outline of the truce and “didn’t respect its obligation to release today all the abducted women and launched rockets towards the citizens of Israel.”

Hamas has said it doesn’t have any more women and children to release but Israel doesn’t believe that, the State Department official said.

Iran’s delegation to COP28, headed by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, left the climate summit in Dubai on Friday in protest over the presence of Israeli officials, according to state media IRNA.

“The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran left COP28 because it considers the political, biased and irrelevant presence of the fake Zionist regime as contrary to the goals and aims of the climate change conference," Mehrabian said.

IRNA quoted Mehrabian as saying Iran "intended to use the opportunity to attend COP28 to discuss climate conditions, negotiate with the authorities and delegations of different countries and defend the oppressed Palestinian nation.”

Iran does not recognize the state of Israel and is one of Hamas' most prominent supporters.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog is expected to speak at the event.

Jordan condemned the "resumption of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip" and called for an immediate ceasefire, in a statement released Friday by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ministry spokesperson Sufyan Al-Qudah "called on the international community to assume its responsibility and to deter Israel from committing more crimes against civilians."

Israel maintains it is targeting Hamas and that the terror group is embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and children's playgrounds, that it uses for military purposes, making them legitimate targets.

Al-Qudah "further emphasised the importance of upholding international law and international humanitarian law and the urgency of providing international protection for the Palestinian people."

He also "renewed his appeal to the international community to act immediately to impose a ceasefire," according to the statement.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II had previously called for a ceasefire in Gaza and had described Israel's bombardment of the enclave as "cruel and unconscionable."

Queen Rania Al Abdullah told CNN in early November that civilians in Gaza are experiencing an "avalanche of suffering."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a new interactive map showing Gaza divided up into hundreds of numbered districts showing “evacuation zones” to be used in the “next stage of the war,” after the truce agreement expired and fighting restarted Friday. 

The IDF said the new map was meant to reduce casualties when it carries out strikes in civilian areas where it says Hamas has placed military infrastructure.

It published statements in English, Arabic and Hebrew on its social media accounts and via a leaflet drop.

Earlier on Friday the IDF dropped leaflets in areas of southern Gaza which included a QR code that connects to the map when scanned.

But telecommunications and electrical infrastructure in Gaza suffered extensive damage over the course of weeks of bombardment between October 7 and the start of the temporary truce on November 24, leaving many residents with unreliable access to the internet and power.

The UN estimates up to 1.8 million people in Gaza, or nearly 80 percent of the population, are internally displaced, having already had to leave their homes.

As a medical social worker at Israel’s Kaplan Hospital, Prof. Shir Daphna-Tekoah is no stranger to trauma.

But when she was drafted in to work on October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israeli farms, villages and a music festival, the scale of the disaster quickly became apparent.

“I’ve seen dozens of people killed in accidents or shootings, but this was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life,” Daphna-Tekoah told CNN by telephone.

As head of the hospital’s rape crisis center, she was called in as reports surfaced of sexual assaults. But it was soon all hands on deck as the emergency room filled up with the injured.

It was Daphna-Tekoah’s responsibility to support the families saying goodbye to their murdered loved ones. Of one family, she said: “I asked if they would like to thank their child or ask for forgiveness for anything.

“The mother said: ‘I’m so sorry I let you go to the party and that I didn’t protect you.’”

Then, Daphna-Tekoah posed another question. “I asked ‘Would you like me to find out about sperm preservation?’”

Daphna-Tekoah immediately approached hospital management, and just a few hours later they had the legal sign-off needed. By the following morning, the sperm of several victims from the Nova festival had been retrieved.

Now, more than seven weeks later, Israeli hospitals have been inundated with requests to cryogenically freeze the sperm of those killed in the conflict, hospital officials say.

Read the full story here:

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The situation in Gaza is "beyond crisis point" and the resumption of fighting is "catastrophic," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Friday.

Türk said recent comments from Israeli leaders indicating their plans to expand and intensify their military offensive is “troubling.”

The UN representative called for the release of all remaining hostages, the cessation of indiscriminate rocket fire, and concrete steps to prevent further disaster.