Iranian Foreign Minister meets Ismail Haniya

Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian has met with the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Doha, according to Iranian and Qatari media outlets. The meeting came amid the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, which has killed more than 2,400 people in Gaza.

The leaders discussed the latest developments in Palestine and the region and expressed their support for the Palestinian people’s resistance and rights. They also agreed to continue their cooperation and coordination to end the Israeli aggression and siege on Gaza and to provide humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave.

This was the first official meeting between Iranian officials and Haniyeh after the Al-Aqsa storm operation, which was launched by Hamas on October 07 in response to Israel’s raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Iran already warned that the ground invasion of Gaza would further escalate the situation between Palestine and Israel

 

Israel deploys hundreds of tanks near Gaza fence

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have moved hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles towards the Gaza Strip, positioning them close to the border. This is seen as a significant military buildup, heightening concerns of a potential ground incursion into Gaza.

Tensions have been on the rise for several weeks, with a surge in rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel and Israeli airstrikes in response. Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation have so far been unsuccessful.

Amid the growing military buildup, there have been reports of increased civilian evacuations in areas near the Gaza border. The Israeli government has advised residents to seek shelter in fortified areas, and many schools and businesses in the region have been temporarily closed.

The international community, including the United Nations and various world leaders, has expressed deep concern over the situation. Calls for an immediate ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table have been made, but a lasting solution remains elusive.

The situation in the region remains highly volatile, and there is considerable uncertainty about what lies ahead.

 

Condemnation of Israeli deadline for Gaza evacuation

The United Nations has branded the Israeli evacuation order for more than one million Gaza residents to head to the southern Gaza Strip as horrendous and says the small enclave was rapidly becoming a hellhole.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency has hit out at Israel's order, saying, "This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into abyss," General Philippe Lazzarini, its commissioner, said. 

"The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hellhole and is on the brink of collapse.

"There is no exception, all parties must uphold the laws of war; humanitarian assistance must be provided at all times to civilians," Lazzarini remarked.

The UN says it is not possible for everyone in north Gaza to leave. 

The Israeli occupation had ordered 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza to flee from their homes in the north and move south. The question is where to? There is no safe place in Gaza. 

This is the most densely populated place on the Earth - more than 2.2 million people live in a strip of land that's 40 kilometers long. 

Gaza City in the north is a major urban city. It can't be emptied out. 

Palestinians can't leave the Gaza Strip because the Israeli occupation regime controls almost all its exit points and they are trapped inside. It's been that way for 17 years. 

In a statement, the United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths has said that "Gaza was under intense bombardment" and "roads and homes have been reduced to rubble."

"Forcing scared and traumatized civilians, including women and children, to move from one densely populated area to another, without even a pause in the fighting and without humanitarian support, is dangerous and outrageous," he added. 

Egypt controls the southern Rafah border crossing and it is also closed. Egypt has rejected calls from the Israeli army for Gaza's northern residents to flee south.

Its foreign ministry has called the measure a grave violation of international humanitarian law, exposing more than one million people to danger.

Earlier this week, Egyptian authorities rejected an Israeli recommendation that Palestinians fleeing its air strikes should cross the southern border into Egypt.

Despite authorities in Gaza warning of an Israeli plot to occupy the northern part of the territory and called on residents to stay steadfast, those who have traveled south have been killed by Israeli airstrikes anyway.

Reflecting the cruelty of the regime, it gave a hospital in Gaza "just two hours to evacuate" on Friday, a humanitarian organization said. 

MSF International said Al Awda Hospital has been told to evacuate staff and patients by the country. 

"Our staff is still treating patients," it said in a statement posted on social media.

"We unequivocally condemn this action, the continued indiscriminate bloodshed and attacks on health care in Gaza. 

"We are trying to protect our staff and patients." 

There is only one major highway bridge over a small river that Israel is ordering more than one million people to cross, which in reality is practically impossible to do.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works in occupied Palestine, has described Israel’s demand that 1.2 million people in Gaza leave their homes as a war crime.

Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, has released the following statement:
“The Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours, absent of any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer. It must be reversed.

“The collective punishment of countless civilians, among them children, women, and the elderly ... is illegal under international law.

“My colleagues inside Gaza confirm that there are countless people in the northern parts who have no means to safely relocate under the constant barrage of fire.

“The loss of civilian lives caused by deliberate or indiscriminate use of force is a war crime for which the perpetrators will have to answer. We fear that Israel may claim that Palestinians who could not flee northern Gaza can be erroneously held as directly participating in hostilities, and targeted.

“The United States, the UK, the European Union, and other Western and Arab Nations who have influence over the Israeli political and military leadership must demand that the illegal and impossible order to relocate is immediately rescinded.”

Oxfam International has made similar accusations against the regime.

"The world can see that this evacuation order is both utterly inhumane and impossible; the Israeli government must rescind it immediately. We implore the international community to use its utmost influence to intervene - there are hospitals full of patients, women, children and elderly people who cannot move. Even for those who could move, there is no food, no water and little shelter. This must be stopped," the charity group said.

TURKEY

Turkey has branded Israel's merciless 24-hour deadline a grave mistake.

The Turkish foreign ministry has said it is completely unacceptable for Israel to order people in the north of Gaza to move south within 24 hours.

The warning, issued by Israel as it prepares for a ground offensive, was inhumane and violated international law, Turkey's foreign ministry said.

"Forcing the 2.5 million people of Gaza - who have been subjected to indiscriminate bombing for days and who have been deprived of electricity, water and food - to migrate in an extremely limited area is a clear violation of international law and has no place in humanity," it said.

"We expect Israel to immediately reverse this grave mistake and urgently halt its merciless... acts against civilians in Gaza."

Airstrikes have been carried out all over Gaza. From refugee camps in the north like Jabalyia to central Deir al Baha and south to Rafah, no part of Gaza has been spared from Israeli attack. 

The regime has not provided any detail about how hundreds of thousands of traumatized Palestinians, the sick, the elderly and children are meant to travel, what road to take or where to go. 

Gazans are stressed, sleep-deprived and exhausted. Many will be hungry and weak from the last eight days of a relentless bombing campaign.

Roads are bombed, whole neighborhoods wiped out, there's a constant threat of air attack. 

Warning people in some areas of the tiny besieged enclave to get out ahead of an imminent ground invasion is a common Israeli military practice in its recurrent wars on Gaza.

Sometimes the Israeli military drops leaflets in neighborhoods ahead of a bombardment - as they did on Friday. They are also known to call the owner of a house to get out before they bomb it.

None of these measures have been undertaken under the current cycle of Israeli bombardment, which has been unprecedented. 

With no way to get out and nowhere to go, Israeli demands to empty north Gaza is aimed at terrifying the Palestinians.  

Authorities in Gaza have said the Israeli demands are a propaganda campaign and have called on Gaza's residents to stay put.

They say Israel wants to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip like its ethnic cleansing in 1948. This time, authorities warn, invaders also intend to eventually replace the emptied land with Israeli settlements. 

Amid the international outcry, the US, Israel’s staunchest ally, has been under heavy pressure to react.

The White House has been forced to issue a response to the Israeli demands. 

This is a tall order, White House national security spokesman John Kirby says.

"That is a lot of people to move in a very short period of time," he said in an interview on MSNBC. 

Kirby tried to somehow justify Israeli war crime by saying "we understand what they're trying to do and why they're trying to do this - to try to isolate the civilian population from Hamas, which is their real target." 

Critics argue the real Israeli target is the entire population of Gaza which the regime wants to cleanse ethnically. 

RUSSIA

Putin says civilian losses from an Israeli ground operation would be unacceptable

Speaking during a visit to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Putin said, "Israel is replying on a large scale and also with quite cruel methods."

"In my view it is unacceptable," Putin said. “More than 2 million people live there ... all of them have to suffer, including women and children. Of course, it’s hard for anyone to agree with this.”

Russian president has called on the Israeli regime not to go ahead with a ground operation in Gaza. 

Putin said such an operation would result in an "absolutely unacceptable" level of civilian casualties.  

The Russian president added that there had been unacceptable calls in the US for a blockade of Gaza on a par with the siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

CHINA

Earlier on Friday, the regime's foreign ministry expressed deep disappointment with China’s lack of condemnation of Hamas’s attack on Israel.

China has historically supported the Palestinian cause, but in recent months Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed for closer ties with Beijing. 

Since the latest conflict broke out, China has called for a two-state solution but has resisted Western calls for Beijing to condemn Hamas.

Saudi Arabia rejects forced displacement of Palestinians

Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal Bin Farhan in a meeting with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken in Riyadh on Saturday, categorically rejected calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza.

During the meeting, the Saudi foreign minister also expressed his condemnation of targeting civilians in any way.

Prince Faisal stressed Saudi Arabia’s demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and its surroundings, and to lift the siege on the Strip in line with international law.

This, he added, is in addition to work to ensure the entry of urgent humanitarian aid, including food and medicine.

The priority now is to work to prevent more innocent civilians from being affected as a result of the ongoing spiral of violence, the Saudi foreign minister said.

He called for the need to make a rapid collective effort to stop this spiral, and all forms of military escalation against civilians to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

“Israel must abide by international humanitarian law,” he emphasized.

“Any actions that contradict international law and international humanitarian law will deepen the current crisis and increase the suffering in that region.”

Prince Faisal stressed that dialogue is the only way to finding a just and comprehensive political solution to the conflict.

He noted that the international community must assume its responsibility to stop the violence and advance the peace process in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, and the Arab Peace Initiative.

The meeting was attended by Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema Bint Bandar and the Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Ambassador Dr. Saud Al-Sati.

Israel Gaza ground offensive could get messy

According to The Hill, Israel’s expected ground offensive in Gaza will be potentially catastrophic for civilian life in Gaza, while also posing steep risks for Israeli forces and raising the danger of widening a war with Iran-backed proxy groups. 

For the first time in years, Israeli forces will have to penetrate deep into Gaza, a coastal enclave where thousands of Hamas militants operate out of an underground network of tunnels, while also hiding among civilians. 

Israel’s stated goal of eliminating the group will require a long, bloody fight against guerilla combatants known to use human shields in the densely packed Gaza Strip. 

“It’s going to be very, very messy,” said Raphael Cohen, a senior political scientist at Rand Corporation with expertise on the Middle East and defense strategy. 

“Rooting all that out is not particularly easy. And in order to do that, that’s a fairly significant military operation and it will take a lot of time — potentially a lot of casualties.”

Further complicating the mission is that Israeli forces need to rescue some 150 hostages, including some Americans and other foreign nationals. 

And a large-scale attack in Gaza may open a new front in the war, with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah reportedly warning it will respond if Israeli forces invade the coastal enclave.

Israeli officials are determined to respond decisively after Hamas killed more than 1,300 people in a surprise attack last Saturday. 

A ground invasion now appears to be imminent after Israel on Friday ordered the evacuation of more than one million people in Gaza. However, many people have nowhere to go, with Egypt loath to open its border to the south. Hamas has also urged residents not to flee. Israel has blockaded the territory for years and this week cut off its fuel and electricity in a siege that has spurred warnings of a humanitarian crisis. 

Israeli forces have spent days mopping up the remaining militants and launching mass air strikes on Gaza that killed more than 1,500 Palestinians. They have also conducted limited raids into Gaza.

Analysts say the delay so far of a ground invasion is likely part of Israel’s strategy to pressure Palestinian militants with rocket strikes and to prepare for all possible contingencies, while integrating some 300,000 reservists into combat duty.

Phil Andrew, a principal at the global conflict and crisis consulting firm Pax Group, said it was important to be “listening and collecting as much information as you can” and ensuring everything is in place for a rescue mission.

The trickiest part of the mission will be to locate and safely extract the hostages, who are likely hidden in various locations throughout Gaza and subject to the whims of various Hamas factions and individual leaders, rather than a strict military command structure.

Andrew warned that Israel was conducting a risky operation by telegraphing an intention to destroy Hamas while also trying to keep the hostages alive. That could ruin any communications channels needed for negotiations, he said, and Hamas has previously warned it will kill hostages if pressed.

Israeli operations into the Gaza Strip will also pose enormous risks for both its soldiers and Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at a Friday press conference that soldiers will not shoot civilians on purpose as they attempt to destroy Hamas and take these phenomena out of Gaza and out of the Earth.

“Therefore we are asking all the civilians in Gaza City to go south of Gaza.  And the reason is that because we don’t want to harm them,” he said. “The camouflage of the terrorists is the civil population. Therefore we need to separate them. So those who want to save their life, please go south.”

Knox Thames, an international human rights advocate, said Israel “must avoid civilian casualties.”

“But Hamas often embeds its fire platforms and organizational nodes within civilian areas, using them as a shield, and when civilians die, using them as a propaganda message,” Thames said in an emailed statement.

Bilal Saab, director of the defense and security program at the Middle East Institute (MEI), said Israel has the capability to massively degrade Hamas’ military capabilities, but it was a question of how many casualties of Israeli soldiers and civilians Jerusalem is willing to sacrifice.

Saab said the stated goal of completely eradicating Hamas will be near impossible because Hamas has political support, making it even tougher to wipe out than a traditional terrorist group like ISIS.

“I understand the political logic behind it,” he said. “You want a message to your population that you are going to extract some heavy punishment on your opponent, but there’s no way they’re going to be able to defeat a deeply rooted organization.”

If Hezbollah is pulled into the war, that may prove even more problematic for Israel’s military than any trouble inside Gaza itself.

If Israel were forced to fight against two militant groups backed by Iran, it would be stretched much thinner and less able to concentrate on its main objective, eradicating Hamas.

Hezbollah is far better equipped and advanced than Hamas. The Lebanese militant group, an archenemy of Israel along with its creator Iran, has already begun firing rockets and artillery in nonstop tit-for-tat exchanges with Israel.

Saab said the risk of a front opening with Hezbollah was very real, but added Israel does not have much of a choice.

“If you are communicating to Hezbollah that you’re so worried about opening a second front that we’re not going to go after Hamas, that’s going to set a precedent for the future,” he explained. “They have to show that they are able to handle multiple fronts.”

Saudi Arabia-Israel deal in doldrums

According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia has put US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice due to rapid rethinking of its foreign policy priorities as war escalates between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas.

The conflict has also pushed the kingdom to engage with Iran. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took his first phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as Riyadh tries to prevent a broader surge in violence across the region.

There would be a delay in the US-backed talks on normalization with Israel that was a key step for the kingdom to secure what Riyadh considers the real prize of a US defence pact in exchange.

Until Iran-backed Hamas sparked a war on October 07 by launching a devastating attack on Israel, both Israeli and Saudi leaders had been saying they were moving steadily towards a deal that could have reshaped the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, had until the latest conflict indicated it would not allow its pursuit of a US defence pact be derailed even if Israel did not offer significant concessions to the Palestinians in the their bid for statehood.

But an approach that sidelined Palestinians would risk angering Arabs around the region, as Arab news outlets broadcast images of Palestinians killed in Israeli retaliatory airstrikes.

It is believed that talks could not be continued for now and the issue of Israeli concessions for the Palestinians would need to be a bigger priority when discussions resumed.

US National Security advisor Jake Sullivan told a White House briefing this week that the normalization effort was not on hold but said the focus was on other immediate challenges.

Reportedly, Washington had pressed Riyadh to condemn the Hamas attack but said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan pushed back.

The regional conflict has also prompted the Saudi crown prince and Iran's president to speak for the first time after a Chinese-brokered initiative prompted the Gulf rivals to re-establish diplomatic ties in April.

A Saudi statement said the crown prince told Raisi, “The kingdom is exerting maximum effort to engage with all international and regional parties to halt the ongoing escalation".

The Saudi statement said the crown prince stated the kingdom's opposition to any form of civilian targeting and the loss of innocent lives and expressed Riyadh's unwavering stance in standing up for the Palestinian cause.

Saudi Arabia has been seeking to ease tensions elsewhere in the Middle East, including seeking to end a conflict Yemen, where Riyadh has led a military coalition in a war against the Iran-aligned Houthis.

Asked about Raisi's call with the crown prince, a senior US State Department official said Washington was in constant contact with Saudi leaders.

The official said Washington was asking partners with channels to Hamas, Hezbollah - a Lebanese armed group aligned with Tehran that fought a war with Israel in 2006 to get Hamas to stand down from its attacks, to release hostages, keep Hezbollah out (and) keep Iran out of the fray."

Gulf states, including those with Israeli ties, were worried Iran could be drawn into a conflict that would affect them.

Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said the last week showed how the Saudi and Iranian visions for the region diverged.

"The Saudis are still convinced the region, and Saudi Arabia itself, needs to shift toward regional cooperation and economic development. Iran seems to think the priority is to take the fight to the Israelis first," he said.

 

 

Biden faces little pressure to rein in Israel

Despite Israeli bombardment that has brought Gaza to the brink of a humanitarian meltdown, US President Joe Biden is facing little pressure at home to rein in Israel's military retaliation.

Biden appears to have given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a free hand, for now, to press his war against Hamas, though a threatened ground offensive - with the likelihood of a higher civilian death toll - could force the president to rethink that approach.

As Biden vows rock-solid support for Israel, he has only faced scattered protest from the left wing of the Democratic Party over his acquiescence to Israel's tough crackdown in the crowded coastal strip.

Leading Democrats have helped him keep a lid on any intra-party dissent, seeking to project a message of unity, despite calls from a few progressives to get Israel to act with restraint to avoid massive civilian casualties as it battles Hamas.

The international outcry mounted on Friday against Israel's warning to more than a million Gaza civilians to evacuate south within 24 hours before an expected all-out assault.

In Washington, however, Biden's allies want to avoid giving Republicans an opening to accuse him of undercutting US ally Israel's military response, which could make the crisis a political liability as he seeks re-election in 2024.

Republicans have shown near-unanimity in backing whatever military action Israel decides to take after suffering the deadliest attack on its soil in decades. More than 1,000 people were killed and dozens more abducted into Gaza, including Americans.

Israeli strikes on Gaza having killed more than 1,000 people, preparations under way for a ground invasion and Israeli leaders vowing to annihilate Hamas, those voices could easily get louder in the days to come.

As Democratic leaders excoriate Hamas and pledge support for Israel, some have already injected carefully worded reminders of the need for Israel to abide by the laws of war.

"We are going to stand by Israel and make sure that we defend them and give them what they need to defend themselves," said US Representative Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee.

But with militants using ordinary Palestinians as human shields, he said, "we must keep these Palestinian people and their safety and livelihood in mind as we crush Hamas.”

For much of Congress as well as the American public, Israel's likening of the devastating Hamas assault to the September 11, 2001, hijacking attacks on New York and Washington has resonated widely.

US Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, this week issued a statement that drew criticism for saying she grieves for both Palestinian and Israeli lives lost.

In a tough message to Israel, she said the path forward must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.

Responding to a question about early criticism of Israel’s response by other liberal lawmakers who had equated the Hamas attack with past Israeli actions, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denounced such statements as repugnant.

“Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

On Friday, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic progressive who had strongly condemned the Hamas attack, assailed Israel over its Gaza evacuation order as unacceptable, saying on the social media platform X, "We must halt this."