Israel Military ‘Split Gaza in Two’, Rafah Open for Registered Foreigners

Photo credit: The New York Times

Israel’s military spokesperson announced that Israel has split the Gaza strip in two as the death toll rises to more than 10,000 Palestinians on the 31st day of the war on Gaza. Hamas temporarily closed the Rafah border crossing after Israel targeted an ambulance, but now it is temporarily open for the evacuation of Egyptians and foreign nationals.

Update 7: Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Peter Lerner told CNN that their forces have effectively split Gaza in two following the onset of Israel’s ground operations in Gaza.

Lerner said that Israel is now encircling Gaza City and that it is determined on uprooting Hamas from what he described as “the fortress of Hamas’ terrorist activities.”

Update 6: The Rafah border crossing in Gaza, is now open exclusively for evacuating Egyptians and foreign nationals registered since 1 November. This follows the temporary closure of the crossing by Hamas, prompted by an Israeli strike on an ambulance that Israeli officials alleged was linked to a Hamas.

Update 5: Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi was arrested on the morning of 6 November on suspicions of inciting violence and terrorist activities by the IDF, an army spokesman told AFP. The 22-year-old was arrested from her home in Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, during a raid in the occupied West Bank.

“Tamimi was transferred to Israeli security forces for further questioning,” the army spokesperson said.

Update 4: The heads of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which consists of 11 UN agencies and six humanitarian organizations, issued a joint statement on 5 November calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

“The horrific killings of even more civilians in Gaza is an outrage, as is cutting off 2.2 million Palestinians from food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel,” the statement said.

“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now,” the statement added.

Update 3: Jordan airlifted urgent humanitarian aid to the Jordan Field Hospital in Gaza, according to an announcement made on Monday, 6 November.

Update 2: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stressed that Egypt’s efforts on the coordination of humanitarian aid for Gaza do not substitute its calls for an immediate ceasefire, in a phone call with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on 6 November.

Update 1: An Israeli airstrike in South Lebanon on Sunday, 5 November,  claimed the lives of four civilians, three of whom were children.

The National News Agency of Lebanon reported that two civilian vehicles belonging to the same family, which included a local journalist, were targeted by an Israeli airstrike while traveling between the villages of Ainata and Aitaroun.

One of the vehicles was directly hit and caught fire, leading to the deaths of a woman and three girls aged 10, 12, and 14, as well as injuries to others.

 

The Conflict So Far

After a surprise attack conducted on 7 October by Hamas on a number of southern Israeli towns which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,405 people and more than 220 being taken hostage by Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory bombing campaign against what it describes as ‘terrorist targets’ in the Gaza Strip.

At least 9,700 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip — including at least 3,826 children — and over 24,000 others injured. Meanwhile over 150 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and around 2,200 have been injured.

The priority of the Egyptian government since the beginning of the conflict has been deescalation and the securing of a path for aid to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing. Israel bombed the crossing at least six times, and limited aid trucks have crossed to Gaza so far, which UN officials warn is insufficient amid dire humanitarian conditions.

Most Western countries, with the United States at the forefront, have expressed unconditional support for Israel, despite the steadily rising death toll in Gaza. Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly has issued a resolution calling for a ceasefire.