As the war on Gaza enters its 30th day, dialogue has begun between the United States and the Palestinian Authority over the prospects of having a post-war Gaza governed by the PA. Meanwhile, Turkey and Egypt are working together to fly around 1,000 cancer patients to continue treatment in Turkey.
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Update 8: Egypt and Turkey reached an agreement to fly around 1,000 cancer patients from the Gaza Strip to continue treatment in Turkey, Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca announced in a press conference on 5 November. A large number of the patients were being treated in the Turkey-Palestine Friendship Hospital in Gaza.
Update 7: Pope Francis pleaded for an immediate ceasefire during a public speech on 5 November, as the death tolls in the Gaza Strip continue to rise and humanitarian conditions are at their worst.
“I keep thinking about the grave situation in Palestine and Israel where many people have lost their lives. I pray you to stop in the name of God, cease the fire,” he proclaimed in front of a spectating crowd in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican City.
Update 6: Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas met with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on 5 November, emphasizing that any potential return to PA governance in the Gaza Strip will only be possible through a “comprehensive political solution”.
“We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip,” Abbas added. He also said Israel’s actions constituted genocide.
Update 5: Egypt receives between 40 and 50 wounded Palestinian patients from Gaza every day for treatment, according to a statement by Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar at a press conference on 4 November.
Abdel-Ghaffar added that around 50 surgical procedures have been carried out on kids injured by Israeli airstrikes thus far.
He also mentioned that 150 ambulances are prepared to take in injured people at the Rafah crossing.
Update 4: Netanyahu suspended far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu following Eliyahu’s “horrific” comments.
Eliyahu will not be allowed to attend cabinet meetings indefinitely.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid described the comments as “horrifying and insane.”
Update 3: Far-right Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu suggested that nuking Gaza is an option in a radio interview on 5 November.
“They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves,” Eliyahu said.
Anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag “shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth,” he added.
In response to the statements made by the minister on his coalition government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “Amichai Eliyahu’s words are detached from reality” and that the Israeli army is “acting in accordance with the highest standards of international law in order to prevent harm to uninvolved people.”
Update 2: Israel attacked a home in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 51 and injuring others, on the night of 4 November, WAFA reported. The news agency’s reporter said that the home of the Al Samaan family was hit.
In a separate report, WAFA said that an Israeli airstrike targeted an ambulance in southern Lebanon, injuring four medics. Injuries were light to moderate, WAFA said.
Update 1: Pro-Palestine protests were held in many cities and capitals around the world calling for a ceasefire on 4 November.
Tens of thousands of protestors marched in Washington, D.C. Organizers held sit-down protests in London before marching towards Trafalgar Square. Large protests took place in Paris, allowed by French authorities, who had banned some previous protests out of concern for “public disorder,” according to Reuters. Similarly, thousands rallied in Jakarta.
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 9,257 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip — including 3,826 children — and over 23,516 others injured. Meanwhile over 144 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.
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