Israel-Hamas war updates: Israeli leaders vow to keep up Gaza bombardments
These were the updates on the Israel-Hamas war for Tuesday, November 7.
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- Israeli PM Netanyahu, Defence Minister Gallant vow to press on with military offensive, saying troops are in the “heart” of Gaza City.
- Palestinian rights groups say about 1.5 million people are displaced in Gaza amid unrelenting Israeli bombardments, warning threat of being pushed out “imminent”.
- United Nations says no life-saving fuel has been allowed into Gaza since October 7, risking the lives of 2.3 million Palestinians as essential services close.
- One month since start of war, a “tragedy of colossal proportions” is unfolding, UN chief Guterres says.
- At least 10,328 Palestinians in Gaza killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. In Israel, the death toll over the same period stands at more than 1,400.
Thanks for joining us
This live page is now closed. For the latest live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, follow along here.
As the conflict enters its second month, read about what life is like for Palestinians trapped in Gaza without access to water, food and health care, here.
And for more context on the war, read our analysis on why US President Biden’s outreach to Muslim Americans is falling flat, here.
Here’s what happened today
We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of today’s main events.
- After Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu suggested Israel would take responsibility for security in Gaza after the war, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said neither Hamas nor Israel would control the enclave.
- The US State Department says it would not support a “re-occupation of Gaza” but that there is no returning to the status quo of October 6.
- Netanyahu again dampened growing calls for a ceasefire, saying captives held in Gaza would need to be released first. Meanwhile, Gallant told a televised news conference that Israeli soldiers had advanced to the heart of Gaza City.
- Axios has reported that US President Biden urged Netanyahu to agree to a three-day pause in Gaza fighting to help with captive release negotiations.
- Amid the rising death toll in Gaza, the White House said it is still not drawing red lines for Israel.
- Gaza’s interior ministry says all bakeries in Gaza City and the northern Gaza governorates have stopped operating due to systematic targeting and a lack of fuel and flour.
- With a handful of hospitals continuing to operate amid severe fuel and supply shortages, the Red Cross said a humanitarian aid convoy came under fire in Gaza City today but was able to complete its delivery.
- Three Palestinian rights groups have warned that people in Gaza are facing imminent threats of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, with 1.5 million Palestinians internally displaced across the enclave.
- Cross-border fighting has continued between Israel and Lebanon.
- At least 10,328 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. In Israel, the death toll over the same period stands at more than 1,400.
Israel steps up attacks on Al-Shati refugee camp
Israel’s relentless attacks during the last hour have intensified across the Gaza Strip but this time have been concentrated in the central areas and in the Al-Shati refugee camp.
This is considered to be a very densely populated area and Israeli troops are stationed on the outskirts of the refugee camp.
Israeli troops are trying to push forward, deeper into this camp, to gain more control and destroy the military infrastructure of Palestinian fighters.
They are launching different illumination flares in the sky in this area.
Biden says he asked Netanyahu for pause in Gaza fighting during call
US President Joe Biden said he made the request for a pause to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a call on Monday.
Despite the latest statement, Biden continues to resist calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, amid mounting demand for him to put more pressure on the Israeli leader.
Previously, the White House said that Biden and Netanyahu talked about “tactical pauses” in fighting for humanitarian reasons.
Bernie Sanders questions US support for Israel after Netanyahu’s comments on post-war Gaza
The US senator’s comments come after Israel’s prime minister suggested Israel would oversee security in the Gaza Strip after the war.
“Should US funds support a long-term military occupation over an already battered & impoverished people? I think not,” Sanders wrote on social media.
The US provides Israel with $3.8bn in military assistance annually, despite its continued occupation of the Palestinian territories. Biden also asked Congress for an additional $14bn in assistance to Israel since the war broke out on October 7.
Sanders, however, has also faced widespread rebuke from US progressives and other supporters over the past weeks for failing to call for a Gaza ceasefire.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s right-wing prime minister, said yesterday that Israel would oversee Gaza’s security for “an indefinite period” after the war. Really? Should US funds support a long-term military occupation over an already battered & impoverished people? I think not.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 7, 2023
Vote to rebuke US Congresswoman Tlaib expected tomorrow
As we’ve been reporting throughout the day, the US House of Representatives is pushing forward with a resolution to rebuke Tlaib over her criticism of Israel.
But a final decision on the measure is not expected until tomorrow after lawmakers postponed the vote.
Earlier, we reported that Tlaib rejected the resolution as an attempt to silence her.
“The cries of Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all,” she said on the House floor.
I am the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced and I will not let anyone distort my words.
I’m from Detroit, where I learned to speak truth to power, even if my voice shakes. pic.twitter.com/bXhGPCcKat
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) November 7, 2023
Gaza war changes Saudi thinking on normalisation with Israel: Analyst
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Gregory Gause, a professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University and a Gulf expert, analysed the roles the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been playing in the current conflict.
Gause pointed out that, unlike other Arab states that have diplomatic relations with Israel, such as Jordan and Bahrain, the UAE has not recalled its ambassador to Israel. But he also noted that none of the Arab states has formally broken ties with Israel.
The UAE’s presence on the UN Security Council during the crisis means that it can’t “duck and cover”, Gause said. “They’re going to be representing the Arab world to some extent in the deliberations at the UN, and so they’re going to have to take a position, and my guess is that their position is going to be whatever comes out of the Arab League summit in Riyadh over the next couple of days.”
On Saudi Arabia, which had been negotiating normalising ties with Israel before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Gause said that Riyadh did not have as much leverage over Israel as many think.
“I think the Israelis would love to have diplomatic recognition from Saudi Arabia, but it’s not something that this Israeli government is willing to sacrifice its goals in Gaza to get,” the professor said.
“As long as Israeli troops are in Gaza, any chance of Israeli-Saudi negotiations towards diplomatic recognition… are a dead letter,” Gause added. “However, I still think that the incentives that pushed all the parties, including the US, to try and make this happen, will re-emerge after the Gaza crisis ends.”
“It’s interesting to note that the Saudis made clear to the US that the Israelis would have to do more than they did on the Palestinian question for the Abraham Accords countries, which was very, very little,” Gause said. “I think the Saudis are looking for something more tangible from the Israelis before diplomatic relations are established.”
Netanyahu adviser: Israel plans security presence, not political control in Gaza
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israel’s leader Netanyahu, has said that Israel will not, in his words, re-occupy Gaza, but instead plans to maintain a security presence in the enclave.
“When this is over and we have defeated Hamas, it is crucial that there won’t be a resurgent terrorist element, a resurgent Hamas,” Regev told CNN, following comments from Netanyahu on Monday that Israel would keep “overall security responsibility… for an indefinite period”.
“There will have to be an Israeli security presence, but that doesn’t mean Israel is re-occupying Gaza, that doesn’t mean that Israel is there to govern the Gazans,” he added.
Experts point out that Israel’s control of Gaza’s borders and airspace, even before the current conflict, means that Israel has continued to occupy Gaza, even after the removal of Israeli illegal settlements in 2005.
Regev claimed that Israel wanted Palestinians in Gaza to rule themselves, although there have been several voices within the Israeli establishment calling for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, in what has been described as a second Nakba, in reference to the expulsion of Palestinians from historic Palestine in 1948.
Amid criticism at home, US officials go on diplomacy offensive
In the latest flurry of US diplomacy, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken with his Egyptian counterpart, General Mohamed Zaki, while US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Israeli President Herzog.
Austin “expressed appreciation for Egypt’s work to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the safe evacuation of US citizens from Gaza. They also discussed the importance of civilian protection”, the Pentagon said.
Harris, meanwhile, “reiterated her support for Israel’s right to defend its citizens and combat terrorism following Hamas’s horrific attack, and underscored her and President Biden’s focus on securing the release of hostages being held by Hamas”, according to the White House.
“The Vice President emphasized the importance of protecting civilian lives and respecting international humanitarian law. She emphasized the imperative to further increase the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” the White House said.
“The Vice President also raised the need to increase stability and security in the West Bank and hold extremist settlers accountable for violent acts.”
The White House said Harris also stressed the importance of “setting conditions now for a durable and sustainable peace and security with equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians”.
I spoke today with Egyptian Minister of Defense General Zaki. I emphasized our mutual support for civilian safety and delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.https://t.co/WshrHMHu9L
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) November 7, 2023
Israeli activist who lost parents in Hamas attack calls for world to stop backing Netanyahu
Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon, whose parents were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, has said the Israeli prime minister needs to go.
“The war will never end as long as Netanyahu is in his office. So I’m crying to the world, ‘Don’t support Netanyahu. Don’t send us weapons. Don’t send us ships of war’,” said Inon.
His comments were captured in a video posted on social media by Israeli photographer Oren Ziv.
“Send us peace. Send us love. Send us reconciliation,” Inon said.
My Hero: Maoz Inon, son of Bilha, 76, and Yakovi, 78, murdered at Netiv HaAsara on October 7th, started a protest tent outside the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem calling Netanyahu to resign and to end the war pic.twitter.com/T6v6k2QnBw
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 7, 2023
Israeli attack in Shujaiya kills, injures ‘many’, health ministry says
The Palestinian health ministry has said Israeli warplanes committed a “massacre” in the latest attack on the Shujaiya neighbourhood, in the east of the Strip.
The ministry did not provide an exact death toll but said “many” Palestinians were killed and injured.
The victims – all of whom were women and children – have been taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, the ministry added.
Watch: Anger over French live streamers laughing at killing in Gaza
US Democrats still strongly pro-Israel, but shifting: Analyst
Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage, a non-partisan group that seeks to mobilise Muslim voters in the US, said support for Israel within the Democratic Party is shifting ahead of the 2024 US presidential election.
Still, Alzayat told Al Jazeera it is unclear if those shifts will result in an actual change of the party position or in internal fracturing.
“The Democratic Party is a diverse, big tent party and it’s been evolving,” he said, pointing to the inclusion of Latino, Black, Arab and Muslim community members, among others.
“And many of those communities bring more diverse approaches to this conflict,” said Alzayat.
“I think the pro-Israel sentiment is still very strong in the Democratic Party. It is clearly very strong in the Biden administration but it’s being contested in this moment. This is the tension that you’re seeing right now within the Democratic Party, and the broader society.”
Flares light up sky over Gaza
Here is one of the latest images out of Gaza, showing flares lighting up the night sky.
Head of Red Cross in Gaza responds to attack on convoy
Earlier, we reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross said a humanitarian convoy had come under fire in Gaza.
Two trucks carrying lifesaving medical supplies had been damaged, the organisation said, with a driver lightly wounded.
The head of the ICRC’s delegation to Gaza has now responded to the attack.
“These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work,” said William Schomburg.
“We are here to bring urgent assistance to civilians in need. Ensuring that vital assistance can reach medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law.”
Is Israel’s Gaza war the deadliest conflict for children in modern times?
In late October, Save the Children reported that the number of children killed in the Gaza Strip over three weeks of Israeli bombardments had surpassed the annual number of children killed in global conflict zones every year since 2019.
Since then, the number of tiny bodies wrapped in white shrouds and surrounded by grieving family members has only grown as Israel expanded its offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
For how the deaths compare with some other major conflicts in recent years, read our full explainer here.
Hamas official: US is dreaming if it wants to force group out of Gaza governance
A member of Hamas’s political bureau has rejected any attempt to exclude the group from future rule in Gaza, in response to an earlier statement by US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby that Hamas could not be part of the governance equation in Gaza.
“I think the Americans are dreaming a lot,” said Ghazi Hamad, in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic. “The Americans who failed in Iraq, who failed in Afghanistan, who failed in Somalia … now they want to restructure Gaza?”
Hamad said that any change in the governance of Gaza was an internal Palestinian matter, adding that Hamas would be involved in any decision.
He also warned the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank not to make a deal with the US and Israel at the expense of Hamas, as the question of what happens in Gaza if Hamas is defeated grows.
“You must not cooperate with the Americans,” Hamad said, addressing the PA. “And don’t [go into Gaza] on the back of the American tank.” He added that PA President Mahmoud Abbas should refuse any US attempts for it to takeover Gaza, but added that a lack of public comments on the matter from the PA “raises a question mark”.
In response to Israeli military claims that its forces were in the heart of Gaza City, Hamad asked for the Israelis to show evidence of their advances, and added that the Israelis did not want to rescue the captives being held in the Gaza Strip. Israel has publicly stated that the rescue of the captives is a priority of their military operation.
Israel says struck more positions in Lebanon
The military posted a black-and-white video showing several attacks in Lebanon.
It said Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah warehouse, launch positions, and technology sites in response to launches from Lebanon earlier in the day.
The military said it also struck a group of fighters who sought to launch anti-tank missiles from Lebanon.
Facing rebuke, Rashida Tlaib says, ‘Palestinian people are not disposable’
We reported earlier on efforts to censure Tlaib, the US congresswoman, for her criticism of Israel.
She just struck a defiant tone on the floor of the US House of Representatives, which is debating a resolution seeking to formally denounce her.
“Palestinian people are not disposable,” said Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of the US Congress.
“We are human beings just like anyone else. My grandmother, like all Palestinians, just wants to live her life with freedom and human dignity we all deserve.
“Speaking up to save lives – no matter of faith, no matter ethnicity – should not be controversial in this chamber.”
US ‘humiliated every day’ in its relationship with Israel: AJ analyst
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, says the administration of US President Joe Biden is “humiliated every day” in its relationship with the Israeli government.
“They give them … [millions] of dollars, they give them the most sophisticated weapons, they give them incredible diplomatic and other support,” Bishara said.
“And then, President Biden … talks about a promise, a vision of a two-state solution – how humiliating for the American president to talk of a vision of a two-state solution when he cannot get the prime minister of Israel to agree to a two-hour humanitarian pause,” Bishara said.
“I don’t know how the American president can live with himself, let alone win another election.”
If you’re just joining us
It’s 10:30pm (20:30 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.
Here is a recap of the key developments from the last few hours:
- White House spokesman John Kirby has said the US is still not drawing red lines for Israel as the Israeli military continues to bombard Gaza.
- The US State Department says it does not support “a reoccupation of Gaza”. The comment comes after Israel’s leader Netanyahu suggested Israel would take responsibility for security in the enclave after the war.
- Netanyahu says Israeli forces have “encircled” Gaza City while dampening growing calls for a ceasefire, saying captives held in Gaza would need to be released first.
- The Red Cross says a humanitarian aid convoy came under fire in Gaza City, but was still able to deliver medical supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital.
- Reporters Without Borders has warned that journalists in the Gaza Strip “who continue to cover one of this century’s deadliest wars are in constant, imminent danger of death”.
- Three Palestinian rights groups have warned that people in Gaza are facing imminent genocide as well as mass forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.
Biden urged Netanyahu to agree to ‘three-day pause’ in Gaza fighting: Report
The Axios news outlet has reported that the US president made the appeal during a call yesterday with Israel’s prime minister, saying the pause would help secure the release of captives held in Gaza.
Citing an unnamed US official, Axios said the US, Israel and Qatar are discussing a proposal under which “Hamas would release 10-15 hostages and use the three-day pause to verify the identities of all the hostages and deliver a list of names of the people it is holding”.
Two US and Israeli officials also said “Netanyahu told Biden he doesn’t trust Hamas’ intentions and doesn’t believe they are ready to agree to a deal regarding the hostages”.
The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment, Axios said, while the White House said it does not comment on Biden’s private conversations.
WATCH: MSF nurse speaks about team’s work in Gaza
Doctors Without Borders nurse Emily Callahan says medical teams in Gaza have pledged to stay to help people under Israeli bombardment.
“If they’re going to kill us, we’re going to die saving as many people as we can,” Callahan says her colleagues told her.
Watch more below:
“If they're going to kill us, we’re going to die saving as many people as we can.”
MSF nurse Emily Callahan speaks about her team's work in Gaza and why she would go back ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/2DY7eMK5zS
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 7, 2023
White House says 569 aid trucks have entered Gaza since October 21
Kirby, the White House spokesperson, said 93 trucks had entered in the last 24 hours.
“As we said many times before, we know that’s not enough. It’s a trickle,” Kirby said, noting that before October 7, between 500 and 700 trucks entered Gaza each day.
Hamas says it fired rockets towards Israel
Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, says it launched rockets towards Tel Aviv.
In a post on the messaging app Telegram, the group said the rockets were in response to the “massacres committed against civilians” in Gaza.