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Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari has announced that Hamas has lost control over northern Gaza after 50,000 Gazans moved south in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Qatari government is mediating, in collaboration with the United States, for Hamas to release some of the hostages it has held hostage since October 7, in exchange for Benjamin Netanyahu allowing a humanitarian pause in Gaza, according to Reuters and AFP. The chances of agreement are getting closer. On Wednesday, it became known that Spaniard Ivan Illarramendi and his wife were killed in the attack on a kibbutz near Gaza, but their bodies had not been identified until now. In addition, the Palestine Red Crescent has reported that the Al-Quds hospital, one of the largest in the Strip, has begun to reduce its operations in an attempt to ration fuel use and ensure a minimum level of services.
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Netanyahu Says Israel Is Already Fighting Inside Gaza City
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EFE
All five Republican candidates in the U.S. primaries agree on staunch defense of Israel
The five U.S. Republican Party candidates in the primaries — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; former ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley; businessman Vivek Ramaswamy; former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Senator Tim Scott — made clear in the third debate, held on Wednesday in Miami, their unwavering support for Israel and their right to "wipe Hamas off the map," while showing their revulsion at the displays of anti-Semitism experienced on some college campuses in the U.S. "Israel has to finish its job once and for all and eliminate Hamas," he said. that they are nothing more than innocent "terrorists slaughtering," and the U.S. "needs Israel, not the other way around," DeSantis and Haley argued.
ACT.9 NOV 2023 - 05:44
EFE
Drinking water coming in from Egypt supplies only 4% of Gaza's population
The drinking water currently entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt only reaches 4% of the population of the Palestinian enclave, the UN warned today to illustrate how the entry of humanitarian aid "is only a fraction of what the civilian population needs". United Nations agencies have already warned in recent days that Gazans are resorting to informal wells to supply themselves with groundwater, which is not purified and can be harmful to health and become a vector of disease.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said today that since Oct. 20, when the first trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered, only 650 have managed to pass through — compared to the 500 a day that entered before the war — carrying food, medicine, sanitary products, water and hygiene products. Among the difficulties experienced by the delivery of humanitarian aid, Dujarric denounced that the day before a convoy of seven trucks with medical material to supply hospitals in Gaza "were shot at", leaving two trucks damaged and one of their drivers injured. 99 UN Staff Killed in Attacks
ACT.9 NOV 2023 - 04:52
EFE
99 UN Officials Killed in Gaza by Israeli Attacks
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday put the number of U.N. staff killed in Israeli strikes at 99, all by the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA), the highest number of U.N. workers to lose their lives in a conflict in such a short time. Most of them have died "in their homes, with their families," Dujarric said, acknowledging that when this conflict ends "there will have to be accountability and we will follow the current procedures of the UN when its personnel die" in conflicts.
ACT.9 NOV 2023 - 04:25
EFE
Netanyahu reiterates that he will not agree to a ceasefire without the release of hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday reiterated his refusal to accept a ceasefire in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip until the Islamist group releases the hostages it captured in Israel. "There will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages," the Israeli president wrote in a brief message on the social network X (formerly Twitter), without specifying whether he is demanding the release of all or some of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas for a possible truce. "I want to put aside all kinds of vain rumors that are heard from all sides and repeat one thing clearly: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages," the Israeli president said in a meeting with Jewish settlers settled in the occupied West Bank that was broadcast by local media.
ACT.9 NOV 2023 - 04:05
The U.S. says it has a mechanism to communicate with Hamas and is using it
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that the U.S. government has a mechanism to communicate with the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas and is using it to secure the release of the U.S. hostages. Kirby clarified that this is not a matter of "direct communication" with Hamas, but through "allies" who have helped Washington. He explained that this communication with the Islamist group is aimed at achieving the release of the hostages with U.S. nationality that they have in their hands and assured that Washington has an idea of how many there are, but defended not offering more details to protect their privacy.
The spokesman reiterated that the United States supports the so-called "humanitarian pauses" of the Israeli offensive in Gaza to achieve specific objectives, such as the release of Americans and other hostages. But he also insisted on his opposition to a ceasefire, a position that some Democrats in Congress are beginning to adhere to as the civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip rises. "Normally, you go to a ceasefire when you think you're close to the end and it's time to negotiate," Kirby said, arguing that such a scenario would "benefit," "legitimize" and be "a propaganda victory" for Hamas. He also said a ceasefire could give the perception that Hamas "has every right to stay in power, and they don't."
ACT.9 NOV 2023 - 03:28
EFE
106 trucks carrying aid and 12 ambulances transport wounded to Egypt enter Gaza
A total of 106 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrived in the Gaza Strip today through the Rafah border crossing, from where 12 ambulances transferred several wounded to Egyptian territory and evacuated foreigners trapped in the Palestinian enclave, various sources reported. Egyptian Red Crescent sources told EFE that 106 trucks with medical supplies, water and food entered the Palestinian Strip on Wednesday through Rafah, the only entrance to the Palestinian enclave that is not controlled by Israel. However, this new shipment did not include fuel, a resource of extreme necessity for the operation of hospitals, bakeries and water purification plants, due to the veto imposed by Israel for fear that it would reach the Islamist group Hamas.
Humanitarian sources told EFE that 12 ambulances transferred several wounded to Egyptian territory, treated mainly at the Al Arish hospital, 40 kilometers from Rafah, and evacuated foreign citizens and Palestinians with dual nationality, although they did not specify the number. This move in Rafah has taken place despite the fact that the spokesman of the US State Department, Vedant Patel, said today that Rafah is temporarily closed due to "security circumstances" that he did not specify, while he said that "there has been no incoming or outgoing traffic throughout the day". More than 1,400 people have already been evacuated to Egypt since the country opened the Rafah crossing last Wednesday for the entry into its territory of Palestinians with dual nationality and foreign nationals trapped in Gaza, thanks to an agreement with Israel mediated by the United States and Qatar. Egypt has estimated at about 7,000 people, of 60 nationalities, the total number of Palestinians with foreign passports and citizens of other countries who would arrive in the North African country by this route.
ACT.9 NOV 2023 - 02:52