As Israel enters a new, dangerous phase in its conflict with Hamas, The Algemeiner is rounding up developments in the region and around the world.
Israeli military vehicles drive near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 15, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
US Senators Rushed to Bomb Shelter During Israel Trip
A bipartisan delegation of US senators led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
The trip comes amid Israel’s war with Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that invaded the Jewish state last weekend from Gaza and killed about 1,300 Israelis.
Republican Sens. Mitt Romney (UT) and Bill Cassidy (LA) and Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly (AZ) and Jacky Rosen (NV) joined Schumer. During the trip, however, the lawmakers had to be rushed to a bomb shelter as Hamas fired rockets a Israel, according to a photo posted to social media by Schumer.
Hamas Claims Responsibly for Rockets Fired Into Israel — From Lebanon
Hamas claimed responsibility for rockets fired from Lebanon at northern Israel on Sunday.
In a statement, the Palestinian terrorist group said its Lebanon branch launched 20 rockets.
The Israeli military said nine rockets crossed into Israel, adding that five were intercepted and four fell in open areas. The attack caused no injuries or damage.
As Israel Battles Hamas in South, One Killed in Hezbollah Missile Attacks From North
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist group based in Lebanon, launched anti-tank guided missiles at an Israeli town and military positions on the Lebanon border on Sunday, killing at least one civilian.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it fired at the sources of the missile and rocket fire with artillery and struck Hezbollah sites.
The IDF also said it was restricting a specified area by the Lebanon border, not allowing civilians to enter.
Top US Diplomat Blinken to Return to Israel After Mideast Tour Amid Crisis
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Israel on Monday, just a few days after leaving the country for an initial visit following Hamas’ terror onslaught against the Jewish state.
Blinken has been meeting with senior leaders across the Middle East amid Hamas’ war with Israel.
The US has delivered supplies to Israel but has not deployed troops or directly assisted with Israeli operations.
US to Evacuate Nationals From Israel by Sea
The United States said it will begin to evacuate nationals and their immediate family members from Israel via sea to Cyprus on Monday.
Details can be found in a security alert from the US Embassy in Israel.
The US is also operating flights for those who want to leave.
Meanwhile, US Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) said his office has successfully evacuated 96 Americans out of Israel since Hamas’ invasion last weekend.
IDF Says Hamas Blocking Evacuation of Civilians From Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has blocked civilians from evacuating Gaza.
IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus noted on Sunday in a livestream on X/Twitter that Israel had urged residents in Gaza, especially in the northern part of the enclave, to evacuate. However, he added, Hamas has stopped civilians from leaving.
The Israeli military also shared a phone call that it claimed was a Gaza resident telling an IDF intelligence officer that Hamas is not letting civilians leave.
Hamas has an extensive history of using civilians as human shields in its conflict with Israel.
Israel Urges Gazans to Evacuate as Ground Offensive Looms
The Israeli military urged civilians in Gaza to evacuate southward along a specified route on Sunday, announcing a window in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would not fire on the route.
The IDF alerted Gazans of the window via social media and air-dropped flyers.
Israel is planning a ground offensive into neighboring Gaza, where the Hamas terrorist group has been firing rockets at the Jewish state. Last weekend, the Palestinian terrorist group invaded Israel, killing 1,300 people, wounding thousands of others, and taking dozens of hostages back to Gaza, which it controls.
The ground invasion was expected to begin this weekend but has been delayed. According to reports, cloudy weather was one reason for the postponement. Some commentators have also suggested the delay may be due to new intelligence regarding the state of hostages taken by Hamas.
IDF Says It Killed Hamas Leader Who Planned Terror Onslaught
The Israeli military said it killed a senior commander in Hamas’ commando forces who helped plan the terror onslaught that massacred 1,300 Israelis last weekend.
Ali Qadhi was killed in a drone strike following intelligence efforts by the Shin Bet security agency, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
The IDF noted that Qadhi was arrested by Israel in 2005 for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli citizens. He was released to the Gaza Strip as part of a prisoner swap in 2011.
“Ali Qadi led the inhumane, barbaric October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel,” the IDF said. “We just eliminated him. All Hamas terrorists will meet the same fate.”
Abu Merad, head of Hamas’ air force, was also killed, according to the Israeli military.
US Embassy in Israel Authorizes Departure of Non-Essential Workers, Diplomat Families
The US State Department has authorized the departure of non-emergency staff and the family members of diplomats from Israel amid the fighting in Gaza. However, the department noted that the embassy in Jerusalem will remain open.
Massive Anti-Israel Protest in London, Police Warn Hamas Supporters to Be Arrested
Thousands of people rallied in central London for an anti-Israel protest as war raged on between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that killed about 1,300 Israelis in a surprise invasion last weekend.
More than 1,000 police officers were deployed to the scene, with the authorities warning that those showing support for Hamas or straying from the permitted route will be arrested. The British government has noted an increase in antisemitic incidents since Hamas’ terror onslaught.
Hezbollah Claims Responsibility for Targeting IDF Posts on Lebanon Border
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist group based in Lebanon, claimed responsibility for mortal and missile fire against Israeli military sites in the Mount Dov area on the Lebanon border.
The Israeli military said it was returning fire, targeting the source of the attack in Lebanon.
Palestinians Evacuate in Gaza as Israel Masses Troops on Border
Palestinians in Gaza are fleeing to the south after Israel called for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive.
The Israeli military has begun operations in northern Gaza, where Gaza City is located, after Hamas invaded the Jewish state last weekend and massacred about 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians. Thousands more were injured, and dozens were taken hostage back to Gaza.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has urged residents to ignore Israeli calls for evacuation. The Palestinian terrorist group has a history of using civilians as human shields when engaged in conflict with Israel.
The Jewish state has amassed troops, vehicles, and equipment on its border with Gaza.
Hamas Terrorists Ordered to Kill Civilians, Unearthed Document Shows
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported that it had uncovered a document left behind by a Hamas terrorist after last Saturday’s invasion of southern Israel that gives orders to its gunmen to kill as many civilians as possible in their takeover of the town of Alonim.
‘Please Bring Back My Baby Girls’: Israeli Father’s Desperate Plea
Family members of the more than 150 hostages taken by Hamas delivered harrowing testimony at the United Nations on Friday, ahead of a Security Council meeting to discuss the invasion of southern Israel by terrorists from the Islamist organization who killed 1,300 Israelis and wounded more than 3,000.
“I got a phone call from my wife. Scared. Whispering. Terrified. Saying that she’s hearing gunshots and people are entering the house. I didn’t want to risk her. So I told her to disconnect the phone and that was the last call,” said Yoni Asher, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Negev, whose wife and two daughters have been taken hostage in Gaza. “I just want to approach whoever can hear me in the international community: Please bring back my baby girls.”
Asher believes that his wife’s parents were taken into Gaza as well during the attack on the kibbutz, located on the border with Gaza. Hamas terrorists murdered 20 members of the kibbutz and seized another 80 as hostages, among them an 85-year-old grandmother and a six-month-old baby. The Algemeiner’s Andrew Bernard has more.
‘Cross the Line’: Free Speech Group Expresses Agreement with Disciplining of Stanford University Instructor Who Called Jewish Students “Colonizers”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (F.I.R.E.), which has historically opposed attempts to censor political speech regardless of its partisan origin, said on Tuesday that Stanford University was right to remove from the classroom an instructor who singled out Jewish students and called them “colonizers” during a lesson on Tuesday. According to several accounts, the instructor asked Jewish students to identify themselves and called them out of their seats to, allegedly, reenact what he claimed Palestinians are experiencing. He also said “only six million” Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. In a statement, F.I.R.E. spokesperson Katie Kortepeter said, “Academic freedom does not allow for the singling out of students based on their ethnicity. The professor’s alleged conduct appears to cross the line.”
Saudis Putting Israel Normalization Plans “On Ice:” Report
Saudi Arabia is putting US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice, two sources familiar with Riyadh’s thinking said, signaling a rapid rethinking of its foreign policy priorities as war escalates between Israel and the Palestinian terrorists of Hamas, Reuters reported on Friday.
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.
The two sources told Reuters 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 defense pact in exchange.
Biden Speaks to Relatives of US Hostages in Gaza
US President Joe Biden on Friday spoke by phone with family members of the some of the 14 American citizens who are unaccounted for or who were kidnapped by Hamas during last weekend’s terrorist infiltration, and who are now being held hostage in Gaza. Around 150 people, the vast majority of Israelis, were seized.
“I think they have to know that the president of the United States of America cares deeply about them, deeply. We have to communicate to the world this is critical. This is not even human behavior. It’s pure barbarism, and we’re going to do everything in our power to get them home — if we can find them,” Biden told CBS prior to the call.
The call lasted more than an hour and was on-camera for participants via Zoom, two people familiar with the conversation told NBC News.
Israel Slams Chinese Failure to Condemn Hamas as Embassy Employee is Stabbed
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Friday expressed its “deep disappointment” with China’s failure to condemn Hamas shortly before announcing that an Israeli embassy employee had been stabbed in Beijing.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the employee was in stable condition and that the attack was being investigated. The Chinese police have arrested a suspect, who they say was a foreign worker. The Algemeiner’s Andrew Bernard has more.
Harvard University President Says Pro-Hamas Supporters Should Not Punished, Disavows Terror
Harvard University president Claudine Gay said on Thursday that the members of 31 student groups who signed a statement blaming Israel for Hamas’s terror attack on Saturday should not be punished.
Gay’s statement, which also disavowed “the barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas,” comes amid calls for the university to disclose the names of any students who signed the statement accusing Israel of operating an “open air prison” in Gaza and asserting that “the apartheid regime is the only one to blame” for the violence. The Algemeiner’s Dion J. Pierre has more.
“Barbaric:” French Schoolteacher Murdered in Islamist Knife Attack
A French schoolteacher has been stabbed to death in an attack denounced by President Emmanuel Macron as “barbaric Islamic terrorism.”
The 20-year-old assailant fatally stabbed a teacher in an attack at a school in the northern France city of Arras on Friday.
Two other people were seriously wounded and fighting for their lives, Macron said after visiting the school.
“The teacher who was killed stepped in and undoubtedly saved a lot of lives himself,” Macron said after paying his respects to the dead teacher, whose body still lay under a cover and surrounded by a pool of blood.
In a national address a day earlier, Macron had urged the French to remain united and refrain from bringing the Israel-Hamas conflict home.
He stopped short of making a direct link in Arras but said: “Terrorism strikes once again in a school, and in a context that we all know.”
Germans Brace for ‘Wave’ of Antisemitic Violence
German authorities are expecting a “wave” of antisemitic violence as the global spillover triggered by last Saturday’s invasion of southern Israel by Hamas terrorists continues to impact Jewish communities around the world. The situation in Germany’s schools is a particular headache for German officials. “I am very concerned that the further Israel’s response to this terrorist attack progresses, the mood in schools will clearly turn against Israel,” Felix Klein — the leading federal official tasked with combating antisemitism — said on Friday. “There is already shocking news from schools where students are wrapping Palestinian flags around themselves and who want to bring this conflict into the schools.” The Algemeiner’s Ben Cohen has more.
Putin Compares Israeli Response in Gaza to Nazi Siege of Leningrad
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday compared Israel’s response in Gaza with Nazi Germany’s World War II siege of Leningrad as he argued that a ground operation in Gaza would result in “unacceptable” civilian casualties.
Israel is now about to do something that is “comparable to the siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War,” Putin told journalists in Kyrgyzstan. “In my opinion, this is unacceptable,” he said.
Putin — whose regime is responsible for the deaths of nearly 70,000 Ukrainians since Russia’s Feb. 2022 invasion of its southern neighbor — acknowledged Israel’s right to self-defense, but warned that a ground attack would lead to “serious consequences for all sides.”
“And most importantly, the civilian casualties will be absolutely unacceptable. Now the main thing is to stop the bloodshed,” the Russian leader added.
Putin then blamed the violence in the US. “The major tragedy that Israelis and Palestinians are currently experiencing is the direct result of the United States’ failed policy in the Middle East,” he said.
Separately, former Russian President and key Putin ally Dimitry Medvedev accused western countries of “shameful silence” on Israel’s military response.
“More than a million people from Gaza must urgently evacuate… at the demand of the Israeli army. Yet all the ‘Western partners’ are shamefully silent,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.
“I wonder what their reaction would be to a similar demand to the Kyiv regime to evacuate one of (its) major cities?” he asked.
‘Fauda’ Actor Idan Amedi Joins IDF Reservists to Help in Israel-Hamas War
“We will not surrender until we win,” said Amedi, who joined the IDF reservists after Hamas launched its initial attack against Israel on Saturday morning. “This is not a scene from Fauda. This is real life … Alongside the horrifying and vicious attacks, our morale remains high. We fully comprehend why we are here. We are here to protect our children, our families and our homes.” The Algemeiner’s Shiryn Ghermezian has more.
Jewish Students Targeted During Outpouring of Pro-Hamas Support
On Thursday, Hunter College student Gideon Askowitz was standing in a section reserved for pro-Israel counter-protestors near Lexington Avenue when another protestor walked over from the pro-Hamas section and snatched his Israeli flag.
At Drexel University, an unknown individual set on fire the door of the residence of a Jewish student, whose pro-Israel beliefs are widely known. An arson and hate crimes investigation is ongoing. The Algemeiner’s Dion J. Pierre has more.
Thousands in Hollywood Demand Return of Hamas Hostages, Warn About Anti-Israel Propaganda Online
Michael Douglas, Chris Pine, Gal Gadot and Jason Alexander are among the more than 1,000 celebrities and entertainment executives who signed an open letter condemning Hamas and urging their colleagues to “not amplify” anti-Israel propaganda circulating on social media. “There is no justification or rationalization for Hamas’ actions,” they further wrote. “They are a terrorist organization whose leaders call for the murder of Jews everywhere.” The Algemeiner’s Shiryn Ghermezian has more.
Hamas Captive Admits Beheadings in Leaked Footage of Interrogation
Leaked footage of a Palestinian man from Gaza being questioned by Israeli officials began circulating on social media on Friday. During his interview, the man confirmed that “old men, men, women, babies, little ones, young women, teenage girls” were indiscriminately targeted during last weekend’s Hamas onslaught. Asked by his interrogator “where are the heads?” the man responded by drawing his finger across his throat. “Cut them off,” he said. “Who?” asked the interrogator. “Hamas — after they killed them, they cut off their heads, placed them on the ground,” the man replied.
“I Stand With Israel”: Basketball Fans Show Solidarity With Israel at Barclays Center
Basketball fans showed their support for Israel at the Maccabi Ra’anana vs Brooklyn Nets game on Thursday night at Barclays Center in New York by waving Israeli flags, singing Hebrew songs, and holding signs that said “I Stand With Israel” as well as “New York Stands With Israel.” Fans also gathered outside the arena to sing together in solidarity with the Jewish state amid its war against Hamas. The Barclays Center additionally announced that the arena together with the Brooklyn Nets “condemn the terrorist attacks and mourn the senseless loss of life in Israel.” The Algemeiner’s Shiryn Ghermezian has more.
US Far Left Groups Declare Support for Hamas Violence
A new Anti-Defamation League (ADL) briefing published on Thursday details the support offered by US far left groups for the Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians. “The Party for Socialism and Liberation, the World Workers Party, chapters of the Democratic Socialists for America (DSA), independent chapters of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and more have shared these views in official statements and on social media,” the ADL noted. One statement from the San Francisco chapter of the DSA declared: “Violent oppression inevitably produces resistance. Socialists support the Palestinian people’s, and all people’s, right to resist and fight for their own liberation. This weekend’s events are no different. Decolonization is the only path towards peace. ” Meanwhile the BLM chapter in Phoenix described Hamas’ infiltration of civilian Israeli communities as “a revolution and attempt to reclaim their freedom.”
IDF to Gazans: Evacuate for Your Own Safety
The following is the text of the warning broadcast by the Israeli military to Palestinians in Gaza:
“The IDF calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection, and to move to the area south of Wadi Gaza, as shown on the map.
The Hamas terrorist organization waged a war against the State of Israel, and Gaza City is an area where military operations take place. This evacuation is for your own safety.
You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting you to do so is made. Do not approach the area of the security fence with the State of Israel.
Hamas terrorists are hiding in Gaza City inside tunnels underneath houses and inside buildings populated with innocent Gazan civilians.
Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields.
In the following days, the IDF will continue to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians.”
Jewish Schools in London Closed Due to Security Fears
Two Jewish schools in North London will remain closed until Monday because of security concerns.
Torah Vodaas Primary School and Ateres Beis Yaakov Primary School have both informed parents about the closure this evening saying they were making the decision “in the interests of the safety of our precious children.” The headteacher of Torah Vodaas, Rabbi Feldman, said that while there was no ‘specific threat’ to the school, it was “not a decision that has been taken lightly,” the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported.
According to the Community Security Trust (CST), a voluntary group providing security to the British Jewish community, at least 89 antisemitic incidents have been recorded across the UK since the Hamas onslaught last Saturday. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to provide an additional $3.6 mn of funding to secure Jewish institutions, slamming the “quite frankly disgusting rise in antisemitic incidents over the past few days.”
The deputy assistant commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police, Laurence Taylor, said antisemitic incidents over the past week included intimidation outside synagogues and loudly playing German military music, the BBC reported. He added the force had also seen an increase in Islamophobic incidents, “but nothing like the scale of the increase in antisemitism.”
To catch up on Saturday’s developments in Israel and Gaza, click here.
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