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As the conflict between Israel and Gaza enters its 29th day, here are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Saturday November 4, 2023:
Latest developments
- The Israeli military said Saturday that its ground military operations in northern Gaza continued overnight and that soldiers thwarted “numerous attempts” by Hamas fighters to attack Israeli troops from tunnels and compounds military. The army said it had killed “a number” of Palestinian fighters.
- An official US briefing to journalists said a “significant pause” in fighting was needed to free Gaza’s captives. Washington expects Israeli airstrikes to slow down soon, with more emphasis placed on the ground assault.
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “horrified” by the aftermath of a deadly Israeli strike on an ambulance convoy on Friday that killed at least 15 Palestinians.
Human impact and fighting
- At least 9,488 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which said 3,900 of them were children.
- Israel continued to bomb sites in the besieged Gaza Strip. Air raids were recorded in al-Nasser, Jabalia, Beit Hanoon, Atatra, al-Sudaniya and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza City, in addition to the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City.
- An airstrike hit a school Friday evening, killing at least 20 people, according to local reports. The Osama bin Zaid School, located in the Saftawi neighborhood in northern Gaza, housed internally displaced Palestinians.
- The area around the Indonesian hospital was also hit again, following a major deadly bombing attack on the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital, which killed 15 people and injured 16 others. The Israeli military said the attacked ambulance convoy was used by Hamas fighters, a claim rejected by Palestinian authorities.
- The top UN official for aid to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Thomas White, said the average Gaza resident lives on two pieces of Arabic bread a day and is increasingly in desperate need of water. Israel has only authorized limited aid to Gaza, which began arriving on October 21.
Diplomacy
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken completed his third visit to Tel Aviv since the start of the war, after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. He is expected to meet Arab leaders in Jordan on Saturday, where he is expected to hear renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire.
- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke on Friday for the first time since the start of the war. He said the war in the Gaza Strip must end in order to prevent the conflict from spreading to the region, but did not announce an immediate expansion of Hezbollah’s military operations against Israel.
- On Friday, more dual nationals managed to leave Gaza and enter Egypt through the crucial Rafah crossing, the enclave’s only crossing not controlled by Israel.
- The UN Security Council is expected to reconvene to seek a new resolution regarding Gaza. So far, in an effort to support Israel, the United States has voted against every resolution it had not itself proposed or anything that called for an immediate ceasefire.
Arrests and attacks in the occupied West Bank
- Israeli forces are carrying out raids supported by airstrikes throughout the occupied West Bank, including in the cities of Nablus, Jenin, Hebron and Bethlehem. More than 143 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the conflict began last month.
- At least 41 Palestinians have been arrested during nighttime Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank, according to local reports. At least 25 Palestinians were arrested in the al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron, and other raids were also recorded in Tulkarm and Ramallah.
