Day Thirty Of Swords Of Iron
Israel creates safe corridor for Gazan civilians to flee south toward Egypt.
8:17 am
According to Palestinian Sources, massive IAF airstrikes earlier on northern Gaza caused total collapse of buildings and destroyed roads nearby. This may be an attempt to destroy Hamas's tunnel network beneath Gaza City.
7:47 pm
On its official Twitter account, U.S. Central Command, which deploys American military assets in the Middle East, announced: "On November 5, 2023, an Ohio-class submarine arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility." The US Navy Fifth Fleet is a component of Central Command. The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It has been responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean since 1995 after a 48-year hiatus. It shares a commander and headquarters with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) in Bahrain. Fifth Fleet/NAVCENT is a component command of, and reports to, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). There are 18 Ohio-class nuclear submarines in the US Navy arsenal. In addition to torpedoes, Ohio-class subs carry Trident nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, while some have been converted to carry special operations teams and Tomahawk cruise missiles. U.S. Central Command did not announce which of its subs is now in theater.
7:17 pm
"Israel this week used its Arrow missile-defence system to shoot down a ballistic missile outside of Earth’s atmosphere, in what is believed to be the first combat ever to take place in space. The ballistic missile was launched from Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthis, and flew almost 1,000 miles over the Arabian peninsula on the way to its target, the Israeli port city of Eilat. While the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has released few details about the interception, the Air Force is known to operate several batteries of the Arrow 2 system, which uses a hypersonic interceptor to take out incoming missiles in space. The Israeli defence ministry released a video showing the moment of interception, with the faint cylindrical shape of the incoming ballistic missile barely visible in the false-colour image, before an explosion smears across the screen."
"Protesters in Washington D.C. could be heard chanting: "We don't want two states! We want '48!" As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continues the ground operation in Gaza, cities across the world on Saturday observed a wave of pro-Palestinian protests. In the U.S. capital, demonstrators called for the elimination of Israel and vandalized the gates of the White House. In a video from the rally, the demonstrators could be heard chanting: "We don't want two states! We want '48!" in reference to the assault by 5 Arab armies on Israel just after it declared statehood. They also threw red paint on the fence and attempted to scale the gates around the White House. The participants reportedly attempted to storm the White House. After the demonstration, 'Death to Israel' graffiti appeared in the capital."
5:50 pm
Hezbollah's Air Defenses shot down an Israeli drone Over Nabatieh in southern Lebanon with surface-to-air missile
4:57 pm
Palestinian Sources in Gaza reported the “ground is shaking” across the Gaza Strip from the over 100 Israeli airstrikes which are claimed to have been conducted within the last hour.
3:23 pm
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats appeared on CNN and rejected calls for a ceasefire. "I don't know how you can have a permanent cease fire with an organization like Hamas, which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel.
Arrested last month in Houston on a federal firearm possession charge, a Jordanian man had spoken of “martyrdom,” a federal judge said in a court order, and was “plotting to attack a Jewish gathering,” according to CNN. Sohaib Abuayyash, 20, an iillegal alien, made “statements in support the "killing of individuals of particular religious faiths,” and “referenced an event in Houston for members of a particular religious group,” according to a federal judge who ordered him detained pending trial.
On Nov. 3, Honduras became the latest Latin American country to recall its ambassador to Israel after it condemned what it called genocide and other serious violations of international law in the Gaza Strip. Honduran Foreign Affairs Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina tweeted that President Xiomara Castro had decided to her ambassador in light of “the serious humanitarian situation the civilian Palestinian population is suffering in the Gaza Strip.”
Following Israeli air strikes on a water tower in Tal Al Zaatar in northern Gaza, water flooded the streets.
Hamas fired a large rocket barrage at Tel Aviv tonight, which intercepted by Israel’s Iron Done air defense system.
The U.S. Central Command says the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East and the CENTCOM area of responsibility as part of the increase in regional posture. The Eisenhower sailed into the Mediterranean last Saturday as the American forces expand their presence in the Middle East to deter Iran and its proxy militant groups from trying to widen the Israel-Hamas war. The Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group is also currently in the Mediterranean.
2:52 pm
Secretary of State Blinken made a surprise visit to Iraq today, following his trip to Israel, West Bank, and Cyprus. Iraq’s prime minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani met Blinken. There have been multiple rocket and drone attacks have targeted military bases hosting US forces in Iraq. Approximately 2,500 US troops are currently deployed in Iraq. Most were launched by the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq.” Blinken said, “I made very clear that attacks or threats coming from militias that are aligned with Iran are totally unacceptable.” He said: “We will take every necessary step to protect our people.” Sudani has condemned the attacks and said that investigations are under way to determine the perpetrators.
Hamas said that Israel carried out “intense bombing” tonight in Gaza after telecommunications were cut for a third time since October 7. “For more than an hour, intense bombings have been taking place around hospitals,” said Hamas spokespeson Salama Marouf. Marouf said the area around Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital saw particularly heavy strikes.
Hezbollah fired multiple grad rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona today in retaliation for an Israeli strike in south Lebanon that it said had killed a woman and three children, Reuters. Hezbollah said this was in response to Israel’s “heinous and brutal crime.”
Reuters has released video of Anadolu photojournalist Mohammad Al-Aloul who lost his children, four of his brothers and their children in an Israeli strike on the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza: “I found out my four children had been martyred. My only daughter was martyred. My son Ahmed, the kind one, may God have mercy upon him. Kenan, may God have mercy upon him. Qais, may God have mercy upon him. What can I tell you? My nephews were martyred, may God have mercy upon them. My brother was martyred with his children Aboud, Abdelrahim and Layan. All my brothers were martyred, except one, Mahmoud, who was injured when the walls fell on his back. My wife is in a critical condition.”
The average Palestinian in Gaza is living on only two pieces of bread every day, according to a UN official. According to AP, Palestinians are living on two pieces of Arabic bread made from flour the United Nations had stockpiled in the region, yet the main refrain now being heard in the street is “Water, water,” the Gaza director for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Nov. 3. UN spokesman Thomas White, who said he traveled “the length and breadth of Gaza in the last few weeks,” described the place as a “scene of death and destruction.” No place is safe now, he said, and people fear for their lives, their future and their ability to feed their families. The UN supports 89 bakeries across Gaza, aiming to get bread to 1.7 million people, White told diplomats from the UN’s 193 member nations in a video briefing from Gaza. But, he said, “now people are beyond looking for bread. It’s looking for water.”
UN deputy Mideast coordinator Lynn Hastings, who is also the humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said only one of three water supply lines from Israel is working. “Many people are relying on brackish or saline ground water, if at all,” she said.
Palestinian telecommunications firm Paltel said that Israel has once again cut internet and phone lines across Gaza tonight. “We regret to announce the complete shutdown of communications and internet services in Gaza after the Israeli side disconnected the servers,” Paltel said. Israe launched an intense bombardment on Gaza and other nearby zones in the north after the telecoms were severed. The explosions were so powerful they could be heard in Rafah in the far south near Egypt.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned against the rising disinformation being spread globally amid the ongoing war. He tweeted: “Polarization and dehumanization are being fueled by a tsunami of disinformation. We must stand up to the forces of antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry and all forms of hate.”
EU slams anti-semitism
The EU Commission denounced rising antisemitic incidents in Europe: “The spike of antisemitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the last few days, reminiscent of some of the darkest times in history. European Jews today are again living in fear.” It added:
“We have seen a resurgence of antisemitic incidents and rhetoric in the European Union and worldwide: Molotov cocktails thrown on a synagogue in Germany, stars of David sprayed on residential buildings in France, a Jewish cemetery desecrated in Austria, Jewish stores and synagogues attacked in Spain, demonstrators chanting hate slogans against Jews. In these difficult times the EU stands by its Jewish communities.”
The statement also mentioned alleged anti-Muslim sentiments in Europe. “We have to push back against this rise in antisemitism, as well as the rise in anti-Muslim hatred that we have been witnessing over the past weeks – which has no place in Europe … In parallel, we are stepping up the enforcement of relevant legislation to ensure online platforms react swiftly and effectively to antisemitic or anti-Muslim content online, be it terrorist content, hate speech or disinformation.”
Turkish soldiers and police 'want' to fight in Gaza
Crowds stormed a NATO airbase housing US troops in Turkey during a pro-Palestine today. Police fired teargas and used water cannon to disperse prosters waving Turkish and Palestinian flags. Protesters tore down barricades and attacked riot police and threw rocks.
Bulent Yildirim, the president of the Islamist Turkish aid agency IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, called on the crowds in Adana to refrain from attacking police. “Friends, it is wrong to throw rocks or do similar things because both the police and soldiers would want to go to Gaza and fight and they will go when the time comes.” “Our rage is huge. We cannot hold it in. But Turkey is doing what it can,” he added.
Turkish has recalled its ambassador from Israel on Nov. 4 because of the death toll in Gaza. Last month, Israel withdrew its diplomats in Turkey after Turkish President Recep Erdoğan called Israel an “occupier” at a pro-Palestinian rally and suggested Turkey would go to war with Israel
Secretary of State Blinken met with the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank after his visit with other Arab leaders in the region. “Met with President Abbas and affirmed our commitment to delivery of humanitarian assistance and restoration of essential services in Gaza. Made clear that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must end and reiterated our support for a two state solution,” Blinken said
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has met with the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who has resided in Qatar and Turkey since 2019. Haniyeh “briefed Khamenei on the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza, as well as the developments in the West Bank,” according to Reuters.
Iran supports Hamas but claims it did not support the group's attack on Israel last month. “Ayatollah Khamenei praised the steadfastness and resilience of the people of Gaza and expressed strong regret over the crimes of the Zionist regime, supported directly by Washington and some Western countries,” Iran’s state TV said. Tasnim news agency said the country’s top authority Khamenei “emphasized Tehran’s consistent policy of supporting the Palestinian resistance forces against the Zionist occupiers.”
Iran’s clerical establishment has warned Israel, which it refuses to recognise, of “harsh consequences” if attacks continue on Gaza.
2.47 pm
Summary:
Israeli PM Netanyahu again rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza until all of the more than 240 hostages captured by Hamas are returned. “There will be no ceasefire without the return of our hostages, we say this to both our enemies and our friends. We will continue until we beat them,” Netanyahu told air and ground crews at the Ramon air force base in southern Israel, Reuters reports.
Secretary of State Blinken made an unannounced visit to meet the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah in the West Bank after meeting with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan. A spokesperson for Abbas said after the meeting that Abbas called for an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Small protests took place against the visit. Blinken reaffirmed the US commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resumption of essential services in Gaza and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced. It has refused to back calls for a ceasefire, arguing that it would allow Hamas to re-group.
Blinken also visited Cyprus and visited Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides about Cypriot proposals for a maritime humanitarian corridor to deliver aid to Gaza.
The combined IDF operating in and around Gaza have struck over 2,500 terror sites.
Hamas reported that 9,770+ Palestinians, including 4,008 children, have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip October 7. The PA said in the West Bank said that 152 Palestinians have been killed and 2,100 wounded since then. The claims have not been independently verified.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari demanded that Hamas stop using hospital facilities in Gaza, saying “we will not accept Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals to hide their terror infrastructures”. In a Sunday afternoon briefing in English, Hagari presented evidence that the Indonesia hospital in Bait Lahia was built over existing Hamas infrastructure that Israel had photographed in 2010.
Evacuations for civilians and heavily wounded Palestinians from Gaza have been suspended since Saturday, according to Egyptian security and medical sources said, after an Israeli strike on ambulances near the entrance to Gaza City’s main Dar al-Shifa hospital. Israel claimed Hamas was using an ambulance to move its fighters. Hamas has appealed to Egypt to allow Egyptian ambulances into the Gaza Strip to treat the wounded.
The widow of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Cindy McCain, who is now heading the World Food Programme (WFP), said today that aid entering Gaza was “nowhere near” enough to meet the needs of people there, which she added were growing exponentially. “We need to continue to work together to get safe and sustained access to Gaza at a scale that aligns with the catastrophic conditions facing families there,” McCain said in a statement after visiting the Rafah border crossing leading from Egypt into Gaza
More than 300 US citizens have left Gaza, but there are still those who remain in Gaza, UK deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden said that more than 100 Britons had been evacuated from Gaza and the government hopes more will be able to leave.
Qatari PM Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said today there had been “false” reports on negotiations to release Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Qatar’s foreign ministry said efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza required a “period of calm”, and that leaks from the negotiations were “harmful” and made it difficult for mediators to do their jobs.
7:22 am
Sirens sounded in the northern village of Arab al-Aramshe on the Lebanon border warning of rocket and missile attacks by Hezbollah and allied terrorist groups.
Secretary of State Blinken met with PA President Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, and told him that Gazans “must not be forcibly displaced.” Blinken met with Israeli PM Netanyahu on November 4. A State Department spokesman said Abbas and Blinken discussed “the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians”, presumably referring to recent acts committed by extremist settlers. In Blinken’s three visits to the region since Oct.7, this was his first to the West Bank.
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense intercepted a drone from Lebanon. IDF tracked the drone throughout its flight by Air Force systems, and it was intercepted “deep within Lebanon,” without ever penetrating Israeli airspace. The IDF also said that a number of anti-tank guided missiles were fired from Lebanon at an area near the northern community of Avivim, and rockets were fired at the Malkia area on the Lebanon border. No injuries have been caused in the attacks, and the IDF says troops are responding with artillery shelling.
Air raid sirens blared in Netivot, near Gaza. There are no immediate reports of impacts in the city, some of whose residents had left following Hamas’s October 7 atrocities and the frequent rocket fire ever since.
The PA foreign ministry denounced Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, who was fired after suggesting a nuclear strike on Gaza. “The statements by fascist minister Eliyahu are an honest declaration and clear acknowledgment of what the occupying state [Israel] is doing against our people… particularly in Gaza,” says the statement. Eliyahu’s comments were quickly disavowed by PM Netanyahu, who also suspended the minister from cabinet meetings.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called for an “immediate” humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war as casualties climb in the besieged Gaza Strip, whose population is living on dwindling supplies plundered by the Palestinian terror group. “An immediate, durable and observed humanitarian truce is absolutely necessary and must be able to lead to a ceasefire,” Colonna tells reporters during a visit to Qatar.
So far, PM Netanyahu has rejected a ceasefire, arguing that doing so would allow Hamas to restock and regroup.
The IDF shared images of rocket launchers Israeli troops found near a Gaza playground, amusement park, pool, and homes. Troops of the 551st Brigade find four underground launchers some five meters (16 feet) from a children’s swimming pool, and near homes in the northern Gaza Strip. The 401st Brigade also found rocket launchers within a children’s playground and amusement park compound. “This is further proof of the Hamas terror organization’s constant use of the civilian population as a human shield for terror purposes,” the IDF says in a statement.
Israeli opposition parties oppose giving Haredi schools $76 million, arguing that aid to the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people and others affected by the war with Hamas must take precedence. “Transferring money for any purpose other than strengthening the residents of the south and north, bereaved families and relatives of the hostages, along with various war efforts, is wrong both economically and morally at this time,” says Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, which joined the government to form a wartime cabinet. The opposition Yesh Atid party backs National Unity’s stance.
Israeli troops killed an Islamic State operative and detained 36 wanted Palestinians, including 18 Hamas members, during overnight raids on the West Bank. IDF entered Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, to arrest Nabil Halabia, a Palestinian affiliated with the Islamic State jihadist movement and until recently jailed in Israel. From the time he was released in July, IDF said, he “recruited a squad, purchased weapons and carried out a shooting attack against IDF forces in the area.” “When forces arrived to arrest him, the terrorist opened fire, and in the exchange of fire, he was shot and killed,” the IDF said. Troops seized Halabia’s makeshift submachine gun.
IDF also operated in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Hebron, with some clashes reported. IDF troops have arrested 1,350 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 850 affiliated with Hamas since Oct. 7. Palestinian Authority claims 130+ West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, and in some cases by settlers, since October 7.
The IDF signed a demolition order on November 3 for the home of Kamel Abu Bakr, the terrorist behind a deadly Tel Aviv shooting in August. Abu Bakr, from the village of Rummanah, killed Tel Aviv patrolman Chen Amir.
The combat death of Israeli Sgt. Yehonatan Maimon in Gaza raised the total IDF death toll to 346 on November 4. Maimon, 20, was a member of the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Ofakim. Additionally, another soldier of the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit and a reservist officer in the Armored Corps were seriously wounded during the fighting, the IDF adds.
Israel seeks to spread footage of massacres perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 to parliaments and press offices around the world, at the instruction of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. The US Congress, German and UK parliaments have already seen the videos, which were initially screened to journalists in Israel, and later to the Knesset. “Hamas monsters documented their atrocities against our civilians using inhumane boasting,” says Cohen. “We will tell the entire world, through the movie screening, the unbelievable cruelty from bloodthirsty terrorists who killed entire families and celebrated the harsh violence.”
Chad recalled its top envoy in Israel, slamming deaths of ‘many innocents in Gaza’. The African country calls for a ceasefire “that will lead to a stable solution for the Palestinian question.” It became the sixth country to recall its top envoy from Israel during the war with the Hamas terror group, following in the footsteps of Turkey, Honduras, Chile, Colombia and Jordan.
The Israel Defense Forces says that since the beginning of the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip a week ago, it has struck more than 2,500 targets by land, air and navy forces. Overnight, the IDF says, troops continued battles with Hamas terror operatives in northern Gaza. It says ground forces also directed aircraft to strike Hamas infrastructure, weapons storage sites, observation posts and command centers.
Official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reports that one person was injured and nine were arrested overnight as IDF forces operated in the West Bank’s Jenin. The IDF is locating and defusing land mines hidden by terrorists in the West Bank that are intended to harm soldiers in the future.
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson and former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison have arrived in Israel for a surprise solidarity visit in which they’ll reportedly meet President Isaac Herzog and relatives of hostage held in Gaza by terrorists.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) slammed former US president Barack Obama, accusing him of being “complicit in the death and suffering over the last month in Israel and in Gaza” due to his past policies, after Obama criticized Hamas but also Israel on a podcast. “What Hamas did was horrific and there’s no justification for it, and what is also true is that the occupation, and what is happening to Palestinians, is unbearable,” Obama told a panel hosted by the Pod Save America podcast, to applause. “You have to admit that all of us are complicit to some degree,” he said, and: “If there’s any chance of us being able to act constructively, to do something, it will require an admission of complexity.”
The RJC said, “Obama’s attempt to dilute his own culpability in this situation doesn’t change the facts.”
Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Protesters rattled the gates of the White House, smearing the fence with red paint and denounced President Biden.
IDF Spokesman Avichay Adraee said Israel will reopen a corridor for Gazan civilians in the north of the Strip to escape south on November 5, despite coming under attack while trying to open the road on November 4. He tweeted that Israel will open Salah-al-Din Street for southward traffic between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today. “For your safety, take advantage of the time to move south beyond Wadi Gaza,” he says, reiterating the Israeli military’s long-standing insistence that civilians move out of harm’s way by heading to the south of Gaza.