by If Americans Knew, published on Israel Palestine News, October 3, 2023
Latest casualty figures, humanitarian update, incidents in Gaza and West Bank, Israel: “Nothing will stop us,” US government’s broad support.
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here. For more news, go here and here. Live broadcast news from the region is here.*
Latest statistics:
Palestinian death toll 8,896* (8,756 in Gaza** (including at least 3,826 children and 2,405 women, and at least 140 in the West Bank); 34,281 injured (~32,000 in Gaza and over 2,281 in the West Bank). It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. About 1.5 million people have been displaced; “thousands are missing and presumed to be under rubble.
**NOTE: The official UN death toll includes 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast. IAK does not yet include those deaths since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation.
Israeli death toll continues to be reported as ~1,400*** (2 killed in West Bank, 24 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and ~5,400 injured.
***NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.
At least 19,647 Palestinians and 2,770 Israelis have been killed by someone from the other side since 2000.
More than 50 Democratic National Committee employees have signed an open letter to their leadership, calling on them to urge President Joe Biden to seek a cease-fire in Israel’s escalating war against Hamas. The letter’s signers, who chose to remain anonymous, work at the primary organizing body for the Democratic Party, which is handling the bulk of Biden’s fundraising and the coordinated campaign for his reelection.
“As strategic partners to the administration… we feel it is the DNC’s moral obligation to urge President Biden to publicly call for a ceasefire,” the 51 employees wrote in a letter they shared with their leadership Friday morning. That figure represents 15% of the committee’s 300 staffers, a DNC spokesperson told HuffPost.
UPDATE: Israeli forces have now completely encircled Gaza City, a densely packed cluster of neighborhoods that Israel says is the center of Hamas military infrastructure and includes a vast network of underground tunnels, bunkers and command centers.
Casualties on both sides were expected to rise as Israeli troops advance toward the dense residential neighborhoods of Gaza City. Israel has warned residents to immediately evacuate the Shati refugee camp, which borders Gaza City’s center – but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are either unable or unwilling to leave, and remain in the path of fighting in northern Gaza. Many fear the dangers of traveling while airstrikes continue or the disease and crowding in the south where many have fled, or have no means of transportation. Others fear another Nakba, in which they would not be allowed to return to their homes. Many have crowded into U.N. facilities, hoping for safety.
Israel forces have surrounded Gaza City on three sides and are operating inside the city, fighting in close quarters, their top military commander has said. The intensifying Israeli bombardment has killed thousands of Palestinians, and those sheltering from the assault are running out of clean water and facing increasing health risks as public services become unable to operate and hospitals close.
Israeli attacks hit entrance to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza and ambulances carrying wounded to the south, health ministry says. Dozens of people are reported killed and wounded.
An Israeli attack killed at least 14 Palestinians, including women and children, who were fleeing from the bombarded territory’s north to its south. Witnesses said the strike hit al-Rashid road, Gaza’s coastal road which the Israeli military has previously told civilians to take to travel south.
Humanitarian aid to Gaza: On November 2, 102 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered Gaza. This is the largest convoy since delivery of aid resumed on 21 October, bringing the total number of trucks that entered to 374. The average number of trucks allowed into Gaza prior to the hostilities was about 500 per day. The entry of fuel, which is desperately needed to operate life-saving equipment, remains banned by the Israeli authorities.
A total of 150 trucks so far have transported food, including ready-to-eat options like canned tuna and other nonperishables. These food supplies are primarily distributed to internally displaced persons and host families. Food assistance covers about 10% of the minimum caloric intake requirement, according to the World Food Program (WFP).
- Recommended reading: A Textbook Case of Genocide by Israeli author and associate professor of the Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, Raz Segal
Palestinian losses: the Israeli military has killed 10 Palestinians in the past 24 hours in locations across the occupied West Bank.
An Israeli attack on a cemetery in northern Gaza resulted in the deaths of at least 10 Palestinian graveyard workers.
Israeli soldiers opened fire on worshippers leaving a mosque in the occupied West Bank on Friday, killing one person and wounding another.
- Recommended reading: Israel-Palestine war: Settler attacks on the rise in West Bank villages
Israel has military losses, but “nothing will stop us”: Israeli army Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari said that Israeli forces have made big gains with this ground operation, but they are also suffering heavy losses. Five soldiers were killed in fighting in Gaza Thursday, bringing the total since the start of the ground offensive to 24. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared, “I want to make one thing clear – nothing will stop us.”
Indiscriminate rocket firing by Palestinian armed groups towards Israeli population centers continued over the past 24 hours, with no fatalities reported.
US leaders express support for Israel: US Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the administration’s unconditional support for Israel’s war in Gaza: “We are not going to create any conditions on the support that we are giving Israel to defend itself,” Harris told a news conference on Thursday during her visit to the UK.
Secretary Blinken said on Thursday that Palestinian civilians have continued to bear the brunt of the conflict in recent days and the issue will be raised during his trip to Israel. “We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women children in Gaza,” he said. But the US on Thursday maintained its opposition to a ceasefire, saying it would benefit Hamas. Blinken arrives in Israel today.
NSC spokesperson John Kirby said in a press briefing Thursday,
We see in the scope of [the Israeli military] operations that they are making efforts to try to minimize civilian casualties.
That does not mean, and I did not say, that they aren’t still causing some [casualties]. Each one’s tragic, each one shouldn’t happen, and we have been crystal-clear about that.
American drones over Gaza: Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the U.S was flying intelligence gathering drones over Gaza to assist with hostage location efforts. One of the officials said they had been carrying out the drone flights for over a week. 10 Americans who remain unaccounted for may be among the more than 200 people taken as hostages into Gaza.
Congressional aid package for Israel: The United States House of Representatives has passed a Republican plan providing $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel, setting up a partisan clash over the usually bipartisan issue. Biden had instead asked Congress to pass a $106 billion emergency spending package that includes funding for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. The House package includes $4 billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems and military equipment transferred from US stocks.
The bill, however, has a slim prospect of becoming law after US President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats in the Senate signaled their opposition due to its inclusion of spending cuts and a lack of aid for Ukraine.
The Hezbollah chief says whoever wants to prevent a regional war must quickly stop the war on the Gaza Strip.
- The UNRWA says 23 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on four of its shelters in Gaza in less than 24 hours
- Since Thursday night, Israeli forces have killed at least 10 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank
- In Gaza, another 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack that hit graveyard workers in a cemetery in Beit Lahia
- A dozen cancer patients have died due to a hospital shutdown, a health ministry spokesperson says
- The Gaza death toll since October 7 has reached 9,227
- Civilians trying to evacuate Gaza City to the south are being targeted by Israeli forces, Al Jazeera correspondents say
- Witnesses say the number of Palestinian workers and labourers who were sent back to Gaza from Israel and the occupied West Bank is in the thousands
- Recommended reading: ‘Career on the line’: US students fear job backlash for protesting Israel
MORE RECENT NEWS ON GAZA:
- Israeli media: Palestinians recount settler, army torture amid surge in West Bank expulsions
- Israeli communities near Gaza are on stolen land, former owners consigned to the Gaza ghetto
- Media bias in Western coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza
- What Americans Need to Know about Gaza and Israel Right Now
- Essential facts about the Hamas-Gaza-Israel war
- WATCH: What was happening in Gaza BEFORE the Hamas attack…
*Some people may be skeptical of using Al Jazeera as a source of information. However, the network is generally professional and accurate in its reporting; it’s important for viewers to evaluate it for themselves. it’s also important to remember that all news sources may potentially have bias. For example, CNN uses anchors who used to work for the Israel Lobby, who have lifelong attachment to Israel, and who often exhibit pro-Israel spin and omission in their broadcasts. Similarly, Fox News is strongly influenced by an individual with strong attachment to Israel (and who may have fired Tucker Carlson, the network’s most popular host, in part due to the host’s opposition to war and his pattern of failing to exhibit sufficient devotion to Israel).
Today, during a police raid to take down Palestinian flags in the anti-Zionist Jewish neighborhood, Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, the Israeli policemen were recorded attacking residents and knocking residents down on the road, hitting, and punching them in the face.
Police violence… pic.twitter.com/sUNYZg749i
— Torah Judaism (@TorahJudaism) November 1, 2023
*Featured Image: A man sits on debris as Palestinians conduct a search and rescue operation after the second bombardment to the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, on November 1. (photo)