November 5: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 30

Latest casualty figures; dire situation in Gaza; Palestinian ban legislation; post-war plans; global solidarity; Israeli calls for genocide; West Bank news.

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.

Some people are led to be skeptical of the Al Jazeera news network. However, the network has won several Emmys, a Peabody and the Overseas Press Association’s Edward R.  Murrow award, among many other honors. The New York Times reports that “its reporting hews to international journalistic standards and provides a unique view on events in the Middle East.” it’s 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 Rupert Murdoch, who has a 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).

Latest statistics:

Palestinian death toll 9,451* (9,299 in Gaza** (including at least 4,800 children and 2,430 women, and at least 152 in the West Bank); 34,300 injured (~32,000 in Gaza and over 2,300 in the West Bank). It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. About 1.5 million people have been displaced; 2,000 are missing (1,250 children) 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, 32 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.

Humanitarian aid: On 4 November, 30 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies crossed from Egypt into Gaza through Rafah crossing. Since 21 October, 451 trucks have entered Gaza. 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.

The Israeli plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza – The Israeli Ministry of Intelligence policy paper “Alternatives for a Political Directive for the Civilian Population in Gaza” advocates for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

Humanitarian crisis: Over the past few days, most water facilities in Gaza City and the north, including some 60 municipal water wells, have  shut down due to the lack of fuel and the inability of staff to reach them. This compounds the situation generated by the shutdown of the single seawater desalination plant in the north, and Israel’s halt in the water supply during the first week of hostilities.

Consequently, nearly all water supplies through the network, as well as trucking activities, have reportedly ceased. Residents rely on the minimal volume from private wells and purification plants and consume unsafe water from agricultural wells.

At least 25 sewage pumping stations in Gaza city and the northern areas have also ceased operating. The municipality of Gaza city has warned about the imminent risk of sewage flooding in large areas of the city, including Az Zaytoun and Ad Daraj neighborhoods.

About 90 Israeli doctors have signed a letter calling for the bombing of hospitals in Gaza.

• READ BACKGROUNDER: Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)

Refugee camp airstrikes: At least 70 Palestinians were killed and another 60 injured, according to the MoH, during two separate airstrikes in the past 24 hours, hitting two schools sheltering IDPs in the Jabalia Refugee Camp, north of Gaza city. Most of the fatalities are said to be women and children. Since the start of hostilities, 258 school buildings have sustained damage, representing more than 51 per cent of all schools in Gaza.

An Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza says (13:15 GMT),

There seems to be a systematic attack on refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. In the last 30 minutes, a major attack on the Bureij refugee camp destroyed residential homes and killed a large number of people.

We are yet to hear the exact number of casualties in this attack. These repeated air strikes on refugee camps in central and southern Gaza are the reason why people are not taking the Israeli announcement of guaranteeing safe corridors to travel to the south seriously.

• WATCH: Deteriorating health conditions in Gaza: Unclean water causes diseases among children

US Legislation to expel Palestinians: US Rep. Ryan Zinke introduced a bill on Thursday that could prevent Palestinians from entering the United States, and also expel those who already reside there. Huffington Post points out:

Despite the fact that Palestinians make up the largest stateless community in the world, the U.S. has only resettled roughly 2,000 of them in the last 20 years, according to the Migration Policy Institute, largely due to the fact that most Palestinians are ineligible for traditional visas and face exceptional immigration barriers.

Israelis, by contrast, no longer need visas to enter the U.S., a policy updated just weeks before the Oct. 7 conflict.

Despite the fact that Palestinians make up the largest stateless community in the world, the U.S. has only resettled roughly 2,000 of them in the last 20 years, according to the Migration Policy Institute, largely due to the fact that most Palestinians are ineligible for traditional visas and face exceptional immigration barriers.

Israelis, by contrast, no longer need visas to enter the U.S., a policy updated just weeks before the Oct. 7 conflict.

“Long-standing legal and logistical barriers make it exceedingly challenging for those in Gaza to resettle in the region, let alone resettle in the U.S. The political grandstanding we’ve seen so much of lately is a discriminatory solution searching for a nonexistent problem,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a refugee resettlement agency.

• READ ABOUT US LEGISLATION FOR ISRAEL: Congress cranks out legislation for Israel: The details

Blinken/Abbas agreement: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a visit to the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas this weekend. They came to an apparent agreement that the PA should play a central role in “what comes next in Gaza.” Abbas said, “We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.” The agreement was made without input from the Palestinian people or Hamas, the body that currently oversees Gaza.

Abbas also called for an immediate halt to the devastating Israeli war on Gaza, and urged the swift provision of humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, food, water, electricity, and fuel, to the war-torn enclave.

Global solidarity with Gaza: A few examples: In Jakarta, Indonesia, as many as 2 million turned out to rally in solidarity with Palestinians on Sunday; Saturday, hundreds of thousands marched in Washington DC; Paris hosted first large pro-Palestinian rally legally permitted since the hostilities escalated; in Berlin, where Palestine solidarity rallies had previously been banned, 6,500 people gathered to call for an end to Israel’s massacre.

Call for genocide in Gaza: In a tweet that X hid, Knesset member Galit Distel-Atbaryan declared: “Erase Gaza from the face of the earth. Let the Gazan monsters rush to the southern border and flee into Egypt, or die. And let them die badly. Gaza should be wiped off the map, and fire and brimstone on the heads of the Nazis in Judea and Samaria. Jewish wrath to shake the earth around the world. We need a cruel, vengeful IDF here. Anything less is immoral.”

Call for nuking Gaza: Israeli politician Amihai Eliyahu, part of Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right party, says one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip. He also objected to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying “we wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid,” and charging that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza.” Asked about the fate of the Palestinian population, he says: “They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”

Later on Sunday morning, Netanyahu’s office announced that Eliyahu had been suspended from government meetings until further notice, and tweeted, “Minister Amihai Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory.”

Israel has for decades kept its nuclear capabilities (and theft of US nuclear technology) secret, A classified 2012 gag order issued under Obama prohibits all governmental officials, including Congress members, from mentioning Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

• READ: UN experts say ceasefire needed as Palestinians at ‘grave risk of genocide’

West Bank deaths: On Sunday, Israeli soldiers killed a young man in the West Bank village of Nouba, and 3 more in Abu Dis. All 4 men were between the ages of 20 and 22. Also on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of a 17-year-old boy whom Israeli soldiers shot several days ago. This brings the total number of West Bank Palestinian deaths since October 7th to 152.

Israeli settler violence: In three incidents recorded in the past 24 hours, Israeli settlers raided the villages of Ein Shibli (Nablus) and Ramin (Tulkarm), where they set fire to and vandalized uninhabited residential structures, an animal shelter, several vehicles, and crops. Since 7 October, OCHA has recorded 198 settler attacks against Palestinians

Call for severe restriction of West Bank Palestinian movement: Israeli lawmaker Zvi Sukkot of the far-right Religious Zionism party called on Israel’s defense minister Sunday not to allow this year’s olive harvest in the West Bank, citing a danger to Jewish residents nearby. “Parts of the olive harvest in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] olive take place near Jewish residential areas, main roads and IDF bases,” wrote Sukkot – who last week was appointed chairman of a Knesset subcommittee on West Bank issues.