Israel threatens to bomb al-Quds Hospital as hundreds of thousands protest worldwide in solidarity with Gaza – Mondoweiss

Casualties

• 8,005 Palestinians killed, more than 19,450 wounded in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health
• 114 Palestinians killed, at least 1,950 wounded in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
• 1,405 Israelis killed, 5,445 wounded

Key Developments

• Internet and telephone services are gradually being restored to Gaza Strip following a weekend of Israeli communication blackout
• Mobile data has not been fully restored to all of the Gaza Strip, and phone signal is still weak as Paltel Group teams are fixing Israeli damages to the network.
• Israeli forces threaten al-Quds Hospital with an imminent bombardment, and ordered it to evacuate.
• Al-Quds Hospital is currently treating hundreds of wounded people and patients, and it is a refuge for an estimated 12,000 people.
• A total of 84 aid trucks have been allowed to trickle into the Gaza Strip since the war started three weeks ago.
• Israel will prevent Elon Musk by “all means” from deploying the high-speed internet satellite Starlink to provide communication to aid groups.
• Three Palestinians were killed during Israeli raids in the West Bank.
• Israeli forces have arrested a total of 1,590 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem since October 7. This is in addition to the estimated 4,000 Palestinian workers from Gaza who have also been detained.
• In London, at least 100,000 thousand people marched in London, calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
• New York police arrested hundreds of Jewish Pro-Palestine activists in a sit-in protest in the Grand Central Station
• Netanyahu deletes tweet in which he appeared to blame army and intelligence for failure to prevent Hamas attack

Communication gradually returning to Gaza Strip

Internet and telephone services are gradually being restored to the Gaza Strip following an Israeli communication blackout and disruption over the weekend.

Almost 2.3 million Palestinians were disconnected from the outside world on Friday night as Israeli forces launched an incursion inside the Gaza Strip, and ramped up their airstrikes and ground shells.

The blackout infused a state of panic as Palestinians lived dark hours without internet, phone signals, and electricity amid ongoing Israeli bombardments of their houses and neighborhoods.

On Sunday, the Palestinian telecommunications Paltel Group announced the return of landline, mobile, and internet services to the Gaza Strip. The network has sustained damages, which Paltel technical teams are all hands on deck to fix, although the network is still weak.

On Sunday noon, Al-Jazeera reported that mobile data has not been fully restored to all of the Gaza Strip, and only landlines are functioning well.

On the 23 day of the Israeli war, the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said that 10,000 people have been killed so far, including an estimated 1,500 people who are still missing under the rubble. More than 20,000 were injured.

The Palestine’s Ministry of Education reported that 2,000 students and 70 staff members were killed, and 200 schools were damaged in the relentless Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

An estimated 1,405 Israelis were killed during the Palestinian attack on military bases and settlements on October 7.

Hamas has also taken an estimated 230 people captive and has since released four of them on humanitarian grounds and as part of diplomatic efforts by Egypt and Qatar. At least 331 Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian fighters.

Israel warns al-Quds Hospital to evacuate patients before an imminent bombardment

Israeli forces threatened on Sunday al-Quds Hospital of an imminent bombardment, the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) said.

“[We have] received serious threats from the occupation authorities to immediately evacuate Al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip, as it is going to be bombarded. Since this morning, there has been raids 50 meters away from the hospital,” PRCS said on X.

Wafa official news agency reported that Al-Quds hospital, located in Gaza’s Tel al-Hawa area, is currently treating hundreds of wounded people and patients, with some in intensive care units. The hospital has also become a refuge for an estimated 12,000 people escaping Israeli fire.

Palestinian health officials told Al-Jazeera that 30 hospitals and health centers have been forced to shut down in the Gaza Strip due to shortages of medical and fuel supplies, while other hospitals are partially operating, such as Nasser Hospital, which has only kept its emergency department operating.

A total of 84 aid trucks have been allowed into the Gaza Strip since the Israeli attack started three weeks ago, which has been too little to supply enough food, medical supplies, fuel, and drinking water to 2.3 million people.

On Sunday morning, 13 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured following airstrikes on two homes in Gaza City and Beit Lahia.

The house of the Abdel Al family in Tel al-Hawa was hit, killing10 people. Wafa reported that there was no warning of an airstrike and that women and children are still missing under the rubble.

In Beit Lahia, three members of the Abdel Hay Abu Aita family were killed in an airstrike on their house.

Antonio Guterres, the UN chief, has warned of the situation in Gaza which is “growing desperate by the hour.”

“I regret that instead of a critically needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations,” Guterres said while on visit to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

“The number of civilians who have been killed and injured is totally unacceptable. The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes.”

Amid all the diplomatic talks and statements, the fighting is still ongoing in the Gaza Strip between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters.

On Sunday, the Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed to have wounded two Israeli soldiers during a confrontation with machine guns and mortar shells, in the northwest of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces are securing a foothold inside Gaza Strip, Al-Jazeera reported.

Israel said one of the soldiers sustained a serious injury. 

The Israeli army announced that it attacked Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. 

“[The military is] making progress at this stage of the war according to plan and expanding our ground operations,” an army statement said.

Hamas also claimed to have launched mortar shells on military vehicles near the Erez terminal and said that it fired rockets on Israeli settlements.

Elon Musk to deploy Starlink satellite to provide internet aid groups

An Israeli official objected to the U.S. billionaire Elon Musk’s decision to deploy Starlink satellite to provide internet to aid and humanitarian groups in the Gaza Strip, following Israel’s communication blackout.

Musk, whose company SpaceX was the first private company to launch a rocket into space, said on Saturday that “Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.”

Musk’s tweet was a reply to U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said Israel’s blackout of all communication of 2.3 million people was “unacceptable.”

“Journalists, medical professionals, humanitarian efforts, and innocents are all endangered. I do not know how such an act can be defended. The United States has historically denounced this practice,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

She was quoting a tweet by Husam Zomlot, Palestine’s ambassador to the UK, who was one of the Palestinians who could not reach his family in Gaza for hours over the weekend.

However, Shlomo Karhi, Israel’s Minister of Communications, posted on X saying that “Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this,” without expanding on details.

He claimed that “HAMAS will use it for terrorist activities. There is no doubt about it, we know it, and Musk knows it,” adding that his “office will cut any ties with Starlink.”

Starlink is a satellite which provides high-speed internet. Musk allowed the use of Starlink in Ukraine in March following the Russian invasion, but the service was restricted and, on occasions, withheld as Ukrainian forces planned a drone attack on a Russian naval fleet, according to the New York Times. 

67th anniversary of Kufr Qassem massacre

The 23rd day of the Israeli war on Gaza coincided with the 67th anniversary of the Kufr Qassem massacre of 1956.

The village, which was occupied in 1948 and became part of the newly established State of Israel, was then under military rule.

Israeli forces killed 49 Palestinians, who were shepherds and farmers, and wounded 31 people, as they made their way back to their homes.

A curfew had been announced an hour earlier, which Kufr Qassem residents working in their fields were not aware of, and an Israeli commander ordered the shooting of anyone who violated it.

On Saturday night, and the somber anniversary of these events, three Palestinians were killed during Israeli raids on Askar refugee camp in Nablus, Beit Rima village near Ramallah, and Tamoun village near Tubas in the occupied West Bank.

Nasser Abdul Latif Izzat al-Barghouthi, 29, was killed in Beit Rima. In Tamoun, a 32-year-old Ramah Jalal al-Din Aktishat was shot during clashes with Israeli occupation forces, while Naeem Mahmoud Abdel Salam Farran, 31, was killed in Askar camp.

Since October 7, Israeli forces and settlers killed 114 Palestinians.

The number of West Bank and Jerusalemite Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces since October 7 is 1,590, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Commission for Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs and the Prisoners’ Club.

At least 35 people were arrested in the occupied West Bank on Saturday alone, according to a joint statement by the Commission and the Prisoner’s Club.

The Israeli army confirmed on Sunday the arrest of 23 people on Saturday night, claiming they were “Hamas fighters.” In total, the army said it rounded up 1,030 since October 7, adding that 700 of them were “Hamas fighters.”

According to Al-Jazeera, Palestinian officials said that there are currently 10,000 Palestinians detained inside Israeli prisons.

Pro- Palestine protests worldwide, and New York police arrest hundreds of Jewish activists

On Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of thousands of protestors in Europe’s capital cities and the U.S., Canada, and Australia, marched in the streets expressing solidarity with the Gaza Strip.

In London, at least 100,000 thousand people marched in London, calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

They chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Free, Free, Palestine” and “1, 2, 3, 4, occupation no more. 5,6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state.”

The march route passed the Met Police headquarters, the Houses of Parliament, before ending in Trafalgar Square and Whitehall. 

On Saturday night, New York police arrested hundreds of pro-Palestine Jewish activists who staged a sit-in protest on the main concourse of the Grand Central Station.

Protestors were wearing black t-shirts written on it: “Not in Our Name,” and “Jews Say Ceasefire Now.”

Protests also took place across the United States as well as in Australia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Yemen, Iran, and Malaysia, among other countries.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told hundreds of thousands of protestors in a pro-Palestine rally in Istanbul that his country will cast Israel as a “war criminal.”

“Israel, we will proclaim you as a war criminal to the world. We are making our preparations, and we will declare Israel to the world as a war criminal,” Erdogan said.

Last week, Erdogan said that the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, was a liberation group fighting for their lands, not a terror group.

Erdogan’s speech on Saturday prompted Eli Cohen, Israel’s Foreign Minister, to pull his diplomats from Turkey.

“In light of the escalating rhetoric from Turkey, I have instructed the return of diplomatic representatives from Turkey in order to reassess Israel-Turkey relations,” he tweeted.

Netanyahu deletes tweet blaming army and intelligence for October 7 attack

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a barrage of criticism from his war cabinet following a tweet in which he attempted to blame the Israeli army and intelligence for the failure to prevent Hamas’ attack.

Netanyahu has now deleted his statement. 

Benny Gantz, a former army’s chief of staff and a member of the war cabinet, said that Netanyahu must retract his comment.  

Netanyahu said that he was not warned about Hamas’ attack and that intelligence and military official “believed that Hamas was deterred and sought accommodation.”

Gantz, who maintains a lead over Netanyahu in the polls, harshly criticized the Israeli premier.

“Leadership requires showing responsibility,” Gantz said.

“Any other kind of word or action harms the nation’s resilience and strength,” Gantz said. 

Haaretz reported last week that Netanyahu is attempting to blame army officers for the failure of preventing Hamas’ attack.

He has yet to admit his role, although the army’s intelligence chief Aharon Haliva said he bears full responsibility for not preventing the attack.

However, Netanyahu said there would be a thorough investigation into the October 7 events.

“7 October was a black day in our history. We will get to the bottom of what happened on the southern border and the Gaza-envelope area. The debacle will be checked to the full. Everyone will have to give answers – including me,” he said last week.