Excerpts from the Wikipedia article “2023 Israel–Hamas war”

 by Edward Ulrich, December 1, 2023




This article is selected text from the Wikipedia article “2023 Israel–Hamas war.”  I have highlighted portions of the text that I have found interesting.  It is a lengthy article, but I recommend reading it to become familiar with the conflict.

[NOTE:  While the amount of Palestinian casualties in the conflict are likely very high, the actual amount is disputed since they are reported by Hamas, which is notoriously dishonest when reporting such information, as this article explains.

However, leftist news sources and organizations such as the UN are attempting to claim that Hamas can be trusted with reporting such information (link,  and link).

I believe if the casualties were actually as high as reported in this Wikipedia article such as in this text: “Over 14,500 Palestinians (the majority of whom were women and children) in the Gaza Strip have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry,” then the individual reports of incidents such as bombings that are cited would imply such a massive toll, however they do not.

In any event it should be noted that Hamas was the aggressor in this conflict and it brutally makes use of its own citizens as humans shields to protect its terrorist military hardware such as rocket launchers, which is not something that any civilized organization would consider doing.

(And note that much evidence shows that Hamas is actually covertly run by the global political elite, as is explained in this article.)]

 

Following is the text from the Wikipedia article:

 

This article is about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.  For the surprise attack that initiated the war, see 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.  For other conflicts, see Gaza–Israel conflict.

An ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, with clashes also taking place in the West Bank and Israel–Lebanon border.  On that day, Hamas-led Palestinian militants launched a multi-pronged invasion of southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.  The surprise attack comprised a barrage of rockets, while around 3,000 militants breached the Gaza–Israel barrier and attacked Israeli military bases and civilian population centers.  At least 846 Israeli civilians and 324 soldiers and police were killed during the attacks, while an estimated 240 Israeli and foreign nationals were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip.  As of 11 October, at least 44 countries have condemned the attack as a terrorist attack, while other countries have placed the responsibility on Israel and criticized it for occupying Palestinian lands.  Hamas stated that its attack was in response to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, rising Israeli settler violence and recent escalations.  After clearing Hamas militants, the Israeli military responded by conducting an extensive aerial bombardment campaign in which 6,000 bombs were dropped on Gazan targets over six days and by imposing a total blockade of the Gaza Strip followed by a large-scale ground invasion of Gaza.

Israel’s declaration of a state of war marked the start of the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.  As of 23 November 2023, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 15,000 Palestinians, including over 6,000 children, have been killed, making this one of the deadliest wars for children this century.  Widespread civilian deaths have led to both Israel and Hamas being accused of war crimes.  Israel ordered Gazans to evacuate northern Gaza, while Hamas called on residents to stay in their homes.  The United Nations reported that around 1.7 million Palestinians, over 70% of Gaza’s population, as well as around 500,000 Israelis have been internally displaced.  The war has led to a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.  The health system is in a state of partial collapse, most hospitals are out of service, and there are acute shortages of drinking water, food, fuel and medical supplies such as anesthetics for C-sections and amputations.  The United Nations has warned of the “immediate possibility” of starvation and the spread of disease in the region, due to the cutoff of water, fuel, food and electricity by Israel.

The war has sparked widespread global protests that have focused on ceasefire.  The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire; a week later, the United States stood with Israel in rejecting a non-binding advisory resolution passed overwhelmingly in the United Nations General Assembly.  Israel has rejected calls for a ceasefire.  On 15 November, the UN Security Council approved a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip.”  Israel agreed to a temporary truce following a deal in which Hamas agreed to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.  On 28 November, Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce.

 

Background

See also: Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Gaza–Israel conflict

The Gaza Strip and Israel have been in conflict since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, which it had hitherto occupied since 1967.  The United Nations and several human rights organizations continue to classify Gaza as held under Israeli occupation, due to its effective military control over the territory.

Hamas, an Islamist militant group, won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and a subsequent battle in the Gaza Strip between it and Fatah, led to it taking over governance in the strip, which escalated tensions with Israel.  Israel, along with Egypt, imposed a blockade that significantly damaged Gaza’s economy, citing security concerns as the justification.  International rights groups have characterized the blockade as a form of collective punishment, while Israel defended it as necessary to prevent weapons and dual-use goods from entering the territory.

Since the blockade, Israel and Palestinian militants have had several clashes and made attacks on each other.  The Palestinian Authority has not held national elections since 2006.  Hamas tunneled under the border wall to launch cross-border attacks and fired rockets into Israeli territory.  This led to multiple conflicts, escalating into outright wars.  Israel relied on the Iron Dome rocket defense system for defense, and responded with targeted strikes into Gaza, aiming to minimize the militant threat.  Surveys in 2023 of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank before the war indicated that a majority supported the use of “armed struggle,” the creation of “militant groups,” and an intifada (“uprising”) against the Israeli occupation.

Hamas’s actions have resulted in it being designated as a terrorist organization by a number of western powers, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and others.  China, Turkey, Russia and other countries do not regard Hamas as such.  A 2018 attempt to condemn Hamas for “acts of terror” at the United Nations failed to achieve the required two thirds majority, with 87 votes in favor, 58 votes against, 32 abstentions and 16 non-votes.

 

Israeli policy

Benjamin Netanyahu has been Israel’s prime minister for most of the two decades preceding the war, and was criticized for having championed a policy of empowering Hamas in Gaza.  He has been accused of doing this to sabotage a two-state solution by confining the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority to the West Bank and weakening it, and to demonstrate to the Israeli public and western governments that Israel has no partner for peace.  This criticism was leveled by several Israeli officials, including former prime minister Ehud Barak, and former head of Shin Bet security services Yuval Diskin.  Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority were also critical of Israel under Netanyahu allowing suitcases of Qatari money to be given to Hamas, in exchange for maintaining the ceasefire.  Moreover, in recent years, Israel allowed up to 18,000 Palestinian laborers from Gaza to work in Israel as an incentive to maintain relative calm.  A Times of Israel op-ed argued after the Hamas attack that Netanyahu’s policy to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset had “blown up in our faces.”

 

Hamas motivations

Further information: Hamas Charter

Hamas officials said their attack was a response to the Israeli occupation, blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, and imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians.

Mohammad Deif, the head of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a recorded message on the first day of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, that it was in response to what he called the “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Israel killing and wounding hundreds of Palestinians in 2023.  He called on Palestinians and Arab Israelis to “expel the occupiers and demolish the walls.”  He continued, “in light of the continuing crimes against our people, in light of the orgy of occupation and its denial of international laws and resolutions, and in light of American and western support, we’ve decided to put an end to all this, so that the enemy understands that he can no longer revel without being held to account.”

 

2023 local escalation

See also: 2023 Neve Yaakov shooting,  2023 Al-Aqsa clashes,  2023 Israel–Lebanon shellings, May 2023 Gaza–Israel clashes,  and July 2023 Jenin incursion

Over the course of 2023, before the attack, 39 Israelis and two foreign nationals had been killed, 116 wounded in Palestinian attacks, while at least 247 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces.  Increases in settler attacks had displaced hundreds of Palestinians, and there were clashes around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a contested holy site in Jerusalem.

In August 2023, 1,264 Palestinians were held in administrative detention in Israel, without charge or trial, the highest number in three decades.  Israel says this tactic is necessary in order to contain dangerous militants.

Tensions between Israel and Hamas rose in September 2023, and the Washington Post described the two “on the brink of war”.  Israel found explosives hidden in a shipment of jeans and halted all exports from Gaza.  In response, Hamas put its forces on high alert, and conducted military exercises with other groups, including openly practicing storming Israeli settlements.  Hamas also allowed Palestinians to resume protests at the Israel-Gaza barrier.  On 13 September, five Palestinians were killed at the border.  According to the Washington Post, the Palestinians were attempting to detonate an explosive device.  Al-Jazeera reported that a Palestinian Explosives Engineering Unit was working to deactivate the device.  On 29 September, Qatar, the UN, and Egypt mediated an agreement between Israel and Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip to reopen closed crossing points and deescalate tensions.

 

Israeli intelligence failure

Israeli intelligence officials initially claimed they had no warnings or indications of the 7 October attack by Hamas, despite Israel exercising extensive monitoring over Gaza.  United States warned Israeli government of Hamas attack few days before the surprise attack by Hamas.  Egypt said it warned Israel days before the attack, “an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big.”  Israel denied receiving such a warning, but the Egyptian statement was corroborated by Michael McCaul, Chairman of the US House Foreign Relations Committee, who said warnings were made three days before the attack.

According to the New York Times, Israeli officials had obtained detailed attack plans more than a year prior to the actual attack.  The document described operational plans and targets, including the size and location of Israeli forces, and raised questions in Israel as to how Hamas was able to learn these details.  The document provided a plan that included a large scale rocket assault prior to an invasion, drones to knock out the surveillance cameras and automated guns that Israel has stationed along the border, and gunmen invading Israel, including with paragliders.  The Times reported that “Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision.”  According to the Times, the document was well circulated among Israeli military and intelligence leadership, who largely dismissed the plan as being beyond Hamas’ capabilities, though it was unclear if the political leadership was informed.  In July of 2023, a member of the Israeli signals intelligence unit alerted her superiors that Hamas was conducting preparations for the assault, saying that “I utterly refute that the scenario is imaginary.”  An Israeli colonel ignored her concerns.  According to the Financial Times, alerts from the signals unit were ignored because they came from lower-ranking soldiers, contradicted the belief that Hamas was contained by Israel’s blockade, bombing, and placation via aid, and the belief that Hamas was seeking to avoid a full war.

 

Israel–Saudi normalization talks

Main article: Israel–Saudi Arabia relations

At the time of the attack, Israel and Saudi Arabia were conducting negotiations to normalize relations.  Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said normalization was “for the first time real.”  Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said it had “repeatedly warned that Israel’s ongoing occupation of Gaza would propel further violence.”

 

Historical context

See also: Iran–Israel proxy conflict, Gaza-Israel Conflict, and Israeli-occupied territories

…

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

For a more comprehensive list, see List of engagements during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

 

7 October attack

[NOTE:  I have not included information about the October 7th attacks in this article.  Instead I have made its own article at this link.]

 

Initial Israeli counter-operation (7–27 October)

After the initial breach of the Gaza perimeter by Palestinian militants, it took hours for the Israeli military to respond by sending troops to counter-attack.  The first helicopters sent to support the military were launched from the north of Israel, and arrived at the Gaza Strip an hour after fighting began.  They immediately encountered difficulty in determining which outposts and settlements were occupied, and distinguishing between Palestinian militants and the soldiers and civilians on the ground.  The helicopter crews initially poured down fire at a tremendous rate, and in 4 hours, about 300 targets were attacked.  Later on the crews began to slow down the attacks and carefully select targets.  According to Haaretz’s journalist Josh Breiner, a police source said that a police investigation indicated an IDF helicopter which had fired on Hamas militants “apparently also hit some festival participants” in Re’im music festival massacre.  The Israeli police denied the Haaretz report.

Subsequent investigation has determined that militants had been instructed not to run so that the air force would think they were Israelis.  This deception worked for some time, but pilots began to realize the problem and ignore their restrictions.  By around 9:00 a.m., amid the chaos and confusion, some helicopters started laying down fire without prior authorization.

The attack appeared to have been a complete surprise to the Israelis.  Prime Minister Netanyahu convened an emergency gathering of security authorities, and the IDF launched Operation Swords of Iron in the Gaza Strip.  In a televised broadcast, Netanyahu said, “We are at war.”  He threatened to “turn all the places where Hamas is organized and hiding into cities of ruins,” called Gaza “the city of evil,” and urged its residents to leave.  Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducted security assessments at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.  Overnight, Israel’s Security Cabinet voted to act to bring about the “destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”  The Israel Electric Corporation, which supplies 80% of the Gaza Strip’s electricity, cut off power to the area.  This reduced Gaza’s power supply from 120 MW to 20 MW, provided by power plants paid for by the Palestinian Authority.

The IDF declared a “state of readiness for war,” mobilized tens of thousands of army reservists, and declared a state of emergency for areas within 80 kilometers (50 mi) of Gaza.  The Yamam counterterrorism unit was deployed, along with four new divisions, augmenting 31 existing battalions.  Reservists were reported deployed in Gaza, in the West Bank, and along borders with Lebanon and Syria.

Residents near Gaza were asked to stay inside, while civilians in southern and central Israel were “required to stay next to shelters.”  The southern region of Israel was closed to civilian movement, and roads were closed around Gaza and Tel Aviv.  While Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport remained operational, multiple airlines cancelled flights to and from Israel.  Israel Railways suspended service in parts of the country and replaced some routes with temporary bus routes, while cruise ships removed the ports of Ashdod and Haifa from their itineraries.

 

Israeli blockade and bombardment

Further information: 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip

Immediately following the surprise attack, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes that they said targeted Hamas compounds, command centers, tunnels, and other strategic targets.  Two days after the surprise attack, Israel said that 426 Hamas targets had been hit, including destroying Beit Hanoun, homes of Hamas officials, a mosque, and an internet hub.  Israel also rescued two hostages before declaring a state of war for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  Defense Minister Gallant announced a “total” blockade of the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity and blocking the entry of food and fuel, adding “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”  This drew criticism from Human Rights Watch who described the order as “abhorrent” and as a “call to commit a war crime.”  The IDF later deployed C-130 and C-130J transport aircraft to retrieve off-duty personnel.

As a part of a bombing run targeting Hamas command centers and weapon caches, the IDF stated that it had bombed the Nukhba forces—a Hamas special forces unit that is thought to have led the attack on Israel.

Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using White phosphorus munitions over Gaza on 10 and 11 October, claiming it violated international law.  In response Israel denied the allegations.

 

Evacuation of Northern Gaza

Main article: Evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip

See also: Attacks on Palestinians evacuating Gaza City

Almost a week after the initial attack on Israel, on Friday 13 October, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for communities north of the Wadi Gaza.  All Palestinians in that region, including those in Gaza City, were given 24 hours to evacuate to the south.  The Hamas Authority for Refugee Affairs responded by telling residents in northern Gaza to “remain steadfast in your homes and stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation.”

The statement by Israel faced widespread backlash; with numerous agencies, such as Doctors Without Borders, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, among others, condemning the order as “outrageous” and “impossible” while calling for an immediate reversal of the order.

As a part of the order, the IDF announced a six-hour window from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time on Friday 13 October, for refugees to flee south along specified routes within the Gaza Strip.  An explosion at 5:30 p.m. along one of the safe routes killed 70 people.  Some sources attributed it to an IDF airstrike, while CNN said the cause was unclear.  The Jerusalem Post said open-source analysts believed the explosion originated from a car on the ground, but the cause was unclear.  The Financial Times carried out an investigation, concluding “analysis of the video footage rules out most explanations aside from an Israeli strike,” although it was “difficult to conclusively prove whether these blasts came from an IDF strike, a potential Palestinian rocket misfire or even a car bomb.”

The IDF stated Hamas set up roadblocks to keep Gaza residents from evacuating south and caused traffic jams.  Israeli officials stated this was done to use civilians as “human shields,” which Hamas denied.  A number of countries and international organizations condemned what they called Hamas’s use of hospitals and civilians as human shields.

 

17 October Israeli airstrikes

Further information: al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion and October 2023 UNRWA school airstrike

On 17 October, Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza.  Ministry of Health officials in Gaza reported heavy overnight bombing killing over 70 people, including families who had evacuated from Gaza City in the north.  One of the airstrikes killed a senior Hamas military commander Ayman Nofal.  In the afternoon, an Israeli strike hit a UNWRA school in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, killing six and injuring 12.

Late in the evening, an explosion occurred in the parking lot of the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in the center of Gaza City, burning some nearby vehicles.  The cause of the explosion was disputed by Hamas and the IDF, and the ongoing conflict prevented independent on-site analysis.  Palestinian claims that it was an Israeli airstrike were denied by the IDF, which stated that the explosion resulted from a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.  The PIJ denied any involvement.  An independent analysis by Human Rights Watch indicated that the evidence pointed to a misfired Palestinian rocket as the cause, but stated that further investigation was required.

On 18 October, President Biden said the Pentagon had independently concluded that the explosion was not caused by Israel, but by “the other team,” based on data from the Defense Department.  Over the next few days, Canadian, British, and French officials announced that their respective intelligence agencies concluded the cause to be a failed Palestinian rocket and not an Israeli airstrike.  In its article dated 2 November, CNN stated that multiple experts said “they believe this to be the most likely scenario – although they caution the absence of munition remnants or shrapnel from the scene made it difficult to be sure.  All agreed that the available images of evidence of the damage at the site was not consistent with an Israeli airstrike.”

 

INVASION OF THE GAZA STRIP UNTIL THE CEASEFIRE (27 OCTOBER–24 NOVEMBER)

Main article: 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip

On 27 October, internet and mobile phone services in Gaza were almost completely cut off.  The IDF launched a large-scale ground incursion into northern Gaza.  Clashes between Hamas and the IDF were reported near Beit Hanoun and Bureij.  The Israeli invasion of Gaza was confirmed after Israel said its units were still in Gaza the next day.  Hamas leader Ali Baraka said the invading Israeli forces suffered heavy casualties and loss of equipment due to an ambush.  Two days later, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), described as “deeply concerning” reports from the Palestinian Red Crescent that the al-Quds hospital had received an urgent evacuation warning along with a notice that it was “going to be bombarded.”  He reiterated that it was “impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives.”  Israeli airstrikes targeted the area around the hospital, filling parts of the building with smoke and dust, prompting staff to give breathing masks to some patients.  Around 14,000 civilians were believed to be sheltering in or near the hospital.  Associated Press reported that Israeli airstrikes also destroyed roads leading to the Al-Shifa hospital, making it increasingly difficult to reach.  Later in the day, Hamas said that Palestinian militants clashed with Israeli tanks in Salah al-Din Street in Gaza and forced them to retreat.  The Institute for the Study of War also stated that Israel withdrew from the road.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Israel should take great care to distinguish between Hamas terrorists and civilians, who were not legitimate targets; President Biden would call Prime Minister Netanyahu later that day to reiterate this.  In addition, Netanyahu should “rein in” violence from extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank.   A prosecutor of the International Criminal Court visiting the Rafah crossing announced the court had “active investigations ongoing in relation to the crimes allegedly committed in Israel” on 7 October, as well as in Gaza and the West Bank dating back to 2014.

The Abducted and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli group representing the families of those taken hostage in Gaza, said that they supported a blanket release of all Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the return of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza.  The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, said the group was prepared to release all Israeli hostages in return for the release of all Palestinian prisoners.  The IDF spokesman dismissed the report as “psychological terror cynically used by Hamas to create pressure.”

On 30 October, the IDF blocked the Salah al-Din Road, which is a major thoroughfare connecting the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.  Additionally, Israeli tanks were spotted in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.  Witnesses reported, and a video showed, an Israeli tank firing on a taxi with a white flag on its roof that had attempted to turn around.  An IDF spokesperson said they were “not shown any proof” that the vehicle was civilian, adding, “terrorists use civilian infrastructure like cars.”  The Gazan Health Ministry later said that three people had been killed.  On the same day heavy fighting occurred between the IDF and the Al-Qassam brigades alongside DFLP’s National Resistance Brigades in northwest Gaza.  The Al-Qassam brigades also used anti-tank missiles, and the National Resistance Brigades shelled Israeli vehicles and positions with high-caliber mortar fire.

The following day, the IDF struck the densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp, killing 50 and wounding 150 Palestinian’s according to the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry.  According to Israel, a senior Hamas commander and dozens of militants in a vast underground tunnel complex were among those killed.  Hamas denied the presence of a senior commander on the scene.  According to the IDF, the destruction of the tunnels caused the collapse of the foundations of several nearby buildings, leading to their collapse.  Eyewitnesses interviewed by CNN and Der Spiegel spoke of “apocalyptic” scenes, with dozens of collapsed buildings, children carrying other injured children, and bodies lying in the rubble.  The nearby Indonesian Hospital’s surgical director said they had received 120 dead bodies and treated 280 wounded, the majority of them women and children.  The attack resulted in several ambassador recalls ….  Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, wrote on the social media platform X that he was “appalled by the high number of casualties” from the bombing.  According to The New York Times at least two 2,000-pound bombs, the second largest type in Israel’s arsenal, were used.

On 1 November, the first group of evacuees left Gaza into Egypt.  500 evacuees, comprising critically wounded and foreign nationals, would be evacuated over the course of several days, with 200 evacuees already waiting at the border crossing.  On the same day, the Jabalia refugee camp was bombed for a second time; the UN Human Rights Office expressed “serious concerns” that these were “disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”  The IDF released what it claimed was an intercepted call between Hamas operatives and the head of the Indonesia Hospital, where they discuss diverting some of the hospital’s fuel supply to Hamas.

Two days later, the Gaza health ministry stated that Israel struck an ambulance convoy directly in front of Al-Shifa Hospital, killing at least 15 people and injuring 60 more.  The IDF acknowledged having launched an airstrike at “an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone,” adding that a “number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike.”  The IDF did not provide evidence that the ambulances were being used by Hamas combatants but said that additional information would be released.  A Hamas official described the Israeli claim as “baseless.”  The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said one of its ambulances was struck “by a missile fired by the Israeli forces” about two metres from the entrance to al-Shifa hospital.  The PRCS said another ambulance was fired on about a kilometre from the hospital.  WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that he was “utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients,” adding that patients, health workers and medical facilities must always be protected.

 

4 November

A UNRWA spokeswoman confirmed reports that Israel had conducted an airstrike against a UN-run school in the Jabalia refugee camp.  According to the Gaza health ministry, the attack killed 15 and wounded dozens more.  According to UNRWA, at least one strike hit the schoolyard, where displaced families had set up their tents.  The Gaza ministry of health said another Israeli missile strike on the entrance to the Nasser Children’s Hospital killed two women.  According to White House officials, efforts to evacuate foreign nationals through the Rafah border crossing were temporarily hindered by Hamas’s refusal to allow anyone to leave, until a certain number of its own wounded were also allowed to leave.  Hamas stated that within the last two days they had destroyed 24 Israeli vehicles, including a tank, an APC, and a bulldozer with anti-armour weapons.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel’s refusal (to accept) a ceasefire.”  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters he held Netanyahu personally responsible for civilian deaths in Gaza and said that he was “no longer someone we can talk to.”

Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, reported that due to Israeli air strikes, the bodies of 23 missing Israeli hostages were buried under the rubble.

 

6 November

Israeli missile attacks targeted the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza City, hitting the Al-Nasser Children’s Hospital, eight people were killed and dozens more were injured according to Al Jazeera.  Human Rights Watch called for a weapons embargo against both Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups, accusing them of committing war crimes against civilians.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Biden administration was planning to send $320 million worth of “Spice Family Gliding Bomb Assemblies,” a type of precision guided weapon fired by warplanes, to Israel.  Under the deal, weapons manufacturer Rafael USA would send the bombs to its Israeli parent Rafael Advanced Defense Systems for use by the Israeli defense ministry.

 

10 November

Netanyahu said the IDF would control Gaza after the war and rejected proposals to establish an international force in the strip.

 

13 November

The IDF published a video which they said showed that Hamas had a facility under Al-Rantisi Hospital, and that Israeli hostages were likely hidden there.  The video showed, among others, a stash of weapons and explosives; what appears to be a motor bike with a bullet hole on its side; and water, ventilation and sewage infrastructure that the IDF stated were improvised in preparation of coming hostages.  According to The New York Times, the origins of the weapons shown in the video could not be independently verified.  Charles Lister, Director of the Counterterrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute, stated the IDF footage “clearly indicated” that the basement was a bomb shelter.  Mohammed Zarqout, a local official responsible for Gaza’s hospitals, stated the basement was a shelter for women and children.

The IDF presented a calendar that they said was found under the hospital marking the days since 7 October, with the title “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.”  Israel stated the calendar was a list “where every terrorist writes his name.”  However, this claim was criticized by fluent Arabic speakers as “propaganda,” who said that the words in Arabic only spelled out the days of the week.

 

14 November

The New York Times published a report by its Visual Investigations team contradicting claims by the IDF that civilian deaths and damage at the al-Shifa Hospital had been caused by stray Palestinian projectiles.  The report concluded instead, “some of the munitions were likely fired by Israeli forces,” based on video and satellite evidence and an examination of weapons fragments collected and verified by The Times and analyzed by experts.  Moreover, two of the most severe strikes analyzed by The Times hit upper floors of the maternity ward and did not appear to be aimed at underground infrastructure.  “Israel’s assertion that Al-Shifa was actually hit by a Palestinian projectile echoed similar – and unresolved – claims and counterclaims following munitions that hit the courtyard of another Gaza hospital, Al-Ahli, nearly a month ago.  The evidence reviewed by The Times from Al-Shifa points more directly to strikes by Israel – whether on purpose or by accident is unclear,” the report said.  The IDF has stated that it is targeting Al Shifa Hospital due to its use by Hamas, and that there is a command center underneath the facility, with US officials stating that their intelligence confirms Israel’s conclusions that Hamas is operating out of hospitals in Gaza.  A day earlier the EU issued a joint declaration condemning Hamas for its use of hospitals and civilians as “human shields” in Gaza.  A number of countries and international organizations condemned what they called Hamas’s use of hospitals and civilians as human shields.

IDF soldiers carried boxes into al-Shifa, labeled in English and Arabic as “medical supplies” and “baby food.”  In an interview with Al Jazeera, an emergency room employee stated that Israel “did not bring any aid or supplies,” while another contact within the hospital told BBC that Israeli soldiers had supplied water to elderly patients.  Several hours later, the IDF stated they had found weapons in al-Shifa, indicating the presence of a command center.  The IDF released a video that they said showed grenades, automatic weapons and flak jackets recovered from the hospital.  John Kirby, a US government official, stated that the US remained confident in their previous assessment that a Hamas military compound exists underneath the hospital.

In response, Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East analyst, stated, “Israeli forces have invaded Shifa Hospital and been inside it for 12 full hours – having refused any independent party to accompany them – and now we’re supposed to believe that there were Hamas militants in there being pursued by the Israeli military but they somehow left their weapons behind?”  Political analyst Marwan Bishara stated, “It’s kind of baffling.  Why would Hamas leave the guns and not anything else?”  Jeremy Scahill stated, “I’ve seen more guns in the homes of ordinary Americans than in this purported Hamas Pentagon under al-Shifa Hospital.”

 

16 November

Netanyahu had stated in an interview with CBS that the Israeli government had “strong indications” that hostages were in al-Shifa, which was one of the reasons they entered the hospital.  It was reported that the body of Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman who was kidnapped from Be’eri kibbutz, was found in a building near the hospital.

Residents in parts of southern Gaza reportedly received evacuation notices, sparking concerns over an expansion of the invasion.  A fuel shortage was widely reported to have caused a shutdown of all internet and phone networks in the Gaza Strip, according to its two primary telecom providers Jawwal and Paltel.

 

17 November

Internet and telecom services were restored after Israel reportedly agreed to allow the delivery of 140,000 liters of fuel into the Gaza Strip every two days following a request by the US to do so, consisting of 20,000 liters to be delivered to Jawwal and Paltel to maintain telecom and internet service and 120,000 liters for water desalination, sewage pumping, food production and hospitals.  It was reported that the body of Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier who was taken captive on 7 October, was found in a building near al-Shifa hospital.

 

18 November

Israeli strikes killed more than 80 people in Jabalia refugee camp.

A World Health Organization team visited the al-Shifa hospital amid reports that the Israeli army commander sent patients away with an Agence France-Presse journalist reportedly witnessing the departure of patients and displaced persons from the hospital.

Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi stated that Arab troops would not go into Gaza to assume control after the war.

 

19 November

The IDF released footage of an underground tunnel under al-Shifa.  The tunnel, which is 160 meters long and 10 meters deep, passes directly under the Qatari building of the hospital; it has air-conditioned rooms, bathrooms, a kitchenette, electricity connections and communication infrastructure, and is protected by a blast door.  The IDF also released CCTV footage that appears to show two of the hostages being led in the hospital’s corridors, as well as Hamas and stolen IDF vehicles in its courtyard.  During the 1980s, Israel expanded the hospital with functional basements for maintenance and administration purposes; and a network of tunnels was part of this construction.  According to Israel, Hamas eventually appropriated the complex, then expanded it with its own system of tunnels and bunkers.

A group of 31 premature babies were evacuated from al-Shifa hospital to southern Gaza.

The White House denied reporting from the Washington Post that a Qatari brokered five-day ceasefire deal had been reached.  The deal would have included a five-day ceasefire in exchange for the stepwise release of female and children hostages in small groups.  The National Security Council Spokesperson stated on X (formerly Twitter): “We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal.”

 

20 November

IDF tanks completely surrounded the Indonesia Hospital in Gaza after heavy fire using artillery weapons against it, around 12 Palestinians were killed in clashes around the hospital according to the Gaza Health Ministry.  Around 700 people, including the injured and medical staff, were inside the facility when the IDF surrounded it.  The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, responded on X (formerly known as Twitter) saying he was “appalled” by the Israeli forces and their actions against the Indonesia Hospital by keeping the injured and medical staff inside the building while besieging it.

On 20 November the IDF released video footage of what appears to be a weapons manufacturing facility hidden behind a false wall inside the basement of a mosque in Zeitoun, Gaza.  IDF soldiers also discovered weapons, explosive devices, a drone, and a vertical tunnel shaft inside the building.

 

21 November

The IDF moved its frontline to encircle the Jabaliya camp where they are battling Palestinian militants and attempting to control with IDF forces getting more equipment for the attack.

 

22 November

Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire agreement, providing for a four-day “pause” or “lull” in hostilities, to allow for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza.  The deal also provided for the release of approximately 150 Palestinian women and children incarcerated by Israel.  The agreement was approved by the Israeli cabinet in the early hours of the day; in a statement, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated Israel’s intention to continue the war.

According to Hamas, in addition to the ceasefire and prisoner exchange, the deal also involved Israel halting all air sorties over southern Gaza and maintaining a daily six-hour daytime no-fly window over northern Gaza, in addition to the entry of hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical and fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip.  The Israeli government said that the ceasefire would be extended by one day for every additional 10 hostages released by Hamas.  The deal was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, and Egyptian state media announced the ceasefire will enter into effect on the morning of 23 November.  Qatari Foreign Affairs minister Mohamed Bin Mubarak Al-Khulaifi, whom Reuters referred to as “Qatar’s chief negotiator in ceasefire talks,” stated his hope that the truce “will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire…That’s our intention.”

The IDF released video footage from Sheikh Zayed, an area which is home to many senior members of Hamas.  The footage showed what the IDF claimed to be a rocket launcher situated near a school, and an armament-laden truck used in the 7 October attack parked in the courtyard of a mosque.

 

23 November

The IDF released footage showing a weapons cache hidden under a child’s bed, which it stated belonged to the child of a senior Hamas official.

 

DURATION OF THE CEASEFIRE (24 NOVEMBER–1 DECEMBER)

Following the introduction of a Qatari-brokered ceasefire on 24 November, starting at 7:00 AM Israel time, active fighting in the Gaza Strip ceased and some of the Israeli and foreign hostages were released by Hamas in exchange for the release of some of the Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel.  The ceasefire was announced for a period of four days, but was extended for a longer period.

 

24 November

Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages, 10 Thai nationals, and one Filipino captive.  Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners.  The IDF also revised the number of hostages held in Gaza to 236.

 

25 November

Hamas released 13 Israeli and four foreign hostages after a seven-hour delay from their agreed time.  Hamas was accused of violating the deal after not having released a mother with her child.

 

26 November

Hamas released 17 hostages, including 14 Israelis and three Thai nationals.  Israel also released 39 teenage Palestinian prisoners.

 

27 November

Qatar announced that an agreement between Israel and Hamas to extend the truce by two days had been reached.

 

28 November

Both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce.  The IDF reported that several soldiers sustained minor injuries following an attack by Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip by three explosive devices that it said were detonated near its forces at two different locations, while Hamas said it had engaged Israel in a “field clash” that it said was instigated by Israel.  Turkish media and Muhammad al-Hindi, Deputy Secretary-General of the PIJ, confirmed that Al-Quds Brigades soldiers held and released civilian women and children to the Red Cross.

 

29 November

Hamas released 12 hostages, 10 of them Israeli and two of them Thai nationals, afterwards, Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners.  Hamas continued to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the remaining hostages.

 

30 November

Hamas released two more hostages as the truce, which was supposed to end minutes later, was extended by another day.

…

 

CASUALTIES

Main article: Casualties of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

See also: Killing of journalists in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

On 7 October 2023 more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, mostly civilians were killed and approximately 240 taken hostage during the initial attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

As of 21 November, over 15,000 Palestinians and Israelis en toto have been killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 57 journalists (50 Palestinian, 4 Israeli and 3 Lebanese) and over 100 UNRWA aid workers.  Over 14,500 Palestinians (the majority of whom were women and children) in the Gaza Strip have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry.  A further 200 Palestinians were also killed in the West Bank by Israel military and settlers, and four Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank in the same period.  Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel, in southern Lebanon, and Syria.

[NOTE: See my comment about issues with Hamas reported casualties at the beginning of this article.]

Monitoring group Action on Armed Violence said that each Israeli airstrike caused an average of 10.1 civilian deaths and that the figure suggested a notable change in Israel’s targeting approach.  2012 and 2021 campaigns produced averages of 1.3 and 1.7 respectively.  Experts say the classified rules of engagement have a higher threshold for civilian casualties than previously.  Israel’s war on Gaza has been the deadliest conflict for children this century.

 

Humanitarian situation

Main article: 2023 Gaza humanitarian crisis

See also: 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has been termed a “crisis” and a “catastrophe.”  As a result of the Israel’s siege and Hamas’s hoarding of resources, Gaza faces shortages of fuel, food, medication, water, and medical supplies.  The siege resulted in a 90% drop in electricity availability, impacting hospital power supplies, sewage plants, and shutting down the desalination plants that provide drinking water.  According to WHO, 27 out of 35 hospitals in Gaza have been shut down by 23 November 2023.

On 13 October, UNRWA commissioner Philippe Lazzarini said, “The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling.”  Hospitals faced a lack of fuel and relied on backup generators for the first two weeks of the war.  By 23 October, however, the Indonesia Hospital ran out of fuel and completely shut down.  Hospitals around Gaza also warned they would soon lose power completely, which would lead to the death of 140 premature babies in NICUs.  The Gaza Health Ministry said that more than 192 medical staffers had been killed by Israeli airstrikes, as well as ambulances, health institutions, its headquarters, the Rimal Clinic, and the International Eye Center.  The Médecins Sans Frontières said it had counted 18 ambulances destroyed and eight medical facilities destroyed or damaged.  On 24 October, a Health Ministry spokesman announced the healthcare system had “totally collapsed.”

Retired Israeli major general Giora Eiland compared Israel’s situation to that of the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  He argued that if Israel wanted to disarm Hamas, it had “no choice” but to make Gaza a place “that is temporarily or permanently impossible to live in.”  This, he stated, was not a “program for revenge,” but a way to get the hostages back.

On 16 October, doctors warned of disease outbreaks due to hospital overcrowding and unburied bodies.  On 18 October, the United States UN representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield vetoed a UN Security Council resolution urging humanitarian aid to Gaza.  The World Health Organization stated the situation was “spiralling out of control.”

On 20 October, Doctors Without Borders stated it was “deeply concerned for the fate of everyone in Gaza right now.”  On 21 October, a joint statement by UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, UNFPA, and WFP stated, “the world must do more” for Gaza.  On 26 October, the World Organization stated Gaza’s humanitarian and health crisis had “reached catastrophic proportions.”  On 28 October, the Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric Egger stated she was “shocked by the intolerable level of human suffering.”  During the course of the first month of the war, the Gaza Ministry of Health recorded more than 4,000 children killed in Gaza.  UN General Secretary António Guterres said on 6 November that Gaza is “fast becoming a graveyard for children.”  Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan responded directly to Guterres, stating “Shame on [Guterres]… More than 30 minors – among them a 9-month-old baby as well as toddlers and children who witnessed their parents being murdered in cold blood – are being held against their will in the Gaza Strip.  Hamas is the problem in Gaza, not Israel’s actions to eliminate this terrorist organization.”  On 8 November, UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk described the Rafah Crossing as “gates to a living nightmare.”  On 10 November, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Jens Laerke stated, “if there is a hell on earth, it is the north of Gaza.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that it had lost contact with its headquarters on 27 October, disrupting Gazans’ ability to contact emergency services.  On the same day, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a resolution on immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza and aid access.  The resolution attracted 121 votes in favor and 44 abstentions; 14 countries voted against, namely Israel, the United States, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Guatemala, Hungary, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.

On 9 November, Israel agreed to daily four-hour “humanitarian pauses” to allow civilians to obtain food and medicine, as well as evacuate to the south.  Evacuees described the evacuation path as full of death and horror.  On 14 November, Reuters reported that Israel was coordinating the transfer of medical incubators to Al Shifa hospital in order to assist in the evacuation of new born babies.  The director of Al-Shifa stated Israel’s claim to provide incubators to premature babies was false.

 

War crimes

Main article: War crimes in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

Both Hamas and the IDF have been accused of attempted or imminent genocide, and several other war crimes, based on their actions in this war.

The International Criminal Court issued a statement on 10 October confirming that its mandate to investigate alleged war crimes committed since June 2014 in the State of Palestine extends to the current conflict.  ICC prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan visited the Rafah crossing and said “the ICC is independently looking at the situation in Palestine,” including “events in Israel and allegations that Palestinian nationals have also committed crime.”  The UN Human Rights Council said it had “clear evidence” of war crimes by both sides.  The Permanent United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Israel Palestine conflict said there is “clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed in the latest explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza, and all those who have violated international law and targeted civilians must be held accountable.”

In a 12 October preliminary legal assessment condemning Hamas’s attacks in Israel, international humanitarian law scholar and Dean of Cornell Law School Jens David Ohlin said the evidence suggested Hamas’s “killings and kidnappings” potentially violated Articles 6–8 of the Rome Statute as well as the Genocide Convention and were “crimes against humanity”; over a hundred international scholars expressed support for this position.

On 15 October, TWAILR published a statement signed by over 800 legal scholars expressing “alarm about the possibility of the crime of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel, in the first 10 days of the war imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, due to serious security concerns that weapons, fuel and armaments will be transferred to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid.  Israel later allowed the delivery of limited humanitarian aid following security checks.  Israel’s restriction of the flow of food, fuel, water and other humanitarian aid was criticized as a war crime by human rights organizations.  Tom Dannenbaum, co-director of the Center for International Law & Governance at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, wrote that the order “commands the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, which is a violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.”  Oxfam issued a statement that accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, saying “International Humanitarian Law (IHL) strictly prohibits the use of starvation as a method of warfare and as the occupying power in Gaza, Israel is bound by IHL obligations to provide for the needs and protection of the population of Gaza.”  Geoffrey S. Corn, Chair of Criminal Law and Director of the Center for Military Law and Policy at Texas Tech University School of Law, and Sean Watts, professor in the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point, write that sieges are subject to the same laws of war as other military tactics, and balancing sieges with efforts to mitigate the effects on civilians may be legally permissible.

Independent United Nations experts condemned the Israel Defense Forces’ actions in Gaza, saying Israel had resorted to “indiscriminate military attacks” and “collective punishment.”  Israeli authorities said that the airstrikes are intended to degrade the military infrastructure that is frequently constructed in close proximity to residential areas and civilian establishments.  They also denounced the “deliberate and widespread killing and hostage-taking of innocent civilians” by Hamas, calling them “heinous violations of international law and international crimes.”  Israel’s forced evacuation of northern Gaza also drew international condemnation.  On 13 October, Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, called it a “crime against humanity.”  On 14 October, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, characterized it as a “repeat of the 1948 Nakba,” noting Israeli public officials’ open advocacy for another Nakba.

…

 

Willingness to take refugees by third countries

Both Jordan and Egypt have rejected the idea of hosting Palestinian refugees fleeing from Gaza, with King Abdullah II of Jordan warning against pushing Palestinians to seek refuge in Jordan, and emphasizing the need to address the humanitarian situation within Gaza and the West Bank.  Both countries have expressed serious concern that Israel may seek to permanently expel Palestinians, a claim that Israel disputes.  On 2 November, however, Egypt said it will help around 7,000 foreigners and Palestinians with dual-nationalities through the Rafah border crossing.

Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf, who has family in Gaza, urged the international community to establish a refugee program for those fleeing violence in Gaza and said that Scotland was ready to offer sanctuary to refugees arriving in the UK.  European countries are wary of a refugee influx due to recent pro-Palestinian protests.

In the United States, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the problem of refugees be solved by “the region’s partners,” but emphasized the “historical role” of the US in accepting refugees, while Representative Jamaal Bowman said that the US should welcome refugees who are not affiliated with Hamas.  Both former President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis oppose accepting any Palestinian refugees.

…

 

Hamas military aims

Hamas stated it abducted Israelis to secure the freedom of Palestinian prisoners, currently estimated to number between 4,499 and 5,200, including 170 children.  Prisoner exchanges have long been practiced in the Arab–Israeli conflict.  In 2006, Hamas exchanged Gilad Shalit for 1,000 Palestinians as part of a prisoner swap.  Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera they had enough Israeli hostages to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.  Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida said they were holding captured Israeli soldiers in “safe places” and tunnels.

[NOTE:  I think it is almost a certainty that almost all of the Palestinian prisoners are in jail for legitimate reasons, including terrorism and murder.]

On 10 October, Hamas official Basem Naim denied any civilians were killed, saying that only Israeli soldiers were killed.  On 11 October, Hamas again denied in a statement that it had killed civilians and said its military wing “worked to target the Israeli military and security systems,” calling them “legitimate targets.”  A spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad stated they did not consider Israelis to be civilians, due to Israel’s mandatory military service.

Senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal said that the group was fully aware of the consequences of attack on Israel, stating that Palestinian liberation comes with sacrifices.

According to Taher El-Nounou, a Hamas media adviser, the goal of Hamas is to create a permanent state of war.  Hamas also rejected its responsibility to govern Gaza with Khalil al-Hayya stating, “Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such.”

 

Reactions in the West Bank

Initially, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asserted the Palestinians’ right to self-defense against the “terror of settlers and occupation troops” and condemned the orders by Israel for residents to evacuate north Gaza, labeling it a “second Nakba.”  Later, Abbas rejected the killing of civilians on both sides, and said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization was the sole representative of the Palestinians.

Following the attack, celebrations occurred in Ramallah. France 24 reported “Hamas called on ‘resistance fighters in the West Bank’ to join the battle.”  Neighborhood watches were established in 50 locations amid fears of reprisals by Israeli settlers, while a general strike was called for 8 October.  Seven Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces on 7 October, while 126 others were injured.  As of 19 October, Al Jazeera reported that 76 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem, eight of them by armed Israeli settlers; the Palestinian Health Ministry said that 61 people have been killed and 1,250 injured in the West Bank.  The Palestinian Prisoners Club said that 850 Palestinians, including lawmakers, prominent figures, journalists, and former detainees have been arrested by Israeli authorities since the start of the war.

 

Arab world

In contrast to previous Palestinian–Israeli wars, as many Arab governments such as Egypt and Jordan had strongly negative views on Hamas, they restrained their official reaction to neutral press statements, while news programs in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia interviewed Arabic-speaking Jews instead of Hamas officials.  News anchors in these countries did not refer to the IDF as an “occupation army,” and referred to Palestinian casualties as “victims” rather than “martyrs.”  The public reaction in the Arabic world was much more negative, being strongly influenced by Hamas-produced social media videos that were viewed millions of times.  The Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, originally blamed on an Israeli airstrike, inflicted further damage on diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab states keen to avoid antagonizing their public.  Governments and news programs such as Al Arabiya and Sky News Arabia increasingly took an anti-Israel and pro-Hamas stance.  Many in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt also fear that they may unwillingly be drawn in to the conflict through the actions of Hezbollah and Iran.  In Egypt populist pro-government talk show hosts have opposed Hamas, asking why Egyptians should suffer to help Palestinians.  Egypt, despite having being pressed by the United States, refused to accept refugees from Gaza.

A joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh on 11 November 2023 called for the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing” in the Palestinian territories and for an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza.  The summit was attended by dozens of leaders including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who had been welcomed back into the Arab League earlier in 2023.  Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed “condemnation and categorical rejection of this barbaric war against our brothers in Palestine.”

Many across the Middle East, particularly among the younger population, have been boycotting US brands for perceived complicity in the destruction in Gaza since the start of the war.

 

Hezbollah

Hezbollah denied knowledge of the attacks and warned the United States not to invade Lebanon saying that they were prepared to face the US military.  In a speech on 3 November, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Americans had threatened to bomb Iran and emphasized that Hezbollah entered the war the day after Hamas’s attack and that it would not stop with its actions with its ongoing skirmishes with Israel.  He stated that the United States is fully responsible for the current war against Gaza and its people and that Israel is merely the instrument of execution.  He also said that anyone who wants to prevent a regional war must immediately stop the aggression against Gaza.

 

Iran

Iran has praised the attack while being cautious to distance itself from the planning and execution of it.  Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad told the BBC that Hamas had direct backing for the attack from Iran;  European, Iranian and Syrian officers corroborated Iran’s involvement, while senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mirdawi said the group planned the attacks on its own.  The Israeli army and the United States say that there is no evidence that Iran is connected with the attack by Hamas.  American intelligence appeared to show that Hamas’s attack on Israel caught Iranian authorities by surprise.

According to a report by Al-Monitor, since the start of the war between Israel and the Gaza militias, Iran has tried to show a face of disinterest in the spillover of the conflict, and on the other hand, it has pursued an active diplomatic campaign to isolate Israel.  Supporting the cause of Palestine has been one of the ideological principles of Iran’s Shia Islamic theocracy after the 1979 revolution, with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first supreme leader of Iran, announcing the last Friday of every Ramadan as “Quds Day” and inviting all the Muslims of the world to express solidarity with the legitimate rights of the Palestinian Muslim people.

The Iranian government opened an account for people to deliver charitable aid.  It also opened a website and reported that more than six million volunteered to fight.  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened that Islamic resistance was going to become unstoppable should the war continue.  His spokesperson later said that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal would have delayed it but Israel would have collapsed within five years.  Khamenei pointed to foreign visits to Israel and said that the fall of Israel was imminent.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that the IDF would be depleted through the ground invasion of Gaza.

Addressing the United Nations, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Americans they would be unsafe if the conflict did not remain under control.  US military forces conducted strikes on two facilities in eastern Syria used by the IRGC.  President Joe Biden warned Khamenei not to attack the US military.

On 1 November, the Iranian government criminalized expressions of support for Israel and making contact with its people.  That same day, Khamenei called on Muslim states to impose a food and fuel blockade on Israel.

On 15 November, Reuters and the Telegraph reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, conveyed to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during their November meeting in Tehran that Iran would not directly intervene in the conflict with Israel, citing lack of prior warning about the 7 October attack.  Despite this, Iran pledged to continue providing political and moral support to Hamas, urging restraint against calls for direct involvement by Iran and its ally Hezbollah.  The IRGC’s Quds Force promised it would continue supporting Hamas, while the IRGC’s commander General Hossein Salami said that the war would bring about a political and economic decline of the US.

The Municipality of Tehran announced that it would help rebuild Gaza after the conflict.

 

United States

Further information: United States support for Israel in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war  and 2023 American–Middle East conflict

Polling has indicated a significant divide between elite opinion of the Israel–Hamas war — including in terms of government policy, which has taken the side of Israel — and the viewpoints of the general public.  A large majority of Americans support an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.  A plurality of Americans oppose American military aid to Israel and believe that the United States “should be a neutral mediator.”

Hours after Hamas’s attack, U.S. President Biden promised “rock-solid and unwavering” support to Israel and called Hamas’s attack “unadulterated evil,” comparing the group to ISIS.  To replenish Israel’s stockpiles, the U.S. said it would send Iron Dome missiles, small bombs, and JDAM conversion kits, in addition to fulfilling previous contracts to deliver F-35 fighter jets, CH-53 helicopters, and KC-46 air refueling tankers.  Biden also called on Congress to pass $14.3 billion in emergency military aid to Israel.  Details of weapons sent to Israel, which have been arriving daily, have been kept secret.  Leaked details have shown that the U.S. has sent laser-guided missiles, 155mm shells, new army vehicles, among others, at Israel’s request.

While the U.S. says it is discussing with Israel about ways to minimize civilian casualties, the Pentagon said it would impose no limits on Israel’s use of American weapons in the war.  Annie Shiel of the Center for Civilians in Conflict expressed concerns, saying that America is responsible for ensuring that “its assistance does not contribute to devastating civilian harm and possible violations of international humanitarian law.”  Foreign Policy reported on a “groundswell of opposition” among U.S. diplomats and national security officials, against what they perceived as Biden’s “blank check” for the Israeli counterattack.  “More than 630 employees” of the U.S. Agency for International Development signed a letter calling for an “immediate ceasefire.”  U.S. State Department official Josh Paul, who spent more than 11 years as the director of congressional and public affairs at the bureau overseeing arms transfers to foreign nations, resigned in protest at the US government’s decision to send weapons to Israel.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of the United States Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 12—led by the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, and supported by the cruiser USS Normandy and the destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt—to the Eastern Mediterranean.  The United States Air Force augmented its F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter squadrons in the region, reportedly to deter other actors from entering the conflict.

On 15 October, it was reported that a US naval strike group composed of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the guided missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and the guided missile destroyers USS Laboon, USS Mason and USS Gravely was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean.  Austin also ordered that approximately 2,000 troops be prepared for possible deployment to Israel, according to several defense officials.

On 17 October, it was reported that a US naval group consisting of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, the amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde and the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall, was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea to transport the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in case they were needed in the area.

On 19 October, the US Department of Defense announced that the USS Carney had shot down three cruise missiles and eight drones that were northbound over the Red Sea.  They said the missiles had been fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen and may have been en route to Israeli targets.

After multiple drone and rocket attacks on military bases in Iraq that house US troops, the US ordered all non-emergency staff to leave their embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil on 22 October.  A few days earlier, a false alarm in Al-Asad Airbase caused the death of a civilian contractor from cardiac arrest.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken threatened Iran that its attacks would not be tolerated.

US officials said the Biden administration advised Israel to delay the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to allow more time for hostage negotiations.  President Biden said that attacks on Israel were intended in part to scuttle the potential normalization of the U.S. ally’s relations with Saudi Arabia.  He mentioned that Hamas attacks aimed to halt Israel-Saudi Arabia agreement.

On 4 November, the Defense Department confirmed that it was flying reconnaissance drones over Gaza in “support of hostage recovery efforts.”