[1]
ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
HAMAS FIGHTERS FROM GAZA STORM ISRAEL,CAPTURE AND KILL
SOLDIERS
7 OCTOBER 2023
Hamas launched a surprise operation on an unprecedented scale against Israel early Saturday, which the resistance group’s military chief Muhammad Deif said was codenamed “Al-Aqsa Flood.”
The day marks a tremendous strategic failure and defeat for Israel, even as it bombs Gaza in retaliation.
After hours of public silence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas would pay an “unprecedented price” as fighting continued in several locations near Gaza between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces.
Palestinian fighters infiltrated Israel from Gaza as thousands of rockets were launched from the territory over multiple hours.
Hamas claims to have captured dozens of Israelis.
Palestinian civilians entered Israel from Gaza as well. The vast majority of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are refugees from lands around the periphery of the coastal enclave, which has been under a punishing Israeli siege for 16 years and military occupation for more than a half-century.
Video shows Palestinians bulldozing the militarized border fence along the periphery of Gaza, which is commonly described as an open-air prison due to Israel’s siege:
Videos recorded from Israeli communities near the Gaza boundary showed unprecedented scenes of armed fighters spread out through the streets.
Other videos appeared to show an injured or killed Israeli soldier being pulled out of a vehicle in Gaza. Another graphic video was said to show the body of an Israeli on the back of a truck in Gaza.
Numerous videos show Israeli soldiers and possibly civilians detained by Palestinians.
Additional videos showed Palestinian fighters with what appears to be a captured Israeli military vehicle in Gaza after returning from the surprise attack as an ecstatic crowd gathers around them:
At least one Israeli tank was destroyed and at least one Israeli soldier was shown on video being pulled out of a tank and taken into Gaza.
A man seen in a video standing near the burning weapon claimed that its entire crew was captured by Palestinian fighters:
Palestinian resistance fighters completely took over an Israeli military base. Videos filmed by resistance fighters and broadcast on Al Jazeera and circulated online show dead soldiers, abandoned positions, Israeli armored vehicles and tanks.
Video disseminated by the military wing of Hamas shows the bodies of a dozen Israeli soldiers.
Any surviving Israeli soldiers appear to have fled the base, a substantial installation fortified with concrete walls.
Carrying only light weapons, Palestinian forces riding mopeds appear to have executed an astonishing tactical success against what is described as one of the world’s strongest militaries.
The military wing of Hamas also published a video of its elite “Saqr” squadron deploying using paramotors, a type of light aircraft. The unit is said to have taken part in today’s assault although the video may show a training operation filmed earlier:
Another video shows a captured man, seemingly not seriously harmed, in a vehicle in Gaza.
Palestinian fighters reportedly infiltrated a police station in Israel, where a shootout was underway at around 9 am local time.
Four people were reported killed in rocket strikes in Bedouin villages in southern Israel and one Israeli woman was killed as a result of rocket fire.
The Bedouin villages where people were killed most likely did not have shelters.
Israel declared a state of emergency in the south and center of the country, including Tel Aviv and Israeli media appear to be subject to military censorship.
Resistance decided to act
Muhammad Deif, the Hamas military chief, said that “we have decided to put an end to all of the occupation’s crimes,” including attacks on worshippers and provocations at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ politburo, said that provocations at al-Aqsa in recent days were the principal reason for the surprise attack.
Deif also said that calls for a prisoner exchange “were met with refusal, and daily violations continue in the West Bank.”
Deif also announced that “starting from today, security coordination ends,” referring to the Palestinian Authority functioning as a policing arm of the Israeli occupation by cracking down on resistance activists in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority has engaged with Saudi Arabia to leverage a normalization deal between the Gulf kingdom and Israel pushed by the US, a process rejected by Hamas and the rest of the resistance axis.
Deif urged Palestinians in Jerusalem and in Israel to join the fight and for “Islamic resistance in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen” to march towards Palestine.
Some mosques in East Jerusalem reportedly urged Palestinians to mobilize.
Hamas refrained from engaging in direct battle with Israel after it assassinated three Islamic Jihad leaders in surprise airstrikes on Gaza earlier this year.
But Hamas considers Jerusalem, with al-Aqsa at its heart, as a national cause for which it has gone to war with Israel in the past, most recently in May 2021.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said on Saturday that Israel “will win this war.”
He added that Israeli “soldiers are fighting the enemy at all the infiltration sites,” but residents of Israeli communities infiltrated by Palestinians told media that they had been abandoned by the authorities.
Kobi Shabtai, Israel’s chief of police, said on Saturday morning that “we’re in a state of war. We are under a massive attack from the Gaza Strip” with more than 21 scenes of confrontation in the south of the country.
As Israel’s security cabinet convened on Saturday, Palestinians in Gaza stocked up on provisions in anticipation of yet another major military operation in the territory:
Hundreds of Palestinians living along Gaza’s boundary with Israel fled their homes, fearing Israeli strikes:
Massive failure
Images of Palestinians taking the vaunted Israeli military totally by surprise will be seen in Israel and around the world as a massive strategic failure no matter what Israel does next.
It comes almost 50 years to the day after Egypt inflicted an historic strategic surprise. On 6 October 1973, Egyptian forces executed a massive amphibious assault across the Suez Canal, aiming to liberate the Sinai Peninsula which Israel had occupied along with the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights in 1967.
Defying expectations, Egypt breached the so-called Bar-Lev Line, military fortifications Israel considered impregnable, but which were overrun by Egyptian forces in a matter of hours.
Although Israel managed – with the help of a huge American military airlift – to turn the tide of the war and re-occupy most of the liberated Egyptian territory, the recriminations and sense of failure ultimately led to the end of Prime Minister Golda Meir’s tenure and political career.
The events of Saturday are already being described as a “colossal failure” by Israeli analysts.
On Saturday morning, Eli Maron, a former Israeli navy chief, said during a television interview: “All of Israel is asking itself: Where is the [Israeli military], where is the police, where is the security?”
“It’s a colossal failure; the hierarchies have simply failed, with vast consequences,” Maron added.
The Palestinian resistance has blown away all expectations of its capabilities, despite being at a massive resource disadvantage compared to Israel.
Even as the military situation unfolds, it is already clear that 7 October 2023 will have profound political implications across the region, especially as Israel and Saudi Arabia appear closer than ever to formalizing their longstanding secret ties.
Netanyahu has been fond of saying that normalization with Riyadh would be a “quantum leap” that would transform the region in Israel’s favor.
Last month, he asserted that a deal with the Saudis would “change the Middle East forever.” It would, he said, bring down “walls of enmity” and create “a corridor of energy pipelines, rail lines, fiber optic cables, between Asia through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”
The shocking and unprecedented scenes unfolding now have dashed that fantasy.
One unmistakable message that Hamas is sending is that whether or not Arab regimes like Saudi Arabia normalize their relations with Israel, the question of Palestine cannot be brushed under the carpet.
The Palestinian people refuse to be buried under Israeli tyranny, out of sight and out of mind forever, while the region’s regimes throw a party.
END
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
ISRAEL/OPT:
CIVILIANS ON BOTH SIDES PAYING THE PRICE
OF UNPRECEDENTED ESCALATION IN HOSTILITIES
BETWEEN ISRAEL AND GAZA AS DEATH TOLLS MOUNT
7 OCTOBER 2023
Israeli security forces and Palestinian armed groups must make every effort to protect the lives of civilians in today’s outbreak of fighting in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said Amnesty International amid a mounting civilian death toll.
Today’s escalation in violence began with Hamas firing rockets into Israel and launching an unprecedented operation by its fighters into southern Israel.
“We are deeply alarmed by the mounting civilian death tolls in Gaza, Israel and the occupied West Bank and urgently call on all parties to the conflict to abide by international law and make every effort to avoid further civilian bloodshed. Under international humanitarian law all sides in a conflict have a clear obligation to protect the lives of civilians caught up in the hostilities,” said Agnès Callamard Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“Deliberately targeting civilians, carrying out disproportionate attacks, and indiscriminate attacks which kill or injure civilians are war crimes. Israel has a horrific track record of committing war crimes with impunity in previous wars on Gaza. Palestinian armed groups from Gaza, must refrain from targeting civilians and using indiscriminate weapons, as they have done in the past, and most intensively in this event, acts amounting to war crimes.”
Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza has killed at least 232 people and injured nearly 1,700, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israeli media have reported at least 250 deaths and Israel’s health ministry reported over 1,500 injured in attacks by Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli military confirmed to media that Israeli civilians, as well as soldiers have been abducted by Palestinian armed groups and taken hostage. The abduction of civilians and hostage-taking are prohibited by international law and can constitute war crimes. All civilians held hostage must be released immediately, unconditionally, and unharmed. All those held captive must be treated humanely, in accordance with international law and granted medical treatment.
The root causes of these repeated cycles of violence must be addressed as a matter of urgency. This requires upholding international law and ending Israel’s 16-year-long illegal blockade on Gaza, and all other aspects of Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on all Palestinians. The Israeli government must refrain from inciting violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, especially around religious sites. Amnesty International calls on the international community to urgently intervene to protect civilians and prevent further suffering.
In 2021, the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine. Its mandate includes crimes under international law committed by all parties in the current fighting, as well as the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.
Background
Since 2007, Israel has imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip collectively punishing its entire population.
In June, Amnesty International published its investigation into the May 2023 offensive on the Gaza strip, finding that Israel had unlawfully destroyed Palestinian homes, often without military necessity in what amounts to a form of collective punishment against the civilian population.
In its February 2022 report, Amnesty International set out how Israeli forces have committed in Gaza (as well as in West Bank and Israel) acts prohibited by the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention, as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population with aim of maintaining a system of oppression and domination over Palestinians, thereby constituting the crime against humanity of apartheid.
END
[2]
”Het hoofdkwartier van de Europese Commissie in Brussel is een van die gebouwen waar de Israëlische vlag te zien is. Ursula von der Leyen liet eerder op X al weten dat Israël „altijd het recht heeft zichzelf te verdedigen”, en dat de EU achter Israël staat.”
DE TELEGRAAF
STEUNBETUIGINGEN VOOR ISRAEL VANUIT DE HELE
WERELD
10 OCTOBER 2023
AMSTERDAM – Overal ter wereld betuigen landen hun steun aan Israël. Op sociale media stromen de steunbetuigingen binnen en in verschillende landen is de Israëlische vlag of het Israëlische blauw-wit-blauw op gebouwen te zien.
Het hoofdkwartier van de Europese Commissie in Brussel is een van die gebouwen waar de Israëlische vlag te zien is. Ursula von der Leyen liet eerder op X al weten dat Israël „altijd het recht heeft zichzelf te verdedigen”, en dat de EU achter Israël staat.
Ook de stad New York laat weten achter Israël te staan. Het Empire State Building is verlicht in de kleuren van het land. De VS is een van Israëls belangrijkste bondgenoten. President Biden zei eerder in een verklaring al „nooit te zullen stoppen met het helpen van Israël.”
In Berlijn wordt de Israëlische vlag geprojecteerd op de beroemde Brandenburg Gate. Het Israëlische ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken deelt de beelden op X en bedankt het Duitse volk voor de steun.
Palestijnen
Waar veel mensen en landen hun steun uitspreken voor Israël, komen er ook beelden uit verschillende landen binnen van supporters van de Palestijnen.
Zo zijn op sociale media beelden te zien van de Azadi Tower in de Iraanse hoofdstad Teheran. Op deze toren werd de Palestijnse vlag geprojecteerd. Dat Iran achter de Palestijnen staat is geen geheim. De ayatollahs, die Hamas en andere Palestijnse militanten financieren, spraken hun steun uit voor de aanval. Eerder doken er beelden op van Iraanse parlementariërs die ’dood aan Israël’ scandeerden.
Ook uit andere landen komen steunbetuigingen binnen. Op X zijn beelden te zien uit onder andere Canada en enkele Afrikaanse landen van mensen die op straat hun steun betuigen.
EINDE BERICHT
TROUW
IN AMSTERDAM WAPPERT DE ISRAELISCHE VLAG,
IN ROTTERDAM NIET
9 OCTOBER 2023
Wel of niet de Israëlische vlag hijsen? Nederlandse gemeenten nemen uiteenlopende standpunten in.
Dit weekend vielen Hamas-strijders Israël binnen, met honderden doden en duizenden gewonden als gevolg. Om steun te betuigen aan de slachtoffers in Israël, kiezen sommige Nederlandse gemeenten ervoor de Israëlische vlag te hijsen. Het staat gemeenten vrij om die keuze zelf te maken. Opvallend is dat het ‘vlaggenbeleid’ nogal uiteenloopt.
Zo kiest de gemeente Utrecht ervoor de Utrechtse vlag halfstok te hangen, waar Amsterdam wél de Israëlische vlag hijst. In Den Haag was er dit weekend gesteggel over de vlag: hijsen ze de vlag nou wel of niet? In eerste instantie liet de woordvoerder van burgemeester van Zanen weten dat het niet ‘opportuun’ was om dit te doen. De gebeurtenissen waren volgens de zegsman van de burgemeester te recent om die keuze te maken.
Dat was zaterdag. Inmiddels heeft de actualiteit dat statement ingehaald en is bekend dat er honderden doden zijn gevallen. Daarom besloot het ministerie van algemene zaken, het departement waar demissionair premier Mark Rutte onderdeel van is, om de Israëlische vlag op het Binnenhof te hijsen.
‘Vlaggenprotocol’
Maar dat betekent niet dat de gemeente Den Haag in lijn met het ministerie opereert. Burgemeester Jan van Zanen besloot om wel de Haagse vlag halfstok te hangen, maar weigert de Israëlische vlag op te trekken. Dit tot teleurstelling van de PVV, Hart voor Den Haag/Groep de Mos, VVD, CDA en de ChristenUnie. De reden achter dit besluit? Het is niet gebruikelijk om vlaggen van andere landen op te trekken, aldus de woordvoerder.
De gemeente Utrecht geeft een vergelijkbare verklaring. De woordvoerder zegt dat de gemeente ‘conform het vlaggenprotocol’ heeft gehandeld. Daarin staat dat de gemeente geen vlaggen van andere landen hijst. Ook trekt de gemeente de gebeurtenissen van dit weekend breder. De vlag hangt halfstok “voor alle burgerslachtoffers die zijn gevallen bij het hevige geweld van afgelopen weekend.” Daarmee refereren ze ook aan het natuurgeweld in Afghanistan.
Ook in de gemeente Amersfoort hangt de lokale vlag halfstok. In Den Bosch, Deventer en Enschede hangt dan weer de Nederlandse vlag halfstok. En in Katwijk kleurt het gemeentehuis de komende dagen blauw en wit.
Wel in Amsterdam, niet in Rotterdam
De gemeente Amsterdam maakte zondag de keuze wél de Israëlische vlag te hijsen op het stadhuis. “De vlag is een steunbetuiging aan de Israëlische bevolking en aan Amsterdammers met vrienden en familie in Israël die in angst en onzekerheid verkeren”, aldus de gemeente in een verklaring. Maar “het college leeft ook zeer mee met onschuldige slachtoffers aan Palestijnse zijde”, reageert de woordvoerder.
En Rotterdam? Daar wappert geen Israëlische vlag, omdat burgemeester Ahmed Aboutaleb dit weigerde. Aan het AD liet zijn woordvoerder weten dat het om een conflict gaat “dat al decennia gaande is”. Uiteindelijk koos Aboutaleb er na veel kritiek voor om toch een vlag halfstok te hangen, namelijk de Rotterdamse. De vlag wordt gehesen “voor alle burgerslachtoffers van de recente explosie van geweld tussen Palestijnen en Israëli”, aldus de burgemeester.
Het blijft opvallend dat Aboutaleb de Israëlische vlag weigert, omdat die vlag in 2017 wél op het Rotterdamse stadhuis wapperde, na een terroristische daad met een vrachtwagen door een Palestijnse dader. Aboutaleb was destijds ook burgemeester.
EINDE
[3]
NOORDHOLLANDS DAGBLAD
ISRAEL SLUIT GAZASTROOK OOK AF VAN WATER
9 OCTOBER 2023
Israël heeft de Gazastrook ook afgesloten van de watervoorziening. Eerder kondigde Israël al een totale blokkade aan van het gebied, wat betekent dat er geen voedsel, brandstof of elektriciteit naar de Gazastrook gaat.
De dichtbevolkte Gazastrook ligt ingesloten tussen Egypte en Israël en is voor veel voorzieningen afhankelijk van Israël. Nu Hamas zaterdag een grootschalige aanval tegen Israël is begonnen, lijkt Israël het hele gebied met twee miljoen inwoners te willen straffen. De minister van Infrastructuur zegt daarover bijvoorbeeld: “wat in het verleden zo was, zal niet zo zijn in de toekomst.”
EINDE
[4]
”Het hoofdkwartier van de Europese Commissie in Brussel is een van die gebouwen waar de Israëlische vlag te zien is. Ursula von der Leyen liet eerder op X al weten dat Israël „altijd het recht heeft zichzelf te verdedigen”, en dat de EU achter Israël staat.”
DE TELEGRAAF
STEUNBETUIGINGEN VOOR ISRAEL VANUIT DE HELE
WERELD
10 OCTOBER 2023
ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 2