Israel’s war on Gaza : Child killed in drone attack in Tulkarem
- The Israeli army raided Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank after earlier targeting it with drone attacks and killed a 14-year-old boy.
- Israeli attack kills eight people queueing at a bread seller’s stand in front of an UNRWA school shelter in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.
Ex-Israeli general says Israeli forces will ‘collapse’ if fighting continues in Gaza
Israeli media outlet Haaretz has published an opinion piece by retired Israeli General Itzhak Brik, a former ombudsman for the Israeli military, titled, It Is Not Hamas That Is Collapsing, but Israel.
In it, he says that if Israeli forces “continue fighting in Gaza by raiding and re-raiding the same targets, not only won’t we bring Hamas to collapse, but we’ll collapse ourselves”.
He said every day, Israeli forces in Gaza grow weaker while Hamas, “in contrast, has already replenished its ranks with 17- and 18-year-olds”.
Brik also noted that many Israeli reservists are “no longer consenting” to being “redrafted again and again” and “conscripted soldiers are exhausted and are losing professional skills for lack of training”.
“Israel’s economy, international relations and social cohesiveness are severely damaged by this war of attrition against both Hamas and Hezbollah,” he said, adding that the Israeli military “does not have enough forces to fight a multifront war”.
Netanyahu’s office says UK arms suspension will ‘only embolden Hamas’
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has posted a thread on X slamming the UK government’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel.
“Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas,” it said.
“Israel is pursuing a just war with just means. Just as Britain’s heroic stand against the Nazis is seen today as having been vital in defending our common civilization, so too will history judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran’s axis of terror.”
Nearly two dozen arrested in occupied West Bank
According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, Israeli forces have arrested 22 people, including former prisoners, across the occupied West Bank since last evening.
Civilians killed in Israeli attack on Jabalia bread queue
The Israeli army deliberately targeted a group of civilians at the entrance of Al Fakhoura UNRWA school in the Jabalia refugee camp.
I am standing at the site that has been hit by Israeli forces.
This is a bread stand and people and civilians were hit while buying bread from this mini stall. It is located at the entrance to the UNRWA school, which used to shelter thousands of Palestinians.
This is a very crowded street as this is an evacuation centre and thousands of people are using this place as a shelter.
Netanyahu faces criticism at home over Philadelphi Corridor
On Monday, he told reporters that Israel’s presence at the Philadelphi Corridor, the 14km (8.7-mile) long strip of land that represents the entirety of the border area between Gaza and Egypt, which he described as “Hamas’s oxygen pipe”, was a necessary part of any ceasefire agreement.
Netanyahu’s insistence on control of the corridor has provoked the ire of many of the families of captives currently protesting across the country, who say it is scuppering a potential deal.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups say any deal must include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israeli media outlet Haaretz quoted Danny Elgarat, the brother of captive Itzik Elgartat, as saying, “Bibi says that he who kills hostages doesn’t want a deal – Bibi? You don’t want a deal! You want to turn the Philadelphi Corridor into a mass grave.”
After Netanyahu’s comments, opposition leader Lapid posted on X that when “Israel evacuated the Philadelphi Corridor 19 years ago, Netanyahu voted in favour. Both in the government and in the Knesset.”
“Netanyahu was prime minister for 15 years. It did not occur to him to recapture the Philadelphi Corridor,” he said, adding that he only bothered to send Israeli forces to the corridor eight months into the current war.
On Sunday, Defence Minister Gallant also called on the cabinet to reverse a decision to keep troops in the corridor.
UNSC set to discuss plight of Israeli captives
Danny Danon, Israel’s envoy to the UN, said the Security Council will convene a meeting on Wednesday to hold an official discussion on Israeli captives for the first time.
“It is a disgrace that it has taken the Council 11 months and the brutal execution of six hostages by Hamas terrorists to finally convene this discussion,” he wrote in a post on X.
Danon said the UNSC should unequivocally condemn Hamas’s actions and “demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.
UN official criticised for not naming Israel in a statement after Gaza trip
Tor Wennesland, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, posted the statement on X in which he condemned the “horrifying civilian death toll” and the “tragic killing of six hostages” but did not name Israel as the perpetrator.
“Really, Tor? Almost a year in, and you still speak of ‘conflict’, with not a whisper about Israel’s genocide in Palestine? You condemn the ‘death toll’ in Gaza but don’t utter the name of the victims (say it, Tor, ‘Palestinians’), or the name of the killers (say it, Tor, ‘Israel’),” said Craig Mokhiber, a former top UN official.
Mouin Rabbani, a co-editor of Jadaliyya and non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies posted a response on X in which he said: “What’s the point of retaining a UN diplomat on the payroll who, visiting Gaza for the first time in months, cannot muster the courage to even mention Israel by name.”
