November 5, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suspended a far-right cabinet minister from participating in government meetings, after the minister suggested that dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was “one way” to deal with the crisis.

Heritage minister Amichay Eliyahu was asked early Sunday on Radio Kol Berama, a religious radio station, if a nuclear weapon should be used in Gaza, to which Eliyahu answered “this is one way.”

He later said he did not mean his answer to be taken literally.

The Prime Minister’s office later told CNN Netanyahu had suspended Eliyahu from taking part in government meetings until further notice.

Eliyahu defended his remarks, writing on social media: “It is clear to all sensible people that the statement about the atom [nuclear bomb] is metaphorical."

He did however suggest mounting “a strong and disproportionate response to terrorism.”

Eliyahu is part of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by Israel’s minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir. Neither he nor Ben Gvir is a member of the war cabinet.

Israel has never officially admitted that it possesses nuclear weapons.

Rajaa Musleh, 50, has been sheltering at Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest medical facility, which has been inundated not just by patients, but also displaced people desperately hoping that it might provide some protection from Israel’s brutal aerial campaign.

The Gaza representative for US-based healthcare NGO MedGlobal fled her home on the strip’s northern coast to Al-Shifa after the Israeli military declared war against Hamas in response to their deadly October 7 terror attack and called on civilians to evacuate the area in preparation for a ground operation.

More than 1.4 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, the UN’s humanitarian office OCHA said on Monday. Many civilians have been forced to flee to refugee camps or hospitals that have surpassed capacity, often living in unsanitary living conditions.

The Al-Shifa hospital complex, she said, is overflowing with people, many of them women and girls sleeping on the floors of the hospital and outside, without access to physical or mental health care, water or privacy.

Musleh is one of hundreds of thousands of women in Gaza facing a desperate health crisis, since Israel’s complete blockade of the strip curtailed critical reproductive supplies, including pregnancy, postpartum and menstruation products, as well as basic necessities like drinking water and food.

Meanwhile, mothers say they are dealing with the desperate reality that they have no way to protect themselves, or their children, from Israel’s relentless bombardment, which has struck residential areas, hospitals and schools.

Read the full story here:

RELATED

In Gaza, being a mother is a matter of life and death | CNN

Journalist Muhammed Alaloul lost four children and three siblings in the explosion at a refugee camp in central Gaza late Saturday, Aloul told CNN on Sunday.

Alaloul, a freelance photojournalist with the Turkish news agency Anadolu, said his home was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Al-Maghazi refugee camp. Hospital officials in Gaza have also attributed the explosion to an Israeli airstrike.

The Israel Defense Forces told CNN it is looking into the circumstances of the blast.

Video from the scene shows extensive destruction, with many buildings damaged or destroyed.

Alaloul later returned to where his home once stood.

He said his wife, mother, father and another child were injured. His wife was critically wounded and was admitted to the intensive care unit. 

The blast claimed 52 lives, according to Mohammad Al Hajj, Al-Aqsa hospital's communications director. 

Dozens were killed and many more injured in a blast at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip late Saturday night, according to hospital officials.  

The explosion in the camp killed 52 people, said Mohammad al Hajj, the director of communications at the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyr’s hospital in Deir Al-Balah. He told CNN that the explosion was the result of an Israeli airstrike.

One resident of the camp told CNN: “We were sitting in our homes, suddenly we heard a very, very powerful sound of an explosion. It shook the whole area, all of it.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is looking into the circumstances around the explosion.

Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, the head of nursing at the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s hospital told CNN he had seen at least 33 bodies from what he also claimed was an Israeli airstrike.

The Israeli military did not have an immediate comment as to whether it was targeting the area.   

Dr. Al-Daqran said many of the victims were women and children and that the death toll would increase as more bodies were being brought to the hospital.

Video taken at the Al-Aqsa Martyr's hospital showed multiple bodies laid out under white tarpaulin and those of five children.   

Al-Maghazi camp resident Jamal Al Aloul said he was sleeping soundly when suddenly “the whole building fell on us.” He said his two children were killed in the collapse. He said he did not know who else had been killed but there were many other people in the building.

She said moments later she found her father dead.  

Dr. Al-Daqran said the hospital was not equipped to accept the high number of patients coming in from the scene and said the shortage of fuel and supplies made adequately treating the wounded impossible.   

A dense area: The Al-Maghazi refugee camp is located in the central part of the coastal enclave south of Wadi Gaza. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the camp is characterized by narrow alleys and a high population density with over 33,000 people living in an area of no more than 0.6 square kilometers.   

The IDF has repeatedly called for civilians in Gaza to move south of Wadi Gaza as it has intensified its air and ground assault on Gaza City and Northern Gaza.  

More than 100 Britons have been evacuated from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told the BBC on Sunday. 

"It is very disappointing that the crossing was closed (Saturday)," Dowden added.

According to an Egyptian border official, the border shut for a few hours on Saturday out of caution following an Israeli airstrike that targeted a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance on Friday. 

"We are engaging very closely and we're hopeful that the crossing will reopen again today enabling further UK nationals to leave the situation," added Dowden. 

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on social media that the first British nationals had left Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah Sunday amid escalating settler violence in the West Bank following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The top US diplomat’s visit to Ramallah -- his first since that attack – comes as the United States grapples with the Israel-Hamas war and resulting humanitarian catastrophe. It comes on the heels of Blinken stops in Israel and Jordan.

Abbas and Blinken met twice in Jordan during the latter’s trip to the region several weeks ago, after October 7.

At a summit Saturday in Amman with the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, as well as the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Blinken said they are “all deeply concerned about escalating extremist violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank,” calling it “a serious problem that’s only worsened since the conflict.”

At least 150 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – a number nearing the total number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank in all of 2022. 

Blinken, who met with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv Friday, said he heard “a clear commitment from the government to deal with extremist violence in the West Bank, to condemn it, to take action to prevent it, to take action against those who perpetrate it.”

“This is important, and we will be looking closely to ensure that our friends make good on that commitment,” he said.

Blinken has spoken about the need to focus on “the day of” and the “day after,” and has suggested the Palestinian Authority could play a role in Gaza’s future if Hamas is eliminated.

“At some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza,” he said at a congressional hearing last week.

“Whether you can get there in one step is a big question that we have to look at. And if you can’t, then there are other temporary arrangements that may involve a number of other countries in the region. It may involve international agencies that would help provide for both security and governance,” he said.

CNN’s Abeer Salman contributed to this report

Hundreds of family members of hostages taken by Hamas in attacks on October 7 held a rally in front of the Kirya -- the government's military headquarters -- in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, "to demand greater actions by the government to release the hostages.”

In a statement released ahead of the event, organizers said "this evening is not an anti-government protest. This is a rally of families and community that would like to see more done to release the hostages."

More than 200 hostages are still being held in Gaza after Hamas' attacks nearly a month ago.

Israeli police meanwhile said they arrested three people at anti-government protests in Jerusalem on Saturday.

Heavy explosions took place in the vicinity of the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza early Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.

The PRCS said that “a building located approximately 50 meters away from Al-Quds hospital and the Association headquarters in Tal Al-Hawa area has been targeted by the IDF (The Israel Defense Forces).”

It said the building had been destroyed and there were casualties, including a number of deaths. 

The PRCS reported “violent artillery explosions and airstrikes” around the hospital. It said “rescue teams are unable to leave due to the severity of the shelling to respond to the injuries in the area.

The hospital is close to Gaza City.

CNN is reaching out to the Israeli military for comment on the PRCS claims. The IDF has told civilians to move to the south of Gaza from Gaza City and the north and has frequently accused Hamas of using civilian infrastructure such as hospitals for military operations.

Around 20,000 people took part in a pro-Palestinian rally on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, according to police officials.

The rally was peaceful without any issues or arrests made, according to Senior Constable Adam West.

The rally came a day after thousands of protesters rallied in Washington, DC, and in major cities across Europe, calling for a ceasefire in the hostilities.

On Saturday, a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters packed into Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, as speakers called for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US aid to Israel.

The speakers slammed US President Joe Biden's administration for its response to the crisis in Gaza, warning that they will not support the president in 2024 if he does not call for a ceasefire in the war.

Demonstrations also took place across Europe on Saturday ��� in Paris, Berlin and London, as well as the British cities of Manchester, Oxford, Newcastle and Liverpool. In London, police arrested 29 people at a protest, citing offenses including inciting racial hatred, racially motivated crimes, violence and assaulting a police officer.

The event was the third consecutive pro-Palestinian weekend rally in London. Thousands of people have attended each rally, with the Met Police estimating a turnout of 100,000 for the first solidarity march.