In this undated image taken from video released by the Israeli Defence Forces, a line of Israeli tanks are showing during an incursion into the Gaza Strip. Image / Israeli Defence Forces via AP
In this undated image taken from video released by the Israeli Defence Forces, a line of Israeli tanks are showing during an incursion into the Gaza Strip. Image / Israeli Defence Forces via AP
Hundreds of protesters in black T-shirts filled New York City’s iconic Grand Central Terminal during the evening rush hour on Friday to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Many of the protesters were detained by police and taken out of the station, their hands zip tied behind their backs, according to video posted on social media by protest organisers. The NYPD could not immediately say how many were taken into custody.
Protesters gather at Grand Central Station during a rally calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Photo / AP
Inside the main concourse, protesters wearing shirts that read “cease-fire now” and “not in our name” chanted, with some holding banners in front of the list of departure times. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority asked commuters to use Penn Station as an alternative.
Protesters gather at Grand Central Station during a rally calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Photo / AP
The scene echoed last week’s sit-in where more than 300 people were arrested for illegally demonstrating on Capitol Hill in Washington.
UN General Assembly calls for ‘humanitarian truce’ in Gaza leading to halt in fighting
The UN General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
It was the first UN response to Hamas’ surprise October 7 attacks on Israel and Israel’s ongoing military response and vow to obliterate Hamas.
The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States to unequivocally condemn the “terrorist attacks” by Hamas and demand the immediate release of hostages taken by the militant group.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. Photo / AP
Explosions shatter the night sky over Gaza as Israel expands bombing
The dull orange glow of Israeli flares shone in the night sky over Gaza, slowly descending through the haze to illuminate targets for warplanes before eventually flickering out, plunging the scene back into darkness.
Multiple explosions from Israeli airstrikes tore into northern Gaza, quick flashes of bright orange silhouetted against the rooftops of Palestinian apartments and refugee camps. The sharp crunching sound of the bombs followed each time, seconds later, one after another.
Overhead, the buzz of Israeli military drones cut through, growing quieter and louder as the crafts circled the airspace overhead.
For most Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip, their world has shrunk to these few sounds and colours.
Israel dramatically ramped up its bombardment Friday after knocking out internet and communication in Gaza, largely cutting off the tiny besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people from contact with each other and the outside world.
Gaza’s largest hospital struggles to keep neonatal units running as Israel tightens siege
Premature babies wiggle and squirm, some with oxygen tubes under their noses, in rows of clear plastic incubators inside the neonatal unit of Gaza’s largest hospital, which, like the rest of the besieged Palestinian territory, is running out of fuel, food, water and electricity.
Doctors in Gaza say conditions have reached catastrophic levels. They say a lack of basic supplies has left them struggling to maintain hygiene and sanitation, and hospital grounds are overcrowded with displaced civilians seeking refuge from Israeli airstrikes.
“We have noticed an increase in premature birth cases,” said Dr. Nasser Bulbul, head of the NICU at al-Shifa Hospital.
“We had to perform a premature delivery of the fetus from the mother’s womb while she’s dying,” he said. “Many of these infants are orphaned, and we don’t know the fate of their relatives or have information about their identities.”
Around 50,000 pregnant women are caught up in the conflict, with around 5,500 due to give birth within the next 30 days, according to the United Nations Population Fund.
If fuel supplies run out, neonatal intensive care units will be impacted and planned or emergency caesarean sections will be impossible, the UN agency said.
Wounded Palestinians receive treatment at the al-Shifa hospital, following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City. Photo / AP
Press Group says the past 3 weeks have been deadliest period for journalists covering conflict
The Committee to Protect Journalists says the past three weeks have been the deadliest on record for journalists covering conflict since the organization started tracking in 1992.
The organisation said in a statement Friday that at least 29 journalists have died covering the Israel-Hamas war since it ignited on October 7, including 24 Palestinians, four Israelis and 1 Lebanese. Additionally, 8 other journalists were reported injured and 9 were reported missing or detained.
CPJ also criticised the cutting of communications services in the Gaza Strip, warning that the blackout is also a “news blackout” that has compromised the public’s ability to “know and understand what is happening in this conflict.”
“This can lead to serious consequences with an independent, factual information vacuum that can be filled with deadly propaganda, dis- and misinformation,” it said.
Explosions caused by Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo / AP
The organization stressed that journalists are civilians who must be respected and protected in accordance with international humanitarian law, adding that “deliberating targeting journalists or media infrastructure constitutes possible war crimes.”
Earlier: Aid groups say blackout is impeding staff communications and operations
Aid groups say the communications blackout in the Gaza Strip has not only left them unable to contact their staff but has also impeded their operations in the territory.
“It doesn’t only mean that Gaza is isolated from the world but also it means people can’t connect to each other. Our emergency line is down so people are literally not able to call an ambulance,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent. “We are extremely worried because we are completely cut off from our teams.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross also said it’s currently unable to reach its staff in Gaza.
“We are deeply worried for their safety and the safety of all civilians where hostilities are taking place. Without access to information in a communication blackout, people don’t know where to go for safety,” the organisation said in a statement. “Blackouts impede humanitarian and medical personnel from working safely and effectively.”
‘We’re not drawing red lines for Israel,’ White House official says
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby repeatedly refused to comment on Israel saying its ground forces were expanding activity in Gaza and also refused to comment on what a satisfactory long-term objective might be for the fighting.
“We’re not drawing red lines for Israel,” Kirby said on a call with reporters. “We’re going to continue to support them” but “since the very beginning we have, and will continue to have, conversations about the manner that they are doing this.”
Kirby said the US is still evaluating the impact of airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias and “we will not hesitate to take further actions in our own self-defence.”
He also said 10 additional trucks filled with humanitarian aid had made it to Gaza, bringing the total to 84, but that the US is aware that fuel there “is only anticipated to last a couple of days.”
The White House previously said President Joe Biden was briefed Friday morning by his national security team on the latest developments in Israel and Gaza.
Israeli army says ground forces ‘expanding their activity’, tanks roll into Gaza
The Israeli military says its ground forces are “expanding their activity” in the Gaza Strip, as the army moved closer to a full-on ground invasion of the besieged territory.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the army’s spokesman, said aerial attacks had been targeting Hamas tunnels and other targets.
“In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening,” he said. “The IDF is acting with great force ... to achieve the objectives of the war.”
Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive against the Hamas militant group.
Israeli airstrikes intensify after nightfall
Israel has said it expects to launch a long and difficult ground offensive into Gaza soon to destroy Hamas, the Defence Minister said Friday, as airstrikes intensified after nightfall and the territory’s internet and mobile communications services collapsed.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s comments pointed to a potentially gruelling and open-ended new phase of the war, three weeks after Hamas’ bloody incursion into southern Israel sparked relentless bombardment in Gaza. Israeli troops carried out a second ground raid into Gaza in as many days, striking the outskirts of Gaza City.
Gallant told a small group of foreign reporters that it “will take a long time” to dismantle Hamas’ vast network of tunnels and that he expected a lengthy phase of lower-intensity fighting as Israel destroys “pockets of resistance.”
Israel has said it aims to crush Hamas’ rule in Gaza and its ability to threaten Israel. But how Hamas’ defeat will be measured and an invasion’s endgame remain unclear. Israel says it does not intend to rule the tiny territory of 2.3 million Palestinians but not who it expects to govern – even as Gallant suggested a long-term insurgency could ensue.
Explosions Friday night lit up the sky over Gaza City, as the communications black-out cut off most contact with the outside world and within the territory.
The Palestine Telecommunications Company, Paltel, announced “a complete disruption of all communication and internet services” due to bombardment. The Red Crescent said all landline, cellular and internet communications were cut off and it lost all contact with its operations room and medical teams. It said it feared people would no longer be able to contact ambulance services. The Associated Press’ attempts to reach people in Gaza did not go through.
In a sign of rising tensions in the region, U.S. warplanes struck targets in eastern Syria that the Pentagon said were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after a string of attacks on American forces, and two mysterious objects hit towns in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has soared past 7,300, according to officials there. A blockade on Gaza has meant dwindling supplies of food, fuel, water and medicine, and the U.N. warned that its aid operation helping hundreds of thousands of people was “crumbling” amid near-depleted fuel.
Gaza’s Health Ministry on Thursday released a detailed list of names and identification numbers of those killed, including more than 3,000 minors and more than 1,500 women.
More than 1,400 people were slain in Israel during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, according to the Israeli government, and at least 229 hostages were taken into Gaza. Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel, including one that hit a residential building in Tel Aviv on Friday, wounding four people.
The overall number of deaths far exceeds the combined toll of all four previous Israel-Hamas wars, estimated at around 4,000. A ground invasion is expected to cause even higher casualties on both sides as Israeli forces and Hamas battle each other in dense residential areas.
Gazan hospitals have been scrounging for fuel to run emergency generators that power incubators and other life-saving equipment after Israel cut off all fuel deliveries at the start of the war, forcing its only power plant to shut down.
