Gaza: The Ministry of Health in Gaza has said 390 Palestinians have been killed and 734 injured in the past two days while communications were suspended
The UN Security Council again delays a vote on a draft resolution urging scaled-up humanitarian aid access to Gaza after another day of intense negotiations.
Noureddine Miladi, a Qatar University professor, says there is some communication between the different Palestinian factions, but it is “not necessarily” between Hamas and Fatah.
“I think the aftermath of the war will definitely, in my opinion, unite Palestinian people more and more. Unfortunately, Fatah, for the moment or the Palestinian Authority, has been so absent from the Palestinian scene, it’s only what is called the resistance movements like Hamas, [Palestinian] Jihad and others present,” Miladi told Al Jazeera.
“I wouldn’t expect a lot going on now but would expect a lot to happen after this war between the two factions,” he added.
Miladi explained that support for Hamas is becoming more visible within the Palestinian territories.
“Statistics, whether from the Israeli government or from Palestinians themselves or from other observers [find] that support is becoming more and more active and obvious. We haven’t seen, for example, from amongst all the Palestinians who have been suffering in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem criticising Hamas or criticising jihad,” he said.
Israeli military releases video of drone shot down over Lebanese waters
The video shows the unmanned aerial vehicle being tracked by an Israeli fighter jet, according to the military.
The vehicle exploded into several pieces as it was hit. The military said it did not cross into Israeli territory, though Israeli warplanes routinely violate Lebanese airspace. The military did not say who had launched the drone.
Cross-border fighting between Israel and groups in southern Lebanon, predominantly Hezbollah, has continued since October 8, with both sides exchanging rocket and artillery fire as well as launching drones.
Some key changes to Security Council resolution on Gaza as vote nears
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo says that it appears the long-awaited UN vote will finally happen about an hour from now, at 16:30 GMT.
However, the wording of the resolution before the council has seen some watering down from the original version introduced on Monday.
The word choice in this resolution is critical, he said, “because it is legally binding by international law” if passed.
There have been two major changes: “The original draft that came out on Monday called for a ‘cessation of hostilities’, the US did not want that, so it was scaled back to a ‘suspension of hostilities’, and now in the latest version they will be voting on, that has been removed as well, and it now just calls for simply ‘the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,’” said Elizondo.
Russia, diplomatic sources told Al Jazeera, is particularly unhappy with this change.
“Another big change in here,” Elizondo continued, “is that the previous draft called for a robust UN monitoring mechanism to oversee aid going into Gaza and its distribution … That has been scaled back too. Now it’s calling for the secretary-general to appoint a senior humanitarian coordinator to oversee aid going into Gaza.”
Sixty-seven percent of Israelis are in favour of an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli captives of Hamas that would bring about a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a Lazar Institute poll published by Israeli daily Maariv.
About 22 percent of respondents said they were opposed to making a deal in exchange for a ceasefire while 11 percent of respondents said they were unsure.
The poll, done on a random sample of 502 Israelis with an estimated error rate of 4.3 percent, also said that 73 percent of Israeli agree to a ceasefire only after a deal has been reached, and only 11 percent agree to a ceasefire while negotiating.
The poll also showed that 67 percent of Israelis support Israel “continuing with the current ceasefire framework in exchange for the daily release of hostages”, while 22 percent oppose this.
PRCS says males at ambulance centre subjected to ‘torture’ in Jabalia
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has given an update on eight of their team members that remain detained by the Israeli forces at their ambulance centre northern Gaza.
The group said Israeli forces “destroyed the ambulances central wireless communication system and all ambulance vehicles at the branch,” and called on the international community to pressure Israel into releasing its staff.
“Occupation soldiers compelled all males present at the centre, totalling 47 individuals, to exit, undress, and subsequently restrained and took them to a house, where they were beaten and subjected to torture,” the group added.
PRCS also said that Israeli forces told nearby residents to shelter in its ambulance centre, only to later detain them.
Israeli settlers uproot olive trees in the occupied West Bank: Report
Israeli settlers have uprooted dozens of olive trees in the village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing local sources.
Fuad Hassan, a local activist, told Wafa that the settlers ploughed more than 30 dunams (about 7.4 acres) of land in the al-Furn area and uprooted dozens of decades-old olive trees.
Hassan explained that the settlers seized the uprooted trees, which the local Palestinians were unable to access because the Israeli army was providing protection for the settlers.
But the incident to the rising pattern of settler attacks on agricultural lands in the occupied West Bank.
‘Let them do their worst’: Hamas’s Badran
The question of whether Hamas would be willing to recognise the state of Israel to achieve the goal of establishing a Palestinian state for Gaza and the West Bank is “meaningless at this point in time”, Hamas official Husam Badran says.
“The real question that should be raised is why are Israelis continuing to wreak killings among our people and the destruction among all our properties – even mosques and places of worship, school buildings were not spared – denying water and food,” Badran told Al Jazeera. “These are the questions to be raised to the Israeli occupation forces, not to us.”
“Above all, the Palestinian people, till this day, have not had their independent state to recognise Israel. We are an occupied people, and we are doing all we can to rid our people and territories of the occupation.”
Amid reports that Israeli forces are expanding their operations and sending more troops to Khan Younis, Badran said that even the Palestinians in Gaza are not concerned with Israel’s “threats”.
“Let them do their worst,” he said.
Some key changes to Security Council resolution on Gaza as vote nears
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo says that it appears the long-awaited UN vote will finally happen about an hour from now, at 16:30 GMT.
However, the wording of the resolution before the council has seen some watering down from the original version introduced on Monday.
The word choice in this resolution is critical, he said, “because it is legally binding by international law” if passed.
There have been two major changes: “The original draft that came out on Monday called for a ‘cessation of hostilities’, the US did not want that, so it was scaled back to a ‘suspension of hostilities’, and now in the latest version they will be voting on, that has been removed as well, and it now just calls for simply ‘the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,’” said Elizondo.
Russia, diplomatic sources told Al Jazeera, is particularly unhappy with this change.
“Another big change in here,” Elizondo continued, “is that the previous draft called for a robust UN monitoring mechanism to oversee aid going into Gaza and its distribution … That has been scaled back too. Now it’s calling for the secretary-general to appoint a senior humanitarian coordinator to oversee aid going into Gaza.”
Talks between Hamas and Fatah possible after war: Analyst
Noureddine Miladi, a Qatar University professor, says there is some communication between the different Palestinian factions, but it is “not necessarily” between Hamas and Fatah.
“I think the aftermath of the war will definitely, in my opinion, unite Palestinian people more and more. Unfortunately, Fatah, for the moment or the Palestinian Authority, has been so absent from the Palestinian scene, it’s only what is called the resistance movements like Hamas, [Palestinian] Jihad and others present,” Miladi told Al Jazeera.
“I wouldn’t expect a lot going on now but would expect a lot to happen after this war between the two factions,” he added.
Miladi explained that support for Hamas is becoming more visible within the Palestinian territories.
“Statistics, whether from the Israeli government or from Palestinians themselves or from other observers [find] that support is becoming more and more active and obvious. We haven’t seen, for example, from amongst all the Palestinians who have been suffering in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem criticising Hamas or criticising jihad,” he said.
