Hamas reports a Israeli attack on a Gaza hospital could have as many as 500 people dead…….
Hamas is floating a request to release ALL hostages if Israel stops attacking Gaza…..
President Biden is due in Israel Wednesday……
He was to visit Jordan and Egypt…..
That has been cancelled….
America is NOT in a postion to pursue any support for anything across the Middle East from their leaderes who have their people incensed about the Gaza attacks and now the Gaza Hospital images…
Late news is coming out from thje Israeli’s that the Gaza hospital explosion was NOT caused by Israeli forces….
But ?
Was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group misfire landing on the Hospital….
President Biden is expected to ask Congress for $100 Billion for Isreal , Ukraine and maybe Taiwan and other domestic spending…..
Hundreds of people were killed by an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday night where thousands of civilians had been sheltering, a loss of life that ignited protests across the Arab world on the same day President Biden left for Israel.
After the blast, the Gazan health authorities blamed an Israeli airstrike for the death and destruction, and news organizations around the world focused their early coverage on that accusation. Later, that all changed when the Israel Defense Forces said the explosion was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian armed group that failed after launching. But by early Wednesday, neither assertion could be immediately verified.
The explosion left a grisly aftermath, according to videos verified by The New York Times and photographs distributed by news agencies. Bloodied and charred bodies were strewn across the courtyard of the hospital. Blankets, backpacks and mattresses lay nearby, traces of families who had come to seek refuge at the hospital after their homes were destroyed.
There were immediate repercussions in the region, with Mr. Biden canceling a stop in Jordan with Arab leaders and protests against Israel and the United States spreading across capitals in the Middle East….
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With the humanitarian crisis deepening, pressure mounted to immediately provide safety and aid to Gaza’s two million residents. Yet American-led diplomatic efforts have so far yielded few results. Days of efforts to get aid through Egypt’s border with Gaza have failed to bear fruit.
Here is what else to know:
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After visiting Israel on Wednesday, President Biden will not go on to Jordan, a senior administration official said, after the Jordanian government canceled a summit in Amman with regional leaders on the conflict. President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who also had been scheduled to attend, had backed out earlier.
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Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken continues a week of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, a senior State Department official said that U.S. and Israeli officials had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and set up “safe zones.”
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Though Israel has urged Gazan residents to move south away from an Israeli expected ground offensive in the north, Israeli warplanes continued on Tuesday carrying out strikes into southern Gaza near the border with Egypt. At least 72 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in attacks on residential buildings in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, Gaza’s Interior Ministry said. The Israeli military said on Tuesday morning that it had struck Hamas targets.
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Hamas said that one of its commanders, Ayman Nofal, was killed in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp in central Gaza. The statement identified him as a commander in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the group’s military wing…..
Israeli’s leaving the their countries border towns with Gaza…..
Israel has said it is ready to crush Hamas, and residents here are shipping out as Gaza braces for the force of an all-out assault. Like other communities along the 40-mile fence with Israel, the streets of Sderot now lie largely empty save for security forces, volunteers and the smattering of residents who have decided to stay. Nine out of 10 people in the working-class southern city of 30,000 people have left.
Thousands who did not flee in the initial attack have been ferried out like Ben Haim and his family to hotels on the Dead Sea and other parts of Israel.
Passing them on the roads are columns of soldiers and armored vehicles, as hundreds of thousands of troops ready themselves for the expected ground invasion.
In recent days, much of Sderot and its surroundings has been declared a closed security zone as the military prepares staging grounds on the border. New concrete road blocks have been installed to stop traffic as artillery blasts out shells into Gaza.
From an overlook in the city, beyond the supposedly impenetrable border fence that Hamas made light work of in the Oct. 7 assault, the Gazan cities of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia stretch out below. Black plumes rise from the sky as shells from Israeli tanks hit their mark, with the sound of explosions occasionally punctuated by the rattle of machine gun fire.
On the other side of the fence, 2,750 Palestinians in Gaza have already died in the air and artillery assault since last Saturday, according to Palestine health authorities….
The American Sec of State working Overtime in shuttling aroun d the Middle East….
It has been a grim voyage for Mr. Blinken, who at times appeared haunted as he described the slaughter of Israeli citizens and a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters in Cairo on Sunday, two days after his first stop in Israel, Mr. Blinken conceded that things had become a blur even for him. “I think I’ve lost track” of how many countries he had visited, Mr. Blinken said, before correctly putting the count at seven since his departure from Washington on Wednesday afternoon: Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, plus two stops each in Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
For State Department veterans, Mr. Blinken’s travel was reminiscent of a recent predecessor. John Kerry, who was secretary of state during the Obama administration, frequently extended and improvised his trips — even changing destinations midflight, in what was branded “seat-of-the-pants diplomacy.” Not so Mr. Blinken, who typically travels from Monday to Friday, returning in time to spend the weekend at home with his two young children.
The ad hoc nature of the trip began just days after the massacres by Hamas. Mr. Blinken immediately moved up a visit to the region that he had planned for the following week. The State Department announced that he would depart on Oct. 11 for Israel and Jordan, and return on Friday, Oct. 13.
That plan was soon torn up as State Department officials, in consultation with the White House, expanded Mr. Blinken’s itinerary to include several other major capitals….
Israel blames Islamic Jihad for the Gaza hospital blast….
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group based in Gaza, was blamed by the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday night after hundreds of people were reported killed by a strike at Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said the blast was caused by a rocket fired by the group that failed after launching. The Gazan health authorities said the blast had been caused by an Israeli airstrike….
America takes a hit for supporting Israel…..
Many Arabs view the American government as not only being indifferent to the agony of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, but also complicit in it. American pledges of “ironclad” support for the country — and no-strings-attached security assistance — have stoked those feelings as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza.
“There is tremendous anger in the Arab world, even by those who do not support Hamas,” said Nabil Fahmy, a former foreign minister of Egypt. “They are giving Israel a green light,” he said of Western powers, “and as this gets increasingly bloody, the West will have blood on its hands.”
So intense is the anger that a refrain, “Death to America,” has found renewed resonance in the region, including during a protest on Friday in Bahrain, a close American ally.
Many Palestinians and other Arabs said in interviews that the rhetoric coming from senior Israeli and American officials had been dehumanizing and warmongering….
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All logistical evidence suggests that a jihadist misfire from inside of Palestine caused the explosion. This is a tragic situation all around. There is no way that Israel would ever deliberately target a hospital.
Yet many people around the world and sadly even within the United States will side with the fake narrative that Israel and Jews are behind it. Hamas has demonstrated without a shadow of a doubt who they are and what they stand for. Some are choosing to actually believe Hamas though in this situation which I find incomprehensible. Of course, I also find much of what jamesb has written over the years on this broader topic to be incomprehensible.
As is the case with Ukraine and their fight for survival against Putin’s brutality and war crimes, President Joe Biden and the United States of America must never go wobby in standing behind Israel in its battle for survival.
Now, I am certain jamesb will go on to do his Donald Trump and lecture everyone about how “this has all been going on for a long time” and “there are good people on both sides.”
Indeed CG…..
There ARE THOSANDS of innocents on BOTH sides being collateral damage…
THAT is NOT a victory for ANYBODY…..
It’s a incredible WASTE of human lives all around…
It must be stated over and over again that there are NO good people in Hamas. It is also wrong to equate Hamas with all Palestinians. Hamas is victimizing innocent Palestinians. Hamas wants dead Palestinians as a tactic for their overall desire to kill every Jew on Earth. Every innocent Palestinian who has died or will die in this war is the fault of Hamas and those that support and back Hamas.
This is not a time for moral relativism. Again, there are no “very fine” or “innocent” people who are part of Hamas anymore than there were any “very fine” people among the violent white supremacists who converged on Charlottesville.
I thought Hamas was seen as mostly moderate….
Among the Arab factions there ARE radicals just like anyplace else …..
Iran, Hezbollah , and Palestinian Jihad are amoing the factions…..
THERE ARE innocent Israeli’s and Plaestians that HAVE lost their lives….
Each one of those losses and the one’s still alive that have been hurt are unnessary LOSSES….
“I thought Hamas was seen as mostly moderate….”
You really should be questioning why you have a blog.
CG?
I didn’t say they were the ‘Good Guys’….
But they DID work WITH Israel from time to time….
Yes….
They HAVE been fighting against Israel ….
But they HAVE been fighting internally also…
No Palestine organization can survive staying tight with Israel….
“Despite conducting attacks against civilians in the past and fighting previous wars against Israel, (Hamas) did also simultaneously engage in political tracks,” including negotiations with Abbas’ Fatah movement and even tacit coordination with Israel, Lovatt said.
“Now it appears to have fully embraced open-ended violence as its long-term strategic choice.”
More…
You are a truly confused and ignorant person. Hamas does not “work with Israel.” Hamas has always been quite open about their intention to destroy Israel.
Many people are ignorant and confused, but you actually think you are smart and informed. Sadly, you are not.
For all who post here, regardless of other differences, I do not believe anybody would disagree with me on this assessment of you.
I have provided u with outside reference CG
There are No read good guys in the fight over there
As I pointed out last night
Innocent people are the collateral victims
On BOTH SIDES……
Your “outside reference” completely backs up what I have stated. Hamas is not “moderate” and never has been. Nobody with a shred of understanding of world events could ever suggest otherwise. Yet, you have, because a) you are very stubborn when proven wrong, and b) you do not have normal reading comprehension skills.
The leaders should be placed in a ring to fight the shit out and leave everybody else to live in peace
What a sad, childish, clownish thing to say at a time like this.
If only the situation actually worked this way. Imagine if Saddam and his sons had been put in the ring with Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld? All those innocent Iraqi civilians Republicans don’t care about would have had a chance.
Yes SE……
Save the wasted lives
GG?
EVERY LIFE should be treasured
EVERYONE
Biden got on the plane to try…..
At least he’s trying
Now we have reached the “All Lives Matter” stage, most recently used by the MAGA crowd in trying to diminish the cause of those who spoke out about the lives of African-Americans wrongly taken by rogue cops or racist vigilantes.
Yes, all innocent life matters of course. Hamas is not innocent and they should be eliminated.
And on the subject of this post, the evidence now shows that the hospital was not even hit. The damage was done away from the hospital. Innocent people were killed by the Islamic Jihad misfire, and that is tragic of course, but the loss of life was likely nowhere near 500 people. Hamas lied about the entire situation, of course.
The overall story is how so many people around the world and within the United States even were so quick to believe Hamas was telling the truth about any of this, and were quick to blame Israel and the Jews.
You even had Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who quickly blamed Israel and said that Joe Biden was complicit in murder as well. What time will she be speaking at the convention next summer?
I agree CG….
I point out that Israel DIDS NOT cause the damage….
They should not be blamed and the politics probably won’t matter now with the truth…….
My point…
This is so fucked up?
That the hate is just baked in….