AP reported:
Over 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are packed into U.N. shelters as Israeli warplanes pound the tiny territory of 2.3 million people after their Hamas militant rulers launched an unprecedented weekend attack on Israel.
NPR reported:
All of the Gaza Strip's borders are closed, leaving Palestinian civilians with nowhere to escape and around a tenth of Gaza's population of about 2.3 million people internally displaced seeking shelter. Gaza has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt for 16 years.
Reuters reported:
Egypt is moving to avert a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula, as Israeli bombardment halted crossings at the main exit point from the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, Gaza officials and Egyptian security sources said.Insider reported:
Israel dropped bombs near a Gaza border crossing full of civilians following officials' advice to flee.
International humanitarian law requires warmakers to follow specific rules. Hamas did not follow those rules and will reap what they've sown with their horrific attack.
That said, 2.3 million people in Gaza are not all Hamas. Currently, they are prisoners on an eventual death row.
The conditions of war kill more people than bombs or bullets. How many innocent people will die as a result of being trapped in a war zone?
Update 10-13-23: Israel ordered more than a million people to leave the northern half of the Gaza Strip within 24 hours. The United Nations and other organizations warned of a disaster if so many people were forced to flee.
Israel gave a Gaza hospital two hours to evacuate (before giving the hospital the night to clear out).
Terrorist Hamas called for a global day of rage. Man's inhumanity to man is front and center. Lord help us all. Protect us from horrible leaders who perpetuate violence against innocent persons.
Lord grant us a global day of peace, then a week, a month and a year. Provide us leaders who will work together to solve the many problems we face. Our hearts are broken over all the death and destruction.
Update 10-14-23: NYT reported:
John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said that Israel’s blockade was for now preventing the American government from transporting its citizens out of Gaza. He said that the White House was in talks with Israel and Egypt about the safe passage of civilians out of Gaza, including Americans, but that no breakthrough had been reached.
“Right now, they — they can’t leave. So, we would have no physical means of permitting that transit out,” Mr. Kirby said. U.S. officials estimated that 500 to 600 American citizens were in Gaza.
U.S. citizens in Gaza cannot get out. And this is from an ally? It shows every one of us is expendable.
Update 10-15-23: As for helping people get out of hellscapes there is recent history (May 2022). "______ stressed the imperative of enabling humanitarian access and evacuations from besieged areas." Chris Hedges points out razing Gaza is the objective.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind...
Update 10-16-23: There is no ceasefire for aid to enter Gaza.
Update 10-18-23: Hundreds of Palestinians were killed when a bomb struck a hospital in Gaza. It's important to know whose bomb it was. President Biden said it was "the other team." Really, that's what you have for the American people? It's not a $%#@ football game. American citizens are trapped in stinking charnel house.
Update 10-26-23: If Palestinians were Ukrainians the U.S. would be apoplectic that people couldn't leave an active war zone. Israel has used collective punishment for decades. It's more than an eye for an eye, it's ten Palestinian eyes for an Israeli eye. Fox News had someone on who said all Palestinians in Gaza are Hamas. That person wants 1,000 Palesinian eyes for an Israeli eye.
Update 10-29-23: Business Insider reported:
A French diplomat offered:
"Hamas has set a trap for us, and this trap is one of maximum horror, of maximum cruelty. And so there's a risk of an escalation in militarism, of more military interventions, as if we could with armies solve a problem as serious as the Palestinian question.
There's also a second major trap, which is that of Occidentalism. We find ourselves trapped, with Israel, in this western bloc which today is being challenged by most of the international community.
The debate shouldn't be about rhetoric or word choice. The debate today is about action; we must act. And when you think about action, there are two options. Either it's war, war, war. Or it's about trying to move towards peace, and I'll say it again, it's in Israel's interest. It's in Israel's interest!"
Update 10-30-23:
Update 10-31-23: Former President Trump said:
“If you spill a drop of American blood, we will spill a gallon of yours.”
He upped the ratio: for every one drop of American blood, Trump would take 15,140 drops of the attacker's blood.
Israel bombed a Gaza refugee camp to kill a senior Hamas commander:
At least six airstrikes hit residential areas in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 150 people.
A UNICEF spokesperson said:
“The numbers are appalling,” said a Unicef spokesperson, James Elder. “Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It’s a living hell for everyone else.”
Update 11-1-23: U.S. Senator says there are no limits to Israel's revenge:
Now what has Graham said about innocent people killed in Ukraine?
Update 11-6-23: Bill Ackman spoke to CNBC about his concerns regarding speech on Harvard's campus. Jordan's Queen Rania shared her thoughts about the horrific Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
People can protest the killing of innocent civilians and not be pro-terrorist.
Update 11-8-23: The intractable nature of the conflict can be heard in this video.
Update 1-7-24: Only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to stay Prime Minister after the Gaza War ends.
Update 1-14-24: Over 50% of Gaza buildings have been damaged or destroyed. That rises to 80% for building-s in North Gaza.
Update 1-18-24: Israeli citizens raising concerns over Gaza deaths have been jailed.
Update 1-20-24: System Update takes on South Africa's genocide claims against Israel in Gaza. Sky News reported on Catholic Church deaths in Gaza.
Update 1-26-24: The Executive Director of Chatham House challenged Israel's heavy handed response to the Hamas terrorist attack. How long before some billionaire calls that person anti-Semitic?
Update 3-2-24: The U.S. vetoed a UN resolution condemning the killing of Gazans seeking aid from food trucks.
Update 3-3-24: The U.S. airdropped food and water into North Gaza.
Update 3-7-24: More deaths in war are caused by the conditions of war, not direct fighting. This long known fact has been ignored by world leaders. Famine, starvation, dehydration....are predictable. Yet, no one saw it coming..... This is the horse hockey shoveled onto the masses.
Update 3-14-24: Israel attacked an aid station in Rafah, killing people seeking food and water.
Update 3-19-24: The current razing of Gaza prompted a suggestion from Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner that waterfront property be developed. Of course the Palestinians would have to go. Does that mean offshore oil/gas rights go to the new waterfront property holders?
Update 4-5-24: The world is horrified by the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. Jesse's Crossroads Cafe wrote:
Over 30,000 innocent civilians and 196 aid workers have been systematically targeted and murdered in Gaza in this ongoing act of ethnic cleansing. The aid workers and food convoys are being targeted to promote the starvation of a civilian population. Their lies and phony claims are disgraceful, and transparent to the rest of the world. Yesterday's strike that targeted seven Western aid workers has finally provoked a response. More misery and pain is being inflicted in the West Bank, in what can only be said as a 'grab for land' of other people.
Update 4-24-24: Hamas reminded the world of their cruelty by airing videos of hostages in captivity. A confidential USAID memo concluded Israel has been impeding Gaza aid.
Update 10-8-24: Common Dreams reported:
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon killed a United States citizen earlier this week as the Biden administration faced growing backlash for failing to evacuate Americans from the country
Over 41,000 Gazans have been killed as a result of war.
Update 11-9-24: Qatar finally realized neither side wants peace and dropped their mediator role. Hamas and Israel are 400 days into turning Gaza into a stinking charnel house.
