Left behind, in an Israeli town
Gaza is under complete siege: Israel’s ground-state response to the Hamas attacks on Gaza has been disrupted by the israeli army
The enclave now is under complete siege. Israel has cut off food, water, fuel and electricity in retaliation for the attack Hamas carried out in Israel’s southern towns. Gaza’s 2.3 million residents lost power because the territory’s main power plant ran out of fuel.
There is no electricity. Families are using generators sparingly if they have fuel left — Abuzayda says she can only charge her phone for several hours at a time every few days. They could lose their connection to the world at any time because of the sporadic access to communication.
The Story of Gaza: How Israel Created the Continuum of Survival in an Enclave of Displaced People and Refugees
Many of the fighters who breached those walls are probably just a few years older than Ali; many of them were born during the second intifada. Their entire experience has been Israeli military occupation, siege and devastating military assault upon assault in an enclave of 140 square miles, with unemployment and poverty rates of approximately 50 percent. This is the history, and these are the conditions that have shaped so many in Gaza, not a justification. Israel helped create these fighters by starving them of hope, dignity and a future.
In the aftermath of the Hamas attack that left 1,300 Israelis dead, Israel is increasing its air strikes on Gaza.
There are no humanitarian corridors to bring badly needed aid inside and no open border crossings. It has been hit at least three times. Even aid workers haven’t been spared. 11 staff members from the United Nations Palestinian agency were killed in their homes with their families. Many of the more than 300,000 people who have been displaced are at the schools where many of the facilities were damaged.
The American government was prevented from leaving Gaza because of Israel’s blockade, according to a spokesman for the National Security Council. He said that there had been no breakthrough in the talks between the White House and Israel and Egypt about safe passage of civilians out of Gaza.
The 30-year-old grew up in Gaza, but hadn’t been back since moving to the U.S. seven years ago. Abuzayda and her American husband had been going back and forth about when to visit.
“We changed our tickets like three to four times … and then we decided to come to Gaza at this time,” she said. “And our short vacation just turned into a nightmare.”
Abuzayda, her husband Abood and their son Yousef were supposed to be in Massachusetts for two weeks. They aren’t sure when they’ll be able to go home.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, there were nonstop airstrikes and bombs around the building, causing the windows in their apartment to shatter and their front door to break open because of the pressure of the bombs, she said. She said she had reached out multiple times to U.S. authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Israel but that she had not received a clear answer about what was being done to help them.
“We tell them we’re running out of milk, diapers, we’re not safe, we’re citizens — they’re not doing anything,” she said. “And in the meantime they keep posting stuff about the U.S. citizens in Israel. Every five minutes they keep reminding the people in Israel to get out of Israel.”
Major US airlines have suspended flights in and out of the country, making it difficult for others to leave. Hundreds of people from New York are trying to get home from Israel.
The U.S. increased the travel advisory for Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday to level three, or “reconsider travel.” The “do not travel” advisory is still in effect for Gaza.
Abuzayda, who is staying at her parents’ house with other relatives, said her sister-in-law and her three kids had tried to cross the Rafah border, but they had to turn back after it came under an Israeli airstrike.
Taking a stroll in the crowd: How do you feel when you get there and what you don’t want to do? A model for a safe environment
It’s unsafe inside or outside, she said. Supplies are low in the markets. She is trying to make the most of the baby bottles and milk she has left so that yousef can live a good life.
“The hardest feeling ever is to hide your fear and show the opposite, just to keep my son positive,” she said. He doesn’t understand, and he thinks it’s fireworks. I clap when I say this is a fireworks, but then I wail, ‘okay mom, clap this is nothing.’ Sometimes he will jump, but he will be scared if I am not next to him.
The Gaza Strip Is Not a Refuge: Hersh’s Friends in Jerusalem Tell Us About Israel, Its Attacks on Hamas and Israel
She said “please, please save us,” with a strained voice. Please. I have a one-and-a-half year old, I got him after six times of IVF … We have been trying to call the embassy since Saturday. Nobody’s helping, nobody’s getting back to us. Please save us.
Hersh, the American-born U.S. citizen, was ordered into a pickup truck by Hamas terrorists and was taken to the Gaza border. The police told us the last known location of his mobile phone was on the Gaza border early Saturday afternoon.
I don’t know what Hersh or any of the other captives deserve, but this is not their fate. I am heartbroken, but the messages of support pouring in from near and far make this moment heartwarming at the same time.
I cried as I got messages from his friends in Germany that they have a friendly relationship with Hersh’s beloved Hapoel Jerusalem soccer team. He befriended these German fans over the years when they visited Jerusalem to watch their team play soccer. Together they painted a peace mural with both Arab and Jewish residents near our home in Jerusalem, where we’ve lived since Hersh was 7. Just five weeks ago, Hersh spent time with these friends in Germany.
The infrastructure was weakened by a 16-year blockade and four previous wars. It’s something Palestinians say they’ve never seen before.
He was stranded last night outside the main hospital. Abu Za refeh says fuel is running out and it was too dark for people to move.
“We are trying to survive,” he said. There are no safe places to escape or to flee from the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has stated that this is the start of things to come. The country is preparing for a ground invasion. It’s a reaction that the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem is calling a “criminal policy of revenge.” The Red Cross says the aid for Gaza is coming to an end.
The journalist Abu Zarafeh said his neighborhood is too dangerous to go back to now. Communication was cut off which meant he lost touch with some of his children.
“This conflict is between Hamas and Israel. So why is Israel destroying our homes? Is it causing whole neighborhoods to be destroyed? ” Abu Zarafeh said it.” “This is collective punishment.”
It’s a nightmare NPR’s producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, is living. As he tries to cover this war for the world, he’s also trying to survive it. He tried to get his family out of the house.
“I took them from the house, and I started to just think, where am I going to take them? Where am I going to hide them? Is there any safe place in Gaza?” he said over a scratchy phone line.
“Everybody is thinking about how to stay alive,” he said. “We are human, we are part of this world. We are part of this civilization. Don’t forget us.
The Gaza Strip had to go a long way: Israel’s goal was to displace us once again from our land, and the Palestinians did not follow Israeli orders
TEL AVIV, Israel — The fighting between Israel and Hamas entered a seventh day on Friday with fears of a ground offensive growing stronger following an Israeli order to evacuate the northern region of the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military told the United Nations late Thursday that all of northern Gaza’s population needs to evacuate to the southern portion of the enclave, a U.N. spokesman said. The Israeli order gave 24 hours for more than 1 million people, nearly half of Gaza’s population, to evacuate. The Israeli order applied to U.N. staff and those who were sheltered at the UN.
Within hours of the order, Israel faced opposition, both from Hamas and on the international stage. “The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place, without serious humanitarian consequences,” the UN said.
Human Rights Watch said the roads are rubble, fuel is scarce, and the main hospital is in the evacuation zone, making it difficult for people to leave and head south.
The Norwegian Refugee Council said the Israeli military’s demand for 1 million people to leave northern Gaza and go to the south was a war crime.
Meanwhile, the Hamas leadership called on Palestinians to ignore the Israeli order. “We say to the citizens of northern Gaza and Gaza City, remain steadfast in your homes,” said Hamas interior ministry spokesman Iyad Al-Bozom, because Israel’s goal, he said was to “displace us once again from our land …”
U.S. diplomats in Gaza after the Gaza Strip bombings: “It’s not the end of the story“, a statement on Thursday
UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said early Friday on the social media site X that it had moved its operations center and international staff to the southern part of Gaza.
It remains unclear how hospitals and clinics in northern Gaza, treating the a stream of wounded victims from near-constant bombings, could be evacuated. Hospitals are full in Gaza.
The order also comes as the U.S. ramps up its diplomatic and military support for Israel in the wake of the unprecedented attacks by Hamas that killed at least 1,300 people over the weekend.
The arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel on Thursday was preceded by that of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Earlier Friday, Blinken met with King Abdullah II in Amman, Jordan, and was meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the Jordanian capital. Blinken is visiting five Arab states over the next few days, as he tries to contain the conflict in Gaza.
The U.S. diplomatic efforts come as concerns are growing the chaos — the worst outbreak of violence in Israel and Gaza in recent memory — could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries across the Middle East.
Militants infiltrated Israel’s border Saturday using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza. More than 200 people died at a dance music festival near Israel’s border with Gaza, after a group of people overran a police station and military positions. Israeli officials believe that 100 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip after others raided gated communities and shot families dead.
At least 27 US citizens were killed in the attacks and fifteen are still missing, the White House said Thursday. The charter flights will leave from Israel on Friday. Other countries, such as China, France and the United Kingdom, have also reported citizens killed or missing in the conflict.
The Up First Podcast: A Briefing on Israel Warns Gaza’s Civilians to Leave; Scalise Drops a Speaker Bi
Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. You can subscribe and listen to the Up First audio show to get all the news you need to start your day.
House Republicans are looking for a new speaker after Steve Scalise withdrew his name from the race.
A Colorado jury has convicted a white police officer of negligent homicide and third-degree assault in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed Black man. He died after being put in a choke hold by police while he was walking home. Another person was found not guilty. (via Colorado Public Radio)
The scientist in residence at NPR loves black holes. Scientists are researching dense space objects. Barber spoke to one such scientist, who shared some valuable life lessons black holes can teach us.
Source: Up First briefing: Israel warns Gaza’s civilians to leave; Scalise drops speaker bid
The State of Emergency in Israel since the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Monitor of the Progress in the State and its Empirical Legacy
TV: If spooky binging is more your style, try Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher. It’s a very clever version of several works of literature by the great American writer, Edgar Allen Poe.
Books: For those looking for some prestigious literature to curl up with, I suggest reading a Kirkus Prize winner this year. You’ll find themes of history and community in each novel.
The Brooklyn-based composer Angélica Negrn will debut her new piece at Carnegie Hall. She talks about how she draws inspiration from her native Puerto Rico.
The death and destruction of this conflict has forced many airlines to cancel flights to Tel Aviv, so foreign visitors are not able to return to their homes in Gaza.
Tourism is a steady share of Israel’s economy, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. It accounted for 8.8% of the total employment in the country. It plummeted as borders closed. As of 2023, the country was still struggling to fully rebound from pre-pandemic levels.
Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv says it is still functioning as it was planned. Flights into Israel are still being allowed as Israelis return home.
Delta is going to be canceling all of its flights to Tel Aviv. American Airlines has suspended operations to and from Tel Aviv through Dec. 4. Direct flights have also been canceled by United.
John Kirby told reporters earlier this week that there is a viable way for Americans to leave Israel.
Israel’sMinistry of Tourism says there are limited hours at some border crossings. The agency is providing assistance to those who need it and is operating a hotline via WhatsApp for tourists to stay informed as the situation in Israel evolved.
Tourist Israel, one of the nation’s largest, announced it was offering free transportation to and from the south of Israel for anyone who needs a ride starting on Sunday, Oct. 15. They are also offering shuttle rides to Jordan for a fee.
Bauer said that 850,000 alumni called their Israeli friends inquiring about how they were, if they could help them.
She said that Birthright Israel has not stopped trips even after they were paused for the COVID-19 epidemic.
The latest conflict is unlike anything we’ve seen before, she said. It’s not clear how long this will take.
Facing the Israeli Defense Force: Gazans Flee to South as Israel Calls for 1.1 Million Palestinians to Evacuate
Fares Abufares, a U.S. citizen, traveled to Gaza from his home in New Jersey to visit family. He said he would not abandon his relatives even if he could.
Duaa Abufares, 24, a psychology student from Clifton, N.J., has been anxiously awaiting word from her father, Fares, each day this week. He had gone back to Gaza to visit relatives in early September.
Mr. Abufares, an American who lives in New Jersey, is hunkering down with relatives and calling his children back if he can get electricity for a short time. On Thursday, Mr. Abufares was in a video call with them and said that he saw the bodies of people killed in an air strike blocks from his family home.
She said she had the hope that she would make it out alive. She said she started to wonder if it was our turn tonight when darkness hits and the airstrikes get heavier.
She said that she and her family moved to the south after the directives from the Israel Defense Force. “We found a family that let us in,” she wrote in a text message, adding, “This is so very scary!”
More than 170,000 people in the United States identified as having Palestinian heritage in the 2020 census, a number that is considered to be a significant undercount by many within the Palestinian community given longstanding challenges in tallying the number of Americans of Middle Eastern and North African descent.
Palestinian Americans in the United States were already worried and have been frustrated by statements in recent days from government officials, universities and employers that expressed solidarity and sympathy for Israeli loss of life but did not mention Palestinian civilian casualties.
Source: Gazans Flee to South as Israel Calls for 1.1 Million People to Evacuate
The Israeli News Gaza Hamas War: The Us Is Trying to Break a Way Out of Gaza For Foreigners and Safe Zones For Palestinians
Her parents tried to cross to Egypt on Tuesday, she said, but were unable to leave when the border crossing was shut down. They are now moving from apartment to apartment as evacuation orders are given.
“We are trying our best to contact the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and Cairo, and all they are all telling us is that we don’t have information on when the border is going to open,” Ms. Museitef, a registered nurse in Milwaukee, said. Maybe, she said of the U.S. State Department, “that’s not what they care about right now.”
She said she and her siblings had filled out forms and were waiting. My parents are over 60 years old. I just want their safety and I want them to come back to us,” she said.
At the moment, Mr. Okal said his wife and children had lost power and that she was trying to conserve her phone battery. He asked her to text him, telling him you’re still alive. He said that his daughter has been running a fever and is very scared. The child shakes when he sleeps during the bombings.
She is at the border. They just need to open the door so they can cross over,” he said. I’m worried that my wife will die there before they leave.
He said to just treat us like Americans. He said that the American people pay taxes and are good citizens. “I just want the government to treat us equally and care more, a little bit more.”
Source: Gazans Flee to South as Israel Calls for 1.1 Million People to Evacuate
The Gaza War and Hamas, a warning for Israel to stay with its citizens, the Abufares and Galeano told Ms. Mustafa
Mr. Abufares told his children that he doesn’t want to leave his mother and other relatives if the violence continues, even if there was a way.
Rania Mustafa, the executive director of the Palestinian American Community Center in New Jersey, said she was frantic all week and fielding requests from people with relatives in Gaza. The scariest moments came when people went dark, and it was unclear whether they were without electricity or if something terrible had happened.
The Israeli authorities have evacuated the Sderot area and other areas along the Gaza border after Hamas launched an attack that has killed over 1,300 people in Israel.
A short drive away, the carcass of a car sits next to a grocery store. In another part of the city, a police station is in ruins, decimated by Israeli tank fire after Hamas militants stormed it, killing the police officers inside.
Efi Menahem, the sergeant of a special forces unit of the paramilitary border police, says he killed Hamas men next to an Israeli home. He isn’t sure if he saw the bodies with heads or not.
Naomi Galeano, a medic with the United Hatzalah volunteer rescue service, spent the afternoon of the attacks driving past the carnage of bodies, looking for anyone still alive.
