November 25: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 50
Updates on truce and hostages, hospital, humanitarian, evacuation news, West Bank news, Israel
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here. For more news, go here and here. Live broadcast news from the region is here.
Some people are led to be skeptical of the Al Jazeera news network. However, the network has won several Emmys, a Peabody and the Overseas Press Association’s Edward R. Murrow award, among many other honors. The New York Times reports that “its reporting hews to international journalistic standards and provides a unique view on events in the Middle East.” it’s important to remember that all news sources may potentially have bias. For example, CNN uses anchors who used to work for the Israel Lobby, who have lifelong attachment to Israel, and who often exhibit pro-Israel spin and omission in their broadcasts. Similarly, Fox News is strongly influenced by Rupert Murdoch, who has a similarly strong attachment to Israel, and who may have fired Tucker Carlson, the network’s most popular host, in part due to the host’s opposition to war and his pattern of failing to exhibit sufficient devotion to Israel).
Latest statistics:
Palestinian death toll: at least 14,561* (~14,329 in Gaza** (including at least 6,000 children and 4,000 women), and at least 232 in the West Bank). *IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation. Israel killed more Palestinians in a little over a month after Oct. 7 than in all the previous 22 years combined.
Palestinian injuries: 38,877** (including at least 36,000 in Gaza** and 2,877 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to offer an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption.
It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. About 1.7 million people have been displaced; 6,500 are missing (4,400 children) and presumed to be under rubble.
Reported Israeli death toll has been reduced to ~1,200*** (The Israeli spokesman said the original figure of deaths on March 7 was an “initial estimate” – 4 killed in West Bank, 75 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and ~5,400 injured). The names of the 1,219 identified (about 33 of them children) are here.
RECOMMENDED READING: Israel has lost control of the narrative – October 7 truths coming out
***NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
Hostage/prisoner and truce news:
24 captives held in Gaza were released on Friday including 11 Thai and Filippino workers, while a total of 39 Palestinian women and children were released from Israeli jails. More people are slated to be freed on Saturday.
Schneider hospital, located east of Tel Aviv, which received 8 of the hostages released by Hamas, reported:
The condition of the four children and the four women who returned to Israel last night is determined to be good, they are together with their family members in the dedicated and separate compound, surrounded by medical and psycho-social teams. (07:35 GMT)
Five other Israeli captives, all elderly women, were taken to Wolfson Hospital in Holon. Some of those are reported to be “feeble and exhausted” and unlikely to be able to return home tomorrow. (01:10 GMT)
Fareed Najm, one of the freed Palestinians, said prisoners were not given clean drinking water or enough food. “We have suffered a lot in prisons. We’ve been humiliated on our way back. They always treated us in a very bad way.”
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Israel forces raided homes of several female Palestinian prisoners before their release. They warned the family of at least one not to have any press interviews; others had their phones confiscated and were detained.
As Palestinian children are released from Israeli detention and returned to their families, many have been warned not to celebrate their freedom and not to distribute sweets in their neighborhoods or risk re-arrest or large fines.
In the hours before Friday’s truce took hold, parts of Gaza experienced the heaviest Israeli artillery bombardment, tank fire and troop operations since the start of the seven-week war.The Jabalia refugee camp was particularly hard hit; Israeli tanks also fired on the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah – designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military – in the south of the Gaza Strip. (03:45 GMT)
RECOMMENDED READING: Israel-Hamas four-day truce starts: How day one unfolded
Humanitarian update: Out of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants, 2.2 million of them need food assistance, according to the UN. (12:35 GMT) The UN says nearly all of Gaza is on the verge of starvation. On top of starvation, heavy rains, cold temperatures and potential flooding are putting Gazans more at risk of infectious disease.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says it received 196 aid trucks through the Rafah border crossing on Friday. Overall, since October 21, 1,759 trucks of humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza (excluding fuel). Prior to the start of hostilities, an average of 500 truckloads entered Gaza every working day.
For the first time since October 7, humanitarian aid is being distributed in northern Gaza.
No one allowed to return home in north: AP reported that the Israeli military had “dropped leaflets on southern Gaza saying that returning to northern Gaza is prohibited and dangerous.” Gazans moving toward the north have been shot at. The Israeli government line is that people attempting to return north are being forced by Hamas to do so.
That narrative has been adapted by some media outlets, including Forbes, which framed displaced Palestinians attempting to return to their homes in Gaza City and the north as a “tactic” devised by Hamas to disrupt Israel’s military campaign.
Still, some Gazans have managed to get back to their homes, where they found destruction and devastation beyond what they’d imagined.
One video of a north-south road shows (trigger warning – disturbing) many bodies of Palestinians apparently killed as they were walking. The scene is reminiscent of those shown in the aftermath of the October 7th attack – in which many Israelis are known to have been killed by their own military. Earlier in the month, Palestinians were similarly killedas they fled southward in Gaza.
Al Shifa hospital director questioned: Israeli military spokesperson Doron Spielman said on Saturday, “We are currently moving forward with … questioning [al-Shifa Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya] over the fact that he was the head of a hospital that was really sitting on top of an entire terror network.” The WHO said it had no information about the wellbeing of Abu Salmiya and three other medical workers in detention while calling for their “legal and human rights to be fully observed during their detention.” (6:00 GMT)
RECOMMENDED READING A ‘temporary ceasefire’ means realizing how much we’ve lost
West Bank news:
Over the past 24 hours, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old child, during two search-and-arrest operations in Aqbat Jaber Refugee Camp (Jericho) and in Beita village (Nablus).
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the total number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons just since October 7 is now 3,160. Israel is currently holding more than 8,000 Palestinians in its prisons and detention centers, including some 2,200 administrative detainees held without charge or trial.
Only about 5,000 worshippers performedFriday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque this week due to the occupation’s restrictions on worshippers entering the mosque for the seventh week in a row. Young men walking toward the mosque were beaten and arrested.
Dozens of journalists have signed an open letter calling on Australian news outlets to improve their coverage of the war in Gaza. It urges news organizations to apply the same professional skepticism to Israeli s as with Hamas, and coverage of credible allegations of war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, and recommends newsrooms to use the term “Palestine” where appropriate. The letter adds,
The Israeli government is also an actor in this conflict, with mounting evidence it is committing war crimes and a documented history of sharing misinformation. The Israeli government’s version of events should never be reported verbatim without context or fact-checking. This is our basic responsibility as journalists.
The conflict did not start on October 7, and it is the media’s responsibility to ensure audiences are fully informed. (10:15 GMT)
Biden hostage-release speech doesn’t mention Palestinians: The speech was boilerplate Biden ‘thoughts and prayers’ and concern about the trauma of Israeli women and children – no mention of Palestinian women and children who’ve been released. No mention of the Palestinian death toll. When he was asked about the Palestinian death toll, his response was simply: I’ve encouraged the Israeli prime minister to focus on trying to reduce the number of casualties while he’s attempting to eliminate Hamas, which is a legitimate objective. (01:25 GMT)
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