The meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question will be held at 03:00 p.m. local time | The UN Security Council will hold a meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on Friday, November 10, the office of the representative of the UN Secretary General told reporters. The meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question will be held at 03:00 p.m. local time (11:00 p.m. Moscow time). ● Last month, the UN Security Council failed to adopt any of the four draft resolutions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Currently, the "ten" non-permanent members of the Security Council are developing their own document, which is expected to include provisions from previous draft resolutions.

■ Martyrs of Gaza rise to 10,818, thousands remain under rubble (Al Mayadeen)
■ Palestine to hold large media rally to uphold UNGA Gaza resolution (Al Mayadeen)

Israel has, however, agreed to daily “four-hour pauses” in fighting, the White House says | US President Joe Biden has ruled out any hope of achieving a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Speaking to reporters separately later in the day as he was boarding the Air Force One, the president revealed he had been pushing for a “pause” in fighting “for a lot more than three days.” ● The US, however, has not managed to secure even that long of a pause from Israel, which is apparently determined to continue its war on Hamas until the militant group is completely destroyed. Thus far, Israel has only agreed to implement daily humanitarian breaks, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby revealed during a press conference, hailing this development as “significant steps forward.”

■ ‘Israel’ Plays Down US Reports of Four-hour ’Pauses’ in Northern Gaza (Alahed News)
■ Hamas denies agreement with 'Israel' on humanitarian pauses (Al Mayadeen)
■ Israel agrees to 4-hour war 'pauses' as US, Israeli spy chiefs hold talks in Doha (Naharnet)

🇮🇱🇵🇸 If Israel is just fighting Hamas, why are they:

❌ Bombing Doctors
❌Bombing Journalists
❌ Bombing Teachers
❌ Bombing Fire Fighters
❌ Bombing Ambulances
❌ Bombing UN Staff
❌ Bombing Children pic.twitter.com/10CzTx0o5a

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) October 16, 2023

■ Israel's Fight With Hamas Just a 'Pretext' for Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza - Ex-Marine (Sputnik News)
■ Martyrs of Gaza rise to 10,818, thousands remain under rubble (Al Mayadeen)
■ Top Iranian Legal Expert Urges UN To Report on ‘Israeli’ Crimes in Gaza (Alahed News)

In the midst of a spate of raids and confrontations, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) took control of various cities and towns in the West Bank and occupied Al-Quds on Friday morning. The operations targeted individuals, refugee camps, and even former prisoners. | At the early morning, IOF stormed the towns of Anata and Hizma, northeast of Occupied Al-Quds. Simultaneously, they invaded the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, where the IOF hindered the entry of Palestinian ambulance teams, physically assaulting them. ● As tensions escalated, the IOF fired flares in the eastern part of Qalqilya after a shooting operation against the “Tzofim” checkpoint. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the operation, leading to multiple injuries among IOF soldiers. ● Continuing their raids, the IOF arrested several young men during their visit to the Askar Camp. Unexpectedly, the local forces confronted the raiding soldiers, utilizing an improvised explosive device (IED) to target them.

■ Violence Erupts in West Bank as Israeli Forces Enter Jenin Camp (Al Manar TV)
■ "Israel" fears an intifada in the West Bank: Israeli media (Al Mayadeen)

A group of 16 French senators have introduced a bill to criminalise criticism of Zionism. | Senator Stephane Le Rudulier said ‘anti-Zionism’ is linked to the increase in anti-Semitism. Zionism, the racist Jewish nationalist movement, has led to the forced displacement of over a million Palestinians, and the arrest of a million more. ● According to renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe: “Zionism was a colonialist movement that penetrated the Palestinian homeland by force, with the wish to colonise the country and with possible expansionist ambitions to penetrate the heart of the Arab world.” ● Last month, France banned pro-Palestine protests “because they are likely to generate disturbances to the public order,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. He added that any organisation of such protests will lead to arrests. [Jewish ruled] France has long supported Israel’s settler colonial project in Palestine, providing arms and diplomatic cover for its genocidal bombing campaign which is ongoing in Gaza.

■ ‘Israel targets journalists intentionally’ (RT.com)

Chris Hedges | Gaza is the start. The West Bank is next. | There has always been a strain of Jewish fascism within the Zionist project. Now it has taken control of the Israeli state. [...]
■ A leaked 10-page document from the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence dated Oct. 13, 2023 recommends the forcible and permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. It is a grave mistake not to take the blood curdling calls for the wholesale eradication and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians seriously.[...]
■ The decision to obliterate Gaza has long been the dream of Israel’s crypto-fascists, heirs of Kahane’s movement. These Jewish extremists, which make up the ruling coaltion government, are orchestrating the genocide in Gaza, where hundreds of Palestinians are dying daily. They champion the iconography and language of their homegrown fascism. Jewish identity and Jewish nationalism are the Zionist versions of blood and soil. Jewish supremacy is sanctified by God, as is the slaughter of the Palestinians, who Netanyahu compared to the Biblical Ammonites, massacred by the Israelites. Enemies — usually Muslims — slated for extinction are subhuman who embody evil. Violence and the threat of violence are the only forms of communication those outside the magical circle of Jewish nationalism understand. Millions of Muslims and Christians, including those with Israeli citizenship, are to be purged.

Max Blumenthal | Israel’s military received orders to shell Israeli homes and even their own bases as they were overwhelmed by Hamas militants on October 7. How many Israeli citizens said to have been “burned alive” were actually killed by friendly fire? | Several new testimonies by Israeli witnesses to the October 7 Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel adds to growing evidence that the Israeli military killed its own citizens as they fought to neutralize Palestinian gunmen. [...] An Israeli woman named Yasmin Porat confirmed in an interview with Israel Radio that the military “undoubtedly” killed numerous Israeli noncombatants during gun battles with Hamas militants on October 7. “They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” she stated, referring to Israeli special forces. ● The objective behind Tel Aviv’s atrocity exhibition is clear: to paint Hamas as “worse than ISIS” while cultivating support for the Israeli army’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has left over 7000 dead, including at least 2500 children at the time of publication. While hundreds of wounded children in Gaza have been treated for what a surgeon described as “fourth degree burns” caused by novel weapons, the Western media’s focus remains trained on Israeli citizens supposedly “burned alive” on October 7.

■ Two Israelis Arrested for 'Looting Music Festivalgoers Killed in Oct 7 Attack' (InfoLib)

Alison Weir | n the midst of Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza that had killed over 3,000 people and injured over 12,000, a Gaza hospital experienced a blast that killed hundreds more… | On October 17th a blast at al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, a Christian-run medical complex in central Gaza City, killed at least 200 to 300 people and injured hundreds more. ● The estimated death toll in Gaza at the time of the blast was already more than 3,000, with 12,500 injured. NBC reported that even before the blast, Gaza hospitals faced “a ‘tsunami of wounded’ as supplies and power ran out.” This was on top of a 16-year suffocating siege on Gaza (which had already experienced intermittent devastating blockades since at least 2002). The Israeli death toll is 1,400, with 4,000 injured. ● Israel, at first tacitly admitted responsibility for hitting the hospital in its ongoing airstrikes against Gaza, but then switched direction and claimed that Palestinian “friendly fire” was responsible. Israeli officials have presented what they say is evidence showing that the massive damage was caused by misfired Palestinian rocketry. Israel has changed its version a number of times. ● Many Palestinian officials and other observers have disputed the Israeli assertion, especially given that Israel had previously warned that Gaza hospitals would be damaged by its forces. In fact, Israel had already bombed the hospital a few days earlier, on Saturday, October 14.

■ Over 500 killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza’s Baptist Hospital
■ Israeli doctors urge the bombing of Gaza hospitals (Mondoweiss)