#BREAKING| "This is the truth that the occupation state wants to hide from the world. These are the military targets that the occupation state is bombarding in #Gaza. These are the command centers in Gaza's hospitals."

The spokesman for the Gov't Media Office holds… pic.twitter.com/Cdly7SZT7i

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 5, 2023

“The Israeli Knesset approves a bill that would make denying or 'downplaying' the Israeli October 7 story punishable by up to 5 years in prison,” the Palestinian Quds News Network reported. | “The approved bill is one of three bills that include the expulsion of families of Palestinians who resist, imprisonment for those who deny Israel's October 7 narrative, and compensation for the infamous ZAKA organization.” The ZAKA unit is known for pushing the most ridiculous horror propaganda about Hamas beheading babies and cutting the baby out of a pregnant woman's womb. [...] No doubt they want to use this law to jail journalists from Haaretz and other Israeli news organizations, who have debunked much of the atrocity propaganda Israel spread after October 7. The Times of Israel published an article last week arguing that questioning Israeli narratives about October 7 is a form of “Holocaust denial” and urging that Big Tech should do more to clamp down on such “unacceptable” statements censor.

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 28 Palestinians in Rafah, hours after Israel’s prime minister said he asked the military to plan for the evacuation of the southern Gaza city ahead of a ground invasion. | Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide details or a timeline, but the announcement set off widespread panic. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, many after being uprooted repeatedly by Israeli evacuation orders that now cover two-thirds of Gaza’s territory. ● Word of the invasion plans capped a week of increasingly public friction between Mr Netanyahu and the Biden administration. US officials have said an invasion of Rafah without a plan for the civilian population would lead to disaster. ● Israel has carried out airstrikes in Rafah almost daily, even after telling civilians in recent weeks to seek shelter there from ground combat in the city of Khan Younis, just to the north. ● Overnight into Saturday, three airstrikes on homes in the Rafah area killed 28 people, according to a health official and Associated Press journalists who saw the bodies arriving at hospitals.

■ Israeli premier orders army to submit plan for ground offensive in Rafah (Yeni Şafak)
■ Strikes on Gaza's Rafah as US warns of potential 'disaster' (Naharnet/AFP)
■ Reports of Israeli military offensive plan on Rafah 'alarming,' says EU foreign policy chief (Yeni Şafak)
■ UN 'extremely worried' about fate of civilians in Rafah (Yeni Şafak)
■ Israeli assault on Rafah: Gaza’s people have no place to run (Other News/The Guardian)

Palestinian men rounded up and stripped by Israeli forces in Gaza before being taken to an undisclosed location (Screengrab/X)

● Late last year, images shared by Israeli soldiers caused widespread anger as they showed scores of blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian men in Gaza City who were forced to strip down to their underwear.

● Israeli media had claimed the images were of Hamas members surrendering themselves. However, among them were doctors, teachers and journalists, including Diaa al-Kahlout, a correspondent for Araby al-Jadeed.

● Since then, similar instances of abuse have been captured on camera. Last week, the Palestinian foreign affairs ministry called for an international probe into "Israeli massacres" in Gaza after the discovery of a mass grave.

● The bodies of 50 men, women and children were discovered in body bags in a schoolyard in the northern Gaza Strip.

Some lawyers see that the crimes stated by the ICJ are not forbidden as long as the occupation conducts them without "genocidal intent". | UN special rapporteur on the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese, declared that "Israel" is violating orders issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to immediately protect Palestinians’ rights and cease all activities amounting to genocide. "Israel" has until February 23 to hand over a report to the ICJ regarding its compliance with the six orders issued. The ICJ orders also obliged it to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance."

Philippe Lazzarini admits to employing a "reverse due process" approach in dismissing nine staff members allegedly involved in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. | Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, admitted to employing a "reverse due process" [that is, no due process - ed.] approach in dismissing nine staff members accused by "Israel" of having a hand in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7. Lazzarini acknowledged that the employees were terminated before investigating "Israel's" accusations against them and prior to the initiation of any investigation. During a press conference in al-Quds, when asked about examining evidence against the employees, Lazzarini responded, “No, the investigation is going on now.”

■ Palestinian refugees in Lebanon despair at UN agency funding cuts (Naharnet/AFP)