The Israel-Hamas war

BBC review: Israel has bombed several places to which civilians have been told to flee 

On several occasions since the outbreak of war, Israel's army, the IDF, has bombed areas of the Gaza Strip to which civilians were previously urged to flee, according to an investigation by the BBC.  

 

On October 8, the IDF published posts on X written in Arabic urging civilians for their own safety to go to central Khan Yunis or Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. But just two days later, the IDF carried out an airstrike on the city center of Khan Yunis where several buildings collapsed. The following day, Nejmeh Square in central Rafah was bombed.  

 

Subsequently, there has been another attack on central Khan Yunis and several attacks on various refugee camps in the central parts of Gaza, where civilians have been urged to flee. Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, lost his family in one of these.  

 

- There is no safe place in Gaza, he told Al Jazeera at the time.  

 

The IDF tells the BBC that it has urged civilians to move south, but that it will continue to strike terrorist targets across the entire Gaza Strip. 

 

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Biden's play is questioned by the Washington Post: "The numbers are generally credible" 

President Joe Biden's firm dismissal of the high death toll in Gaza is "remarkably uninformed", writes the Washington Post under the vignette "Fact Check". In the article, it is stated that the Gaza Ministry of Health has historically given relatively accurate death figures, despite the fact that it is controlled by the terrorist group Hamas - and that Biden "should know that".  

 

According to the department, the death toll on Wednesday rose to 8,796. Last week, when the number was over 6,000, Biden said: 

 

- I have no faith that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people have been killed [...] I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians use. 

 

In the past, the US Department of the Interior has referred without reservation to the agency's statistics. The head of Human Rights Watch in the area says that the figures are "generally credible". And even the UN agency OCHA leans towards the statistics. 

 

- Previous experience has shown that numbers are reported with high precision, says an OCHA employee.  

 

The newspaper states that death figures from war are always unclear and difficult to control, but questions Biden's certainty. 

 

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Sprayed stars of David in Paris are being investigated as hate crimes 

About 60 Stars of David were spray-painted during the night to Tuesday on facades in Paris, France. Prosecutors emphasize that the intent is not clear, but it is being investigated as a possible hate crime and has created concern in the Jewish population, writes Politico.  

 

Local authorities believe that the spray paintings bring to mind the persecution of Jews in the 1930s, writes the BBC, citing a resident interviewed by the French television channel BFMTV. 

 

- I cry, because once again I experience the hatred that we got when I was a child.  

 

I can't understand it. On the outskirts of the capital, similar motifs have been painted along with pro-Palestinian messages. 

 

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Internet and telephony are down: "May God protect you"  

All internet and telephony is down in the Gaza Strip. This is stated by the Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel), which is Gaza's largest supplier.  

 

"May God protect you and protect our country," writes Paltel in a post on X.  

 

This is the second time this has happened in a week. Last time it took a few days before it started again, writes AFP. That time, the Hamas-controlled authorities blamed Israel and its bombing of Gaza.