President Joe Biden postponed a trip to Colorado on Monday to stay in Washington and focus on the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
He had been due to visit CS wind, the world’s largest facility for wind tower construction, which just so happens to be in the congressional district of far-right Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert.
Meanwhile Israel continues to mass troops around the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground invasion amid warnings of a humanitarian disaster.
‘The president’s trip to Colorado is postponed and it will be rescheduled,’ said a White House official.
‘The president will remain at the White House to participate in national security meetings.’
The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden was postponing a planned trip to Colorado to talk ‘Bidenomics’ and would stay in Washington to meet officials
Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, a Muslim boy who according to police was stabbed to death in an attack that targeted him and his mother for their religion and as a response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas
A day earlier he condemned an apparent hate crime in Illinois after a six-year-old Muslim boy was stabbed to death.
The boy was stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch serrated blade, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. His 32-year-old mother also suffered multiple stab wounds but is expected to survive after the attack in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles from Chicago.
The suspect, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.
‘He knocked on the door and that he attempted to choke her, and said, “you Muslims must die,” and attempted to stab her, and stabbed her,’ said Ahmed Rehab, president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago.
‘And, she went to the bathroom and called 911. And, this was all in her own words.’
Biden said the boy’s family were Palestinian Muslims who ‘came to America seeking what we all seek – a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace.’
‘This horrific act of hate has no place in America, he said.
Israel was evacuating civilians Monday living in villages close to the border with Lebanon and threatened to ‘destroy’ the country if the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah enters the conflict.
The military issued the evacuation order to residents living within 1.2 miles of the Israeli-Lebanese border as Israel fears reprisals from Hezbollah for its imminent invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah terrorists have vowed to ‘respond’ to any move to invade Gaza with the group’s chief saying they are ‘fully prepared’ to join Hamas in its war against Israel, raising already heightened fears of an all-out conflict in the Middle East.
Joseph M. Czuba poses for a police booking photograph after being arrested by the Will County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois
Residents of the 28 villages and settlements close to the Lebanese border will now be evacuated and put up in guesthouses in towns in the centre of Israel that are considered safer – but Hezbollah’s huge arsenal of rockets can strike any target in Israel including the main city Tel Aviv.
The evacuation order comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the nation was ‘approaching a fateful hour’ with more than 400,000 Israeli soldiers now gearing up for a battle in Gaza that will see street-fighting erupt in the tiny 25-mile long enclave.
More than one million people have fled their homes in northern Gaza in scenes of chaos and despair in a desperate attempt to escape Israel’s imminent invasion and continued aerial bombardment of the Hamas-ruled territory.
But the United Nations has warned that a ‘specter of death’ looms over Gaza where millions are stranded amid Israel’s total siege that is blocking food, water, medicine and fuel from reaching the enclave.
The strip’s food and water supplies are running dangerously low, and its hospitals are warning that they are on the verge of collapse, with medics saying health centers are quickly turning into morgues. The UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) also warned ‘there are not enough body bags for the dead in Gaza’.
Israel declared war on Hamas terrorists last Sunday – a day after waves of its gunmen broke through the border and massacred 1,300 Israelis including women and children. Some 199 hostages are being held in Gaza – higher than previous estimates of 150, the Israeli military said Monday.
Palestinians, including people wounded in Israeli strikes, arrive in a truck, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday
Palestinian relatives wait to collect bodies wrapped in funeral shrouds with their names written for identification, at a hospital following Israeli military attacks on Rafah, in the southern of Gaza Strip on Monday
A wounded donkey sits near houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on October 11
Palestinians with dual citizenship gather outside Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday
An injured Palestinian baby is carried to the Naseer Hospital after Israeli airstrike as Israeli attacks continue on the 10th day in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip on Monday
Palestinians search for casualties under the rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday
A Palestinian man walks amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli air strikes near his home in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern of Gaza Strip, on Monday
Members of a Palestinian civil emergency team react after several colleagues were killed in Israeli strikes, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday
US citizens wait at the port of Haifa to be evacuated to Cyprus on Monday amid the ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas terrorists
In the days since, Israel has launched a relentless barrage of airstrikes that have obliterated entire neighbourhoods in Gaza and killed 2,750 Palestinians and wounded 9,600 more civilians. The UN said today that 47 entire families, amounting to about 500 people, have been wiped out in Israel’s bombing campaign.
But undeterred by the comments of human rights observers over recent days, Netanyahu said preparations were being made around the clock to launch the ground offensive, with nearly 400,000 soldiers gearing up for battle in Gaza.
He said: ‘They are ready to take action to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters who have risen against us to destroy us. Hamas thought that we would come apart – we will demolish Hamas.’
The Israeli military’s rules of engagement have reportedly been ‘loosened’ for the land, air and sea attack to allow fewer checks before shooting.
Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region and the call-up of some 360,000 reservists, positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the terror group.
But much of Hamas’ military infrastructure is concealed in urban areas, where street-by-street fighting would likely cause mounting casualties on both sides if Israel invades with a ground offensive.
Meanwhile, Hamas-backer Iran and Lebanon’s terror group Hezbollah, which is also supported by Tehran, have warned that an invasion of Gaza would be met with a ‘response’. Last week, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said the group was ‘ready’ and would ‘contribute’ to confrontations against its southern neighbour.
And on Sunday rockets, artillery fire and anti-tank shells were exchanged between Lebanon and Israel, threatening to drag the region into open warfare.
Hezbollah militants also started destroying surveillance cameras on several Israeli army posts along the border with Lebanon.
The terror group released a video Monday showing snipers destroying surveillance cameras placed on five points along the Lebanon-Israel border, including one outside the Israeli town of Metula. Hezbollah’s aim appears to be to prevent the Israeli army from monitoring movements on the Lebanese side of the border.
Meanwhile, as Israeli jets have carried out bombing runs in Lebanon, the IDF threatened to ‘destroy’ the country if Hezbollah entered the war.
Tzachi Hanegbi, an Israeli national security adviser, has warned the Iran-sponsored terror group to stand down from creating a second combat front – or reckon with ‘the destruction of Lebanon’.
And IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Hezbollah will face a ‘deadly’ response if it continues to carry out attacks against Israel.
‘Hezbollah carried out a number of attacks yesterday in order to try to divert our operational efforts [away from the Gaza Strip], under the direction and backing of Iran, while endangering the state of Lebanon and its citizens,’ Hagari said.
‘We have increased our forces on the northern border and respond aggressively to any activity against us,’ he said.
‘If Hezbollah dares to test us, the reaction will be deadly. The United States is giving us full backing,’ Hagari said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister threatened ‘no one can guarantee non-expansion of war’ if Israel invaded Gaza.
At the same time Biden, who has repeatedly proclaimed support for Israel, said that while invading and ‘taking out the extremists’ was needed, any move by Israel to occupy Gaza would be a ‘big mistake’. The warning comes just days after Biden said Israel’s retaliatory action must be carried out ‘according to the rule of law’.
Thousands of families have fled their homes in the north of Gaza, carrying whatever belongings they can, following an Israeli order to move south.
‘No electricity, no water, no internet. I feel like I’m losing my humanity,’ said Mona Abdel Hamid, 55, who fled Gaza City to Rafah in the south of the enclave, and is having to stay with strangers.
Palestinian children injured during Israeli raids in the southern Gaza Strip arrive on Monday in Khan Yunis, Gaza
A view shows the remains of a Palestinian house destroyed in Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday
Palestinians ride a motorcycle amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday
Palestinians evacuate from the northern Gaza Strip amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday
Palestinians with dual citizenship gather outside Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza on Monday
Palestinians with dual citizenship gather outside Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza on Monday
Palestinian relatives wait to collect bodies wrapped in funeral shrouds with their names written for identification, at a hospital following Israeli military attacks on Rafah, in the southern of Gaza Strip on Monday
Palestinian women are comforted as they arrive to collect the bodies of a relative from the hospital, following Israeli military attacks on Rafah, in the southern of Gaza Strip on Monday
US citizens wait to be evacuated from the port of Haifa to Cyprus, on Monday. Tens of thousands of US passport holders live in Israel and 29 have been confirmed killed in the Hamas attacks on Israel
An injured Palestinian man walks over the destruction, following an Israeli strike on a building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday
Children crying because of Israeli raids on October 15, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza.
A Palestinian kidney patient lies on a hospital bed, as health officials say they are running out of fuel to operate dialysis devices, amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at Naser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday
Palestinian kidney patients lie on hospital beds, as health officials say they are running out of fuel to operate dialysis devices at Naser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday
alestinians inspect their destroyed car after an Israeli airstrike in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern of Gaza Strip on Monday
Palestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes on Sunday
An Israeli soldier adjusts his rifle as he stands on a tank near Israel’s border with Lebanon in northern Israel on Monday
Israeli soldiers patrol in armoured personnel carriers at an undisclosed position in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on Sunday
DF soldiers drive in military vehicles on October 15, 2023 in Sderot, Israel
An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip, in a position near the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday
Earlier Monday, two Egyptian security forces said Egypt had agreed to re-open the Rafah border crossing for eight hours between 6am to 2pm GMT. They also said a ceasefire agreed upon by Egypt, Israel and the US will coincide with the opening of the border crossing and would last for several hours.
But half an hour later, Israel appeared to deny that a truce was under way in southern Gaza. ‘There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out,’ a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
Hospitals in Gaza are expected to run out of generator fuel in the next 24 hours, endangering the lives of thousands of patients, according to the UN. Gaza’s sole power plant shut down for lack of fuel after Israel completely sealed off the enclave following the Hamas attack.
The World Health Organization said hospitals are ‘overflowing’ as people seek safety. ‘We are concerned about disease outbreaks due to mass displacement and poor water and sanitation,’ it said.
Four hospitals in northern Gaza are no longer functioning and 21 have received Israeli orders to evacuate. Doctors have refused, saying it would mean death for critically ill patients and newborns on ventilators.
Israel’s decision to cut off water supplies, combined with a lack of fuel for pumps and desalination stations, has caused shortages, putting 3,500 patients in 35 hospitals across Gaza at risk.
‘Water is needed to ensure sanitary conditions on inpatient wards, in operation rooms, and emergency departments. It is essential for the prevention of hospital associated infections and for the prevention of outbreaks in hospitals,’ the WHO said.
The U.N. health agency said life-saving assistance for 300,000 patients is currently awaiting entry through Rafah.
In Nasser Hospital, in the southern town of Khan Younis, intensive care rooms were packed with wounded patients, most of them children under the age of 3. Hundreds of people with severe blast injuries have come to the hospital, where fuel is expected to run out by Monday, said Dr. Mohammed Qandeel, a consultant at the critical care complex.
There were 35 patients in the ICU who require ventilators and another 60 on dialysis. If fuel runs out, ‘it means the whole health system will be shut down,’ he said, as children moaned in pain in the background. ‘All these patients are in danger of death if the electricity is cut off.’
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of pediatrics at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, said the facility did not evacuate despite Israeli orders. There were seven newborns in the ICU hooked up to ventilators, he said. Evacuating ‘would mean death for them and other patients under our care.’
Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the regional director of the World Health Organization, said hospitals were able to move some mobile patients out of the north, but most patients can’t be evacuated, he said.
Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the territory’s largest, said it would bury 100 bodies in a mass grave as an emergency measure after its morgue overflowed. Tens of thousands of people seeking safety have gathered in the hospital compound.
Gaza was already in a humanitarian crisis due to a growing shortage of water and medical supplies caused by the Israeli siege.
‘An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding under our eyes,’ said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
Firefighters put out a fire at warehouse of UNRWA following Israeli bombardments on southern part of Gaza City on Monday
Firefighters put out a fire at warehouse of UNRWA following Israeli bombardments on southern part of Gaza City on Monday
An aerial view of bomb crater after an Israeli airstrike hitting a Palestinian family as search and rescue efforts for those under rubble continue in Khan Yunis, Gaza on Monday
Israel has ordered more than one million Palestinians – almost half the territory’s population – to move south. The military says it is trying to clear away civilians ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in the north, where it says the terrorists have extensive networks of tunnels, bunkers and rocket launchers.
Hamas urged people to stay in their homes, and the Israeli military released photos it said showed a Hamas roadblock preventing traffic from moving south.
Nevertheless, a million civilians have fled their homes – fearing that if they didn’t, they would face certain death.
Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UK defended her military’s brutal bombardment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, arguing this morning that Tel Aviv’s military at least gave Gazans warning that the attacks were coming.
Tzipi Hotovely, 44, gave an impassioned and defiant speech, pointing out that Hamas terrorists launched their attacks with no forewarning and slaughtered innocent, unarmed Israeli citizens.
‘Hamas are in charge of any harm that will be happening in Gaza to their own people. If we see innocent people get killed in Gaza, it’s Hamas in charge,’ she said.
‘It’s not Israel’s responsibility – we don’t have any obligation to bring Gaza water. 1,300 Israelis were targeted, slaughtered… they didn’t get 24 hours to flee or protect themselves.’
Later, when pushed by a BBC Radio 4 interviewer on allegations that Israel is doling out collective punishment on the Palestinian people, Hotovely hit back, bringing up the Royal Air Force’s carpet bombing of German cities amid a bitter campaign to defeat Nazi Germany in WWII.
‘600,000 Germans were killed in your attacks on Hamburg and Dresden. Why? Because you knew this was the only way you could defeat the Nazis,’ she declared.
‘We are giving the people in Gaza the opportunity (to flee) that (Israelis) were never given… they were slaughtered in their beds,’ she concluded.
As more than a million civilians in Gaza fled their homes, analysts suggested Israel could become bogged down for more than a year hunting for terrorists in the 25-mile long enclave.
Nimrod Novik, a former senior Israeli diplomat and security adviser, said some military and political leaders wanted soldiers to undertake 18 months of door-to-door arrest operations to root out the Hamas top brass.
Israeli soldiers stand on armor personnel carriers near the Israeli border with Lebanon on Sunday
Israel Defense Force (IDF) troops were photographed in a ‘band of brothers’ moment as they prepared for the imminent Gaza ground incursion
Israeli troops patrol in armoured personnel carriers in northern Israel on October 15, close to the country’s border with Lebanon, amid skirmishes with Lebanon
Israel has been exchanging rockets, artillery fire and anti-tank shells with Lebanon after Hamas-aligned groups such as Hezbollah are believed to have fired on the country (pictured: an Israeli artillery shell explodes over the Lebanese village of al-Bustan on October 15)
Fighting along Israel’s border with Lebanon intensified on Sunday with Hezbollah terrorists firing rockets and an anti-tank missile, and Israel responding with airstrikes and shelling.
The Israeli military also reported shooting at one of its border posts. The fighting killed at least one person on the Israeli side and wounded several on both sides of the border.
Meanwhile, the country has been urged by its allies – including Britain – to be ‘restrained’ in its response so as not to inflame a furious backlash in the Arab world.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken conducted a whistle-stop tour of Arab states at the weekend in order to preserve the fragile peace in the wider region.
He reiterated that Washington stands with Israel ‘today, tomorrow and every day’ but it must take ‘every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians’.
But his various Arab hosts did not necessarily share the same view with Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi saying after Blinken’s visit to Cairo that Israel had already ‘exceeded the right to self-defence’.
Blinken returned to Israel on Monday for talks on the conflict after completing the frantic six-country tour through Arab nations aimed at preventing the fighting from igniting a broader regional conflict.
The top US diplomat, who was in Israel on Thursday on a solidarity visit, landed in Tel Aviv and was expected to again meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Washington has been trying to broker a deal to reopen Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza to allow Americans and other foreigners to leave and humanitarian aid amassed on the Egyptian side to be brought in. The crossing, which was closed because of airstrikes early in the war, has yet to reopen.
Israel has said the siege will only be lifted when the captives are returned.
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