Internet services were restored in parts of Gaza on Sunday, October 29, after being cut off on Friday when Israel intensified its military action on the ground, according to internet tracker NetBlocks. Israeli aggression, however, continues to wreak havoc on Palestinian lives in the region, with Al Jazeera reporting that the death toll has crossed 8,000 and more than 20,000 have been injured.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that the situation in Gaza is becoming more and more desperate “by the hour”. “The situation in Gaza is growing more desperate by the hour. I regret that instead of a critically needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations,” he said while in Kathmandu, Nepal.
“The number of civilians who have been killed and injured is totally unacceptable. The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes,” he continued.
Doctors Without Borders has called for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths in the Gaza Strip. “Northern Gaza is being razed to the ground, while the whole Strip is being hit and civilians have no place to take shelter,” the group said. “The actions of world leaders are too weak, too slow, as a non-binding UN resolution for a humanitarian truce has done nothing to reign in the indiscriminate violence unleashed on a helpless people. Hospitals are flooded with patients, amputations and surgeries are being carried out without proper anesthesia, and morgues are flooded with dead bodies.”
The Palestinian health ministry too has been calling on international actors to step up pressure on the Israeli administration
Netanyahu blames security failure for October 7 – and then retracts
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X (formerly Twitter) blaming Israel’s security agencies for the failures that led to the October 7 Hamas attack – only to later delete that post and apologise.
In the original post, Netanyahu claimed that he had never been warned about the possibility of the Hamas attack. According to Haaretz, he blamed the defense establishment – citing Aharon Haliva and Ronen Bar, the heads of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security service – for Israel’s failure to anticipate the attack on October 7.
“Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned about Hamas’ intending to go to war,” the post on the official prime minister’s account stated. “…“every defense official, including the heads of MI and the Shin Bet, believed that Hamas was deterred and sought accommodation. This was the assessment that was presented time and time again to the prime minister and the cabinet by all defense officials and the intelligence community up to the outbreak of the war.”
Several people within the Israeli military and political administration then criticised the post and asked Netanyahu to remove it. Netanyahu went on to just that, posting a new post in which he said, “I was wrong” and “I give full backing to all the heads of the security arms. I am strengthening the Chief of Staff and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF who are at the front and fighting for the house.”
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