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Israel restores water to southern Gaza, US evacuating citizens from Israel by boat as ground war looms
(JTA) — Israel says it has restored water to southern Gaza, five days after shutting off the flow of water to the whole territory in an effort to pressure Hamas to relinquish the hostages it took when it attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, the United States has informed U.S. citizens who wish to leave Israel that they should prepare to depart by ship early Monday morning from Haifa.
And U.S. senators who are in Israel as part of a show of support had to take cover in a bomb shelter as rocket sirens sounded during their visit to Tel Aviv.
The developments come as Israeli forces continue to prepare for a major military operation in Gaza in response to last week’s Hamas attack that left thousands of Israelis dead, wounded or captive. Israel said on Sunday that it has been in touch with relatives of 155 people who are being held hostage in Gaza, dozens more than it had previously said.
Early Friday, Israel urged more than a million Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza City and move south to avoid military activity in the northern end of the 141-square-mile Gaza Strip, which Hamas controls and where about 2 million people live. Concern is widespread that a humanitarian disaster could unfold there as Israel follows what it called “a complete siege” with a major ground invasion. The Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday that 2,670 people had been killed in Israeli strikes.
People carry children as they flee following an Israeli strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 15, 2023. (Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
The water restoration in southern Gaza followed intense advocacy by U.S. officials, Israeli officials told Axios. While Israel said it had restored water at “a specific point” within Gaza, people on the ground said they did not quickly regain access, according to local news reports.
In a signal of how seriously the Biden administration is taking the plight of Gaza Palestinians displaced by the fighting, President Joe Biden on Sunday named a special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East, David Satterfield, who is a veteran diplomat with decades of experience in the region.
Satterfield “will lead U.S. diplomacy to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including work to facilitate the provision of life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable people and promote the safety of civilians,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement welcoming the appointment.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to safeguard Israeli civilians and citizens of other countries in advance of a possible invasion of Gaza. The Israeli government was working to evacuate the 30,000 residents of Sderot, a city on the border of Gaza that has come under heavy rocket fire over the last week. Israel has 60,000 internal refugees in total.
And the United States was working to evacuate citizens who were traveling in Israel when the attack took place or otherwise wish to leave. Charter flights began departing on Friday. Now, Americans in Israel have been told that they can travel to the northern city of Haifa for passage to Cyprus on Monday morning.
Citizens and their family members who have valid travel documents must arrive at the port by 9 a.m. Sunday and can bring only one bag each for the roughly 12-hour journey, according to an alert distributed by the U.S. Embassy late Saturday. Pets will not be allowed on board, and travelers will need to promise to repay the cost of the trip. They will also need to figure out their next steps once in Cyprus, although there is a chance that the State Department could charter further flights.
A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators has traveled to Israel to show what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Jewish Democrat from New York, said was “unwavering support” for the country as it battles Hamas. While the group was in Tel Aviv, rocket alarms sounded and the group, which also included Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican, ran to a bomb shelter.
“It shows you what Israelis have to go through,” Schumer tweeted. “We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself.”
While in Tel Aviv today, our delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas. It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself. pic.twitter.com/wS3kq6xFVJ
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 15, 2023
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Israel’s Supreme Court Orders Improved Food for Security Prisoners
Israel’s Supreme Court. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday instructed the Prison Service (Shabas) to guarantee adequate food supplies for security prisoners, ruling that current conditions fall short of minimum legal standards. The decision followed an appeal filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
In a 2–1 ruling, the court found that the food situation posed “a risk of non-compliance with legal standards.” Justice Dafna Barak-Erez stressed that the matter concerned “basic conditions necessary for survival, as required by law,” not comfort or privilege. Justice Ofer Grosskopf agreed, noting the state had not shown the policy was consistently applied to all inmates.
Justice David Mintz dissented, maintaining that the existing policy already met legal requirements.
The court underscored that Israel’s legal obligations remain binding, even in light of the ongoing hostage crisis in Gaza and the fact that many of the prisoners include Hamas members involved in the October 7, 2023 attack.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ruling, arguing that while hostages in Gaza lack protection, “terrorist murderers, kidnappers, and rapists in prison” benefit from the Court’s intervention. He added that prisoners would continue receiving only the minimum conditions required by law.
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Ukrainian Government Building Set Ablaze in Record Russian Airstrike
Illustrative. More damage caused by the Russian drone that hit the Perlina school in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 30, 2024. Photo: Jewish community JCC in Kyiv, Kyiv municipality, and Yan Dobronosov
i24 News – The Ukrainian government’s main building in Kyiv was hit overnight Saturday by Russian airstrikes for the first time since the war, igniting a fire in the building, authorities said. Firefighters are working to put out the flames.
“The government building was damaged by an enemy attack — the roof and upper floors,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said. The blaze is is burning in the area of the office of the prime minister.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 805 drones and 13 missiles overnight on Ukraine — a record number since the start of the war.
Also as a result of the strike, a baby and a young woman were killed after a nine-story residential building was hit in the Svyatoshynsky district, also in Kyiv. Rescuers are still looking for a third body, authorities said. A woman was also reported killed in the strike in Novopavlivka village.
“The world must respond to this destruction not only with words, but also with actions. We need to increase sanctions pressure – primarily against Russian oil and gas. We need new restrictions that will hit the Kremlin’s military machine. And most importantly, Ukraine needs weapons. Something that will stop the terror and prevent Russia from trying to kill Ukrainians every day,” wrote Sviridenko after the attack.
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‘Trump’s Legacy Crumbles’: Israelis Call on US President to End Gaza War
Israeli protestors take part in a rally demanding the immediate release of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the end of war in Gaza, in Jerusalem September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, issuing direct appeals to US President Donald Trump to force an end to the Gaza war and secure the release of the hostages.
Protesters packed a public square outside the military headquarters, waving Israeli flags and holding placards with images of the hostages. Some carried signs, including one that read: ‘Trump’s legacy crumbles as the Gaza war persists.’
Another said: “PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAVE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
“We think that Trump is the only man in the world who has authority over Bibi, that can force Bibi to do this,” said Tel Aviv resident Boaz, 40, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
There is growing despair among many Israelis at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has ordered the military to capture a major urban center where hostages may be held.
Families of the hostages and their supporters fear the assault on Gaza City could endanger their loved ones, a concern the military leadership shares, according to Israeli officials.
Orna Neutra, the mother of an Israeli soldier who was killed on October 7, 2023 and whose body is being held in Gaza by militants, accused the government of abandoning its citizens.
“We truly hope that the United States will push both sides to finally reach a comprehensive deal that will bring them home,” she told the rally. Her son, Omer, is also American.
Tel Aviv has witnessed weekly demonstrations that have grown in size, with protesters demanding that the government secure a ceasefire with Hamas to obtain the release of hostages. Organizers said Saturday night’s rally was attended by tens of thousands. A large demonstration was also held in Jerusalem.
There are 48 hostages held in Gaza. Israeli officials believe that around 20 are still alive. Palestinian terrorists abducted 251 people from Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led its attack. Most of the hostages who have been released were freed after indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
NO PURPOSE
Trump had pledged a swift end to the war in Gaza during his presidential campaign, but nearly eight months into his second term, a resolution has remained elusive. On Friday, he said that Washington was engaged in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas.
Israeli forces have carried out heavy strikes on the suburbs of Gaza City, where, according to a global hunger monitor, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are facing famine. Israeli officials acknowledge that hunger exists in Gaza but deny that the territory is facing famine. On Saturday, the military warned civilians in Gaza City to leave and move to southern Gaza.
There are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in the city that was home to around a million before the war.
A video released by Hamas on Friday featured Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, saying that he was being held in Gaza City and feared being killed by the military’s assault on the city. Rights groups have condemned such videos of hostages as inhumane. Israel says that it is psychological warfare.
The war has become unpopular among some segments of Israeli society, and opinion polls show that most Israelis want Netanyahu’s right-wing government to negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Hamas that secures the release of the hostages.
“The war has no purpose at all, except for violence and death,” said Boaz from Tel Aviv. Adam, 48, said it had become obvious that soldiers were being sent to war for “nothing.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since it launched its retaliatory war after Hamas fighters attacked Israel from Gaza in October 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed in that attack on southern Israel.
The terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but today controls only parts of the enclave, on Saturday once again said that it would release all hostages if Israel agreed to end the war and withdraw its forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu is pushing for an all-or-nothing deal that would see all of the hostages released at once and Hamas surrendering.
The prime minister has said Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold and capturing it is necessary to defeat the Palestinian militant group, whose October 2023 attack on Israel led to the war.
Hamas has acknowledged it would no longer govern Gaza once the war ends but has refused to discuss laying down its weapons.