Israel at War - What happened on day 32?

The White House accused Hamas of “genocidal intentions” against Israel, as it pushed back against criticism of the IDF’s military campaign in Gaza and its high Palestinian civilian death toll.

“Hamas actually does have genocidal intentions against the people of Israel. They would like to see it wiped off the map, they said so on purpose,” US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

“That is what is at stake here,” he stressed.

He spoke amid sharp criticism for US President Joe Biden’s support of Israeli actions in the Gaza war, which Hamas asserts has cost over 10,000 Palestinians lives, including those of over 4,000 children.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that thousands of those killed were military combatants but has not provided an actual death count.

Palestinians at the rubble of a destroyed building after an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip, on November 5, 2023 (credit: ATIA MOHAMMED/FLASH90)

US Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who is of Palestinian descent, has accused Biden of supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people in a video she posted on her X account. 

The video included chants from a pro-Palestinian rally that called for the destruction of the state of Israel through the chant, “from the river to the sea.” 

Kirby, in defending Israel’s military campaign, acknowledged the painful reality of Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza.

“We are also keeping in our prayers, this one month in, the many thousands of innocent Palestinians who have been killed in the conflict since October 7th and the many more who are injured and wounded,” he said.

Israel not targeting civilians

He rejected, however, accusations that Israeli actions in Gaza were solely aimed at killing innocent people. He referenced in that defense, Hamas’ killing of over 1,400 people and its seizure of over 240 people hostage when it infiltrated southern Israel on October 7.

“We ought not to forget what happened one month ago, 1,400 people slaughtered in their homes [and] at a music festival,” Kirby said. 

“When Hamas decided to conduct operations, it was with the intent of killing people,” he stressed, as he underscored the extent to which the terror group used civilians as human shields.

“When you are fighting in urban warfare you have to make tough choices about your targets,” he said.

“We are going to keep urging them to be as discriminate and careful as possible,” he said.

But Israel, he said, “has a right and responsibility to defend itself” agaisnt “what was clearly an existential threat to their society and their people.”

The US is “going to continue to make sure that they have the tools and the capabilities that they need” to do so, he said.

IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced that CIA Director William J. Burns met with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Tuesday, during a speech on Tuesday evening.

Hagari stressed that there will not be a ceasefire, saying "we're continuing forward."

The IDF spokesperson added that during the ongoing operations in Gaza, Hamas terrorists fired on soldiers from within the Qatari Hospital in an attempt to goad the IDF into attacking the hospital. "We will not fall into this trap," said Hagari, adding that the IDF would eventually operate in hospitals where terrorists are located.

The United States does not support any forced relocation of Palestinians outside of Gaza and this is not something that Washington is pursuing or is on the table, US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a daily news briefing, Patel also said Washington was opposed to any re-occupation of Gaza by Israel.

He was responding to a question about comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling ABC television Israel will "for an indefinite period" have the overall security responsibility for the Palestinian enclave.

Several loud booms pierced the air and thundered in my ears despite the earplugs I was given to reduce the sensory impact.

But these were no Hamas rocket booms – the most common war noise Israeli citizens have been hearing since the October 7 Israel-Hamas war started.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he demanded that the Red Cross work to visit and release the hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip during a recent meeting with the president of the Red Cross in a speech on Tuesday evening.

Netanyahu added that there would not be a ceasefire until the hostages are released.

Concerning the northern front, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that if they enter the war "it will be the mistake of their lives."

The prime minister referenced controversy surrounding a failure to release funds needed for welfare services for residents of the south and the north displaced by the war, saying that he had instructed the cabinet to remove any blocks in order to free up the necessary funds.

Tunnels and weapons warehouses used by Hamas were found near an amusement park and a university in the Gaza Strip during the IDF's ongoing operations in the coastal enclave, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit revealed on Tuesday.

The Paratrooper Brigade found a tunnel opening near an amusement park in the Strip. The opening was destroyed by the IDF.

Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd frontman and frequent pontificator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said in an interview last week that there was something “very fishy” about Hamas's October 7 attack on Israelis. He questioned whether Hamas actually targeted civilians, and suggested that it may have been a “false flag operation.”

“We don’t know if we will ever get much of the story,” the 80-year-old rocker and activist told Glenn Greenwald, on a Rumble-exclusive podcast interview. ‘They’re calling it their 9/11. What actually happened on the American 9/11? Nobody knows.”

“Do you think what Hamas did on October 7 can be justified?” Greenwald asked.

Ever since Hamas launched its barbaric attack on Israel on October 7, Israel’s political and military leaders have told the nation that the current war will take time and could go on for weeks and months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first remarks to a stunned nation on the night of the attacks, said that “this war will take time.” This is a mantra he has repeated numerous times since, as have Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Unity Party Minister Benny Gantz, and Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Herzi Halevi. 

The Home Front Command's iPhone app for emergency alerts malfunctioned on Tuesday, with the IDF saying it was working to fix the issue in the coming hours.

Until the issue is fixed and an update is available for the app, alerts will not be issued on the iPhone version of the app.

The United States has helped more than 400 US citizens, lawful permanent residents and other eligible people to depart Gaza, a US State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday.