Israel at war: What happened on day 24?

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan and his delegation wore a yellow Star of David at the UN Security Council meeting on Monday bearing the message "Never Again."

The Security Council dealt with the war in Israel and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"When Jewish babies were burned in Auschwitz, the world was silent, and today Jewish babies were burned in Be'eri and the towns of the south by the Nazi Hamas - and the world is silent again.

"I will make you remember the shame of your silence every time you look at me," Arden added. "I will wear the yellow patch until the Nazi Hamas is eliminated and until the Security Council stops being silent and condemns the October 7 massacre. Some of you have learned nothing in the last eighty years! Some of you have forgotten why the United Nations was founded. So I will remind you. From today on, every time you look at me you will remember." 

"When my grandfather and his children were sent to Auschwitz, the world was silent. When his wife and their seven children were sent to the gas chambers, the world was silent. When their bodies were burned alongside millions of Jewish babies, the world was silent," Erdan said, comparing the silence of the UN to the Hamas massacre on October 7 to the silence of the international community regarding the horrors of the Holocaust.

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan shows a video on a portable device as he speaks to an emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., October 26, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR)

"If this council had convened in June 1944, it would have dealt with the amount of fuel the Nazis had and the high death toll Germany had compared to Britain. You would have called for a ceasefire even before the Russians took over Stalingrad.

"My grandfather's story is a horror story of another time. Of a distant time of unimaginable hatred. A time about which until three weeks ago we said 'never again'. But 'never again' happened again."

"Hamas, they are modern Nazis - from their appalling inhumane violence to their ideology that calls for the extermination of the Jews. Hamas is not looking for a 'solution' to the conflict. They are not interested in dialogue. The only solution Hamas is interested in is the final solution - the extermination of the Jewish people.

"Khamenei is the new Fuehrer" - Erdan

"However, Ismail Haniyeh - the leader of Hamas - is not Adolf Hitler. He is not the Fuehrer. He is not the leader of this death cult, which wants to rule the world. This role is played by the supreme leader of Iran, the bloodthirsty Ayatollah Khamenei. Hitler's Third Reich wanted to create a thousand-year empire spanning continents, just as Khamenei envisions his radical Shiite hegemony spanning the region and beyond. The Ayatollah regime is the Nazi regime of our time, and their army includes Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the IRGC, and other jihadists. Instead of shouting 'Sieg Heil!' these radical Nazi Islamists shout, "Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to England!".

During Erdan's remarks, he also slammed the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to what the ambassador claims is his "biased attitude" towards Israel during the war.

"The antisemites saw that the council did not condemn the murderers, and heard the UN Secretary-General express 'understanding' of the massacre," Erdan claimed.

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL Antonio Guterres. (credit: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Erdan also stated that the UN's silence has "emboldened our enemies."

"They saw that this council did not even condemn the Nazi murderers. They saw the UN General Assembly cheering efforts to prevent us from defending ourselves. They heard the Secretary-General express understanding for the Nazi massacre," he continued. "Now they know that slaughtering Jews in their beds is met with silence. They were so passionate about the silence and inaction of this organization that they can't wait to slaughter Jews themselves."

Erdan also said that "if Hitler had a Twitter account, it would look just like Khamenei's," and continues to say that "despite Iran's blatant Nazism and Islamic Reich ideology, the Secretary-General and UN officials still meet with Iranian officials without saying a single word of condemnation for their support of genocide."

At the end of his remarks, Erdan made it clear to the council members that despite their silence, Israel will continue to defend itself in the war against Hamas in Gaza: "The people of Israel are strong, we cannot be broken, and we are not going anywhere. Many have tried to destroy us, but we are here to stay. Israel will win, crush Hamas, and bring back the hostages."

Turkish real estate investment fund Trend GYO responded to the US imposition of sanctions on three of its shareholders on the grounds of providing aid to Hamas, saying on Sunday it does not provide financial support to any organization.

The US on Friday issued a second round of sanctions aimed at the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas following its attack this month on Israel, including a Hamas official in Iran and members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The US Treasury Department statement also designated what it said were the three primary shareholders of Trend GYO, including its chairman and a board member.

Trend GYO said it was established with foreign capital and is a profit-oriented institution subject to regular audit by Turkey's Capital Markets Board acts in accordance with the principle of transparency.

The IDF operated in the Jenin refugee camp overnight on Sunday in what Israeli media said was a widespread operation against Palestinian terror cells in the West Bank city.

At least three armed terrorists were killed by Israeli forces during clashes, with an unconfirmed number of Palestinians wounded. 

During the raid, the IDF deployed a drone that attacked a number of armed terrorists.

Israeli security forces uncover explosives across West Bank

The Israeli military said that it had uncovered explosives that had been placed under roads along the West Bank, with the intention of detonating them on Israeli security forces. 

A Palestinian observation post was also destroyed in the refugee camp, with the IDF saying it was set up with more explosives.

In recent discussions with the United States, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has warned the US and Israel that a ground invasion of Gaza could deepen the crisis and prolong the cycle of violence, according to a New York Times article.

Mohammed bin Salman met with a group of 10 senators in the Saudi capital Riyadh a week ago, impressing upon them his concern about the need to protect Palestinian civilians.

“The Saudi leadership was hopeful that a ground operation could be avoided for reasons of stability as well as the loss of life,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat from Connecticut, told The New York Times, on October 26.

US diplomatic officials are certain that the Saudis are against a ground invasion, due to wanting "a measured response that won’t cascade into a longer and deeper conflict," according to Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, also present on the trip.

"[He] understands that this was an act of terror," Graham told the Times.

Khaled Mashal, a leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, claimed in an interview translated by MEMRI TV that Russia intends to use the brutal October 7 attack against Israel as teaching material in its military academies.

“We want the Arab communities in the West to be active and cooperate with superpowers like China and Russia," Mashal said in the interview. "For your information, Russia has benefited from our attack, because we distracted the US from them and from Ukraine.

“China saw our attack as a dazzling example," he continued. "The Russians told us that what happened on October 7 would be taught in military academies."

He added that "the Chinese are thinking of carrying out a plan in Taiwan, doing what the Al-Qassam Brigades did on October 7. The Arabs are giving the world a master class.”

🚨 JUST IN: Hamas Leader Abroad Khaled Mashal Reveals Russian and Chinese Insights

- According to Khaled Mashal, Hamas leader abroad, the Russians have informed them that their October 7 operation will be included in military academies' teachings.

- Additionally, Mashal… pic.twitter.com/lbH2bai7ZB

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 29, 2023

Booms were heard in the Haifa and Krayot (Haifa Bay) area, but no siren could be detected. 

The Home Front Command said in response that following the activation of the Iron Dome no alarm was triggered in the Haifa and Krayot area according to standard policy because there was no danger to civilians.

 

Newly installed US House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday he expects floor action this week to advance a funding bill to support Israel exclusively, even though President Joe Biden is pushing for a $106 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine combined.

"We're going to move a stand-alone Israel funding bill this week in the House," Johnson said in an interview on Fox News, adding that he believes the measure will draw bipartisan support and that Republicans will back a similar measure in the Senate.

Members of the US House of Representatives, which Republicans control by a narrow majority, are scheduled to return from a recess on Wednesday.

Hamas is preventing foreign nationals from leaving Gaza, the Telegraph reported on the evening of October 29. It was also reported that the British government was attempting to rescue British citizens being held in Gaza as civil disorder has taken over.

US officials told the source that both Israel and Egypt were enabling the evacuation of foreign nationals, but Hamas has refused to allow them to leave.

Currently, it is believed that there are 200 British and 600 American citizens within the strip; with many other foreign nationals trapped as well.

The Israeli Air Force struck military targets in southern Syria, in response to the rocket fire directed toward the Golan Heights earlier on Sunday, the IDF confirmed.