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Top US diplomat makes plea amid surge in reports of settler violence since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Israel to take “urgent” steps to stop violence being carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The top US diplomat made the call in a telephone call with Benny Gantz, a centrist opposition leader who joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet after Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel.

Blinken “stressed the urgent need for affirmative steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, including by confronting rising levels of settler extremist violence,” the State Department said in a statement on Thursday.

Blinken also discussed efforts to “augment and accelerate” the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, secure the release of captives held by Hamas, and prevent the war from widening into a broader conflict, the State Department said.

Israeli settler violence has increased significantly since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, rising from an average of three incidents to seven per day, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA).

Blinken’s comments came as Israeli forces carried out fresh raids in the occupied West Bank and continued military operations in and around several of Gaza’s major hospitals, which have been forced to suspend operations due to Israeli bombardment and dwindling fuel and medical supplies.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Thursday that Israeli forces stormed the northern city of Jenin, deploying snipers and more than 80 military vehicles and bulldozers in the vicinity of its refugee camp.

In a post on Telegram, the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, said it was fighting “alongside all the other resistance groups in the camp” and targeting the Israeli army “with heavy fire and explosive devices”.

Several villages surrounding Jenin, including Jalboun, Beit Qad, Faqqua, and Deir Abu Da’if, were also raided, according to Wafa.

In Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said Israel’s military had resumed attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the enclave, hitting multiple residential houses.

“It’s important to mention that Jabalia refugee camp has seen multiple attacks by Israeli occupation forces and hundreds of civilians have been killed in this camp, which is considered to be the most densely populated inside the Gaza Strip,” Abu Azzoum said.

Residents in Jabalia have sought refuge at a United Nations shelter that is close to the Indonesian Hospital, where services have ground to a halt amid Israeli attacks, and staff and patients are running extremely low on food and water.

Israeli forces also continued to occupy the al-Shifa Hospital, the enclave’s biggest medical facility, where Israeli officials have claimed to have located weapons and other evidence proving the existence of a Hamas command centre. Hamas and doctors at the hospital have denied Israeli claims that the complex has been used to stage military operations.

“Patients are receiving medical treatment on the ground inside hospitals, and they don’t have enough food and water to survive. As well as the severe wounds they have, they also face hunger,” Abu Azzoum said.

“No humanitarian aid has been delivered to hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip, including at al-Shifa Hospital, which is occupied by Israeli soldiers,” he said.

As the war enters its 632nd day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Friday, November 17, 2023.

Fighting

• Russia stepped up attacks on the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, near the Russian-held regional stronghold of Donetsk. Mayor Vitaliy Barabash told national television the situation was “very hot” and that the Russians were using armoured vehicles, targeting the industrial zone and hitting positions in the town “around the clock” in their attempts to seize it. Avdiivka had a population of about 30,000 people before the war, and just over 1,400 remain.
• Two people were killed and at least 12 injured in Russian attacks on different areas of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region. Regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said one of the dead was a 75-year-old woman who was killed when Russian forces on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river shelled Kherson, the region’s biggest town.
• Ukrainian officials said Russia launched 18 drones and an unspecified number of missiles with the air force destroying 16 of the drones and one missile. One person was hurt by falling debris in the western Khmelnytskyi region. Food warehouses were also damaged.
• Search and rescue teams in the eastern Ukrainian town of Selydove found the bodies of a married couple as they cleared rubble from Wednesday’s Russian missile attack in which two people had already been confirmed dead. The Prosecutor’s General Office said the couple had moved from another town in the Donetsk region because of the war.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the use of a fleet of naval drones had helped Kyiv “seize the initiative” from Russia in the Black Sea, forcing the Russian navy to limit its activities.
• Russia’s Defence Ministry said its missile defences had brought down three Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea near Crimea, and two more over the Bryansk region.
• A Russian court convicted Ukraine-based Russian far-right activist Denis Kapustin of state treason and terrorism for organising armed incursions into Russia’s Bryansk region, the state-run TASS news agency reported.

Politics and diplomacy

• The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab said in a report that at least 2,442 Ukrainian children had been transferred from Russia-occupied regions of Ukraine to 13 facilities in Belarus, where they have to participate in political and cultural re-education and military training. The report accused Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko of direct involvement in the children’s removal. The Yale lab is a partner of The Conflict Observatory, which is funded by the United States State Department.
• A St Petersburg court jailed Russian artist Alexandra Skochilenko for seven years after finding her guilty of spreading false information about the Russian military. Skochilenko was arrested after she replaced five supermarket price tags with messages calling for an end to Moscow’s war in Ukraine in March 2022.
• Newly-appointed British Foreign Secretary David Cameron made a surprise trip to Kyiv where he promised Ukraine the United Kingdom’s “moral, diplomatic and military support” for “however long it takes”. Cameron also travelled to the Black Sea port city of Odesa.
• Switzerland joined an international call to establish a special tribunal to address Russia’s crime of “aggression” against Ukraine. “Switzerland is firmly convinced that the aggression against Ukraine must not go unpunished,” the foreign minister said in a statement. The tribunal has support from 38 countries, including Canada, France, Guatemala and Japan.
• Finland said it would close four of its eight border crossings with Russia on Saturday after a surge in the number of people seeking asylum. Helsinki believes Moscow is encouraging people to go to the Finnish border, where they can apply for asylum, in an effort to destabilise the country. There has been a sharp increase in the number of undocumented people, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, crossing from Russia.
• The US imposed sanctions on three United Arab Emirates’ shipping firms and their vessels for transporting Russian oil sold above a $60 per barrel price cap agreed by the Group of Seven nations (G7) and Australia.
• The Kremlin said the Czech Republic’s decision to freeze Russian state-owned properties was illegal and warned it could retaliate against what it called a hostile step. The Czech government announced the freeze on Wednesday in an expansion of sanctions imposed over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Weapons

• Zelenskyy said deliveries of key artillery shells to Ukraine had dropped since the Israel-Hamas war began last month. “Our deliveries have decreased,” Zelenskyy told reporters, referring specifically to 155-millimetre shells that are widely used on the eastern and southern front lines in Ukraine, saying “they really slowed down” adding that “everyone is fighting for [stockpiles] themselves”.

Israeli forces have raided the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for the second consecutive day, following days of encircling the largest medical facility in Gaza.

They claim to have found what they call “grab bags” containing weapons and uniforms belonging to Hamas fighters.

But many observers have questioned what Israeli forces presented as evidence.

And there are fears that with the Israeli military in sole control of the operation, it could fabricate evidence to bolster its allegations.

Several experts have also argued that attacking hospitals – especially those treating critically ill patients and babies – could be a war crime as defined under international law.

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Erik Fosse – CEO of the Norwegian Aid Committee; has worked as a surgeon in Gaza during several wars since 1994

A Kayum Ahmed – special adviser on the right to health at Human Rights Watch

Thomas MacManus – Director of the International State Crime Initiative, Queen Mary University of London

Kolkata, India – The skies above Eden Gardens were leaden and grey, the air thick with a stifling mix of humidity, smog and the question of which team would meet India in Sunday’s Cricket World Cup Final.

Kolkata had pulsed with vibrant colour and noise all week in the midst of concurrent festivals of Diwali, symbolising light’s triumph over darkness, and Kali Puja, celebrating the victory of good against evil.

Thursday’s semifinal wasn’t a contest of such absolutes, instead a battle between the almost-guys and the we’ve-done-it-all-before guys. South Africa have played in four World Cup knockouts without clearing the final hurdle; Australia have lifted the trophy five times, more than any other nation.

If intergenerational trauma exists, then logic suggests the opposite must also; this Australian team carries the belief that conquering the vagaries of tournament play is in their blood. It gives them a certain swagger and underlies their aggressive self-belief.

Consider the pronouncement of their captain, Pat Cummins, on the eve of the match: “We’ve got a lot of guys that have been in this situation before that have won a One Day World Cup, T20 World Cup, various other tournaments in big moments. So, I think that really helps. You can draw on that in the middle of the contest.”

Compare that to the words of his South African counterpart, Temba Bavuma, who confessed to feeling nervous: “There’s been an acknowledgement of the emotions. I don’t think you can deny or run away with that, but there’s also been solutions or mechanisms that have been given as to how to deal with that anxiety, if you feel that it overwhelms yourself.

“I think there’s only two guys in this group that have gone into a semifinal, Quinton [de Kock] and David Miller, so there’s not a lot of experience from all the other guys.”

It was admirably honest, but to openly admit to any vulnerability before a ruthless Australia is akin to slicing open your palm and shoving your hand into shark-infested waters. They only need to sense the blood.

Australia’s plan with bat and ball was to land the first punch and ensure it rattled teeth. They talked about it in team meetings and carried the blueprints onto the field. Bavuma had won the toss and elected to bat first under the heavy clouds on a pitch that had been under covers all morning; It was an invitation.

Throughout the tournament, South Africa’s batters had been a different beast when batting first, winning every match and most by enormous margins. Their only two losses came when they were forced to chase. In playing to their strength at the toss they may have unintentionally been acknowledging a weakness; a second invitation.

Australia’s opening bowlers didn’t need a third, especially in helpful conditions, made for Mitchell Starc’s dangerous swing and bounce and Josh Hazlewood’s metronomic line and length, with the added kick of spicy seam movement.

Under the relentless glare of the lights that crown Eden Gardens’ brutalist red-and-white towers, there was no hiding from the most brutal examination below. Bavuma lasted four balls before wafting and edging Starc outside his off-stump. Quinton de Kock, playing his last game for South Africa, withstood 13 deliveries and then skied a Hazlewood ball for Cummins to take a tumbling catch.

All week, trucks blaring music and crammed with locals and effigies of Kali had filled the streets around the ground, the four-armed blue-skinned goddess a blend of beauty and ferocity; the same two elements fused in Australia’s twin opening attack.

South Africa had averaged 49.44 in the powerplay across the tournament, but here they were suffocated, limping to 18 for 2 in the first 10 overs. The pair sent down 61 dot balls in the first 13 overs, effectively bowling 10 maidens between them. The teeth had been rattled and there were more blows to come.

When Aiden Markram drove hard at Starc and a thick edge flew to a diving Dave Warner at backward point, the fielder’s celebration – a gleeful jogging dance – said it all. Australia weren’t sweating, they were oozing alpha pheromones, while South Africa’s batters appeared to retreat into shells made of glass; all squirts, edges and defensive prods in an effort to stave off calamity.

That they avoided it was thanks to a stubborn David Miller, his imperious century made more impressive by the carnage that surrounded him. Supported by a typically aggressive Heinrich Klassen, Miller dragged his side to a total of 212.

In response, Australia’s batting powerplay was just as devastating, the four arms of Travis Head and Warner channelling Kali’s destructive power. After swiping unsuccessfully at Marco Jansen’s opening delivery, Head dropped to one knee and pummelled the second over cover-point for four, all mustachioed machismo. Machis-mo, if you like.

It was a tale of two power plays, with Australia dominating both. They were 72 for 2 after 10 overs and from there could sufficiently withstand the onslaught of South Africa’s spinners on a ragging pitch.

Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi and Aiden Markram provided the counterpunch and a few nervous moments with their fizzing deliveries, while Gerald Coetzee bowled with heart and heat, but the damage had already been done and Australia could afford to be
Australia may have lost seven wickets, it may have taken more than 47 overs, but the result had seemed a foregone conclusion long before Pat Cummins sealed the win with a boundary.

Eden Gardens was South Africa’s paradise lost; Kolkata, Australia’s city of joy.

Top diplomat says Amman’s priority is to end ‘Israel’s barbarism in Gaza’, which can no longer be seen as self-defence.

Jordan has said that it won’t sign a deal to provide energy to Israel in exchange for water – an agreement that was planned to be ratified last month.

“We had a regional dialogue about regional projects. I think that all of this …, the war [has] proven, [it] will not proceed,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told Al Jazeera on Thursday, referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“We will not sign this agreement any longer. Can you imagine a Jordanian minister sitting next to an Israeli minister to sign a water and electricity agreement, all while Israel continues to kill children in Gaza?” asked the top diplomat of Jordan, which borders Israel to the east.

Jordan and Israel have held a fragile peace agreement since 1994, which returned some 380km (236 miles) of Jordan’s occupied land from Israeli control and resolved long-standing water disputes.

“We [Jordan] signed the peace agreement in 1994 as part of a wider Arab effort to establish a two-state solution. That has not been achieved. Instead, Israel has not upheld its part of the agreement. So the peace deal will have to remain on the back burner gathering dust for now,” he said.

All of Jordan’s efforts were focused on ending what Safadi described as the “retaliatory barbarism carried out by Israel” in Gaza.

“Israel’s aggression and crimes [in Gaza] can no longer be justified as self-defence. It has been killing innocent civilians and attacking hospitals,” he told Al Jazeera.

“If any other state had committed a fraction of what Israel is doing now, we would have seen sanctions imposed on it from every corner of the globe,” he added.

This month, Jordan announced it was “immediately” recalling its ambassador to Israel in response to the war in Gaza, accusing Israel of creating an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.

Safadi said Jordan would never enter into a dialogue about who runs Gaza after the war, considering such a move now could be seen as a green light to Israel to do whatever it wants.

“If the international community wants to talk about this, it must stop the war now,” he added.

Jordan, like other Arab and Muslim countries, has strongly condemned Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in which more than 11,600 people have been killed, including more than 4,700 children. Israel has also launched a ground offensive and restricted supplies of water, food and electricity to the enclave.

Safadi spoke as the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned of a “deliberate attempt to strangle” its operations in the Gaza Strip and said it risks shutting down all its humanitarian work because of a lack of fuel.

Israel cut off fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip as part of a “complete siege” on the area after Hamas fighters from Gaza launched an attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.