The Israel-Hamas War: Critical Monday Updates

These are important stories that you may have missed over the weekend—reports whose geopolitical importance is certain to expand significantly during the coming week.

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{Note: Prior Proof updates on the Israel-Hamas War, all free to access, can be found at these links: 1, 2, 3. Subscribe to Proof below to gain full access to its archive of hundreds of reports.}

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The Israel-Hamas War By the (Harrowing) Numbers

CNN: 360,000 IDF troops are now surrounding Gaza.

ABC: There have been at least 11,344 Gazan casualties (2,600 killed, 8,744 wounded).

ABC: There have been at least 4,627 casualties in Israel (1,400 killed, 3,227 wounded).

WSJ: The Israelis have counted 1,500 dead Hamas terrorists in Israeli territory.

ABC: Among the Gazan dead are at least 724 children and at least 458 women.

CNN: The Committee to Protect Journalists says 12 journalists are dead, 8 wounded, and 2 missing in the fighting.

ABC: 29 Americans died in the Hamas attack, according to the latest death toll. 15 remain missing, according to a live CNN report at 11:36PM ET on Saturday, October 14—with a maximum of 4 of these Americans believed to be in Hamas custody.

CNN: Israel is currently at peace with 2 of its neighbors (Jordan, Egypt) and at war with 3 (Lebanon, Syria, and Hamas in Gaza). With a Saturday airstrike on the Aleppo International Airport in Syria, Israel has now engaged in military operations against all three of the entities it is at war with within the last week.

CNN: The United States has now moved 2 of its aircraft carrier strike groups closer to Israel.

WHO (image taken from CNN website at 1:04AM ET on Monday, October 16, 2023):

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Approximately 80% of the 280 Bodies Found in Two Kibbutzim After the Hamas Attack Included Signs of Torture

SKY NEWS: {Click the link to the left to watch the video. Viewer discretion strongly advised.}

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Israelis Restore Water in Southern Gaza, Northern Gaza Remains Cut Off From Water

AXIOS: “Israel resumed on Sunday the water supply to the southern Gaza Strip after strong pressure from the Biden administration, two Israeli officials told Axios. Israel’s decision to completely stop the water supply to Gaza [had] exacerbated the already dire humanitarian situation there, with aid groups warning water supplies were quickly running out.”

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The Gaza-Egypt Rafah Border Crossing Opened at 2AM ET on Monday—But Only for Two Limited Purposes

MSNBC: “Just hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Egyptian president, Palestinian officials confirmed the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt will be open for foreign nationals, including roughly 600 Americans trapped in Gaza….[and] as foreign nationals are coming out of Gaza, humanitarian aid will be going from Egypt into Gaza.”

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Iran Makes An Implied Threat to Go to War With Israel

CNN: “Iran warned of ‘far-reaching consequences’ if Israel does not stop its attacks on Gaza. ‘If the Israeli apartheid’s war crimes and genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control and ricochet far-reaching consequences’, Iran’s Mission to the United Nations said. Earlier on Saturday, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Abdollahian voiced a similar sentiment in a meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.”

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Iran Meets with Hamas in Qatar

REUTERS: “Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Qatar’s Doha, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.”

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Violence Has Now Exploded in The West Bank and East Jerusalem Also

CNN: “A total of 47 people have been killed, and hundreds of others injured, since Saturday in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, during clashes with Israeli forces and by settler gunfire.”

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Even More Violence Has Now Broken Out in Syria

BBC: “Syrian state media says Israeli forces have hit the country’s two main international airports with missiles, putting them out of action. State media said runways had been damaged at both Damascus and Aleppo airports and flights would be diverted to Latakia, a city in north-west Syria. Israel has not commented on the strike. It has previously attacked targets in war-torn Syria, linked to Iran. Iran’s foreign minister was planning to fly to Syria on Friday.”

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United States Preparing for Possibility of Sending Its Troops to Gaza or Israel

CNN: “The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid reaction force capable of conducting special operations, is making preparations in case it is ordered closer to Israel to bolster the United States’ force posture there, multiple U.S. officials tell CNN. The unit, which is currently on board the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship, is comprised of over 2,000 Marines and sailors and would be capable of supporting a large-scale evacuation. Among the mission essential tasks for a Marine Expeditionary Unit are evacuation operations and humanitarian assistance.”

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BBC Journalists Assaulted By Israeli Cops As a Reuters Journalist Appears to Have Been Killed by the Israelis

CNN: “The BBC said Friday that a group of its journalists covering Israel’s war with Hamas were held at gunpoint and assaulted by Israeli police in Tel Aviv. The disturbing incident, which the BBC said occurred on Thursday night, came as the team of three journalists drove to their hotel in a vehicle ‘clearly marked as media’, the British news network said. The BBC said that the team was ‘dragged from their vehicle’, searched and pushed up against a wall during the stop. One of its journalists said that when he tried to film the incident, an officer threw his phone to the ground.”

Reuters: “A Reuters video journalist was killed and six other journalists injured in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them, according to a Reuters videographer who was at the scene.”

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Israel Planning Major Crackdown on Domestic Dissent

HAARETZ: “Israeli Communications Minister [and Likud Party politician] Shlomo Karhi is promoting regulations that would allow him to direct police to arrest civilians, remove them from their homes, or seize their property if he believes they have spread information that could harm national morale or served as the basis for enemy propaganda.”

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FBI Warns of Increased Terror Threat in America

CBS: “[Terror] threats in the United States have been rising since Hamas invaded Israel a week ago, FBI Director Christopher Wray and FBI officials said Sunday in a rare phone briefing for reporters. ‘The threat is very much ongoing and in fact, the threat picture continues to evolve’, Wray said. ‘Here in the U.S., we cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil.’ He said that Jews and Muslims alike, as well as their institutions and houses of worship, have been threatened in the United States and told reporters that the bureau is ‘moving quickly to mitigate’ the threats.”

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Chicago Area Boy Killed Due to His Islamic Faith and Israel-Hamas War; Mother Hospitalized But Will Live

NBC: “A Plainfield Township [Illinois] landlord who fatally stabbed a six-year-old boy and seriously wounded his mother targeted them because of their Islamic faith and the Israel-Hamas war, according to authorities. Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of a hate crime, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Sunday.”

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How to Donate to Humanitarian Aid for Gazan Civilians

CNN: {To donate to a vetted list of nonprofit organizations engaged in humanitarian work in the midst of the current catastrophe in Gaza, see this link at CNN.}

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