November 10: A month of war in the Holy Land

In which, diplomatic initiatives to end the fighting in Gaza come up empty, tensions over the war flare in the US, and we’ve got one year to go to Election 2024

A month of war in the Holy Land

We’re a month and a few days post October 7 and the Hamas attack on Israel that loosed the dogs of war in the Holy Land.

It’s been a month of increasing fighting as the Israeli ground assault gathered force behind an air offensive before splitting the Gaza Strip in half last week to isolate Gaza City. This week, IDF forces moved into Gaza City, clearing out pockets of Hamas fighters and destroying any and all tunnels they could find. The fighting is reported to be street to street and savage with Israel appearing to be making progress but very slowly.

Meanwhile civilian deaths continue to mount, though the numbers remain contested. Still, we’re into the thousands and more flee the fighting every day and head south towards the border with Egypt where aid is slowly trickling in, but the border remains largely closed.

On the diplomatic front, South Africa joined Turkey and others in breaking diplomatic relations with Israel and demanding an immediate ceasefire. As noted in last week’s newsletter, the increasing pressure for ceasefires have made America waffle in its initial support of Israel, and appears that the US has prevailed on Israel to allow for daily operational pauses to allow civilians to get out of harm's way. We’ll see how long these daily pauses last as Hamas is highly likely to try to take advantage of them to improve their own defensive positions. 

In the West Bank, Secretary of State Blinken met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas amidst escalating Israeli settler violence towards Palestinians. Israel, for its part, has been sending some measure of support to the PA.