Israel-Hamas war: Protests outside Netanyahu's residence

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) continued its ground operation against militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

"We have finished and completed the encircling (of Gaza City). The IDF forces are operating from south and north (of Gaza City) and have entered populated areas," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

The IDF also said it had killed "dozens" of terrorists and destroyed three Hamas observation posts.

Hamas is also labelled as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU, Germany and others.

Yoav vowed to "find and eliminate" the head of the group, Yahya Sinwar.

Meanwhile, in Israel, the IDF said an attack from the Gaza Strip been identified following a rocket alert in the Arava region north of Eilat.

The armed wing of Hamas, al-Qassam Brigades, said it had fired an Ayyash 250 rocket towards Eilat.

Thousands of people protested in major cities, including London, Paris, Washington and Istanbul, on Saturday to demand an end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Israel is responding to the October 7 attacks by Hamas, a group considered by the United States, the European Union and others to be a terrorist organization.

British authorities estimated that 30,000 people attended the rally at Trafalgar Square in London. Police arrested 11 people, including one person for holding a placard that could be interpreted as inciting hatred.

French authorities estimated that 19,000 people showed up to a rally in Paris.

Protesters gathered outside the Jerusalem residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.

The protesters, some of whom carried Israeli flags, chanted "Jail now!" as they demonstrated.

They demanded that Netanyahu resign over his handling of the October 7 terror attack, the Times of Israel reported.

Many of them demanded a ceasefire with militant group Hamas — categorized as a terrorist group by the US, the EU, Germany and others — in order to facilitate the return of more than 200 hostages who were kidnapped from Israel during the terror attack.

Other anti-government demonstrations were held elsewhere in Jerusalem, as well as in cities such as Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba and Eilat.

Israel's embassies have screened raw video footage of the attacks on civilians by the Hamas Islamist militant group that took place in southern Israel on October 7.

DW was among those invited to see the eyewitness documentation of the terror attacks , which were screened at Israel's embassy in Berlin and presented to roughly 20 journalists.

The footage came from surveillance cameras, victims' smartphones and social media, as well as terrorists' cameras and phones. The compilation has also been shown to journalists in Israel, New York and London.

Numerous atrocities committed in the massacre at the Kibbutz Be'eri community in southern Israelcould be seen, where some of the victims included infants and other minors. It also featured unseen sequences from the massacre at the Supernova music festival in the Negev desert. The footage included videos of militants recorded with their own cellphones at the scene and voice recordings, purporting to be the perpetrators, where they celebrated the attacks.

Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, attended the screening, telling journalists and others present that it was his first time seeing the images, but adding that their display is important because "some people do not believe that it really happened."

The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan have called for a cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas Islamist militant group.

The ministers spoke alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press conference following talks between Washington and Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi, Qatari and Emirati diplomats, as well as a senior Palestinian official.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry accused Israel of "collective punishment" of Palestinians in Gaza.  "This cannot be a legitimate self-defense at all," he said.

"We stress the need to agree on an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire in Gaza without conditions," Shoukry added.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi said that it was too soon to discuss Gaza's post-war future before a cessation of hostilities.

"What happens next? How can we even entertain what will happen next?" said al-Safadi. "We don't have all the variables to even start thinking about that." He added, "We need to get our priorities straight."

"Murder and war crimes must stop and Israel's immunity from international law must end," al-Safadi said.

At the same conference, Blinken said that Washington considered that a cease-fire would allow Hamas too much time to regroup, arguing instead for a "humanitarian pause."

A top United Arab Emirates official has urged the United States to push for a quick end to the war between Israel and the Hamas militant Islamist group.

Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic advisor to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said that Israel's response to Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel had been "disproportionate."

Hamas is classified as a terrorist group by Israel, Germany, the United States, the European Union and others.

Gargash said that Israel's policy of containment of the Palestinian issue had failed.

"US involvement will be seen by when we end this war, the quicker the better, and whether we can have another ..., sort of process at problem solving, at issue solving," he said.

"If this crisis continues, and especially the humanitarian side, and if this crisis brings us back full circle, to the old containment policy of pre-seventh of October, I think the American role here... is not going to be seen as effective," he said.

The United Arab Emirates normalized its relations with Israel in the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020 alongside Bahrain.

A pro-Palestinian demonstration in central Berlin drew around 6,000 people at 3 p.m. local time (1400 UTC), police said, with the crowd expected to grow.

Police said it checked the identity of individual participants and posters that violated regulations were taken down.

Placards at the rally included slogans such as "save Gaza," "stop genocide" and "cease-fire," according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

Police said they feared tensions at the demonstration following a ban on activities in Germany linked to the Hamas militant Islamist group and the Samidoun association, which has been accused of celebrating Hamas' October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Germany classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization, as do several other countries, including Israel and the United States.

Meanwhile, police said that almost 17,000 people took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the city of Düsseldorf in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia.

Police said that only 1,000 people had initially been registered for the protest by a private individual.

While officers said they had to intervene in isolated cases, a police spokesman spoke of a generally peaceful demonstration.

Police said that they had confiscated posters that relativized the Holocaust and filed multiple reports of incitement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reiterated the US' support for a "humanitarian pause" in the Gaza Strip.

The US official spoke at a news conference in Amman, Jordan alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukrey and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

"The United States believes that all of these efforts will be facilitated by humanitarian pauses," he said, referring to efforts to spare civilians and speed up aid deliveries.

Blinken argued against a cease-fire in the conflict, saying that such an agreement would allow the Hamas militant Islamists time to regroup and carry out continued attacks on Israel.

The US classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization, as do Israel, Germany and a number of other countries.

Blinken said that both Washington and Arab states believed that the status quo in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip could not continue. He said he discussed with Shoukrey and Safadi how to chart a better path towards a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

A German Muslim community association has urged adherents of the religion to exercise caution in attending pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Aiman Mazyek, the chairman of the Central Council of Muslims, said that there had been "very clear violations, antisemitic, Jew-hating violations" at rallies.

"[Such violations] must be punished," he said in an interview for the public radio station Deutschlandfunk.

Mazyek's comments come after police in the city of Essen in the western state of North-Rhine Westphalia said people at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Friday waved black banners with Islamist slogans in Arabic, including one calling for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.

Around 3,000 people attended the rally.

Essen police alleged that the true intention of the organizers was to hold an Islamist march. No criminal offenses have been reported, but police and the local public prosecutor's office say they will "meticulously investigate" whether laws on hate speech and incitement had been broken.

Mazyek called for Muslims in Germany to "be careful where you walk" and avoid supporting groups who want to use demonstrations to express hatred towards Jews. At the same time, he warned against holding all Muslims in Germany accountable for antisemitic incidents.

"Not everyone should be lumped together," he stressed, adding that his organization had condemned Hamas' attacks in southern Israel on October 7.

"Every form of racism and misanthropy should not only be condemned, but fought against," Mazyek said. "For us, this is a Muslim commandment, also a commandment of faith." The council's chairman called on other Muslim groups in Germany to clearly condemn antisemitism and racism.

Skirmishes on Israel's northern border with Lebanon continued on Saturday, with both the Israeli military and the militant group Hezbollah saying they have struck targets on the other side.

Hezbollah said it carried out simultaneous attacks on Israeli positions at the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said its warplanes struck Hezbollah targets in response.

Israeli fighter jets attacked "terrorist infrastructure, rocket warehouses and compounds" used by Hezbollah, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The exchange of attacks comes one day after the Hezbollah leader delivered his first speech since the deadly Hamas October 7 attacks.

Hassan Nasrallah said that escalation on the Lebanese front would depend on events in Gaza and Israeli actions toward Lebanon, warning of a regional conflict.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by warning Hezbollah that escalation would be a "mistake" and would cost the militia an "unimaginable price."

The Iran-backed Shiite group is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was using "all diplomatic options" to "stop the bloodshed" in the Gaza Strip, including talks with Israeli intelligence and the Foreign Ministry. He said Turkey is also in contact with Hamas and Palestinian authorities.

Erdogan was sharply critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Netanyahu is no longer an interlocutor for us in any sense. We have erased him, we have crossed him out," Erdogan said in remarks carried by his press office. Erdogan, however, denied that would lead Turkey to sever diplomatic ties completely with Israel.

Later on Saturday, however, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations.

The Turkish president also criticized Western countries for their support of Israel. He said Ankara's trust in the European Union was "deeply shaken."

He said Turkey's aim was to see peace in Gaza as "part of an independent Palestinian state, in line with 1967 borders, with territorial integrity, and with east Jerusalem as its capital." 

"We will support formulas that will bring peace and calm to the region," Erdogan said. "We will not be supportive of plans that will further darken the lives of Palestinians, that will gradually erase them from the scene of history." 

Israeli military airstrikes and ground operations in the besieged Gaza Strip since the Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel on October 7 have killed 9,488 people, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday.

Those killed included 3,900 children and 2,509 women, the Gaza health ministry spokesman announced in a press conference marking 29 days of attacks on the strip. He said women, children and the elderly made up 70% of the victims.

The health ministry said it received reports of 2,000 missing individuals, including "1,250 children still under the rubble," the health ministry spokesman said.

Some 24,158 people have been injured, the spokesman added. 

Hamas authorities accused Israeli forces of "purposefully" targeting 105 health facilities, rendering 16 hospitals and 32 primary care centers out of service. Such attacks killed 150 health workers and destroyed 27 ambulances, the spokesman said.

Israel's military had earlier said it had launched an airstrike on "an ambulance that was identified by forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone."

Israel began its military operation against Hamas after the militant Islamist group conducted terror attacks that killed 1,400 people. 

Germany, the United States and other nations, along with the European Union, have classified Hamas as a terror organization.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have announced a three-hour window for Gaza's citizens to travel southward via the Salah al-Din road.

IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media that civilians will be allowed to use the road on Saturday between 1 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) and 4 p.m.

"For your own safety, make use of the coming time to move southward beyond Gaza Valley," Adraee said.

The Salah al-Din road stretches some 47 kilometers (29.2 miles) across the Gaza Strip, running all the way from its border with Israel in the north to just before its border with Egypt in the south.

The IDF has been urging citizens of the besieged Gaza Strip to move southward for weeks, as it continues its military operation to wipe out the Hamas militant group. Several reports have nevertheless come out regarding deadly strikes on Gaza's southern regions.

At least 15 people died in an airstrike on a UN school where people had taken shelter, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said. 

The ministry said "15 martyrs and upwards of 54 wounded so far as a result of targeting Al-Fakhura school, which is sheltering thousands of displaced people in Jabaliya camp in the northern Gaza Strip."

The interior ministry said in an earlier statement that an Israeli strike damaged the school. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the matter.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) earlier in the week criticized Israeli strikes that damaged the agency's shelters for civilians in the besieged enclave.

US special envoy David Satterfield told reporters in the Jordanian capital that between 800,000 to a million people have moved to the south of the Gaza Strip while around 350,000 to 400,000 remain in the north of the enclave.

Israel had called on people in Gaza to move to the south of the strip ahead of military ground operations in the north. Airstrikes on the entire Gaza Strip, however, have not ceased. 

People in Gaza have also been cut off from supplies of food, water and fuel. Israel has accused Hamas of stockpiling such supplies, a charge Satterfield rejected, saying there were no recorded instances of Hamas blocking or seizing aid.

"Fuel in depots in Gaza has been accessed by UNRWA for aid trucks, desalination and hospitals in the south of Gaza," he noted.

UNRWA is the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that has been working in the region for decades.

About 1.5 million people in Gaza, or 70% of the population, have fled their homes, the United Nations said Friday.

More than 9,200 people have died in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip. Israel declared war on Hamas after the Islamist militants' terror attacks killed 1,400 people. 

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the EU, US, Israel, and Germany, among other nations.