بيان سياسي هام صادر عن المكتب السياسي للجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين 

26 أكتوبر 2023 | 11:25

🔴 بيان سياسي هام صادر عن المكتب السياسي للجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين 

توقّف المكتب السياسي للجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين أمام ملحمة "السابع من أكتوبر"  البطولية التي سطرتها المقاومة الفلسطينية بعد أن أذلت جيش العدو ومرغت أنفه بالتراب، وأثبتت أنه جيش قابل للهزيمة وأن المقاتل الفلسطيني قادر على تحقيق الانتصار، وناقش تداعيات المرحلة المفصلية الجديدة بعد طوفان الأقصى، وتحديات الحرب الصهيو / إمبريالية وإشعالها حرباً هستيرية انتقامية وعبر مسلسل المجازر الدموية  إلى الإبادة الجماعية ضد شعبنا في قطاعنا الحبيب، وتدارس أبعاد هذا العدوان وكل  تداعياته ونتائجه، وتحديات ومهام وأفاق المرحلة المقبلة، وفي هذا السياق أكد المكتب السياسي على ما يلي:

★ أولاً/ توجيه  التحية  إلى الشعب الفلسطيني البطل الذي يعاند المستحيل نموذجاً في العشق الأسطوري للوطن، وبتأكيد جدارته بالحياة والكرامة والبقاء والتجذر في الأرض، في وجه الغزاة الصهاينة من حلف الناتو الاستعماري الذي يطلق قنابل الفسفور الأبيض والأسلحة المحرمة دولياً، التي تمارس الإبادة الجماعية وارتكاب المجازر بحق الآلاف من الأطفال والنساء والرجال في مشهد يندى له جبين الإنسانية وإحلال الدمار والخراب في منازل المواطنين وممتلكاتهم التي هدمها فوق رؤوسهم في سياسة ممنهجة لإبادة شعبنا في المدن والقرى والمخيّمات. 

★ ثانياً/ تحية مجد لكل الشهداء نخبة هذا الشعب وقادته العظام ومقاوميه الصناديد وإلى أطفالنا العمالقة، جنرالات الشجاعة والأمل الكرامة والصمود والعائلات الكريمة التي ستظل خالدة في سجل التاريخ، أسماء لم ولن تمحى، والتحية إلى الجسم الطبي في المشافي، جيشنا الأبيض من رسل الإنسانية وهم يقاتلون الموت في سبيل الحياة، وإلى جنود الحقيقة النبلاء في وسائل الإعلام، العدسة التي تطارد المجرم وتسقط الأقنعة عن وجه القاتل كي يصحو ضمير البشر وتستيقظ قيم الحق والعدالة والإنسانية في هذا العالم. 

★ ثالثاً/ تحية المقاومة الفلسطينية بكل فصائلها وهي تستعيد زمام المبادرة وامتلاكها  لتوقيت المعركة وطبيعة الصراع مع  الاحتلال، مما أخرجها من دائرة ردة الفعل وشروط الاشتباك المفروضة عليها، ورفضت أن تبقى رهينة يوميّات العنف اليومي المتسلسل في القدس المهددة بالابتلاع  والضفة المقطعة بالاستيطان وغزة المحاصرة والداخل المنهك بالجريمة المنظمة، وأمام الهجمة العنصرية الإحلالية المسعورة ، فلم يبق لشعبنا سوى المقاومة وبكافة أشكالها، فجاءت ملحمة طوفان الأقصى البطولية لتحطم  النظرية الأمنية الصهيونية وأحلامه في الضم والتمدد وهزت جيشه، وفرضت معادلة جديدة،  صاغتها غزة  المقاومة على الدوام، حارسة الحلم ونقطة ارتكاز المقاومة ورأس حربة المشروع الوطني وموطن الفعل الأول والضمانة الحقيقية لتصويب مسار نضالنا  حتى وهي في أحلك ظروفها وأعمق أزماتها.

★ رابعاً/ إعلان التعبئة الوطنية الشاملة لشعبنا الفلسطيني في كل مكان باعتبار أن المعركة طويلة الأمد، ومفصلية في تاريخ النضال الفلسطيني، تتطلب الثبات والصمود وتصعيد الفعل المقاوم لإفشال دعوات العدو باستكمال حربه عام ١٩٤٨ وارتكابه نكبة جديدة وتهجير جديد  بإطالة أمد الحرب مع استمرار ماكنة القتل والإبادة والتدمير، مع تصاعد وتيرة قصف المنازل والمؤسسات، لذلك نؤكد مرة أخرى أن هذه المعركة هي معركة الشعب الفلسطيني في كل أماكن تواجده ، في غزة والضفة والقدس والجليل والنقب كما في الشتات القريب والبعيد من أجل رحيل الإحتلال، وحق تقرير المصير وعودة اللاجئين، وإقامة الدولة الفلسطينية وعاصمتها القدس.

★ خامساً/ إن هذه الملحمة البطولية التي تكتب بالدم الطاهر واللحم الحي والحلم الفلسطيني وبمآلاتها ويومياتها شكلت تهديداً وجودياً للكيان، وأحيت الأمل للفلسطينيين والعرب باستعادة مشروع تحرير فلسطين، وحطمت صورة تفوق الجيش الذي لا يقهر، وصورة جنوده السوبرمان الذين داست رقابهم أقدام المقاومة. المشهدية التي حفرت عميقاً في وجدان الشعب الفلسطيني والشعوب العربية، هو ما يدفعنا للتأكيد مجدداً أن لا عودة للوراء خصوصاً وأن كل المؤشرات تفيد بأن قرار الحرب على قطاع غزة  كان معداً مسبقاً لدوافع صهيونية وإمبريالية  للقضاء على قوة المقاومة وحسم الصراع بالمجازر والإبادة والتطهير العرقي، لتوجه المقاومة ضربة كبيرة للمشروع الاستعماري في المنطقة ولتوقف قطار التطبيع  في السعودية وتعيق وصوله إلى محطات جديدة، وكشفت طبيعة الكيان المتعدد الجنسيات كأداة وظيفية استعمارية، غير مسموح بانهياره أو فتح جبهات جديدة للحرب عليه، فكان الغرب الاستعماري هو من  يقود المعركة.

★ سادساً/ ندعو إلى مواصلة التحركات الشعبية والجماهيرية على المستويين العربي والدولي، وأن يعلو صوت أنصار القضية والأحرار من المنظمات والقوى والدول الصديقة والحليفة والأحزاب اليسارية والتقدمية العربية والدولية. لعزل هذا الكيان والمطبعين معه وطرد ممثليه وتعرية وجهه البشع، وإدانة وتوثيق جرائمه العنصرية البغيضة وداعميه فاقدو الصفة الإنسانية، والنازية الجديدة، التي تقاتل بكل ما تحتويه ترسانة الموت العنصرية الغربية، والتصدي للحملة الإعلامية غير المسبوقة التي تعمل على ترويج الرواية "الإسرائيلية" الكاذبة. كمن يقايض ذنبه النازي بفلسطين، فالإجماع العنصري هذا لم يكن مجرّد انحياز لفظي، بل واكبته حملة من القمع البوليسي، في الدول الغربية. وشراكة عملية في تنفيذ الحرب، مما يتطلب وقفاً غير مشروط لحفل الجنون الاستعماري وكسر هذا العدوان الوحشي، وكشف المجازر المرتكبة بحق شعبنا وتضميد جراحه وتعزيز صموده، بحملة دولية لتقديم المساعدات الطبية والغذائية لشعبنا في قطاع غزة.

★ سابعاً/ العدو يمارس القصف الجنوني لتحطيم المعنويات ولمعاقبة الحاضنة الشعبية للمقاومة وتحويل النصر 
إلى هزيمة، ومن أجل كسر الانتصار الذي تحقق بشعبنا وصموده وما أظهره الميدان في الفعل الفلسطيني المقاوم الذي أبدع منذ المرحلة الأولى، وأوقع خسائر عظيمة في صفوف الاحتلال، وكشف عن تقدم نوعي في بنية المقاومة وقدرتها. لدينا عظيم الثقة أن هذه المقاومة قادرة على تحقيق الانتصار، وصيانته  كتعبير عن المصلحة الوطنية العليا ومن خلال  استراتيجية وطنية تهدف إلى مراكمة  كل إنجاز وفعل ميداني وتحويله إلى انجاز في المجال السياسي،  والتركيز على أهمية  الانتصار المعنوي  والقدرة على الصمود والمقاومة رغم التضحيات الجسيمة، ،بما يفرض تحصين  هذا الإنجاز والانتصار من أي محاولات سياسية للالتفاف عليه بعقد صفقات تنال من هذا الإنجاز، ودفع شعبنا إلى اليأس و التنازل والركوع، ولفظ  الحاضنة الشعبية للمقاومة، وهو ما لم ولن يتحقق بفضل الإرادة الصلبة لشعبنا. 

★ ثامناً/ يؤكد المكتب السياسي أن المعركة مستمرة والمقاومة مستمرة والهجوم البري سيكون هو الفيصل في صياغة التطورات القادمة، خصوصاً بعد سقوط فزاعة دولة الاحتلال التي تهشمت صورته ولن تعود كما كانت من قبل مهما فعلت من تدمير ووعيد وتهديد وانتقام، ولن تخفي حالة الهزيمة في جيشه وقيادته. فكل خطوة لجيشه على أرض غزة الملحمة والبطولة ستكون قبراً لجنده المهزوم. واستراتيجبة محور المقاومة واضحة وستكون شاملة ومن غير المسموح كسر المقاومة، والاستفراد بساحة من الساحات، ولن تفيده أساطيله وقواته المدمرة في المتوسط. 

★ تاسعاً/  المعركة مع الاحتلال لم تنته بعد، لا صوت يعلو فوق صوت المقاومة، صوت وحدة الموقف الوطني وترجمته على الأرض، وميدانياً بالعمل المشترك، وبالخطاب الوطني الجامع والتأكيد على أن هذه المعركة معركة الشعب الفلسطيني بكل فصائله وأطيافه ومكوناته. وهذه هي حقيقة الصراع وما يتعرض له شعبنا منذ 75 عاماً" والتناقض الرئيسي هو مع الكيان الغاصب، الذي يمارس بحقنا كل اشكال الموت والطرد والترانسفير والاستيلاء على الأراضي، وإطلاق قطعان المستوطنين وقلع الأشجار، وهدم للبيوت، واعتقالات بالجملة للآلاف في سجون هذا الكيان الفاشي، حيث أن أكثر من 7000 آلاف أسير يتعرضون للتنكيل والبطش والحرمان من أبسط حقوقهم الإنسانية والقانونية وهم ينتظرون ساعة تحريرهم جميعاً بفارغ الامل.

★ عاشراً وأخيراً / العدوان مستمر والمعركة مع الاحتلال لم تنته بعد، والتحديات والمسؤوليات كبيرة، ولنخوض معركة الحرية معاً، ولننتصر معاً، مصيرنا واحد ومستقبلنا واحد، عدونا واحد، إن ما هو قادم قد يكون الأشرس، لكن إرادة النصر عظيمة، وستسقط مشروع الإبادة الجماعية والتطهير العرقي والجميع مطالب بالانخراط بمعركة الشرف كل حسب قدرته وطاقته وظروفه. 

لن يمر الغزاة

الانتصار لشعبنا ومقاومتنا وقضيتنا

 المكتب السياسي

الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين

☝

An important political statement- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

 

An important political statement issued by the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 

October 26, 2023 

🔴 An important political statement issued by the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 

The Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stopped at the heroic “Seventh of October” epic that was waged by the Palestinian resistance after it humiliated the enemy army and covered its nose in the dirt, proving that it is a defeatable army and that the Palestinian fighter is capable of achieving victory, and discussed the repercussions of the new pivotal stage after the Al-Aqsa flood, And the challenges of the Zionist/imperialist war and its ignition of a hysterical war of revenge, through a series of bloody massacres to genocide against our people in our beloved sector, and examining the dimensions of this aggression and all its repercussions and results, and the challenges, tasks and prospects of the next stage. In this context, the Political Bureau emphasized the following:

★ Firstly: Saluting the heroic Palestinian people who resist the impossible as an example of the legendary love for their homeland, and by affirming their worth for life, dignity, survival and rootedness in the land, in the face of the Zionist invaders from the colonial NATO alliance that launches white phosphorus bombs and internationally banned weapons, which practice genocide and commit massacres. Against thousands of children, women and men in a scene that devastates humanity, and the destruction and devastation that has been brought to citizens’ homes and property, demolished over their heads in a systematic policy to exterminate our people in cities, villages and camps. 

★ Secondly: A tribute of glory to all the martyrs, the elite of this people, its great leaders, and its resistance fighters, and to our giant children, the generals of courage and hope, dignity and steadfastness, and the honourable families who will remain immortal in the record of history, names that have not and will not be erased, and salutes to the medical staff in the hospitals, our white army of messengers of humanity and they are They fight death for the sake of life, and to the noble soldiers of truth in the media, the lens that chases the criminal and drops the masks from the face of the killer so that the conscience of humanity is awakened and the values ​​of truth, justice and humanity are awakened in this world. 

★ Third: We salute the Palestinian resistance with all its factions as it regains the initiative and its ownership of the timing of the battle and the nature of the conflict with the occupation, which took it out of the circle of reaction and the conditions of engagement imposed on it, and refused to remain hostage to the daily serial daily violence in Jerusalem, which threatens to be swallowed, the West Bank divided by settlements, the besieged Gaza, and the exhausted interior. With organized crime, and in the face of the rabid racist substitutionary attack, there was nothing left for our people but resistance in all its forms. The heroic epic of the Al-Aqsa flood came to destroy the Zionist security theory and its dreams of annexation and expansion, and shook its army, and imposed a new equation, formulated by Gaza, the resistance that has always been the guardian of the dream, the fulcrum of the resistance, and the spearhead. The national project, the home of the first action, and the true guarantee for correcting the path of our struggle, even in its darkest circumstances and deepest crises.

★ Fourth: Declaring the comprehensive national mobilization of our Palestinian people everywhere, considering that the long-term battle, and pivotal in the history of the Palestinian struggle, requires steadfastness, steadfastness, and escalation of resistance action to thwart the enemy’s calls to complete its war in 1948 and commit a new catastrophe and new displacement by prolonging the war while continuing the machine of killing and extermination. And destruction, with the escalation of the bombing of homes and institutions, so we affirm once again that this battle is the battle of the Palestinian people in all their places of presence, in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Galilee, and the Negev, as well as in the near and distant diaspora, for the sake of the departure of the occupation, the right to self-determination, the return of refugees, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Its capital is Jerusalem.

★ Fifth: This heroic epic, which is written with pure blood, living flesh, and the Palestinian dream, and its implications and diaries, constituted an existential threat to the entity, and revived hope for the Palestinians and Arabs to restore the project of liberating Palestine, and destroyed the image of the army’s invincible superiority, and the image of its superman soldiers whose necks were trampled by the feet of the resistance. The scene, which was deeply engraved in the conscience of the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples, is what prompts us to reaffirm that there is no turning back, especially since all indications indicate that the decision to war on the Gaza Strip was prepared in advance for Zionist and imperialist motives to eliminate the resistance force and resolve the conflict with massacres, extermination and ethnic cleansing, to direct the resistance. A major blow to the colonial project in the region and the halting of the normalization train in Saudi Arabia and hindering its arrival to new stations. The nature of the multinational entity was revealed as a functional colonial tool. It was not allowed to collapse or open new fronts for war against it. The colonial West was the one leading the battle.

★ Sixth: We call for the continuation of popular and mass movements at the Arab and international levels, and for the voices of the supporters of the cause and the liberal organizations, forces, friendly and allied countries, and leftist and progressive Arab and international parties to be louder. To isolate this entity and those normalizing with it, expel its representatives and expose its ugly face, condemn and document its hateful racist crimes and its inhuman supporters, and neo-Nazism, which fights with everything contained in the Western racist arsenal of death, and to confront the unprecedented media campaign that works to promote the false “Israeli” narrative. Like someone who trades his Nazi guilt for Palestine, this racist consensus was not just a verbal bias, but was accompanied by a campaign of police repression in Western countries. And a practical partnership in implementing the war, which requires an unconditional end to the colonial madness, breaking this brutal aggression, exposing the massacres committed against our people, healing their wounds, and strengthening their steadfastness, with an international campaign to provide medical and food aid to our people in the Gaza Strip.

★ Seventh: The enemy is practicing insane bombing to destroy morale, to punish the popular incubator of the resistance, and to turn victory into defeat, and in order to break the victory achieved by our people and their steadfastness, and what the field demonstrated in the Palestinian resistance action, which was creative from the first stage, and inflicted great losses on the ranks of the occupation, and revealed qualitative progress. In the structure and capacity of resistance. We have great confidence that this resistance is capable of achieving victory and preserving it as an expression of the supreme national interest and through a national strategy that aims to accumulate every achievement and field action and turn it into an achievement in the political field, and to focus on the importance of moral victory and the ability to withstand and resist despite the enormous sacrifices, including It is necessary to protect this achievement and victory from any political attempts to circumvent it by concluding deals that undermine this achievement, and push our people to despair, compromise, kneel down, and call the popular incubator for resistance, which has not and will not be achieved thanks to the solid will of our people. 

★ Eighth: The Political Bureau confirms that the battle continues, the resistance continues, and the ground attack will be the decisive factor in shaping the coming developments, especially after the fall of the scarecrow of the occupying state, which shattered its image and will not return to what it was before, no matter what it does of destruction, intimidation, threats, and revenge, and it will not hide the state of defeat in its army. And his leadership. Every step of his army on the epic and heroic land of Gaza will be a grave for his defeated soldier. The strategy of the resistance axis is clear and will be comprehensive. It is not permissible to break the resistance and monopolize one of the arenas, and its destructive fleets and forces in the Mediterranean will not benefit it. 

★ Ninth: The battle with the occupation is not over yet. No voice is louder than the voice of the resistance, the voice of the unity of the national position and its translation on the ground, and on the ground by joint action, and by the comprehensive national discourse and the emphasis that this battle is the battle of the Palestinian people with all its factions, sects and components. This is the reality of the conflict and what our people have been exposed to for 75 years.” The main contradiction is with the usurping entity, which practices against us all forms of death, expulsion, transfer, land seizure, releasing herds of settlers, uprooting trees, demolishing homes, and mass arrests of thousands in the prisons of this fascist entity, where More than 7,000 thousand prisoners are subjected to abuse, oppression, and deprivation of their most basic human and legal rights, and they are eagerly awaiting the hour of their liberation.

★ Tenth and finally: The aggression continues and the battle with the occupation is not over yet, and the challenges and responsibilities are great. Let us fight the battle of freedom together, and let us win together. Our destiny is one, our future is one, our enemy is one. What is coming may be the fiercest, but the will for victory is great, and it will bring down the project of genocide. Ethnic cleansing occurs, and everyone is required to engage in the battle for honour, each according to his ability, energy, and circumstances. 

The invaders will not pass!

Victory for our people, our resistance and our cause!

 Politburo

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine      

26-10-2023           Palestine.

☝

Israeli military jets strike Gaza camp - American commandos in Israel.

 Israel says ONE Hamas commander killed!

By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose November 1, 2023

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023. REUTERS/Fadi Whadi Acquire Licensing Rights

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 50 Palestinians and a Hamas commander, and medics struggled to treat the casualties, even setting up operating rooms in hospital corridors.

Israeli tanks have been active in Gaza for at least four days following weeks of air bombardments in retaliation for an attack by Palestinian Hamas militants on mostly Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 and the taking of more than 200 hostages.

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said the strike by fighter jets on Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp, had killed Ibrahim Biari.

Source-CNN

"He was very important, I would say even pivotal in the planning and the execution of the October 7 attack against Israel from the northeastern parts of the Gaza Strip," said IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.

Dozens of Hamas combatants were in the same underground tunnel complex as Biari and were also killed when it collapsed in the attack, Conricus said.

"And I understand that is also the reason why there are many reports of collateral damage and non-combatant casualties. We're looking into those as well," he said.

Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed in the refugee camp and 150 wounded. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denied any senior commander was there and called the claim an Israeli pretext for killing civilians.

A Hamas statement said there were 400 dead and injured in Jabalia, which houses families of refugees from wars with Israel dating back to 1948. Reuters could not independently verify the reported casualty figures.

The blast left large craters surrounded by wrecked concrete buildings.

Israel has sent repeated warnings to Gaza residents to evacuate northern areas and while many have gone south, many have not.

PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS ENGULFS GAZA

Power generators in al Shifa Medical complex and the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza will stop in hours, Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza said late on Tuesday. He called on petrol stations owners in the enclave to urgently feed the two hospitals with fuel if possible.

In Washington, a group of anti-war protesters raised red-stained hands to interrupt a hearing in Congress on providing more aid to Israel. They shouted slogans including, "Ceasefire now!" "Protect the children of Gaza!" and "Stop funding genocide." Capitol police removed them from the room.

U.N. and other aid officials said civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave were engulfed by a public health catastrophe, with hospitals struggling to treat casualties as electricity supplies petered out.

After the attack on Jabalia, dozens of bodies lay shrouded in white, lined up against the side of the Indonesian Hospital, footage obtained by Reuters showed.

Juggling dwindling supplies of medicines, power cuts and air or artillery strikes that have shaken hospital buildings, surgeons in Gaza have worked night and day trying to save a constant stream of patients.

"We take it an hour at a time because we don't know when we will be receiving patients. Several times we've had to set up surgical spaces in the corridors and even sometimes in the hospital waiting areas," Dr. Mohammed al-Run said.

Iran-backed Hamas has told mediators it will release some foreign captives in coming days, Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of the group's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video on the Telegram app on Tuesday. He gave no further details on the number of captives or their nationalities.

Meanwhile, Israeli families of victims of the Oct. 7 attack appealed to the International Criminal Court on Tuesday to order an investigation into the killings and abductions. Israel is not a member of the Hague-based court and refuses to recognise its jurisdiction.

"PROGRESS" ON SAFE PASSAGE FOR FOREIGNERS

The United States has made "real progress" in the last few hours in negotiations to secure a safe passage for Americans and other foreign nationals who wish to leave Gaza, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the government there and then make other stops in the region, the department said.

The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have been working to open the Rafah crossing into Egypt to allow people to come and go.

Egyptian authorities would allow 81 Gazans who were severely wounded in the weeks of bombardment to enter Egypt on Wednesday to complete treatment, the Palestinian border authority said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed international calls for a "humanitarian pause" in fighting to enable emergency aid deliveries to civilians suffering from critical shortages of food, medicine, drinking water and fuel.

He has vowed to press ahead with plans to annihilate Hamas after several inconclusive wars dating back to the militant group's 2007 takeover of Gaza.

Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose; additional reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Grant McCool; Editing by Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Here is the latest on the war. New York Times

Israel said it targeted Hamas militants Tuesday in northern Gaza, and Hamas and hospital officials said the airstrikes killed and wounded many and leveled part of the Jabaliya neighborhood.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, said the Israeli strikes killed and wounded “hundreds,” a statement that could not be immediately verified. A doctor at a nearby hospital, Dr. Marwan Sultan, said the facility was receiving hundreds of injured and that dozens were dead.

Israel’s military said in a statement that its fighter jets, in a “wide-scale” attack, had struck Hamas militants, including a commander who helped plan the Oct. 7 massacre that left 1,400 people dead, mostly civilians.

“His elimination was carried out as part of a wide-scale strike on terrorists and terror infrastructure belonging to the Central Jabaliya Battalion, which had taken control over civilian buildings in Gaza City,” the military said.

It reiterated a warning for Gazans to evacuate south, a call that came as Israeli ground troops and tanks pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip and were edging closer to the territory’s main city. More than half the population of two million people has been displaced since Israel expanded a blockade of the enclave in response to the Hamas attacks.

Humanitarian officials have warned that Palestinian civilians face a growing catastrophe. “The scale of the horror people are experiencing in Gaza is really hard to convey,” Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s chief official for humanitarian and relief affairs, said in a statement on Monday. “People are becoming increasingly desperate, as they search for food, water and shelter amid the relentless bombing campaign that is wiping out whole families and entire neighborhoods.”

American commandos are in Israel helping to locate hostages, the Pentagon says.

Fliers showing photos of people kidnapped on Oct. 7 are laid out on the ground outside the United Nations. Pairs of shoes and flowers are next to the fliers. 

A demonstration outside the United Nations last week symbolizing the kidnapped hostages in Israel.Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York Times

American commandos on the ground in Israel are helping locate the more than 200 hostages seized during Hamas’s surprise cross-border attacks on Oct. 7, the Pentagon’s top special operations policy official said on Tuesday.

“We’re actively helping the Israelis to do a number of things,” Christopher P. Maier, an assistant secretary of defense, told a special operations conference in Washington. He said that a main task was to help Israel “identify hostages, including American hostages. It’s really our responsibility to do so.”

Mr. Maier declined to say how many U.S. Special Operations forces were currently in Israel. But other U.S. officials say the Defense Department has dispatched several dozen commandos in recent days, in addition to a small team that was in Israel on Oct. 7 conducting previously scheduled training.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said the commandos would join F.B.I., State Department and other U.S. government hostage-recovery specialists in their discussions with Israeli counterparts.

The U.S. Special Operations forces are not assigned any combatant roles in Israel, but they are talking through with their Israeli counterparts “what is going to be a very complex fight going forward” in Gaza, Mr. Maier said.

In his discussions with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin II has stressed the need for careful consideration of how Israeli forces conduct a ground invasion of Gaza, where Hamas maintains an intricate network of tunnels under densely populated areas.

“We will work with them as much as possible to help advise them on those types of activities,” Mr. Maier said.

Several Western countries have secretly moved small teams of their own special forces closer to Israel to help with any potential rescue operation and to be nearby to assist in any large-scale evacuations of their citizens from Israel or Lebanon.

Mr. Maier said U.S. Special Operations forces in the region are also poised “to help our own citizens get out of places and to help our embassies be secure.”

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