Live: Over 200 Lebanese children killed in two months of Israeli attacks

The United States has expressed disappointment over Israel's limited efforts to alleviate Gaza's humanitarian crisis, as a deadline approaches for increased aid delivery.

In a 13 October letter, the Biden administration gave Israel 30 days to improve conditions in the heavily bombarded region, yet significant progress has yet to be made.

"As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

While noting some improvement, Miller emphasised that the stipulated recommendations have largely gone unmet, describing the current results as "not good enough". He added, "They certainly do not have a pass… They have failed to implement all the things that we recommended."

Miller did not specify consequences if Israel fails to comply but noted, "What I can tell you that we will do is, we will follow the law."

The US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military aid to countries that obstruct US humanitarian assistance.

The Israeli army raided Qafin, a town north of Tulkarem, according to the Wafa news agency.

Local sources reported that Israeli forces patrolled streets, including the al-Jazayer area and around al-Rahman Mosque.

Rights groups say over 11,500 people have been arrested since the Gaza conflict began, amid a heightened crackdown in the occupied West Bank.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on NBC television’s Saturday Night Live this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s general election, drawing strong reactions from a wide audience online.

In the skit, Kamala Harris appears as herself as the mirror-image double of actor Maya Rudolph’s version of her in the show’s cold opening. 

In sync, the vice president and Maya Rudolph say supporters need to “Keep Kamala and carry-on-ala” - which became a motto repeated by a large audience online - and declared that they share each other’s “belief in the promise of America”.

While many on social media celebrated the skit and shared supportive messages about the positive image of the candidate, pro-Palestinian supporters felt differently. 

Read more: Kamala Harris's Saturday Night Live appearance draws criticism on eve of US election

Al Jazeera Arabic has reported that 20 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a house in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza.

When Arab Americans for Trump sent out a notice on Friday about the location of the movement's watch party on election night in Dearborn, Michigan, which is known as the Arab capital of America, it was slated for the popular Yemeni-American coffee house, Haraz - a place that is also steps away from the Arab-American National Museum. 

Less than 24 hours later, AAFT, as the group refers to itself, changed the location of the Tuesday night event. 

Hamzah Nasser, who owns Haraz, told Middle East Eye that he had been planning to install big screens on election night, in a bid to bring people in his community together. 

So when the Trump campaign reached out, Nasser agreed to host. 

But when the request came to put up Trump flags and banners outside his business, he decided to withdraw his participation, despite being a Trump voter himself. 

Read more: Why are Arab Americans choosing Trump?

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned Israel's decision to cut ties with the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), which provides essential support to Palestinian refugees.

“Let me be clear: There is simply no alternative to Unrwa,” Tedros stated, saying that the ban “will not make Israel safer” but instead risks worsening suffering in Gaza and increasing the threat of disease outbreaks.

Tedros' remarks follow Israel’s formal notice to the UN on its decision to ban the UN agency, a move recently backed by Israeli lawmakers.

Carrefour announced on Facebook that it will shut down all of its branches in Jordan starting Monday. This move aligns with heightened calls from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which had urged boycotts against Carrefour due to the ongoing Gaza war and accusations of support for Israel.

In a statement, Carrefour Jordan confirmed, “As of November 4, 2024, Carrefour will cease all its operations in Jordan and will not continue to operate within the kingdom. We thank our customers for their support and apologise for any inconvenience this decision may cause.”

The Jordanian branch of the boycott movement declared Carrefour’s decision a “victory for the Jordanian people” in a celebratory Instagram post.

"This war has to end," US President Joe Biden declared in 2021, when he suspended US offensive military support for Saudi Arabia's war against the Houthis in Yemen. 

The war in Yemen subsided when Saudi Arabia’s Yemeni allies agreed to a UN-brokered truce with the Houthis in April 2022. No sooner were Houthi officials visiting Riyadh to talk about a permanent settlement to the war when they started attacking international shipping vessels in the Red Sea. Those attacks, in response to Israel’s war on Gaza, sparked an even thornier Yemeni conflict, drawing the US more deeply into the fractured country than ever before.

In October 2024, US B-2 bombers pummelled weapons storage facilities in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis. The strikes underscored the US’s deepening involvement in Yemen since the Houthis began attacking Israel and vessels in the Red Sea after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. 

Sanam Vakil, director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme, told Middle East Eye that the Biden administration was stuck trying to thread the needle between two opposing goals.

“Ending the war in Yemen and protecting freedom of navigation is somewhat contradictory because truly ending the war will further institutionalise the Houthis,” Vakil said.

Read more: Can the next US president roll back the Houthis' power in the Red Sea?

According to Haaretz, citing Israeli officials, US President Joe Biden plans to take measures during the final months of his term, aimed at ending Israel's war on Gaza.

These actions may include steps Biden has previously avoided, such as reducing US protection for Israel in international forums and slowing the delivery of certain weapons.

The report also quoted western diplomats, who expressed growing concerns that Israel may be conducting a large-scale ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from northern Gaza.

The Israeli Channel 12 reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed offering Hamas “several million dollars” for each captive released, said the Times of Israel.

The proposal also includes "safe passage" out of Gaza for captors and their families willing to free hostages. 

According to the report, Netanyahu issued these instructions during a security meeting tonight, although his previous public appeal last month did not gain momentum.

Israeli Army Radio announced the start of building reinforced concrete military installations along the Egyptian-Gaza border.

According to the report, these sites will be equipped with electricity and internet access.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) is working with Lebanon’s Ministry of Education to help 387,000 children gradually resume their education, starting on Monday.

“This initiative is part of an emergency plan to reopen 326 public schools that are not being used as shelters for displaced families, ensuring that school-age children, including those affected by displacement, have access to learning,” Unicef said on Monday.

The school year, originally set to begin in early October, was delayed due to continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

“Resuming education in public schools poses major challenges, as approximately 60 percent of shelters for displaced families are located in schools, and many teachers and students have been forced to relocate far from their usual schools,” the organisation added.

The United States said on Monday that it is "deeply concerned" about escalating violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, following reports of settlers setting fire to homes, cars and olive trees near Ramallah.

Miller added that the US has conveyed these concerns to the Israeli government, stressing the need for authorities to take all necessary steps to de-escalate the situation and ensure accountability for all involved.

Northern Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital has issued a final plea for help after Israeli forces launched a fresh attack on it on Sunday, targeting its paediatric ward with artillery fire and seriously wounding a child who was recovering from surgery.

Gaza's health ministry said the call for help could be the hospital's "last distress call", adding that “it seems that a decision has been made to execute all staff who refused to evacuate the hospital".

In a video message, the hospital's director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, reported that the strikes “reached every corner of the hospital”, hitting its water supplies, courtyard and the electricity network.

The Israeli attacks wounded six people, including a 13-year-old girl who had just undergone an operation, he said.

“She was hit by shrapnel, she was already injured and receiving treatment for her first injury,” Safiya said. “She was struck again in this attack, sustaining a serious abdominal injury.”

Read more: Gaza hospital issues 'last distress call' as fresh Israeli attack wounds patients

Lebanon’s health ministry reports that over 3,000 people have died in 13 months of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, with at least 13,492 injured.

In Israel, Hezbollah attacks have killed 72 people, including 30 soldiers, officials have reported.