Portal:Current events/2023 November 2

November 2, 2023 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Arab–Israeli conflict
- Israel–Hamas war
  - 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    - Siege of Gaza City
      - Israeli troops and tanks continue to encircle Gaza City, with heavy clashes reported on the city's outskirts. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad say that they are using "hit-and-run attacks" from tunnels to attempt to stop the advance. (Reuters)
  - Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)
    - Hezbollah launches a drone attack on an IDF barracks in Shebaa Farms. (Reuters)
    - Four people are killed in Wadi Saluki, Lebanon, during a shelling by Israeli soldiers. Hamas also launches 12 rockets from southern Lebanon towards Kiryat Shmona, wounding two people. (The National)
  - Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
    - The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, Gaza's only medical facility serving cancer patients, is forced to suspend operations after running out of fuel. Sixteen of the Gaza Strip's 35 hospitals and more than 50 of its 72 primary healthcare clinics are now unusable. (Al Jazeera)
  - Jabalia refugee camp airstrikes
    - 31 October 2023 Jabalia refugee camp airstrike
      - The United Nations Human Rights Office says that Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp may be "disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes". (Al Jazeera)
      - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says that attacks on the refugee camp are "horrific and appalling". (Al Jazeera)
      - The number of victims of the Israeli bombings of the refugee camp exceeds 1,000 with 195 confirmed killed, 120 still missing, and at least 777 injured. (Al Jazeera)
  - UNICEF estimates that more than 3,500 children have been killed during the war, saying that "children have endured too much already, the killing and captivity of children must stop". (The Courier)
  - Israel strikes a UNRWA schoolyard in the Al-Shati refugee camp where thousands of displaced people are taking shelter. The strikes come after five Palestinians were killed in an earlier raid targeting areas near the school. (Al Jazeera)
  - Eleven bakeries in Gaza have been destroyed in airstrikes during the war, according to the UN relief agency. (Al Jazeera)
  - At least 9,061 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, including at least 3,760 children. (The Business Standard)
  - Two Palestinians are killed and six others are injured in Israeli raids in Qalqilya and Ramallah in the West Bank. (Al Jazeera)
  - Three Palestinians from Birzeit University, including the head of the student organisation, are arrested in raids in Ramallah. (BNN)
  - At least 60 people are detained overnight across the West Bank. The total number of Palestinians detained since the war started now exceeds 1,800 with about half of them being held in administrative detention. (Al Jazeera)
Myanmar civil war
- China calls for an "immediate ceasefire" in Myanmar after rebels capture several towns near the Chinese border. (Bloomberg)

Business and economy

Israel–Hamas war
- The Israeli Ministry of Labor reports that the country's agricultural sector is suffering "significant damage" due to an exodus of thousands of foreign workers. More than a quarter of the nearly 30,000 foreign workers have left the country and about 20,000 Palestinian agricultural workers have not been allowed to enter Israel. (Al Jazeera)
American amusement park company Six Flags announces an $8 million deal to merge with Cedar Fair. (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

2023–24 European windstorm season
- Storm Ciarán
  - Storm Ciarán impacts northwestern Europe, killing six people, including two in Belgium, two in France, and one each in Spain and the Netherlands, and causing mass disruption to transport. Widespread damage from 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) winds are reported in the Channel Islands, while 1.2 million French households are left without electricity. (The Independent) (Reuters)
  - Six people are killed during heavy rains in the region of Tuscany, Italy, with rivers flooding and causing damage. Several roads and highways are closed amid landslides, and dozens of buildings are damaged. Severe damage also occurred in Campobasso, Molise, evacuations are being made in Veneto with highways being closed, and emergency calls occurred in Rome. In Sardinia, strong winds fueled fires that burned hectares of vegetation, while a man is killed in Capoterra, and in Tortolì an entire sawmill burned down. (Rai News)

Health and environment

Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad announces plans to sterilize 20 of 166 hippopotamuses, descendants of those imported by drug lord Pablo Escobar, and cull some others, citing environmental concerns. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)

International relations

Italy–Ukraine relations
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni states that European leaders are tired of the war in Ukraine and want to broker a deal with the Kremlin, saying that "we need a way out" during a phone call in which she thought she was talking with a senior African Union official, but was actually speaking to Russian comedians Vovan and Lexus. (The Telegraph)
Russia and weapons of mass destruction
- Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a law formally withdrawing Russia's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. However, Russia maintains that it will not resume nuclear weapons testing unless the United States also resumes testing. (Reuters)
International reactions to the Israel–Hamas war
- Bahrain recalls its ambassador to Israel in response to Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Israel–Hamas war protests, Human rights in the United States
- The American Civil Liberties Union urges higher education institutions to respect free speech and to resist calls to investigate or disband student organisations rallying on behalf of Palestinian rights, warning against politically motivated efforts to police speech on campus, which they say could "destroy the foundation on which academic communities are built". (Al Jazeera)
United States v. Bankman-Fried
- The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York convicts Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)

Science and technology

A study published in the journal Nature reports that reanalysis of skeletal remains from Spain suggests that large-scale warfare occurred in Europe about 5,000 years ago during the Neolithic period. (The Guardian) (Nature)