Scott touts ‘deal guy’ background in bid for Senate majority leader
Florida Sen. Rick Scott touted his experience in business when asked why his Republican colleagues should back him for Senate Majority Leader. “I built businesses all my life,” Scott said during an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. “I built the largest hospital company, I built a variety of manufacturing companies, I ran the state of Florida.” The comments come as Scott finds himself in a three-way race to become the GOP Senate leader, battling fellow Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota for the job held by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., since 2007. Scott, whose bid for the position is seen as a long shot by some observers, has earned the endorsement of Republican Sens. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida. “I will be voting for my Florida colleague @ScottforFlorida to be our next Senate GOP leader,” Rubio said on X on Sunday. SEN. JOSH HAWLEY ‘DELIGHTED’ TO BACK SEN. JOHN CORNYN FOR SENATE MAJORITY LEADER But the Florida Republican is also seen by some as the friendliest candidate to President-elect Trump, something Hagerty noted when making his endorsement of Scott. “Any leader of this new majority must be able to work hand-in-hand with President Trump to advance his America First agenda,” Hagerty posted to X on Sunday. “That’s why I want to see a Senate Majority Leader who can join me in embracing the Trump agenda, which will unify Senate Republicans. On Wednesday, I will be voting for Rick Scott.” Scott himself hinted at the alignment with Trump during his appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures,” arguing that the Republican Senate should reflect the will of the voters. “Washington ought to represent the Republican voters around the country,” Scott said. “We have a mandate for change … who is going to represent all the Republican voters? I ran two years ago because I knew we needed to make a change in the Senate.” he continued, referring to his failed 2022 attempt to oust McConnell for the Senate GOP’s top job “I’ve talked to my colleagues, I think everybody realizes we need to make a change. So the question is going to be: Who is going to make sure we get those things done?” CORNYN TOUTS LIFETIME FUNDRAISING PROWESS FOR GOP IN FINAL CASE TO SUCCEED MCCONNELL Scott has expressed hope that Trump will publicly endorse his bid for the top job, though some reports have indicated the president-elect has been hesitant to weigh in on the race. Thune, meanwhile, has encouraged Trump to stay out of the race. “Obviously, if he wants to, he could exert a considerable amount of influence on that, but honestly, I think my preference would be, and I think it’s probably in his best interest, to stay out of that,” Thune, who has at times had a rocky relationship with Trump, said during an appearance on CNBC last week. “These Senate secret ballot elections are probably best left to senators, and he’s got to work with all of us when it’s all said and done,” Thune, who currently serves as Senate minority whip, added, “but whatever he decides to do, that’s going to be his prerogative, as we know.” RICK SCOTT SEES RED WAVE AS ‘BEST CASE SCENARIO’ FOR SENATE LEADER BID AS HE LOBBIES TRUMP FOR SUPPORT Cornyn, who also previously served as the Senate’s GOP Whip, has touted he held the role when Trump’s tax cuts were passed through the Senate, arguing he would once again be able to work with the president-elect to help pass his agenda. Republicans return to Washington this week, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is expected to host a forum with the candidates on Tuesday. The election, which is done by secret ballot, will take place on Wednesday with incoming GOP Sens.-elect Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Tim Sheehy of Montana and Jim Justice of West Virginia also being able to participate in the vote. Only a simple majority is required for a winner to be chosen. If no candidate achieves a simple majority in the first round of ballots, the candidate with the least number of votes will be eliminated and there will be another round of voting between the top two candidates. Scott argued that a vote for him on Wednesday would be a vote for a candidate who could “bring people together.” “What it’s going to take is somebody is going to take the time to sit down and bring people together. We’ve got to get, for a lot of things, 60 votes in the Senate, so we’ve got to have somebody that’s going to sit down with Democrats and say, ‘How do we balance a budget? How do we do these things?’” Scott said. “That’s all I’ve done. I’m a deal guy. That’s what I did all my life.”
Byron Donalds unleashes on Dem Trump ‘lies,’ says there’s one metric he will use to lead
Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donald slammed Democrats for promoting and spreading “lies” about what President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration will look like, saying that Trump is focused on creating “success” for all Americans. “For the American people who have been listening to these lies from the Democratic left: I will tell you, this is not something that Donald Trump has ever spoken to or he’s committed to whatsoever. There’s no enemies list. I mean, yeah, there are people who’ve been opposed to him, but he is focused on the American people,” Donalds told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” when asked about Americans who report being fearful of a second Trump administration. “Job number one is securing our border and beginning the process of deporting illegal immigrants out of our country. Job number two is getting our economy thriving again, becoming energy dominant again. That’s his focus. His focus is the American people, not some enemies list that only gets talked about in the Daily Kos or Salon.com or any other place like that,” he said. MSNBC’S AL SHARPTON, DONNY DEUTSCH ‘CONVINCED’ THEY’LL BE PUT ON ENEMY ‘LIST’ IF TRUMP ELECTED Trump locked down the presidential election in the early morning hours last Wednesday, after he won battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia. He ultimately secured 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’ 226, and also won the popular vote. Amid his campaign and afterward, Democrats and left-wing media pundits claimed that Trump would re-enter the Oval Office armed with an “enemies list” of those he would allegedly target once inaugurated as president. Donalds said that American success is Trump’s top concern, arguing that that metric will be used to demonstrate that Trump is “back in charge of running this nation.” “He’s focused on making our country great. And what will happen in our country is, success is going to be the measurements that he will use to demonstrate he’s back in the White House and back in charge of running this nation. The metric is success. There is no other measure,” he continued. CNN HOST CLASHES WITH GOP LAWMAKER OVER TRUMP SAYING HE’LL PROTECT WOMEN WHETHER THEY ‘LIKE IT OR NOT’ Donalds continued in his interview Sunday morning on Fox News that Trump’s victory had been aided by Black and Hispanic voters. Trump made substantial in-roads with minority communities this year over 2020, with a Fox News Voter Analysis finding he earned a six-point gain among Hispanic voters this year over 2020, and a seven-point gain among Black voters. REP. BYRON DONALDS UNLEASHES ON CNBC HOST AFTER HE SAYS ‘VITRIOL’ NOT A FEATURE AT HARRIS RALLIES “What you heard from Black men, and you heard also from Hispanic men, you heard also from, in part, suburban women: They want a country that is safe. They want an economy that is thriving. And Donald Trump is going to deliver on all of those promises,” he said. “I heard the same thing talking to Black men that I heard talking to anybody across our country. How are we going to get ahead and make more money, be able to pass something on to our children? How are we going to secure this southern border? It’s not fair that you have illegals coming in, getting gas cards, getting hotel stays and all the like. That’s not right. And actually, you’ll notice that the city of New York is now announcing not giving out any more food cards, these food cards. That’s because of Donald Trump and the fact that he won,” Donalds said.
Letitia James vows to continue targeting Trump after years in the courtroom: ‘Trump derangement syndrome’
New York Attorney General Letitia James has a long history of slamming President-elect Donald Trump, vowing in her first campaign to “take on Donald Trump” if elected, only to double down on the rhetoric after his massive election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week. “She’s got serious Trump derangement syndrome,” Trump said at the start of the year as he faced a civil fraud trial brought by the New York attorney general. He has repeatedly accused James of suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome” throughout a bevy of New York court cases brought against him by James and other Democrats in New York. A staunch supporter of the president-elect who has been floated as a potential AG contender has already put James on notice to end her “lawfare” against the 45th and upcoming 47th president in a fiery interview after Trump’s win. “Let me just say this to Big Tish James, the New York Attorney General. . . . I dare you to continue your lawfare against President Trump in his second term,” Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, said on the “The Benny Show” podcast last week. “Because listen here, sweetheart, we’re not messing around this time. And we will put your fat a– in prison for conspiracy against rights, and I promise you that.” NEW YORK APPEALS COURT APPEARS RECEPTIVE TO REVERSING OR REDUCING $454M TRUMP CIVIL FRAUD JUDGMENT Fox News Digital pored through James’ history as New York attorney general candidate, compiling the highlights of her legal battles against Trump over the last nearly seven years. James, a former city council member in New York and public defender, launched her run for New York AG during the 2018 cycle, while emphasizing that if she were elected, she would aggressively pursue charges against Trump. “I’m running for attorney general because I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president when our fundamental rights are at stake. From the Muslim ban, to efforts to deport immigrants, to denying transgender students the ability to choose whatever bathroom they want, rolling back regulations to protect our planet, colluding with foreign powers, putting profits over people, dividing us in ways we haven’t seen in generations,” James declared in September of 2018. “And what is fueling this campaign, what is fueling my soul right now, is Trump and his abuses, abuses against immigrants, against women, against our environment. We need an attorney general who will stand up to Donald Trump,” she said during a debate in August of that same year. James won her election that year, about two years into Trump’s first administration, and took a victory lap while vowing to expose the “con man.” “New Yorkers, we can spot a con man. We can spot a carnival barker, a fearmonger a mile away and he should know that we here in New York, and I in particular, we are not scared of you,” she said. “As the new attorney general of his home state, I will be shining a light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings and every dealing, demanding truthfulness at every turn. I will hold him accountable using the unbending power of the law.” TRUMP’S $454M JUDGMENT BOND SLASHED BY MORE THAN HALF IN APPEALS COURT RULING Trump and his team immediately slammed James’ apparent fixation on pursuing him, with Trump saying on X at the time that a candidate who “openly campaigned on a GET TRUMP agenda” was elected New York’s top cop and that he would “never be treated fairly by these people – a total double standard of justice.” About three months into taking office, James announced an investigation into the Trump Organization, claiming there was evidence indicating that the president and his company had falsely valued assets to obtain loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions. The investigation was launched after Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who had previously served federal prison time for violating campaign finance laws, testified before Congress that Trump Org. had exaggerated the value of his assets. James officially sued Trump, Trump Organization and its senior leadership for allegedly falsely inflating “his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things.” “For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them. Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct,” James said in a press release. “With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system. In fact, the very foundation of his purported net worth is rooted in incredible fraud and illegality. Mr. Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal, but today, that ends.” Trump charged that James had launched a “witch hunt” against him after her explicitly campaigning on a platform to prosecute the president. TRUMP VOWS TO FIGHT NEW YORK AG CASE ‘ALL THE WAY UP TO THE US SUPREME COURT,’ AS DEADLINE TO POST $454M LOOMS “Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General, Letitia James, who failed in her run for Governor, getting almost zero support from the public, and now is doing poorly against Law & Order AG candidate, highly respected Michael Henry,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following the lawsuit. “I never thought this case would be brought – until I saw her really bad poll numbers. She is a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!” he added. Trump and his family denied any wrongdoing, with the former president saying his assets
Sanders doubles down on his criticism of Democrats, fires back at Pelosi’s pushback
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who won a fourth six-year term last week, doubled down on his claim that the Democratic Party’ lacks appeal to the working class, and responded to pushback from Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. In appearances on CNN’s “State of the Union” and NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sanders was pressed about his statement, released after President-elect Trump decisively defeated Vice President Harris in the 2024 presidential election. “Look, the working people of this country are extremely angry,” Sanders told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “They have a right to be angry in the richest country in the history of the world. Today, the people on top are doing phenomenally well, while 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Millions of families worry that their kids have actually got to have a lower standard of living than they do.” “You got the top 1% owning more wealth than the bottom 90%. We’re the only major country not to guarantee health care to all of our people. Twenty-five percent of our seniors are trying to live on $50,000 a year or less. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. And the gap between the people at the top and everybody else is getting wider and wider. And then, of course, that on top of all of that, we’ve got a corrupt campaign finance system which allows billionaires to buy elections. So if you’re an average worker out there, you’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m working longer and longer hours, go nowhere in a hurry, worried about my kids.’ And yet the people on top, ‘I’ve never had it so good.’” BERNIE SANDERS EXCORIATES DEMOCRATIC PARTY, CALLS CAMPAIGN ‘DISASTROUS’ AFTER TRUMP VICTORY The left-wing lawmaker, who is listed as a member of the Senate Democratic caucus, said Wednesday, “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.” Pelosi shot back against the criticism of her party on Saturday, telling The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast that while she has “a great deal of respect” for Sanders, “I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class families.” “Under President Biden, you see the rescue package, money in the pockets of people, the shots in the arm, children in school safely, working people back to work,” Pelosi said. “What did Trump do when he was president? One bill that gave a tax cut to the richest people in America.” NANCY PELOSI FIRES BACK AT BERNIE SANDERS FOR COMMENTS ON DEMS’ SWEEPING ELECTION LOSS: NO ‘RESPECT’ Welker played the podcast clip on NBC and asked Sanders to respond. “Nancy is a friend of mine,” Sanders said. “But here is the reality. In the Senate in the last two years, we have not even brought forth legislation to raise the minimum wage to a living wage despite the fact that some 20 million people in this country are working for less than $15 an hour.” The progressive senator listed his grievances with the Democratically controlled Senate, saying that in the past two years the chamber failed to pass legislation to make it easier for workers to join unions. He also claimed that the Senate has not been talking about benefit pension plans “so that our elderly can retire with security,” and that Democrats are “not talking about lifting the cap on Social Security so that we can extend the solvency of Social Security and raise benefits.” “Bottom line, if you’re a working person out there, do you really think that the Democratic Party is going to the max, taking on powerful special interests and fighting for you? I think the overwhelming answer is no,” Sanders said. Arguing that Biden had followed through on his promise to be the most progressive president in terms of domestic policy, Sanders lodged a dig at Trump regarding the Republican’s success in reaching working-class voters.
Los Angeles officials vow to fast-track ‘sanctuary city’ law after Trump victory
Members of the Los Angeles City Council say they are working to expedite a law declaring Los Angeles a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants following President-elect Trump’s victory last week. The law would ban federal immigration officials from accessing city databases and ban city resources from being used for immigration enforcement. The ordnance was originally passed last year, but it has faced a lengthy legal review and has yet to take effect. City Council member Hugo Soto-Martínez, who supports expediting the process, also called on President Biden to renew a program that allows illegal immigrants from Central America to stay in Los Angeles, according to the LA Times. “More than anything, people are angry,” Soto-Martínez told the Times. “They’re agitated and they’re ready to fight back, just like we did in 2016.” PROPOSITION 36 OVERWHELMINGLY PASSES IN CALIFORNIA, REVERSING SOME SOROS-BACKED SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. California officials appear to be preparing to push back on the upcoming Trump administration from top to bottom. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he is calling an emergency special session to bolster the state’s legal response to any future attacks from the Trump administration. The special session will focus on safeguarding “civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and immigrant families,” Newsom’s office said in a press release. “California is ready to fight,” Newsom said on X. “Whether it be our fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, or climate action – we refuse to turn back the clock and allow our values and laws to be attacked.” NATHAN HOCHMAN OUSTS EMBATTLED LIBERAL PROSECUTOR GEORGE GASCON AS LA COUNTY DA AMID CRIME CONCERNS His action comes just a day after Newsom said he “will seek to work with the incoming president.” The special session will convene on Monday, Dec. 2. Newsom is urging his state legislature to earmark more funds for the California Department of Justice and other state agencies with additional resources to mount legal challenges. “The funding will support the ability to immediately file litigation and seek injunctive relief against unlawful federal actions,” Newsom’s office said. During Trump’s first term, Newsom launched lawsuits against the federal government more than 100 times. Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
Baba Siddique murder: Main shooter, two other accused arrested in UP
They are being brought to Mumbai, said Mumbai Police.
Delhi Pollution: Air quality remains in ‘very poor’ zone, AQI reaches over 330
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) at 4 pm stood at 335 (‘very poor’). The city recorded an AQI of 334 at 9 am.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna to be sworn in as 51st Chief Justice of India tomorrow
The outgoing CJI Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud will retire on Sunday, making way for Justice Khanna, who is set to serve a six-month tenure as the Chief Justice.
More than 40% of Californians voted for Trump, state ‘not as liberal as Newsom’ thinks, says expert
More than 40% of Californians voted for President-elect Trump this year, making it the most votes for a GOP presidential candidate in the blue state since George W. Bush re-election in 2004. Experts say Californians aren’t as far left “as Newsom thinks,” citing several state ballot measures that swung conservative, followed by the ousting of progressive Soros-backed Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. Though Trump lost California to Vice President Kamala Harris, his electoral showing in the Golden State increased significantly; he got 31% of the vote in 2016 and 34% in 2020. Even with something of a conservative exodus driving many residents to red states like Florida and Texas, Trump increased his percentage of the state vote by six points. In absolute terms, Trump’s vote numbers from California come in third behind his showings in Texas and Florida. “Trump built a cross party, multi party coalition,” Susan Shelley, VP of communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “He’s built a movement that crosses party lines, and it’s reaching people who have not benefited from the policies that have been put forward.” PROPOSITION 36 OVERWHELMINGLY PASSES IN CALIFORNIA, REVERSING SOME SOROS-BACKED SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES Regarding California’s clean-energy mandates, Shelley said, “People have paid dearly for this, and that’s what crosses party lines.” “Everybody’s electricity bill is higher because of the climate policies,” Shelley said. “And Trump is promising to do more domestic energy production to bring down the cost of energy, and he has a track record now of having done this as president for four years.” “The legislature is much, much more liberal, much more much further to the left than the voters are. And you can see that in the results in the propositions,” Shelley, who is also a columnist, said. Proposition 36, which would reverse some soft-on-crime policies authored by L.A. DA George Gascon and re-establish felony offenses for certain drug and theft crimes, was overwhelmingly passed by California voters. Another tax-related measure, Proposition 5, also failed. Critics of the measure said it would likely have led to higher property taxes, because it would have lowered the threshold to local bond issues, which are backed by tax dollars. Gascon, L.A. County’s district attorney since 2020, was also voted out. Independent candidate Nathan Hochman, a former assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush, will replace him. “I think he knows that California is shifting and needs help,” Shelley said. “And he has spoken many times about California’s election process, mailing out 22 million ballots. He has concerns about that. He’s spoken about voter ID laws. Whether he’ll do anything about that as President, I don’t know, but he certainly has indicated that he knows Californians are not as liberal as Gavin Newsom presents them to be.” DONALD TRUMP WINS 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION California was also ground zero for several culture wars in children’s education and transgender issues, such as sex change surgeries for incarcerated people on the taxpayer dollar. Lance Christensen, a California Policy Center political expert, told Fox News Digital these issues also played a role in earning Trump more votes in the Golden State. “I think people got tired of the rope-a-dope stuff that Governor Newsom was doing over the last several years,” Christensen said. “And they saw him doing that because of an enabling power from the Biden-Harris administration. And when they realized that the insane progressive policies that were happening in California were being amplified in D.C., I don’t think they felt like there was a good backstop.” BLUE STATE GOVERNOR SUMMONS LEGISLATURE IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP WIN: ‘READY TO FIGHT’ In July, Newsom signed a new law banning school districts from notifying parents if their child uses different pronouns or identifies as a gender that is different from what’s on their school record. The law created significant pushback from California parents who spent months protesting the new law at local school district meetings, and one school district went so far as to sue Newsom over the law. “A lot of the social and cultural issues, the ethnic studies, the gender stuff, the hyper-sexuality that was happening in a lot of our schools, and they just didn’t want that nationwide, especially with issues like Title Nine, where more and more women feel disenfranchised by the Biden administration,” Christensen said. “I think that you’re seeing a shift in the partisan landscape of California, and it won’t be dramatic, and it won’t necessarily be consistent across the board, but I think there’s a march towards some sort of sanity when it comes to politics that won’t necessarily be a red-blue divide,” he said. On Thursday, Newsom called a special emergency session for December with the state’s legislature in response to Trump’s victory and bolster the blue state’s legal response to any future attacks. “California is ready to fight,” Newsom said on X. “Whether it be our fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, or climate action – we refuse to turn back the clock and allow our values and laws to be attacked.” His action comes just a day after Newsom said he “will seek to work with the incoming president.”
Israel bombs northern Gaza house killing 13 children amid ongoing siege
An Israeli strike on a house in the Jabalia refugee camp sheltering displaced Palestinians has killed at least 32 people, including 13 children, as rights groups warn of an “extremely grave situation” in northern Gaza amid weeks of ongoing military siege. “We now have a confirmed report that everybody in that house was killed. The last few remains were removed from under the rubble in the past couple of hours,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said, adding that the strike took place at 6am. Mahmoud said the attack took place “all of a sudden and without any prior warning”. According to a witness, the house was full of women and children who had been displaced from different parts of northern Gaza and had ended up in this particular building. “This is not about disarming certain groups but it’s about a systematic destruction of an entire area and turning it into more of a wasteland,” the Al Jazeera correspondent said, referring to the widespread destruction of northern Gaza due to nonstop Israeli bombardment and a military siege imposed on October 6. In a separate attack in Gaza City, an Israeli air strike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood killed Wael al-Khour, an official at the Welfare Ministry, and seven other members of his family, including his wife and children, medics and relatives said. The Ministry of Health in Gaza said more than 50 people were killed in total and 164 injured in three attacks across Gaza on Sunday. Israel has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since it launched its devastating war on Gaza in the wake of an October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed more than 1,100 people and about 250 others were taken captive. The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday women and children comprise nearly 70 percent of the thousands of Palestinian deaths it had managed to verify. Military siege for weeks For the past 36 days, Israeli forces have laid siege in areas in northern Gaza, including Jabalia and Beit Lahiya, choking the entry of already scarce humanitarian supplies. Mahmoud Alsaqqa, OXFAM’s food security and livelihood lead in Gaza, said the “extremely grave situation” in the Strip is deteriorating further. This comes following a warning by the Committee of Global Experts that famine is imminent in northern Gaza and action is needed within days to avert a catastrophe. “Those residing in northern Gaza are left without any essentials for survival,” Alsaqqa told Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah, as no aid or food supplies have entered the north for more than a month except for a small amount of medical supplies. “The average number of trucks coming in now is below 50. We used to have 500 trucks per day [before October 7, 2023], so you can imagine the huge needs people have compared to what’s coming in,” he said. Along with stepping up the bombardment, the Israeli army has issued new waves of forced displacement orders for residents in the north, driving people to be displaced internally from the north. Still, many have refused to leave despite the catastrophic humanitarian conditions and the near-daily shelling. Many of them told Al Jazeera that they fear leaving the area because of the risk of being attacked by Israeli soldiers. The Israeli daily Haaretz accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military of “conducting an ethnic cleansing operation in the northern Gaza Strip”. “The few Palestinians remaining in the area are being forcibly evacuated, homes and infrastructure have been destroyed, and wide roads in the area are being built and completing the separation of the communities in the northern Strip from the center of Gaza City,” it wrote in an editorial. As of November 4, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that about 100,000 people had been displaced over four weeks from the North Gaza governorate to Gaza City. Up to 95,000 people remained in North Gaza, OCHA said. The Israeli army says it wants to prevent the regrouping of Hamas fighters there. Yet, the depopulation of the northern part of the enclave and the widespread destruction have stoked fears of war crimes. On Thursday, the Israeli military sought to distance itself from comments made last week by an Israeli commander, who said Israel was closer to “the complete evacuation” of the north and that residents from there would not be allowed back once the fighting was over. Adblock test (Why?)