Escalating Conflicts in Middle East and South America; Indigenous Activist Survives Shooting

Israeli forces continue assault on Gaza, Hezbollah retaliates against Israel, Venezuela begins exploration in disputed region, and Indigenous activist Jacob Johns survives far-right shooting.

• Israeli forces continue their assault on the Gaza Strip, with the latest attacks killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians. Among those detained and subjected to degrading treatment was Diaa Al-Kahlout, a Palestinian journalist with the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
• Prominent Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, along with his brother, his sister and her four children.
• An anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory fire from Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to reduce Lebanon’s capital Beirut to rubble if Hezbollah increases its attacks.
• In the disputed oil-rich Essequibo region, the Venezuelan government ordered its state-owned companies to start exploring oil and mineral reserves, which represents roughly two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. This comes as the United States military has launched joint flight drills with Guyana.
• Jacob Johns, a Hopi and Akimel O’odham environmental defender, survived being shot in the chest by a far-right agitator in September. Johns and other Indigenous activists were holding a vigil opposing plans to reinstall a statue honoring the 16th century Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate in Española, New Mexico, when a 23-year-old shooter wearing a red MAGA hat fired on the crowd.

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