Working women spend $15.4 billion more than men in out-of-pocket health costs, study finds

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • October 2023 Hezbollah strike
      • One civilian is killed and three others are injured in a cross-border attack by Hezbollah in Shtula, Israel. Israel retaliates with airstrikes on Hezbollah positions. (Reuters)
    • October 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
      • An estimated one million Gazans have been displaced, according to the United Nations Palestinian agency, as aid groups said the situation in the besieged enclave is “catastrophic”. (The Economic Times)
      • At least 50 families in the Gaza Strip have been wiped out from the civil registry after Israeli shelling and air strikes, the Palestinian health ministry says. (LBC International)
      • The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that about 70 percent of people in Gaza are deprived of health services. So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been able to deliver medical supplies for 2,000 patients in Gaza. (Reuters)
    • According to Human Rights Watch after verifying some footage, Israel has used white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon. The footage shows multiple uses of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border. (France 24)
    • Military rules of engagement have been “loosened” for Israeli soldiers who take part in the expected ground invasion of Gaza, reports The New York Times, citing senior Israeli military sources. (The Telegraph)
    • Israel conducts military operations in Ramallah in the West Bank, arresting more than 50 individuals. (Al Jazeera)
    • The Israel Defense Forces kill senior Hamas commander Billal Al Kedra. (NDTV)

Disasters and accidents

• Earthquakes in 2023
  • 2023 Herat earthquakes
    • Afghanistan’s Herat Province is struck by another magnitude 6.3 earthquake, killing four people and injuring over 150 others, several days after a series of powerful earthquakes killed over 1,000 people in the province. (ITV)

International relations

• Afghanistan–China relations
  • The Taliban government confirms that it will attend the Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing, China, next week, as the countries form closer economic ties, including the potential construction of a large copper mine in Logar Province, eastern Afghanistan. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • International reactions to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
      • Israel’s planned ground invasion of Gaza “could lead to a genocide of unprecedented proportions”, according to a joint statement by the heads of the Arab League and African Union. (Arab News)
      • Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi tells US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel’s reaction to Hamas’s attack “went beyond self-defence and amounted to collective punishment”. (Reuters)
      • Yara Hawari, a senior policy analyst at the pro-Palestine Al-Shabaka think tank accuses US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of facilitating ethnic cleansing in Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
  • Protests on the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • Thousands of people attend rallies in support of Palestine in Australia’s state capitals Adelaide and Melbourne, with the largest held in Sydney with more then 5,000 people. (ABC News Australia)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Ecuadorian general election
  • Ecuadorians vote in the second round of their presidential election, choosing between the candidates Luisa González and Daniel Noboa. (The Guardian)
• 2023 Polish parliamentary election
  • Poles go to the polls to elect members of the Senate and the Sejm. Votes are also cast in a referendum on migration, removal of the border wall between Belarus and Poland, and the retirement age. (AFP via Barron’s) (The Guardian)
• Jeff Landry is elected governor of the state of Louisiana, United States. (The New York Times)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • October 2023 Hezbollah strike
      • Shia Islamist militant group Hezbollah fires on five Israeli outposts in the Shebaa Farms with guided missiles and mortar shells. A Hezbollah member is killed during a subsequent gunbattle with Israeli troops. (Reuters) (Barron’s)
      • Two civilians are killed during shelling by Israeli soldiers in Shebaa, Lebanon. (AFP via Barron’s)
    • October 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
      • 2023 attacks on Palestinians evacuating Gaza City
        • Seventy people have been killed in attacks on convoys evacuating Gaza City, according to Hamas. (AP) (NBC News) (Al Jazeera)
      • At least 724 children are killed by Israeli shelling and airstrikes in Gaza, Defence for Children International says. (CNN)
      • At least 27 Palestinians are killed by Israeli airstrikes in Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip. (Al Jazeera)
      • All living generations of 45 families have been wiped from the Gaza civil registry, the health ministry says. (Al Mayadeen)
      • The United Nations health organization has condemned Israel’s order to evacuate 22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 inpatients in northern Gaza, saying it “could be tantamount to a death sentence” (NBC News)
      • Medical Aid for Palestinians says ambulances in Gaza are being targeted by Israeli air raids. (Al Jazeera)
      • The Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza is hit by Israeli strikes and sustained damage, says the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem that runs it. (Anglican Communion)
      • The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that more than 50,000 pregnant women and newborn babies in Gaza do not have access to essential medical care. (AFP via France 24)
      • The UN Palestine agency says that its shelters in Gaza are no longer safe and also warns that there is a shortage of water in Gaza. (The Business Standard)
    • October 2023 Jenin incursion
      • Israeli forces storm Jenin in the West Bank. (AA)
    • Palestine’s United Nations envoy says that Palestinians are in danger of mass ethnic cleansing. (Reuters)
    • Amnesty International says that they have verified images of Israeli forces near Sderot using white phosphorus-based rounds. (CBS News)
    • Al-Dura pediatric hospital is evacuated after being hit with white phosphorus munitions from Israeli airstrikes. (Egypt Today)
    • At least 15 hospitals are damaged by Israeli shelling and airstrikes, with two currently inoperable. 28 medical staff are killed and 23 ambulances are damaged or destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. (CBS News)
    • At least 2,268 Palestinians have been killed and 8,700 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. At least 1,300 Israelis have been killed and at least 3,400 others are injured. (Al Jazeera)
    • The Israel Defense Forces announce that airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed Murad Abu Murad, the head of Hamas’s air operations and Ali Qadi, a top Hamas commander, both of whom were involved in the 7 October invasion of Israel. (The Washington Post) (The Jerusalem Post)
• Islamic terrorism in Europe
  • Arras school stabbing
    • France raises its Vigipirate to the highest level and announces the deployment of 7,000 soldiers through Opération Sentinelle following a fatal stabbing incident at a school in Arras, Hauts-de-France, which President Emmanuel Macron describes as “Islamist terror”. (AFP via The Straits Times)

International relations

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • Protests on the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • More then 5,000 demonstrators march in support of Palestine to the White House in Washington, DC,. (AFP via The Business Standard)

Law and crime

• Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan formally approves the country joining the International Criminal Court. (The Independent)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum
  • A majority of voters in Australia vote to reject the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• 2023 New Zealand general election
  • Prime Minister of New Zealand Chris Hipkins concedes defeat to the New Zealand National Party which has won the most seats, although not a majority. Opposition Leader Christopher Luxon is expected to form a coalition government with ACT New Zealand. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Solar eclipse of October 14, 2023
  • An annular solar eclipse is visible in the Western Hemisphere. (AP)