Israel - Palestinian militants launch massive attack, 7 Oct 2023 #11

[JennieM]

Eyewitness says IDF orders men in Al-Shifa to assemble in courtyard​

Rushdi Abualouf
Reporting from Gaza

I've spoken to Khader again, a journalist inside Al-Shifa hospital.

He told me that over loudspeakers, IDF soldiers have asked all men between the ages of 16 and 40 to leave the hospital buildings, except the surgical and emergency departments, and go to the hospital courtyard.

During the past hour, he said soldiers had fired into the air to force those remaining inside to come out.

He also said they have installed a scanning and sensing device and asked the men to pass through it.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the claims.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67423274

 

[JennieM]

WHO: contact lost with health personnel at al-Shifa hospital​

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that the organisation has lost touch with health personnel at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza after Israeli forces began what they described as a “targeted operation” inside the facility.

“Reports of military incursion into al-Shifa hospital are deeply concerning,” the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on social media, Reuters reports.

“We’ve lost touch again with health personnel at the hospital. We’re extremely worried for their and their patients’ safety.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1724715333041197110

Israel-Hamas war: Israel launches strikes on Hezbollah-linked sites in Lebanon – as it happened

This blog has closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here and our latest full report here

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[JennieM]

Catching up, anyone knows what happened with the premature babies?

 

[Vern]

Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk: “The State of Israel will not stop its operations in Gaza until our troops fulfill their missions - destroying Hamas and returning our hostages home to their families.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1724743759320297557

IDF releases footage of troops bringing humanitarian aid to Shifa Hospital.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1724728335253553246

 

[JennieM]

Daniele Palumbo

Satellite image shows Israeli armour close to hospital​

A satellite image taken yesterday, 14 November at 14:53 local time (12:53 GMT), shows Israeli forces holding positions approximately 300m north and south of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
BBC Verify has analysed the image from satellite company Planet Labs. We can see what looks like to be about 20 vehicles - including tanks and bulldozers - north of the hospital near the Al-Shate’a primary school.
What appears to be small clusters, numbering about 10 more vehicles, are located in open ground 250m south.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67423274

 

[JennieM]

Al-Shifa a symbol of the war itself​

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

ReutersCopyright: Reuters
This photo was taken three days ago - tents and shelters used by displaced Palestinians in the yard of Al-Shifa hospital

This is the main hospital in Gaza city - I’ve been there many times - and it has big grounds, so people went there to seek shelter and camp out, as they saw it as a safe area. It has now become a symbol of the juxtaposition of the war - the Israeli invasion of Gaza inflicting masses of casualties and damage set against the crisis of urgent humanitarian need inside the hospital.

The Israelis have made a very big point about saying that, as well as going after the Hamas military command, they have brought in some fuel and incubators, because there has been a very concerning claim that premature babies in Al-Shifa hospital had to be taken out of their incubators.

However, the issue isn’t lack of incubators, it’s lack of fuel – Israel won’t allow fuel into the Gaza Strip because they argue that Hamas will steal it and use it. Israel says Hamas has stockpiles of its own, and that it should use that fuel for the generators supplying the hospital electrical system.

So there are a lot of strands coming together in what’s unfolding in Al-Shifa hospital this morning, but that’s not the whole war – it will continue once this particular operation is over.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67423274

 

[SouthAussie]

Catching up, anyone knows what happened with the premature babies?

This article says they have been relocated to another part of the hospital. But it doesn't explain any further.

Watch: Premature babies at Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital relocated amidst ongoing Israeli attacks

Premature babies undergoing treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza Strip were relocated to another section of the hospital.

www.irishexaminer.com

 

[JennieM]

Border official says 25,000 litres of fuel have arrived in Gaza​

Some 25,000 litres of fuel have entered Gaza this morning from the Rafah crossing in Egypt, a local border official has told the BBC.

The delivery comes after the UN and charity Médecins Sans Frontières warned that fuel stocks would run out in Gaza on Wednesday.

Israel has been blocking fuel deliveries to Gaza for weeks, arguing they could be stolen and exploited by Hamas for military purposes.

Earlier, Israel's military said some UN trucks transporting aid to Gaza would be refuelled on Wednesday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67423274

 

[JennieM]

MARCH FOR HOSTAGES​

Families and supporters of the around 240 people being held hostage by Hamas started a protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The plight of the hostages has dominated public discourse since the Oct. 7 attack, with solidarity protests held across the country. The marchers, who expect to reach Jerusalem on Saturday, say the government must do more to bring home their loved-ones.

“Where are you?” Shelly Shem Tov, whose 21-year-old son, Omer, is among the captives, called out to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We have no strength anymore. We have no strength. Bring back our children and our families home.”

Israeli military forces raid Gaza's largest hospital in operation against Hamas

The Israeli military says its forces are raiding Gaza’s largest hospital, the site of a lengthy standoff with the Hamas militant group.

apnews.com

 

[JennieM]

BATTLE IN GAZA CITY​

Independent accounts of the fighting in Gaza City have been nearly impossible to gather, as communications to the north have largely collapsed.

Inside some of the newly captured buildings, soldiers held up the Israeli flag and military flags in celebration. In a nationally televised news conference, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas had “lost control” of northern Gaza and that Israel made significant gains in Gaza City.

But asked about the time frame for the war, Gallant said: “We’re talking about long months, not a day or two.”

One Israeli commander in Gaza, identified only as Lt. Col. Gilad, said in a video that his forces found weapons and eliminated fighters in government buildings, schools and residential buildings.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces have completed the takeover of Shati refugee camp, a densely built district bordering Gaza City’s center, and are moving about freely in the city as a whole.

Israel says it has killed several thousand fighters, including important mid-level commanders, while 46 of its own soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Israeli military forces raid Gaza's largest hospital in operation against Hamas

The Israeli military says its forces are raiding Gaza’s largest hospital, the site of a lengthy standoff with the Hamas militant group.

apnews.com

 

[JennieM]

1m ago

Summary of the day so far …​

It has just gone 1.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines from the Israel–Hamas war …

• Israeli troops entered al-Shifa hospital early on Wednesday, conducting what it called a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area” of the medical complex. Youssef Abu Rish, an official from the Hamas-run health ministry inside the hospital, said he could see tanks inside the complex and “dozens of soldiers and commandos inside the emergency and reception buildings”.
• Fighting has raged around the Shifa hospital compound for many days, trapping about 1,200 patients and staff. The hospital, Gaza’s biggest, has become a strategic objective for Israel, which says there is an Hamas command centre in bunkers underneath. Hamas denies this. The Israeli military said it had provided evacuation routes for civilians and delivered medical supplies to the hospital entrance.
• The Times of Israel reported that “at least five Hamas gunmen were killed by troops during a gun battle outside the hospital”, and quoted the IDF claiming that “there has been no ‘friction’ between troops and patients and medical staff” and “there is no indication of hostages currently being held” at the location. The IDF said that it had sent “medical teams and Arabic speaking soldiers” into the hospital.
• The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that the organisation has lost touch with health personnel at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
• UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths has said “Hamas must not, should not, use a place like a hospital as a shield for their presence”, but said the agencies chief concern was “protecting the people of Gaza from what’s being visited upon them.”
• Thomas White, the director of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has said that water pumps and sewage treatment in the south of the Gaza Strip have stopped due to lack of fuel.
• Gaza’s two main telecommunications companies warned of a “complete telecom blackout in the coming hours” in the Gaza Strip. “Main data centres and switches are gradually shutting down due to fuel depletion,” the companies said in a joint statement.
• The UN’s children’s agency says its top official visited children and their families in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of the territory. “What I saw and heard was devastating. They have endured repeated bombardment, loss and displacement,” Unicef executive director Catherine Russell said in a statement. “Inside the Strip, there is nowhere safe for Gaza’s one million children to turn.”
• Cabinet minister Benny Gantz has said that Israel will track down and kill Hamas leaders wherever they are in the world, and threatened anti-Israeli forces in Lebanon, saying “what we are doing effectively in the south, can work even better in the north.”
• The family and friends of some of the 240 hostages believed to have been seized by Hamas on 7 October from inside Israel have begun the second day of their protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The trip is expected to last five days and will finish at Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The families have been critical of Netanyahu’s government for not doing enough to secure the release of the hostages.
• Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told parliament Israel was a “terror state” committing war crimes and violating international law, while repeating his assertion that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was not a terrorist organisation. He said Hamas was a political party that had been elected by Palestinians.
• Norway said 51 of its citizens have been allowed to leave Gaza on Wednesday, with the foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, saying that those remaining “are in a very demanding situation”.
• Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Micheál Martin, has expressed confidence that a significant number of Irish citizens will be able to leave Gaza on Wednesday via the Rafah crossing.

Israel-Hamas war: Israel launches strikes on Hezbollah-linked sites in Lebanon – as it happened

This blog has closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here and our latest full report here

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

14 min ago

"We have lost contact with other buildings in hospital complex," doctor inside Al-Shifa says​

From CNN's Kareem Khadder

People inside Al-Shifa hospital have lost contact with other buildings in the complex, the supervisor of the ER department Omar Zaqout told Al Jazeera in a phone interview on Wednesday.

Zaqout said people are sheltering inside the buildings and staying away from windows and doors.

“We don’t know what is going on outside, all we’re hearing are explosions, gunfire, screams of older people and cries of children,” Zaqout added.

Zaqout said that Israeli soldiers are present in buildings around the ER and that had earlier witnessed people handcuffed, stripped from their clothes and blindfolded.

CNN is not on the ground and cannot independently verify his account. CNN has also reached out to the IDF for comment on these allegations but has yet to hear back.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel was at war “with Hamas” and not “with civilians in Gaza,” and described the raid on Al-Shifa hospital as a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area [of the facility]”.

“The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians being used by Hamas as human shields,” Hagari also claimed on Wednesday.

For his part, Zaqout maintained that all the people inside the hospital are civilians.
“The situation is currently horrific,” Zaqout said.

November 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli forces raided Gaza's biggest hospital in what the military said was a "precise and targeted operation." Soldiers found "military equipment used by Hamas," the military said in a statement but offered no evidence yet of a vast tunnel network it claimed was used by Hamas.

edition.cnn.com

 

[JennieM]

1 hr 37 min ago

"Grave violations" against children occurring in Gaza, says UNICEF chief​

From CNN’s Kareem Khadder and Lucas Lilieholm

Executive Director of UNICEF Catherine Russell addresses members of the U.N. Security Council at United Nations headquarters in New York on October 30. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP

"Grave violations" against children are occurring in Gaza, the UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement Wednesday, one day after her visit to the territory.

“The parties to the conflict are committing grave violations against children; these include killing, maiming, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access – all of which UNICEF condemns,” the statement read.

Russell added that in addition to the thousands of children killed and wounded, many are missing and believed to be trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, which she called “the tragic result of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.”

She said that UNICEF staff are continuing their work on behalf of Gaza’s children despite being directly impacted by the conflict themselves.

“Many people, including our staff and their families, are now living in overcrowded shelters with very little water, food or decent sanitation – conditions which could lead to disease outbreaks.” she said.

Russell called for an immediate ceasefire to allow for more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, especially fuel – some is expected to reach Gaza on Wednesday, the first to reach the territory since Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel.

UNICEF says more than 700,000 children have been displaced since the conflict began. Of the 11,255 Palestinians killed as a result of Israeli attacks on Gaza, 4,630 were children, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

November 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli forces raided Gaza's biggest hospital in what the military said was a "precise and targeted operation." Soldiers found "military equipment used by Hamas," the military said in a statement but offered no evidence yet of a vast tunnel network it claimed was used by Hamas.

edition.cnn.com

 

[JennieM]

NEW

Israeli military says operation at Al-Shifa still ongoing​

ReutersCopyright: Reuters
An Israeli soldier pictured this morning beside boxes labelled "Medical Supplies" at the Al Shifa Hospital

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has issued an update on its movements in Gaza, saying its operation in Al-Shifa Hospital is continuing.

The IDF said its troops are continuing the "precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital, in which they are conducting searches for Hamas terror infrastructure and weapons".

A journalist inside the hospital told the BBC earlier this morning that the IDF was going room to room questioning staff and patients, accompanied by translators and medics.

The IDF also said it had delivered humanitarian aid to the entrance of the hospital. In an earlier update, the Israeli military said it was trying to bring incubators and baby food to the hospital, where dozens of babies need medical treatment.

Earlier, we heard from a charity which said the hospital already has incubators and what's really needed is the fuel to power medical equipment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67423274

 

[JennieM]

1m ago

In Ireland, Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy has said he is “ashamed” at the international community’s response to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

“I am ashamed of the international community’s response to what we have seen in Gaza and particularly ashamed by the response of the EU,” he said.

“I think EU leaders have ensured that the European Union no longer has any credibility to be a voice for peace, international law and for the basic rules of humanity for so long as they refuse to take a stand.”

PA Media reports Carthy told minister of state James Browne that the world was “turning a blind eye” and “the EU, worse still, is providing cover”.

He criticised the Irish Government’s failure to back the call for economic and diplomatic sanctions against Israel.

“Every single possible action that might help pressure Israel to stop the slaughter of innocent Palestinians is met with pathetic excuses,” he said.

“It’s not good enough, minister. It is well past time that Ireland shows leadership, not to follow the lead of a European Union that clearly isn’t willing or capable of providing the leadership that’s much needed in this instance.”

Israel-Hamas war: Israel launches strikes on Hezbollah-linked sites in Lebanon – as it happened

This blog has closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here and our latest full report here

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

1 hr 40 min ago

Jordan condemns Israel's operation in Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza​

From CNN's Kareem Khadder

The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned Israel’s raid of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, which he described as a "storming" and "a violation of international humanitarian law."

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ storming of Al-Shifa Medical Hospital in occupied Gaza as a violation of international humanitarian law, especially the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, holding Israel responsible for the safety of civilians and working medical personnel in the hospital,” the Wednesday statement read.

Jordan also continued to call for an end to Israel’s operation in Gaza.

“The continuation of the senseless attacks and the raging war against Gaza and its people, the targeting of civilian objects in the Strip, the continued systematic destruction of civilian facilities that provide basic services to Gazans, and the policy of collective punishment represent a condemned perpetuation of grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, and constitute war crimes,” the spokesman for the ministry, Ambassador Dr. Sufyan Al-Qudah said.

November 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli forces raided Gaza's biggest hospital in what the military said was a "precise and targeted operation." Soldiers found "military equipment used by Hamas," the military said in a statement but offered no evidence yet of a vast tunnel network it claimed was used by Hamas.

edition.cnn.com

 

[JennieM]

2m ago

Egypt’s state-run al-Qahera television station reported Wednesday that the first fuel truck to enter the Gaza Strip since the war started on 7 October has crossed the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing, the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

The truck reportedly headed to Kerem Shalom crossing for screening, AP reports. Israel barred fuel shipments after Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October, saying the militant group would divert the supplies for military use.

An Egyptian truck to deliver fuel to the Gaza Strip waits at Rafah border crossing earlier today.Photograph: EPA

Israel-Hamas war: Israel launches strikes on Hezbollah-linked sites in Lebanon – as it happened

This blog has closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here and our latest full report here

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

• Only one of the hospitals in Gaza city and northern Gaza (hereafter: the north) is reportedly still operational at a minimum level for those inside the hospital, as of 14 November; all others have ceased operations due to the lack of power, medical consumables, oxygen, food and water, compounded by bombardments and fighting in their vicinities. Al Ahli Hospital, in Gaza city, currently accommodates over 500 patients and is reportedly the sole medical facility able to admit patients in the north. However, it too faces increasing shortages and challenges.

• Forty patients died in Shifa hospital on 14 November, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza. The hospital reported preparations for a mass grave inside the compound to burry 180 bodies of patients, which cannot be evacuated due to the intense fighting.

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 14 November, more than half of the hospitals in Gaza (22 out of 36) were non-functional due to lack of fuel, damage, attacks and insecurity.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - occupied Palestinian territory | Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #39

Only one of the hospitals in Gaza city and northern Gaza (hereafter: the north) is reportedly still operational at a minimum level for those inside the hospital, as of 14 November; all others have ceased operations due to the lack of power, medical consumables, oxygen, food and water, compounded...

www.ochaopt.org

 

[JennieM]

32s ago

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has addressed Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau on social media, saying that Israel would support Trudeau’s nation if it was under attack, and Israel expects the same in return.

Trudeau said on Tuesday that the “killing of women, of children, of babies” in Gaza must end.

Israel-Hamas war: Israel launches strikes on Hezbollah-linked sites in Lebanon – as it happened

This blog has closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here and our latest full report here

www.theguardian.com

 

[sds71]

BBC News - an apology

https://twitter.com/x/status/1724739809724227692