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The future of the Hamas hostages is still uncertain. Israel bombs Hezbollah positions in Lebanon and the WHO rescues premature babies from Al-Shifa hospital. The news about the Israeli War.
- Paper in six pages: Newspaper gives details of possible hostage deal
- “Yet no agreement“: Netanyahu denies hostage release deal
- The information processed here about the war in Israel comes from local and international media, as well as news agencies. Much information about the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip cannot be independently verified. We remain transparent in these cases as well.
Update November 20, 12:02 p.m.: 31 premature babies were evacuated yesterday from the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. In this Washington Post report, the WHO describes the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital.
Update November 20, 11:06 am: Since the start of the war, there have been repeated bombings on the border between Israel and Lebanon – and this is the case again now. The Israeli army said it had attacked several targets in the neighboring country. The military said today that several projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel.
There were no reports of injuries, he said. Israel also attacked the sources of the bombing. The Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah confirmed attacks in Israel and said it had recorded several attacks.
The need at the edge of the conflict is great; the people of South Lebanon will have to bear the consequences. A Middle East expert sees “the biggest risk of a conflagration in the region” being an escalation in Lebanon.
Terrorist organization Hamas talks about Israeli attack on hospital
Update November 20, 10:31 am: There are cautious hopes that the Hamas hostage will be released soon – in exchange for a ceasefire. Regardless, the Israeli military wants to expand its attacks in the Gaza Strip. Yesterday he declared that he wanted to take the fight against radical Islamist Hamas to “additional areas” of Palestinian territory.
According to the terrorist organization Hamas, at least twelve people, including patients, were killed today in an attack on a hospital. The attack targeted the Indonesian-run hospital on the edge of the Jabalia refugee settlement in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas, there are still 700 patients and nurses at the clinic. The information could not be independently verified.
“The Israeli army is besieging the Indonesian hospital and we fear that the same thing that happened at Al-Shifa hospital will happen there,” said a spokesman for the Hamas-run health authority. A team of experts described Al-Shifa Hospital as a “death zone”.
Before the War in Israel: The History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict in Pictures
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Israeli army finds tunnel under Al-Shifa hospital
Update November 20th, 6:20am: The Israeli military claims to have discovered a tunnel under Al-Shifa Hospital. According to the Portal news agency, access is on the hospital premises, in a building where ammunition was found.
It publishes a video that supposedly shows the underground concrete installation. The tunnel is protected by an explosion-proof door after 55 meters. The radical Islamic group Hamas has denied that its tunnel system, which is used for military purposes, also extends to civilian facilities such as hospitals. The information could not initially be independently verified.
Photo from November 19: intense smoke over the Gaza Strip under attack © Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP
Update November 19th, 10:55 pm: According to Islamic Hamas, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to more than 13,000 since the start of the war. More than 30,000 people were injured, the government press office in Gaza reported on Sunday night. Thousands of people are still missing. These figures cannot currently be independently verified. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the US.
The Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health recently stopped publishing a daily update on the number of victims. Observers cited Israeli attacks, the growing collapse of the healthcare system and the actions of Israeli troops in the north of the isolated coastal strip as reasons. The Hamas press office recently spoke of around 12,300 deaths.
Update November 19, 9:45 pm: The Israeli army has released surveillance camera footage that appears to show Hamas taking hostages at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on the day of its major attack on Israel. The videos are evidence that the Palestinian radical Islamic organization used the clinic’s facilities “as terrorist infrastructure on the day of the massacre,” the Israeli military and secret services said in a joint statement on Sunday. The AFP news agency was initially unable to verify the recordings.
Two men can be seen in the images apparently being taken to the Al-Shifa clinic by armed men. According to Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, the two hostages come from Nepal and Thailand. The army has not yet been able to locate them. “We don’t know where we are,” Hagari said.
War in Israel: Babies taken from Shifa hospital in Gaza
Update November 19th, 7:40 pm: 31 premature babies were brought from the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital on Sunday. The “very sick” babies were transferred from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to a clinic in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, under “extremely intensive and high-risk security conditions,” the World Health Organization wrote. Health (WHO). chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the online service formerly called Twitter
The premature babies are now being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit, Tedros wrote. A photographer from the AFP news agency saw the babies in the hospital, some of them three or four in beds, being cared for by doctors and bottle-fed by nurses.
According to the head of the WHO, the premature babies were taken to Rafah in six ambulances from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. In addition to the premature babies, six medical employees and ten family members of the team were also transported. “New missions” are planned to transport patients and staff from Al-Shifa Hospital, but the parties to the conflict must guarantee safe passage. The WHO described the clinic as a “death zone” after an hour-long visit by WHO staff.
War in Israel: Head of the Irish government complains of “double standards” in dealing with Gaza
Update November 19th, 5:40 pm: Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar accused other countries of double standards in the face of the escalation in the Middle East. In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTÉ, he mentioned the EU and other Western countries. “It is perceived as a double standard that the absolute rejection of what (Vladimir) Putin did in Ukraine is not accompanied by a similar response towards Israel,” Varadkar said on Sunday.
Shortly after the terrorist attack by Islamic Hamas, the government of Ireland warned that Israel should not go too far in its response in the Gaza Strip, because otherwise it would risk losing the support of other states.
Varadkar calls for a ceasefire. Ireland took a clear position from the start that Israel had the right to self-defence, Varadkar said. But Israel has no right to violate humanitarian law. He is also concerned that the double standards of some countries are now undermining Ukraine’s fight. He and European heads of government worked hard to win support for Ukraine from the global south.
War in Israel: Conflicts between the Israeli army and Hezbollah
Update from November 19th, 3pm: Mutual shelling broke out again on the border between Israel and Lebanon on Sunday, the German Press Agency reported. Hezbollah said it bombed several targets in the border region and “directly hit” Kibbutz Hanita on the Israeli side. Hezbollah also attacked a site with rockets and artillery shells and a “gathering of enemy people and vehicles,” the militia said, according to the DPA.
The Israeli army said it attacked several “suspected aerial targets” flying from Lebanon toward Israel, according to several Israeli media outlets. One of them was successfully intercepted. There were also other attacks from Lebanon, to which Israel responded with bombings. There were no reports of injuries.
War in Israel: Hostage release negotiations – Qatar reports progress
Update November 19, 12:59 p.m.: Qatar indirectly confirmed advanced negotiations for the release of Hamas hostages. Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told a press conference with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that they are more confident than ever that a deal will be reached.
The challenges associated with this are now very small. But negotiations would still continue. The points of contention concern practical and logistical issues.
Israel and Hamas are reportedly close to a hostage deal
First report from November 19: Tel Aviv/Gaza Strip – Israel, the US and the radical Palestinian Islamic group Hamas have agreed to a five-day pause in fighting over the Gaza Strip, according to a media report. In exchange, the tentative agreement calls for the release of dozens of women and children held hostage by Hamas, the Washington Post reported over the weekend, citing people familiar with the deal.
The rupture should also serve to significantly expand humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was still no agreement.
War in Israel: newspaper gives details of possible hostage deal
The Washington Post reported, citing a six-page agreement, that the release of the hostages could begin in the coming days if there are no further problems. All sides are expected to stop fighting for at least five days, while at least 50 hostages are expected to be released in groups every 24 hours.
During its attack on Israel, in which it killed around 1,200 people, Hamas took around 240 hostages and abducted them to the densely populated Gaza Strip, with its 2.3 million inhabitants. According to the Washington Post, the draft ceasefire agreement was drawn up during weeks of talks in Qatar.
War in Israel: Netanyahu denies agreement on hostage release
Netanyahu said of the report at a press conference on Saturday night (November 18) that there were many unfounded rumors and false reports about the hostages. “I want to make it clear: there is no agreement yet.” If there is anything to say, you will be informed.
A White House spokesman said Israel and Hamas have not yet agreed to a temporary ceasefire. However, the US would continue to fight for an agreement. (with news agency material)