AGI – The growing international criticism the military attacks on Palestinian civilians They do not stop the Israeli army (IDF), which continues its operations against the largest hospital in Gaza, al-Shifa, believed to be a Hamas command center nestled among patients, doctors and displaced people. As the UN Security Council passes its first resolution since the start of the war calling for “extensive humanitarian pauses” in Gaza, the United States – which abstained from the vote in the Glass Palace – insists that Israel’s war ” will not end by then”. Hamas is completely destroyed.”
“Tonight we conducted a targeted operation at Shifa Hospital,” announced Major General Yaron Finkelman, head of Israeli military operations in Gaza. “Let’s move on.” The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza said Israeli bulldozers had “destroyed parts of the southern entrance” to the hospital. Yesterday, before Israel sent troops into the hospital complex, UN agencies had estimated that 2,300 patients, staff and displaced civilians had sought refuge in al-Shifa.
Israel puts together a war cabinet
The Israeli war cabinet meets at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv. Hamas leader Haniyeh just said that Israel is not achieving its goals.
Israeli army, body of hostage found
The Israeli military said it found the body of one of the hostages in a building near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. This is Yehudit Weiss, a woman captured by Hamas at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 and brought to the Strip; Her husband, Shmulik Weiss, was found murdered in the shelter of the house. The woman’s body was taken to Israel for identification and the family was informed of her death, but no details about the cause or date of death were released.
Along with the body of Yehudit Weiss near al-Shifa, the Israeli military found Hamas military equipment, including assault rifles and rocket launchers.
All telecommunications services in Gaza are out of service
Due to a shortage of electricity, all telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip are down. Portal reports this, citing TLC companies Paltel and Jawwal.
The Commissioner General of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, also reported the renewed “total disruption” of communications in the Gaza Strip due to a lack of fuel.
“Gaza is again suffering a complete communications blackout because there is no fuel,” Lazzarini told reporters.
Red Crescent, violent attack on Ahli Arab Hospital
The Palestinian Red Crescent has denounced a “violent attack” by Israeli tanks that are “besieging” the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. “The rescue workers cannot move and therefore go to the injured,” added the Red Crescent, which manages the hospital.
Israel’s version of al-Shifa
The Israeli military said an initial raid had been discovered military equipment, weapons and what spokesman Daniel Hagari described as “an operational headquarters with communications equipment”; An accusation that is rejected by hospital directors and Hamas. Eyewitnesses described conditions at the hospital as horrific: medical procedures were performed without anesthesia, families lived in the hallways with little food and water, and the stench of rotting corpses filled the air.
© KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP
Bombs on Gaza
The impact of the Biden-Xi meeting
After the long-awaited meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco, American President Joe Biden reiterated US support for the IDF’s invasion of al-Shifa. “We are in a situation where the first war crime was committed by Hamas, which placed its headquarters and forces under a hospital,” Biden said. The head of the White House He recalled that Israel’s war “will not end until Hamas is completely destroyed.”
However, the two allied countries continue to disagree over post-conflict plans in the Gaza Strip: Biden reiterated that it would be a mistake for the IDF to reoccupy the Gaza Strip Israeli President Isaac Herzog, He told the Financial Times that “we cannot leave a gap in Gaza” and ruled out the possibility that the Palestinian Authority could fill that gap. The United States, along with Russia and the United Kingdom, abstained from voting on the first UN Security Council resolution since the start of the war.
The UN document
The document proposed by Malta – which has legally binding value but was immediately rejected by Israel – calls for “extended humanitarian breaks” and “humanitarian corridors” throughout the Gaza Strip, as well as the immediate release of the hostages. Meanwhile, news that the IDF has also ordered communities in southern Gaza to evacuate suggests that it is planning to expand its operations, which have so far been focused on the north.
On the diplomatic front, negotiations continue on which the fate of the approximately 240 Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas depends: Qatar-brokered talks on their release have not yet borne fruit, even if Biden said he was “cautiously confident” . about the conclusion of an agreement. On the diplomatic front, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell’s trip to the Middle East begins in these hours. Borrell will be there today in Israel, where he will meet President Herzog, Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, opposition leader Yair Lapid (who yesterday called for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s resignation) and other interlocutors, including UN officials.
The Hamas leader’s house was attacked
The Israeli Air Force also announced that it had bombed the home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who has been exiled abroad for some time, during the night. According to the military, his residence was used by the group’s leaders as a headquarters and as “terrorist infrastructure.”
Overnight, IDF warplanes attacked the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau.
The residence was used as a terrorist infrastructure and a meeting point for senior Hamas leaders to direct terrorist attacks against Israel. pic.twitter.com/kljYYN6O0U
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 16, 2023
The overnight operations also reportedly seized Hamas “ammunition, weapons and other military equipment” from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
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