According to Israeli information, there will be another six-hour window on Sunday. The escape corridor is open from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm local time (8:00 am to 3:00 pm CET). According to data from the Israeli army, 150,000 people moved south in the last three days alone. In connection with the new evacuation request, the Israeli army also announced a “tactical pause” in fighting for “humanitarian purposes” in two areas in northern Gaza. Israel now also operates with ground troops in large parts of the northern Gaza Strip.
According to eyewitness accounts, Israeli tanks rolled through the central streets of Gaza City. Al-Shifa Hospital and several other hospitals have also recently come into focus. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Israeli tanks came within 20 meters of Al-Kuds Hospital. According to Palestinian information, Al-Shifa Hospital was recently attacked several times. Israel’s army denied accusations of attacks and renewed suspicions that a Hamas command and control center was suspected of being located in Gaza’s largest hospital.
Israel: Hamas lost control in northern Gaza
According to the Israeli military, Hamas has lost control of the north of the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also emphasized in a televised speech that night that there will be no ceasefire until the hostages return to Israel.
There was no shooting at the hospital, but there were skirmishes with Hamas fighters in the area, an army official said. People could still leave the hospital safely, said Col. Moshe Tetro of COGAT, a unit of the Israeli Defense Ministry that works with Palestinians on civil matters. The eastern side of the site is open to anyone wishing to find safety.
Portal/Israel Defense Forces Israeli soldiers on a stretch of beach in northern Gaza
Netanyahu: Hamas has lost control
According to Israel, Hamas has now lost control of the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night that Hamas fighters “no longer have a safe place to hide.” The military had also previously announced that Hamas no longer controlled the northern coastal strip.
Netanyahu said everyone from Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar “to the last terrorist” was doomed to die. The army has killed thousands of terrorists, including “commanders who led the terrible massacre of October 7th”. There will be no ceasefire without the hostages being returned, Netanyahu reiterated. As for diplomatic efforts to secure their release, he said families will be informed as soon as there is something concrete. Until then, it’s best to keep quiet.
Hospitals in Gaza, according to the OCHA database and OpenStreetMap entries, use touchscreen or blue buttons (right) to zoom
“Ongoing air strikes”
Serious accusations about the actions of the Israeli army come from a doctor who works at Al-Shifa Hospital. There continued to be fierce fighting around the hospital on Sunday. “We can barely treat patients in the hospital and we are in the middle of a war zone,” the doctor told Al-Jazeera news channel. “There are ongoing airstrikes and drones circling the hospital area.”
Portal/Alexander Ermochenko Houses destroyed in the Gaza Strip
According to Palestinian information, the Al-Shifa hospital had to stop working on Saturday because it ran out of fuel for the electricity generators. According to Netanyahu, Hamas rejected Israel’s offer to supply fuel to the hospital. “We just offered the fuel to Shifa Hospital, they rejected it,” he told US broadcaster NBC. Netanyahu did not provide details.
In this context, the Israeli military announced that it would help in the evacuation of the neonatal unit from the hospital building on Sunday. Hospital officials asked that the babies be evacuated to a safer hospital, Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Saturday night. “We will provide the necessary support.”
“USA does not want to see fighting in hospitals”
The US is against hospital shootings, according to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. “The United States does not want to see hospital shootings where innocent people, patients receiving medical care, are caught in the crossfire,” Sullivan told CBS. “And we have had active consultations with the Israel Defense Forces about this.”
debate
Middle East: How to break the spiral of violence?
Doctors Without Borders: “catastrophic” situation
The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Saturday on the online service Twitter (X) that “attacks on Al-Shifa hospital have increased dramatically in recent hours.” She spoke of a “catastrophic” situation at the facility. A few hours later, the organization renewed its call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. “We are being killed here, please do something,” wrote an MSF nurse in the hospital basement on Saturday. MSF teams and hundreds of patients are still at the clinic.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), half of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are no longer functioning. “The health system is devastated – and yet life-saving care continues to be provided,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Portal/Mohammed Salem Air strikes are also taking place in the south of the Gaza Strip – in the photo, an impact crater in Khan Yunis
Rafah reopened to foreigners
However, the departure of foreigners from the Gaza Strip, suspended since Friday, resumed on Sunday. Egypt has confirmed that people with foreign passports have once again arrived in Egyptian territory through the Rafah border crossing. Several injured Palestinians have also escaped the Gaza Strip and are receiving medical treatment in Egypt.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Moscow, Russia has also now started bringing its citizens from Gaza to safety. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said more than 60 people with Russian passports had left for Egypt. The Rafah border crossing into Egypt is the only one that is not under Israeli control.
Response to terrorist attack in early October
With its heavy attacks in the densely populated Gaza Strip, the Israeli army is responding to the attack on Israel carried out by the radical Islamic group Hamas. Hundreds of Islamists entered Israel on October 7 and committed atrocities, mainly against civilians, including many children.
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Hamas terrorist attack largely reconstructed
According to updated Israeli data, 1,200 people were killed in Israel and more than 240 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. According to information from Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, more than 11,000 people, including 4,500 children, have been killed so far in Israel’s military operation to destroy the terrorist organization.
Warning to Hezbollah
In light of the ongoing attacks from neighboring Lebanon, Israel has also sent a clear warning to the Shiite militia Hezbollah. “Don’t make the mistake of going to war. That would be the mistake of your life,” Netanyahu said on Saturday night, addressing Hezbollah, which is financed mainly by Iran. “Your entry into the war will seal the fate of Lebanon.”
Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant said “provocations turned into aggression” on his country’s northern border. Most of the Israeli air force is no longer involved in the Gaza Strip and the noses of the planes are now pointed north. “The citizens of Lebanon must know that if Nasrallah makes a mistake, the fate of Beirut could be the same as the fate of Gaza.”
Hezbollah has intensified its attacks on Israel and is using new types of weapons, according to its leader Nasrallah. In recent days, the number of attacks has increased, as has the number of targets attacked, Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Saturday. In addition, Hezbollah first deployed combat drones and Burkan rockets with a bomb load of 300 to 500 kg and guided surveillance drones into northern Israel.