Summary
It’s approaching 5am in Tel Aviv and we’re pausing our blog here. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here and in the meantime here’s a summary of the key developments:
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza appeared to be reaching a key moment, with close-quarter battles raging around the most important hospital in the heart of its biggest city. Residents said Israeli forces had been fighting Hamas gunmen all night and throughout Saturday in the neighbourhood in Gaza City where the al-Shifa hospital is located, considered a key strategic area.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against growing international calls for a ceasefire, saying Israel’s battle to crush Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants would continue with “full force”. A ceasefire would be possible only if all 239 hostages held by militants in Gaza are released, Netanyahu said in a televised address.
The UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator has released a statement saying: “Hospitals must be places of greater safety, not of war.” In a tweet on Saturday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said: “There can be no justification for acts of war in healthcare facilities, leaving them with no power, food or water, and shooting at patients and civilians trying to flee.”
Médecins Sans Frontières has warned that patients and medical staff in Gaza are “trapped in hospitals under fire” and called on the “Israeli government to cease this unrelenting assault on Gaza’s health system”. In a statement released on Saturday, the humanitarian organization said: “MSF urgently reiterates its calls to stop the attacks against hospitals, for an immediate ceasefire and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff and patients.”
The Israeli military will help evacuate babies trapped in Gaza’s Dar al-Shifa hospital on Sunday, the chief Israeli military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari said on Saturday. “The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed,” Hagari told a news conference.
Two premature babies have died due to power cuts at al-Shifa hospital, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on Saturday. “As a result of the lack of electricity, we can report that the neonatal intensive care unit has stopped working. Two premature infants have died, and there is a real risk to the lives of 37 other premature infants” at Al-Shifa hospital, the group said, citing doctors at the hospital, Agence France-Presse reports.
Netanyahu announced the deaths of five more Israeli soldiers in Gaza. The Israeli military said 46 had been killed since its ground operations there began.
Israel’s three major TV news channels, without citing named sources, said there was some progress toward a deal to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu said he would not discuss details of any possible deal, which according to N12 News would involve 50 to 100 women, children and elderly being released in stages during a three to five day pause in fighting.
The head of Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah party said its armed wing had used new types of weapons and struck new targets in Israel, and pledged that the front against its sworn enemy would remain active. In a televised address, only his second speech since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah had shown “a quantitative improvement in the number of operations, the size and the number of targets, as well as an increase in the type of weapons”.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant warned Hezbollah not to escalate fighting along the border. “Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a war that might happen,” Gallant told troops in a video aired by Israeli television channels.
Arab and Muslim leaders condemned Israeli forces’ “barbaric” actions in Gaza but declined to approve punitive economic and political steps against the country at an extraordinary summit of Arab-Islamic leaders in Saudi Arabia, highlighting regional divisions. The final declaration on Saturday rejected Israeli claims that it is acting in “self-defence” and demanded that the UN security council adopt “a decisive and binding resolution” to halt Israel’s “aggression”.
Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi has called on Islamic governments to designate Israel’s military a “terrorist organisation”, citing its current operations in the Gaza Strip. “Islamic governments should designate the army of the occupying and aggressor regime as a terrorist organisation,” Raisi told the summit in Saudi Arabia.
Anti-war protesters gathered in Tel Aviv late Saturday to call for a ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas. Many demonstrators carried signs reading, “Israelis for ceasefire,” “War has no winners” and “Only peace talks with solve this”.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has urged the joint Arab-Islamic summit to “act now to change the trajectory” of the crisis in Gaza. Lazzarini called for support for a humanitarian ceasefire, a continuous flow of humanitarian aid and support for the UNRWA.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully through central London yesterday to protest against Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza. The Metropolitan police said about 300,000 people had converged on the capital from all parts of the country, while organisers of the pro-Palestinian event put the number closer to 800,000 and claimed it was one of the biggest marches in British history.
In case you missed our live blog on the London protests earlier, the Metropolitan police said around 300,000 people had converged on the UK capital, while organisers of the event put the number closer to 800,000 and claimed it was one of the biggest marches in British history.
The attendance will add to political pressure on both the prime minister Rishi Sunak and the Labour leader Keir Starmer to back calls for a ceasefire in the conflict.
Around 150 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were detained by police in Grosvenor Place, Belgravia in the evening. According to the Met, the breakaway group from the main march were firing fireworks and many were wearing face coverings. Arrests were made after some of the fireworks struck officers in the face.
Matt Twist, assistant commissioner at the Met, said a further 126 people had been arrested as police sought to stop a group of far-right counter-protesters from ambushing the main rally. Scuffles broke out as police attempted to stop a crowd of far-right activists, Islamophobes and football supporters carrying St George’s flags.
In a statement, he called the extreme violence from rightwing protestors towards the police “extraordinary” and “deeply concerning”.
Rishi Sunak condemned “violent scenes” from the far-right group the English Defence League and associated groups and “Hamas sympathisers”.
Here is our full story:
Three young Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday.
One of those killed was from the town of Jenin while the other two were from Arraba, a town to the southwest, Reuters reports.
Levels of violence in the occupied West Bank have been rising fast. You can read Jason Burke’s report here about how even though Jenin has long been a flashpoint between Hamas and Israeli security forces, clashes have intensified dramatically in the last month.
This is Christine Kearney taking over from my colleague Maya Yang.
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators that marched around the world over the weekend in pro-Palestine rallies amid Israel’s deadly airstrikes across Gaza that have killed over 11,000 Palestinians within the last month:
Infants at Gaza’s Al Quds hospital are facing dehydration due to a shortage of breast milk alternatives, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced on Saturday.
👶Infants at Al-Quds Hospital are facing dehydration due to a shortage of breast milk alternatives.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023
الاطفال الرضع في مستشفى القدس يعانون من الجفاف بسبب انقطاع الحليب#Gaza#HumanitarianAid #AlQudsHospital #Humantarian_crisis pic.twitter.com/Grd5kdA1Rb
Only 7 out of the 18 ambulances belonging to the Palestinian Red Cross Society are functioning in Gaza and the northern regions.
“The remaining vehicles are at risk of completely ceasing operations in the coming hours due to fuel depletion,” the PRCS said on Saturday.
🚨Only 7 out of 18 PRCS ambulance vehicles are functioning in Gaza and the northern regions.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023
🚑 The remaining vehicles are at risk of completely ceasing operations in the coming hours due to fuel depletion.
✋🔴Our teams are witnessing numerous casualties and wounded… pic.twitter.com/euLhbUHbO6
Dr. Mohammed Obeid, a surgeon at Al Shifa hospital, shared his testimony with Médecins Sans Frontières today, saying:
“There is no electricty… There is no water. There is no food. Our team is exhausted. We had two neonatal patients die actually beause the incubator is not working because there is no electricity…
We are nearly sure that we are alone now. No one hears us...
The problem is to be sure that we can evacuate the neonatal patients because we have about 37 to 40 premature babies.”
"We are nearly sure that we are alone now. No
— MSF International (@MSF) November 11, 2023
one hears us... The problem is to be sure that we can evacuate the neonatal patients because we have
about 37 to 40 premature babies."
Dr Mohammed Obeid, surgeon at Al-Shifa hospital, shares his testimony from today⤵️ pic.twitter.com/3oHC5GKzQ0
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Tel Aviv, where protestors took to the streets to call for the release of hostages by Hamas and a ceasefire as the Israeli government comes under increasing criticism over its escalating military campaign across Gaza that has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians.
Updated
Here is video of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman delivering an address earlier today at the Saudi Arabia-hosted Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza:
The Kingdom affirms its categorical rejection of the continuing aggression, occupation and forced displacement of the people of Gaza and stresses that Israel bears responsibility for the crimes committed against Palestinian people and resources,.
Watch: #Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says #Israel bears responsibility for the crimes committed against #Palestinians. https://t.co/NNgPSJDN9o pic.twitter.com/28i3e8pAd8
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) November 11, 2023
Updated
Gaza’s border authority announced on Saturday that the Rafah land crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders and dependents.
Reuters reports:
The crossing between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai peninsula is the only entry into the strip not controlled by Israel, and has been crucial for aid trucks and evacuees, who number in the thousands.
Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt, including for Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment, were suspended on Friday, Egyptian and Palestinian sources said, due to problems transporting medical evacuees from northern Gaza.
The border would begin operating at 9am local time (0700 GMT) for foreigners and medical evacuees, Egyptian sources said.
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza where more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes while thousands more remain trapped in shelters and hospitals amid Israel’s deadly siege with scarce food, water and medical aid.
Updated
Here is Agence France-Presse’s report on the thousands of Palestinians trapped inside Gaza’s Dar al-Shifa hospital amid deadly Israeli strikes:
Thousands of displaced Palestinians looked to Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, as a safe haven, but with Israeli strikes intensifying and the fighting reaching the gates of the compound, there seems nowhere for them to escape.
Ahmed al-Shawa, who sought refuge in the hospital, said he was afraid he would be “cut down by shrapnel,” if he stepped outside.
“The situation is very, very dangerous,” the 18-year-old from Gaza City said as the sound of explosions echoed in the background.
Crowds of people have crammed into the corridors of Al-Shifa to escape the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, adding to the overwhelming number of war casualties at the hospital.
The facility was hit repeatedly overnight in a new round of strikes that knocked out the power for several hours, its director said.
The outage had resulted in the death of two premature babies, the NGO Physicians for Human Rights Israel said, citing doctors inside the hospital.
Many of the displaced were afraid to leave the hospital, with medics including from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) saying they saw people being shot at as they attempted to flee the hospital.
“We are being killed here, please do something,” a nurse from MSF pleaded from inside the hospital’s basement, where he and his family were sheltering.
“The shelling is so close, my kids are crying and screaming in fear,” MSF cited the nurse as saying in a text message.
The Israeli military said “there is no shooting at the hospital” but acknowledged troops were engaged in clashes with Hamas militants around the complex.
Updated
Médecins Sans Frontières reports that medical staff in Gaza have become so overwhelmed by the amount of incoming patients that the surgical board used to keep track of upcoming surgeries has been erased and replaced with the following words:
“Whoever stays until the end will tell the story. We did what we could. Remember us.”
This photo was taken in late October by an MSF emergency physician working at Al Awda hospital in #Gaza. https://t.co/sABmZSuqtp
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) November 11, 2023
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that more than 100 of its workers have been killed in Gaza and repeated its calls for international cooperation on a political solution to halt the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza.
In an address on Saturday at the Saudi-hosted Arab-Islamic summit on the Gaza, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said:
The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees is in mourning for 101 colleagues confirmed killed in Gaza.
On Monday, UN flags worldwide will be at half-mast to honor their memory.
Across the Gaza Strip, more than 10,000 people have reportedly been killed, with the majority to be women and children. Many more are surely still under the rubble.
The Israeli Forces have pushed over 1.5 million people out of the north of the Gaza Strip.
More than 700,000 women, children and men now live in UNRWA schools and shelters …
Basic services are crumbling. Everything is running out – food, water, medicine and fuel.
The dramatic developments at the al-Shifa hospital last night pushed many health staff and wounded people to leave …
I have 13,000 colleagues in Gaza. Most are displaced. Many continue to work …
We can offer much more if we have the means …
A political solution has become a matter of life and death for millions of people. A genuine prospect of Palestinian statehood is critical. We must step back from the brink before it’s too late.
Updated
Summary
It is 10pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here is where the day stands:
The UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator has released a statement saying: “Hospitals must be places of greater safety, not of war.” In a tweet on Saturday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said: “There can be no justification for acts of war in healthcare facilities, leaving them with no power, food or water, and shooting at patients and civilians trying to flee.”
Médecins Sans Frontières has warned that patients and medical staff in Gaza are “trapped in hospitals under fire” and called on the “Israeli government to cease this unrelenting assault on Gaza’s health system”. In a statement released on Saturday, the humanitarian organization said: “MSF urgently reiterates its calls to stop the attacks against hospitals, for an immediate ceasefire and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff and patients.”
The Israeli military will help evacuate babies trapped in Gaza’s Dar al-Shifa hospital on Sunday, the chief Israeli military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari said on Saturday, Reuters reports. “The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed,” Hagari told a news conference.
Two premature babies have died due to power cuts at Dar al-Shifa hospital, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on Saturday. “As a result of the lack of electricity, we can report that the neonatal intensive care unit has stopped working. Two premature infants have died, and there is a real risk to the lives of 37 other premature infants” at Al-Shifa hospital, the group said, citing doctors at the hospital, Agence France-Presse reports.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has warned Hezbollah on Saturday not to escalate fighting along the border. “Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a war that might happen,” Gallant told troops in a video aired by Israeli television channels, Reuters reports.
Anti-war protestors have gathered in Tel Aviv this evening in calls for a ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas. Many demonstrators carried signs reading, “Israelis for ceasefire,” “War has no winners” and “Only peace talks with solve this”.
Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi has called on Islamic governments to designate Israel’s military a “terrorist organisation”, citing its current operations in the Gaza Strip. “Islamic governments should designate the army of the occupying and aggressor regime as a terrorist organisation,” Raisi told the summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh, according to AFP.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has urged the joint Arab-Islamic summit to “act now to change the trajectory” of the crisis in Gaza. Lazzarini called for support for a humanitarian ceasefire, a continuous flow of humanitarian aid and support for the UNRWA.
Updated
Anti-war protestors gather in Tel Aviv in calls for ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas
Anti-war protestors have gathered in Tel Aviv this evening as they call for a ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas.
Videos posted on social media show protestors holding signs saying, “Israelis for ceasefire,” “War has no winners” and “Only peace talks will solve this”.
Now in Tel Aviv Israeli left wing activists call to end the war and for ceasefire outside the ministry of defense headquarters pic.twitter.com/mygrkLaUfS
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 11, 2023
Now in Tel Aviv protest against the war and calling for ceasefire pic.twitter.com/pcs6E8Wrgb
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 11, 2023
Anti-war protest in Tel Aviv tonight. pic.twitter.com/V9NvTOpqxK
— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 11, 2023
Thousands rally in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the ~250 hostages held captive by Hamas and other groups in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/v6cHH4rxcZ
— Amy🟣🌸🐪🍒🔆 (@danido999) November 11, 2023
Updated
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said that an immediate ceasefire in Gaza should be discussed now.
During a press conference held on Saturday for a joint Arab-Islamic conference on Gaza, the Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that any talk about the future of Gaza should only be about an immediate ceasefire, Reuters reports. He said:
The only future, and this is the unifying position of the Arab, is an immediate ceasefire.
Updated
The Israeli military will help evacuate babies trapped in Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday, the chief Israeli military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari said on Saturday, Reuters reports.
Hagari told a news conference:
The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed.
Updated
The Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas group, said on Saturday they had completely or partially destroyed more than 160 Israeli military targets in Gaza in the past 48 hours, including more than 25 vehicles, Reuters reports.
Spokesperson Abu Ubaida said:
The confrontation is unequal, but it frightens and terrifies the most powerful force in the region
Updated
Across Gaza, people with specific needs such as older people with medical conditions are struggling with harsh living conditions amid Israel’s seige and deadly bombardments that has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians.
“Getting a loaf of bread has become a thing of the past,” an older displaced man told UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, from the Khan Younis Training Center.
“Here, there is a shortage of all necessities. There is either no water or it is very scarce and not clean … I suffer from nerve and urinary tract problems. As for using the bathroom, it’s very challenging. We wait in line for an hour or more,” he added.
"Getting a loaf of bread has become a thing of the past"
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 11, 2023
Persons with specific needs, such as older people, are really struggling in the harsh living conditions in the 📍#GazaStrip - where there is a "shortage of all life necessities"#HearTheirVoices pic.twitter.com/L0QmtIQTHC
Updated
Hezbollah has announced that it is introducing new weapons in its ongoing battles with Israeli troops.
The Associated Press reports:
The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said Saturday his fighters have introduced new weapons, including a missile with a heavy warhead, in the ongoing fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that they will keep using the tense frontier to pressure Israel.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also blasted the United States over the Israel-Hamas war, saying it is the only country that can stop Israel’s wide offensive on the Gaza Strip but doesn’t do so. He said attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria, that Washington says have reached more than 40 rockets and suicide drone attacks, will continue until the war in Gaza comes to an end.
Nasrallah’s comments came as the situation along Lebanon’s southern border continues to escalate. Hezbollah on Friday attacked northern Israel with three suicide drones after an Israeli strike in central Syria killed seven Hezbollah fighters.
Nasrallah did not claim responsibility for a suicide drone attack that hit the Israeli Red Sea town of Eilat on Thursday but called it “a great achievement.”
Hezbollah and Israeli troops have been exchanging fire along the Lebanon-Israel border since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas’s deadly assault in southern Israel that left at least 1,200 Israeli civilians and troops dead and more than 200 taken hostages.
Hezbollah officials say that by attacking Israeli posts along the border, the Iran-backed group is keeping three Israeli army divisions busy at a time when Israeli troops are pushing into the Gaza Strip where more than 11,000 people have been killed over the past five weeks, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
“The side that can stop this aggression, is the side that is managing this aggression. It is America,” Nasrallah said, referring to the United States, a main supporter of Israel.
Updated
UN: 'No justification for acts of war in healthcare facilities'
The UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator has released a statement saying: “Hospitals must be places of greater safety, not of war.”
In a tweet on Saturday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said:
There can be no justification for acts of war in healthcare facilities, leaving them with no power, food or water, and shooting at patients and civilians trying to flee.
This is unconscionable, reprehensible, and must stop.
Hospitals must be places of greater safety, and those who need them must trust that they are places of shelter and not of war.
Hospitals must be places of greater safety, not of war.#Gaza pic.twitter.com/aeQtEkXaQO
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) November 11, 2023
Updated
Médecins Sans Frontières: Gaza patients and medical staff 'trapped in hospitals under fire'
Médecins Sans Frontières has warned that patients and medical staff in Gaza are “trapped in hospitals under fire” and called on the “Israeli government to cease this unrelenting assault on Gaza’s health system”.
In a statement released on Saturday, the humanitarian organization said:
Over the past 24 hours, hospitals in Gaza have been under relentless bombardment. Al-Shifa hospital complex, the biggest health facility where MSF staff are still working, has been hit several times, including the maternity and outpatient departments, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.
The hostilities around the hospital have not stopped. MSF teams and hundreds of patients are still inside Al-Shifa hospital. MSF urgently reiterates its calls to stop the attacks against hospitals, for an immediate ceasefire and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff and patients.
Dr. Mohammed Obeid, an MSF surgeon at Dar al-Shifa hospital, said:
There are a lot of patients already operated on and they cannot walk. They cannot evacuate … We need an ambulance to move them, we don’t have ambulances to evacuate all of these patients.
We cannot leave because from [yesterday] morning until now, we operated on about 25 patients. If I am not here or the other surgeon, who will take care of the patients? There is a patient who needs surgery, another one is already sleeping [under anesthesia].
MSF also said that it has lost contact with a surgeon working and sheltering at al-Quds hospital with his family.
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires of the ongoing pro-Palestine march in London, where police say more than 300,000 demonstrators have taken to the street in a show of solidarity with Palestinians.
Updated
Two premature babies die at Gaza hospital - reports
Two premature babies have died due to power cuts at Dar al-Shifa hospital, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on Saturday.
“As a result of the lack of electricity, we can report that the neonatal intensive care unit has stopped working. Two premature infants have died, and there is a real risk to the lives of 37 other premature infants” at Al-Shifa hospital, the group said, citing doctors at the hospital, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The hospital is besieged, with no option to bring in the corpses and injured people sprawled outside. There is no movement in or out of the hospital,” the group continued, adding: “The picture we are now seeing at Shifa is no longer of a humanitarian catastrophe – it is a collective death sentence.”
Gaza is currently grappling with a fuel shortage as no fuel has been allowed into the strip in more than five weeks amid Israel’s deadly siege. As a result, numerous hospitals and clinics relying on generators have been forced to shut down, leaving thousands of patients in precarious medical conditions.
Agence France-Presse reports that heavy gunfire and explosions were heard throughout Saturday from its live camera, situated a few hundred metres from the hospital.
Updated
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has warned Hezbollah on Saturday not to escalate fighting along the border.
“Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a war that might happen,” Gallant told troops in a video aired by Israeli television channels, Reuters reports.
“It is making mistakes and ... those who will pay the price are first and foremost Lebanon’s citizens. What we are doing in Gaza, we can do in Beirut,” he added.
Updated
The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group, has reportedly said his armed group had used new types of weapons and struck new targets in Israel in recent days.
Reuters reports:
It was Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s second speech since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October.
In his first address earlier this month he said there was a possibility of fighting on the Lebanese front turning into a full-fledged war.
Nasrallah said on Saturday there had been ‘an upgrade’ in Hezbollah’s operations along its front with Israel.
‘There has been a quantitative improvement in the number of operations, the size and the number of targets, as well as an increase in the type of weapons,’ he said in a televised address.
He said Hezbollah had used a missile known as the Burkan, describing its explosives payload as between 300 to 500 kilograms, and confirmed the group had used weaponised drones for the first time.
Nasrallah said the group had also struck the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona for the first time in retaliation for the killing of three girls and their grandmother earlier this month.
‘This front will remain active,’ he pledged.”
Updated
Israeli official says military not firing on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza
Israeli forces are not firing on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City but there are clashes with Hamas militants around it, a defence official said on Saturday, according to Reuters.
The east side of the hospital was open for anyone who wants to evacuate safely, Col Moshe Tetro, of Cogat, an Israeli defence ministry agency that liaises with Palestinians on civilian affairs, said in an Arabic video message.
Al-Shifa hospital’s director, Muhammad abu Salmiya, told Al Jazeera earlier that the hospital had been left without power, internet and water and medical supplies.
Updated
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have said they have struck a Hamas commander called Ahmed Siam.
“IDF aircraft just struck Ahmed Siam, responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents and patients hostage at the Rantisi hospital, and preventing their evacuation southward,” the IDF posted to X earlier.
“Siam was a commander in Hamas’ Naser Radwan Company, and is another example of Hamas using civilians in Gaza as human shields for terrorist purposes.”
This information has not yet been independently verified.
Updated
In a statement, Angelita Caredda, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Middle East regional director, has said:
We are horrified by reports of relentless attacks on Gaza’s hospitals. Patients, including babies, and civilians seeking relief are trapped under attack. It is an affront to wage war around and on hospitals.
Those being treated or seeking shelter in hospitals have nowhere else to go. Roads leading to the south are unpassable in vehicles. The harm to patients besieged in hospitals and the lasting effects of depriving the population of major medical facilities in a time of armed conflict may very well be unlawful.
Medical facilities and personnel exclusively engaged in the treatment of the sick and wounded have special protection under international humanitarian law that must be respected in all circumstances. Failure to do so amounts to a grave breach of international humanitarian law.
An urgent ceasefire is needed to avoid further loss of innocent lives. All parties must abide by the laws of war to spare all civilians, including the critically ill and injured and those who tend to them.
The pro-Israel lobby in the US is airing attack ads and beginning to back primary opponents to challenge Congress members who are not voting for or supporting Israel’s war on Gaza.
Over the last 10 days, groups that support Israel have launched ads in at least seven districts targeting those who have been particularly vocal in calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, opposing Israeli military aid or criticising Israel’s government.
The groups will probably pump tens of millions of dollars into primaries this cycle to back their candidates. While most of the targets are members of the “Squad” of progressive Democrats, one of them is a libertarian Republican who opposes foreign spending.
“I don’t think [the pro-Israel] lobby can beat me, and they definitely can’t beat me with this topic,” said the Republican Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie, referring to his recent vote against military aid for Israel.
You can read the full story here:
Updated
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has summarised the Iranian president’s plan put forward at the summit in Riyadh.
Iran President Ebrahim Raisi puts forward Iran’s 10 point plan at Riyadh summit.
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) November 11, 2023
Immediate Ceasefire.
Withdrawal of Israeli troops troops.
Lift siege including at Rafhah crossing to allow aid to enter unconditionally.
Enforce trade embargo with Israel including all oil…
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, has called on Islamic governments to designate Israel’s military a “terrorist organisation”, citing its current operations in the Gaza Strip.
“Islamic governments should designate the army of the occupying and aggressor regime as a terrorist organisation,” Raisi told the summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh, according to AFP.
Updated
Israeli tanks are 20 metres away from al-Quds hospital, says Palestine Red Crescent Society
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said Israeli tanks are 20 metres away from al-Quds hospital in Gaza.
“Direct shooting at the hospital, creating a state of extreme panic and fear among 14,000 displaced people,” it posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday.
🚨⚠️Israeli tanks are 20 meters away from Al-Quds Hospital.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023
Direct shooting at the hospital, creating a state of extreme panic and fear among 14000 displaced people. #Gaza#AlQudsHospital #NotATarget pic.twitter.com/iRZggCcIkP
On Friday, the PRCS said the hospital was at risk of closure due to the depletion of fuel supplies and the “non-arrival of aid”.
Updated
Palestinian health officials have said the lives of dozens of babies are at risk in al-Shifa hospital after operations had to be suspended due to a lack of fuel.
The Gazan health ministry, which is run by Hamas, reports 45 are at risk, while the Palestinian health ministry in the Israeli-occupied West Bank ministry says the number is 39.
There are currently 130 newborn babies in incubators in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization.
Updated
In London, thousands of people have started marching from Park Lane, near Hyde Park, as part of the pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Organisers have said the rally on Armistice Day could be one of the largest political marches in British history.
For those interested in following updates from that march, we have a live blog covering that here:
Updated
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has urged the joint Arab-Islamic summit to “act now to change the trajectory” of the crisis in Gaza.
Lazzarini called for support for a humanitarian ceasefire, a continuous flow of humanitarian aid and support for the UNRWA.
You can read the full speech below.
"Today, Gazans feel de-humanized and abandoned."@UNLazzarini urged the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit "to act now to change the trajectory" of the crisis in the📍#GazaStrip
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 11, 2023
His full statement ⬇️https://t.co/W9rgKXKgPN pic.twitter.com/SY7jTSQWgX
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Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, has praised Hamas and called for Muslim countries to impose oil and goods sanctions on Israel.
“There is no other way but to resist Israel, we kiss the hands of Hamas for its resistance against Israel,” he is quoted as saying by Reuters.
Raisi is among dozens of leaders attending the joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh.
Summary of the day so far...
The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has said his country is making efforts in mediation to secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and that he hopes a humanitarian truce would be reached in the strip soon, Reuters reported. He was speaking during a joint Islamic-Arab summit on Gaza being held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, are among those reportedly in attendance.
The director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Robert Mardini, has said the organisation is “shocked and appalled” by the images and reports emerging from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. He said the “unbearably desperate situation” must stop now and that patients and staff must be protected.
The spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said that operations in al-Shifa hospital complex were suspended on Saturday after it ran out of fuel.
The al-Shifa hospital director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, warned “we are minutes away from imminent death” with patients dying “by the minute”. He told Al Jazeera that the hospital had been left without power, internet and water and medical supplies.
The aid agency Doctors Without Borders quoted a surgeon in the agency’s series of tweets expressing concern at the “catastrophic situation” inside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City amid intensifying strikes. “Over the last few hours, the attacks against al-Shifa hospital have dramatically intensified. Our staff at the hospital have reported a catastrophic situation inside just few hours ago,” the aid agency posted to X.
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Emir of Qatar says his country is making efforts in mediation to release hostages in Gaza
The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has said his country is making efforts in mediation to secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and that he hopes a humanitarian truce would be reached in the strip soon, Reuters reports.
“The international community failed to bear its legal and ethical responsibilities,” he said during the joint Islamic-Arab summit on Gaza in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
“For how long will the international community treat Israel as if it is above international laws?” he asked.
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Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been quoted as saying that an international peace conference should be convened to find a permanent solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
“What we need in Gaza is not pauses for a couple of hours, rather we need a permanent ceasefire,” Erdoğan said in his address to the summit in Riyadh.
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Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has called for an immediate sustainable ceasefire in Gaza “without restrictions or conditions”, Reuters reports.
“The policies of collective punishment of the people of Gaza … are unacceptable and cannot be justified by self-defence or any other claims. They must be stopped immediately,” he added during a speech at the joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh.
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The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, said at the summit in Riyadh that Palestinians are facing an “unmatched genocidal war”, and called on the US to pressure Israel into halting its offensive on Gaza.
Abbas said Palestinians needed international protection in the face of Israeli attacks, Reuters reports.
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Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, has said Israel bears responsibility for what he called “crimes committed against Palestinian people”, calling for an end to the siege of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
Speaking during a joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh, the crown prince also called for the immediate end of military operations and the release of hostages.
We will bring you more quotes when we get them.
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Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news site said Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, will propose that Muslim countries ban Israel from using their airspace and prevent the US from shipping weapons to Israel from their military bases in the region, Reuters reports.
Raisi is among dozens of leaders attending the joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh.
ICRC 'shocked and appalled' by reports of situation at al-Shifa hospital
The director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Robert Mardini, has said the organisation is “shocked and appalled” by the images and reports emerging from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
He said the “unbearably desperate situation” must stop now and that patients and staff must be protected.
We @ICRC are shocked & appalled by the images & reports coming from Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza.
— Robert Mardini (@RMardiniICRC) November 11, 2023
The unbearably desperate situation for patients & staff trapped inside must stop. Now.
Hospitals, patients, staff & health care must be protected. Period. https://t.co/pdDlR5dsAW
The spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said earlier that operations in al-Shifa hospital complex, the largest in the enclave, were suspended on Saturday after it ran out of fuel (see post at 09.06).
The al-Shifa hospital director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, has warned “we are minutes away from imminent death”. He told Al Jazeera that the hospital had been left without power, internet and water and medical supplies.
Fabrizio Carboni, the International Committee of the Red Cross’s regional director for the near and Middle East, says the situation at al-Shifa hospital “cannot continue like this”.
The information coming from the Al Shifa hospital is distressing.
— Fabrizio Carboni (@FCarboniICRC) November 11, 2023
It cannot continue like this. Thousands of wounded, displaced people and medical staff are at risk.
They need to be protected in line with the laws of war.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to join a pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday.
Up to 1,850 police officers will be on duty for a “significant” operation across Remembrance weekend, the Metropolitan police said on Friday, with 1,000 officers called up from outside the capital.
People will start to assemble at about midday at Park Lane, before beginning to march at 12.45pm.
You can follow all of the latest developments in this blog:
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The joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh is expected to strongly condemn Israel’s campaign in Gaza and call for a halt to forced displacement of Palestinians there, Reuters reports.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, who was welcomed back into the Arab League earlier this year, are among those who will be attending.
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BBC News’s international editor, Jeremy Bowen, has received a voice note from Marwan Abu Saada, a surgeon inside al-Shifa hospital, saying the main intensive care unit has been hit.
He told Bowen, who is in Israel, that sounds of shooting and bombardments echo “every second”.
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Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, has arrived in Saudi Arabia for a summit on Gaza (see earlier post at 07.02), state-affiliated media has reported.
Middle East leaders have called for a ceasefire while warning the conflict risks drawing in other countries, a threat Raisi on Saturday blamed on Washington’s staunch support for Israel, AFP reports.
“The war machine in Gaza belongs to the US,” he said before departing for Riyadh. “The US has prevented the ceasefire in Gaza and is expanding the scope of the war.”
Footage aired on the Al-Ekhbariya channel showed Raisi, wearing a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, greeting Saudi officials at the airport after disembarking from his plane.
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Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has reportedly killed more than 11,000 Palestinians since Hamas militants rampaged through southern Israeli communities on 7 October.
Officials initially said about 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in those attacks, but on Friday that figure was revised down to about 1,200.
“This is the updated number,” the ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat told AFP. “It is due to the fact that there were lot of corpses that were not identified and now we think those belong to terrorists … not Israeli casualties.”
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Operations suspended in al-Shifa hospital, says Gaza health ministry
The spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said that operations in al-Shifa hospital complex, the largest in the enclave, were suspended on Saturday after it ran out of fuel.
“As a result, one newborn baby died inside the incubator, where there are 45 babies,” Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesperson for the health ministry told Reuters.
Al-Shifa hospital, hit by missiles on Friday, is the largest in the 360sq km Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks, Israel has said Hamas militants have hidden command centres and tunnels beneath it and other hospitals.
Hamas, health authorities and Shifa directors have denied the group is concealing military infrastructure in or under the complex and have said they would welcome an international inspection, according to Reuters.
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'We are minutes away from imminent death,' warns al-Shifa hospital director
The al-Shifa hospital director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, has warned “we are minutes away from imminent death” with patients dying “by the minute”.
Speaking from inside the besieged facility in Gaza City to Al Jazeera, he said:
All I can say is that we’ve started to lose lives. Patients are dying by the minute, victims and wounded are also dying – even babies in the incubators.
We lost a baby in the incubator, we also lost a young man in the intensive care unit.
The hospital compound is cordoned off and the buildings of the hospital are targeted. Any moving person within the compound is targeted. The Israeli occupation forces are outside, preventing any person to move…
We are totally cut off from the whole world, we are minutes away from imminent death.
He added that the hospital has been left without power, internet and water and medical supplies. His comments were translated by Al Jazeera.
Strikes have reportedly been increasing near al-Shifa hospital, where it is said more than 50,000 people may have taken shelter.
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Disinformation has flourished across a range of online platforms in the month since Hamas launched its bloody attack on Israel, fuelled by weak content regulation on X, formerly Twitter, and Telegram and at times propelled by state actors.
Widely shared faked news and false claims include efforts to downplay the horror of Hamas’s cross-border attack on 7 October through to distasteful allegations that Palestinians, already under heavy bombardment, are faking scenes of violence.
Jackson Hinkle, 22, an American far-right social media influencer with 2 million followers on X, formerly Twitter, who has styled himself as a “Maga communist”, claimed, without evidence, at the end of October that Hamas fighters shot fewer than 100 people, mostly armed settlers.
The death toll is estimated at more than 1,200 people, and they were killed inside Israel’s borders so could not have been settlers. But this was only one of Hinkle’s untruths: in the same 28 October posting he said that half of the Israelis killed during the Hamas assault were soldiers, many of whom died “during tank shelling”.
You can read the full story by the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, here:
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called on Israel to stop killing babies, women and elderly people in Gaza, as the country comes under mounting international pressure, including from its main ally, the US, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
For more on that and other key developments in the conflict, see our wrap of the latest news:
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Dar al-Shifa hospital, whose name translates as “house of healing”, has long been seen as a vital place of shelter during Israeli attacks. In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have fled the bombing for what they hoped was protection in the grounds of the largest hospital in the territory.
Now, as Israeli troops surround Gaza City and draw closer to the hospital, the increasing strikes nearby and on parts of the hospital grounds have fuelled fears that the facility and the thousands of civilians sheltering outside will struggle to survive the worst sequence of attacks the city has endured to date.
Ruth Michaelson’s full report is here:
Doctors Without Borders alarmed at 'catastrophic situation' in al-Shifa hospital
The aid agency Doctors Without Borders has quoted a surgeon in the agency’s series of tweets expressing concern at the “catastrophic situation” inside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City amid intensifying strikes.
“Over the last few hours, the attacks against al-Shifa hospital have dramatically intensified. Our staff at the hospital have reported a catastrophic situation inside just few hours ago,” the aid agency posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
A surgeon is quoted as saying:
There is a patient who needs surgery. There is a patient who’s already asleep in our department. We cannot evacuate ourselves and [leave] these people inside. As a doctor. I swear to help the people who need help.
Doctors Without Borders said it was currently unable to contact any of its staff in the hospital. Caretakers were still inside the facility as well.
We're currently unable to contact any of our staff inside Al-Shifa, and we are extremely concerned about the safety of patients and the medical staff. Patients are still in the hospital, some in critical condition and unable to move.
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) November 11, 2023
The agency added:
We urgently reiterate our calls to stop the attacks against hospitals and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff and patients.
Israeli has claimed the al-Shifa hospital has acted as a shield for military infrastructure, which Hamas denies.
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Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Saudi Arabia on Saturday is the first by an Iranian head of state since Tehran and Riyadh ended years of hostility under a China-brokered deal in March.
“Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action,” Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for the summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the Saudi capital, as we posted a short while ago.
Raisi added:
Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important.
Reuters also reported that Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who is accompanying Raisi, was quoted by the Padolat government website as saying:
The summit will send a strong message to warmongers in the region and result in the cessation of war crimes in Palestine.
Raisi said in televised comments at Tehran airport:
America says it doesn’t want an expansion of the war and has sent messages to Iran and several countries [to this effect]. But these statements are not consistent with America’s actions.
The war machine in Gaza is in the hands of America, which is preventing a ceasefire in Gaza and expanding the war. The world must see the true face of America.
Arab leaders to hold emergency summit today
Arab leaders and the Iranian president are in the Saudi capital on Saturday for a summit meeting expected to underscore demands that Israel’s war in Gaza end before the violence draws in other countries, Agence France-Presse reports.
The Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation were originally meant to meet separately but the Saudi foreign ministry announced early on Saturday that the blocs’ summits would be combined.
The move underscores the importance of reaching “a unified collective position that expresses the common Arab and Islamic will regarding the dangerous and unprecedented developments witnessed in Gaza and the Palestinian territories”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Arab League aims to demonstrate “how the Arabs will move on the international scene to stop the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation and hold it accountable for its crimes”, the bloc’s assistant secretary-general, Hossam Zaki, said this week.
But Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Friday said it did not “expect anything” from the meeting in Riyadh and criticised Arab leaders for the delay.
Mohammad al-Hindi, the group’s deputy secretary general, told a press conference in Beirut:
We are not placing our hopes on such meetings, for we have seen their results over many years. The fact that this conference will be held after 35 days [of war] is an indication of its outcomes.
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Iranian president says 'action' not words needed on Gaza
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that time had come for action over the conflict in Gaza rather than talk as he headed to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit on the crisis, Reuters reports.
“Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action,” Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important.”
Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, now into day 36. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a snapshot of the latest to bring you up to speed as it just passes 8.15am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv.
Doctors have reported a “catastrophic” situation in the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital as attacks on the facility “dramatically intensified”.
The Doctors Without Borders aid agency said it was “extremely concerned” about the safety of patients and medical staff at al-Shifa hospital.
“Over the last few hours, the attacks against al-Shifa Hospital have dramatically intensified,” the agency said online on Saturday morning. “Our staff at the hospital have reported a catastrophic situation inside just few hours ago.”
The Hamas government and the hospital’s director said a strike on the key health facility on Friday killed 13 people. They accused Israel of being responsible – a claim that couldn’t be verified.
The World Health Organisation said earlier that al-Shifa Hospital was facing a bombardment. Up to 50,000 people are sheltering there.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is to host an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh on Saturday.
The country had been scheduled to host two summits, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit and the Arab League summit, on Saturday but the Saudi foreign ministry said the joint summit would replace the two separate gatherings due to “the exceptional circumstances taking place in the Palestinian Gaza Strip”.
More on those stories later. In other developments:
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has said there is “no justification” for the Israeli bombing of babies, women and elderly people in Gaza. Macron, speaking to the BBC a day after a humanitarian aid conference in Paris about the war, called for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it would benefit Israel. In response, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Hamas was responsible for the civilian deaths in Gaza.
Israel launched airstrikes on or near four hospitals and a school on Friday, killing at least 22 people, Palestinian officials said. A World Health Organisation spokesperson said 20 hospitals in Gaza were out of action and that there was “intense violence” at al-Shifa hospital at Gaza City. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces opened fire on the intensive care unit at al-Quds hospital in the city.
An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson has said the Israeli army is aware of the sensitivities of the hospitals in Gaza. “The IDF does not fire on hostages but if we see a Hamas terrorist we will kill him,” Lt Col Richard Hecht said on Friday.
Israel has killed a further seven Hezbollah fighters on its northern border with Lebanon, taking the total death toll of Hezbollah fighters to 78 since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, will make his second speech this month on Saturday, setting out his latest thinking.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has urgently called for the protection of patients, healthcare workers and medical facilities in Gaza. An ICRC statement warned that Gaza’s healthcare system had “reached a point of no return” amid escalating violence that had “severely” affected hospitals and ambulances working in the besieged territory.
The number of people killed in Gaza by Israeli military actions since the start of the war on 7 October has risen to 11,078, including 4,506 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry on Friday. Another 27,490 Palestinians in Gaza had been wounded, it said.
Israel has revised downwards the death toll from last month’s Hamas attacks in the country’s south from 1,400 to about 1,200, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. The revision was “due to the fact that there were lot of corpses that were not identified and now we think those belong to terrorists … not Israeli casualties”, they said on Friday.
Thousands of Palestinians continued to flee south from northern Gaza on Friday, a day after the White House announced that Israel would begin to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in parts of the area to allow people to leave. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Friday that more than 100,000 residents had fled south from Gaza City during the past two days.
Despite the US announcement, there have been no immediate reports of a lull in fighting in northern Gaza. The Israeli military has said there would be “tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians” but “no ceasefire”. On the ground, conditions continued to deteriorate as night fell over Gaza City on Friday during a sustained Israeli onslaught with heavy gunfire, explosions and the buzz of Israeli military drones heard.
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said a child was killed every 10 minutes in Gaza. “Nowhere and no one is safe,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the UN security council on Friday, adding that Gaza’s health system was “on its knees”.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, has called for an investigation into what he described as Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombardment and shelling in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip. “The extensive Israeli bombardment of Gaza ... is clearly having a devastating humanitarian and human rights impact,” Türk told reporters in Jordan.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said “far too many Palestinians had been killed” in the war. He said that while the US “appreciates” Israel’s steps to minimise civilian casualties, it was not enough. Blinken said the US had proposed additional ideas to the Israelis, including longer “humanitarian pauses” and expanding the amount of assistance getting into Gaza.
Each recorded fatal Israeli airstrike on Gaza since 7 October has caused an average of 10.1 civilian deaths, a monitoring group has said, amid warnings that reported civilian casualty figures are likely to be an underestimate. The fatality average is far higher than in the three previous Israeli air campaigns in Gaza.
Israel is considering a deal for Hamas to release all civilian hostages held in Gaza, according to a report. Under one of the proposals being discussed, Hamas would release 10 to 20 civilian hostages in exchange for a brief pause in fighting, one official said. That could be followed by a release of about 100 civilians if terms were met.
Evacuations from the Gaza Strip in to Egypt for foreign passport holders and for injured Palestinians requiring urgent medical treatment were suspended on Friday. The suspension was due to problems bringing medical evacuees to the Rafah crossing from inside Gaza, Reuters reported. The Rafah crossing was also suspended on Wednesday due to what the US state department referred to as unspecified “security circumstance”.
The organisers of the pro-Palestine march due to take place in London on Armistice Day believe “hundreds of thousands” of people will turn out for what they say will be one of Britain’s biggest days of mass protest.
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