Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital under siege, trapping thousands inside

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Two premature babies have died due to power cuts at Gaza's largest hospital, Physicians for Human Rights Israel has said, citing doctors there, as fighting rages around the Al-Shifa complex.

"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 Israeli doctors' group said in a statement.

No fuel has entered Gaza in more than five weeks of war, prompting multiple hospitals and clinics relying on generators to shut down.

"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," Physicians for Human Rights Israel said.

Videos have surfaced online of renewed attacks on Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

Heavy Israeli air strikes in the vicinity of the Indonesian hospital, north of Gaza. 11.11.23 pic.twitter.com/jFnBnS3zcg

— salah.jami 🇵🇸 (@Salah_abujami) November 11, 2023

Infants are facing dehydration at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza due to lack of baby formula, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says.

PRCS alerted the latest update on its account on social media platform X.

Al-Quds Hospital is one of the hospitals currently operating in the besieged Gaza Strip, as it is facing an acute shortage of fuel and has been encircled and attacked by Israeli forces.

Over 14,000 patients and civilians are seeking refuge at the hospital, where they are currently under siege.

👶Infants at Al-Quds Hospital are facing dehydration due to a shortage of breast milk alternatives.

الاطفال الرضع في مستشفى القدس يعانون من الجفاف بسبب انقطاع الحليب#Gaza#HumanitarianAid #AlQudsHospital #Humantarian_crisis pic.twitter.com/Grd5kdA1Rb

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out the role for the current Palestinian Authority government to have authority in Gaza once Israel's war on the besieged territory ends.

"There will have to be something else there," he said, when asked whether the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the occupied West Bank, may govern Gaza after the war.

"There won't be a civilian authority that educates their children to hate Israel, to kill Israelis, to wipe out the state of Israel."

As Israel encircles Al-Quds Hospital and continues its bombings, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said that the hospital has been thrusted into darkness.

The organisation posted a video on X, where staff were filmed working with small lamps to light up the room. The ceiling in the room was also seen to have been damaged in the shelling. 

💢Our colleagues in the emergency operations room in #Gaza are working around the clock despite power outages and the ongoing intense shelling in the vicinity of Jerusalem Hospital. pic.twitter.com/xSG8GNVLLr

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023

Israeli forces have launched attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Haaretz and Al Jazeera report. 

Amir Arqawi, Wissam Jamal Hamran and Amir al-Qaisi have been announced as those killed during the raid, according the Palestinian health ministry in occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have been seen storming into the Jenin refugee camp, while other reports state that Israel jeeps and bulldozers have entered the city, as a main road was closed. 

Something weird is happening in Jenin.

The bulldozers established an open area in form of a circle in the city near Happy Hiper. pic.twitter.com/dBw4mxlHy5

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) November 11, 2023

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem have released a statement on X that highlights the holiday season ahead, as Israel's ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip ensues.

Calling the war 'not normal times', the leaders share their grief over the deaths of men, women and children who have been killed during the conflict and reiterate their call for a "humanitarian ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence".

The leaders also encouraged others to shed light "more on the spiritual meaning of Christmas", as they sent their thoughts and prayers to those "affected by this war and its consequences". 

"Moreover, during this season of giving, we also invite the faithful to advocate, pray, and contribute generously as they are able for the relief of the victims of this war and for those in dire need, as well as to encourage others to join them in this mission of mercy," the statement says.

Last statement of the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, on the celebration of Advent in the midst of the war#war #MiddleEast #Christmas #Jerusalem #Holyland pic.twitter.com/8fIxhdYXCv

— Franciscan Monastery (@FranciscanMon) November 10, 2023

Israeli forces say it will aid the evacuation of babies from Gaza's largest hospital, as Israel's war on Gaza ensues.

"The staff of the Al-Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow, we will help the babies in the paediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed," military spokesman Daniel Hagari says in a televised briefing.

Israeli protestors are demonstrating in Tel Aviv to oppose Israel's relentless bombing on the besieged Gaza Strip and hostages who were taken by Hamas, following the October 7 attacks.

Video footage on X have surfaced, showing an array of demonstrators carrying signs with anti-war slogans, including "Israelis for ceasefire", "War has no winners" and "Bombing hospitals. Denial of water. Forced starvation. Massacring children. This is not self defense."

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

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said in Tel Aviv that the international community should focus on limiting the impact of military operations in Gaza on the civilian population.

"All states, regardless of where their allegiance is, that are willing to help ensure that human suffering is contained should cooperate, even if they have to put up with opposition," she said at a press conference on the second day of a Middle East trip after meeting her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen.

"That's what I proposed in the Gulf, in the West Bank and today in Israel and that's what I will also take to Brussels (European Union foreign ministers)," she says.

The trip has taken Baerbock to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. She has also met with Palestinian officials in Ramallah, seat of Palestinian power in occupied West Bank.

About 21,000 people have taken part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Brussels, police have said, many chanting slogans such as "Free Palestine" and demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as they marched peacefully through the city.

Other protesters are holding up posters that read "Stop the Genocide", "Human Rights for Palestinians" or demanded the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what they are calling war crimes.

The people of Brussels stand with #Palestine - They want no part of the Zionist Project of the Right Wing Apartheid #Isreali Regime...#FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/ISj22GkkRh

— Mick Wallace (@wallacemick) November 11, 2023

Saudi Arabia have denounced what it described as "double standards" in the world's response to Israel's war on Gaza, saying Israel was getting a pass on violations of international law.

"We are watching and observing the double standards and we are reassessing based on this the credibility of international systems," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan tells a press conference following a summit in the capital Riyadh.

"If there is no commitment binding everyone to these foundations, it is difficult to speak of these foundations as unifying foundations."

Gaza's border authority have announced that the Rafah land crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders.

Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign citizens and Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment were suspended on Friday, three Egyptian security sources and a Palestinian official says.

The Palestinian official and an Egyptian medical source said the suspension was due to problems bringing medical evacuees to Rafah from inside Gaza.

Israeli forces have said nearly 200,000 people have fled north Gaza for the south of the Palestinian territory, as the war on the besieged Gaza rages on.

"Nearly 200,000 people left the north just in the past three days and moved southward," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has issued a post on X, stating that "600 inpatients" are in need of care at Al-Shifa Hospital, the Gaza Strip's largest.

This follows two premature babies who have died at the hospital, as a result of Israel's ongoing attacks on Al-Shifa and other medical facilities.

The remaining hospitals currently operating at the besieged Palestinian territory, have collectively been fast running out of supplies- especially fuel- which has not been allowed into Gaza since the fighting began.

At Al-Shifa hospital #Gaza:

We currently have around 600 inpatients who need medical care.

We have around 37 to 40 premature babies.

We have around 17 other patients in the ICU.

We have around 600 postoperative admitted patients which need medical care.

— Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (@MSF_canada) November 11, 2023

Hezbollah's chief has said the group was using new weapons in its attacks against Israel, as exchanges of fire on Lebanon's southern border intensify, amid Israel's ongoing attacks on Gaza.

Over the past week, the group has "bolstered" its action "on the Lebanese front in terms of the number of operations, targets and the type of weapons", Hassan Nasrallah said in his second televised address since the Hamas-Israel war began.

The group has used "Burkan missiles", for the first time, he said, adding that they could carry "a payload of 300-500 kilogrammes" (660-1,100 pounds).

The group has been using attack drones "for the first time in the history of the resistance" in Lebanon, he said, and has been flying "reconnaissance drones" deep into Israel daily, "some reaching Haifa, Acre and Safed" in the country's north.

The Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas group, have said they had completely or partially destroyed more than 160 Israeli military targets in Gaza, including more than 25 vehicles in the past 48 hours.

"The confrontation is unequal, but it frightens and terrifies the most powerful force in the region," spokesperson Abu Ubaida says.

Several thousand people have been demonstrating in Paris under the rallying cry "Stop the massacre in Gaza".

Gaza ceasefire rallies also took place in other French towns including Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes and Bordeaux.

Now in Paris. pic.twitter.com/NRUKFzLoRO

— Claude El Khal (@claudeelkhal) November 11, 2023

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has posted on X, stating that only seven ambulances in Gaza out of 18 are working.

The ambulances destroyed have been as a result of ongoing Israeli bombardments on the besieged Palestinian enclave. The organisation added that the ambulances remaining are at imminent risk of going out of service, as a result of running out of fuel.

🚨Only 7 out of 18 PRCS ambulance vehicles 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.

✋🔴Our teams are witnessing numerous casualties and wounded… pic.twitter.com/euLhbUHbO6

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023

The UN agency OCHA has said that 168 Palestinians, including 46 children, have been killed since October 7 by Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank, with a further eight, including a child, being killed in occupied East Jerusalem.

The agency also recorded 233 settler attacks against Palestinians.

Israel's Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant has warned Hezbollah not to start a war with Israel during a conversation with Israeli commanders on Israel's border with Lebanon.

Gallant stated that "Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a war that may happen, and it is making mistakes. If it makes those kinds of mistakes here, those who will pay the price first and foremost are the citizens of Lebanon. What we do in Gaza, we know how to do in Beirut."

He also added that "the air force is heading north, and its power is very great. We did not even use 10 percent of the air force's strength in Gaza."

The leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah concluded his speech, saying that "our front will remain a front of pressure," against Israel as it continues its bombardment, siege and ground operations in Gaza.

He also added that since his speech on Friday, 3 November, Hezbollah's activities against Israel have increased, saying that "last week saw an improvement in operations, both qualitatively and in terms of the number of operations and the quality of missiles we use, notably the Burkan missile carrying a payload of between 300kg and 500kg."

"in terms of depth, there is also an improvement, especially when we retaliated with drones and Katyusha-type rockets, the response went even deeper," he added.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff at Al-Shifa hospital have reported that people attempting to flee the hospital have been shot at.

The statement comes as MSF released a statement calling for the attacks on hospitals to stop, adding that within the last 24 hours the Al-Shifa hospital had been hit "several times, including the maternity and outpatient departments, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries."

#GAZA At the time of writing, our staff are witnessing people being shot at as they attempt to flee the Al-Shifa hospital.

— Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (@MSF_canada) November 11, 2023

According to the Palestine Red Crescent, Israeli tanks are 20 meters away from the Al-Quds hospital. 

"Direct shooting at the hospital, creating a state of extreme panic and fear among 14,000 displaced people," it added.

🚨⚠️Israeli tanks are 20 meters away from Al-Quds Hospital.
Direct shooting at the hospital, creating a state of extreme panic and fear among 14000 displaced people. #Gaza#AlQudsHospital #NotATarget pic.twitter.com/iRZggCcIkP

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023

Dr Ashraf Al-Qudra, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health has said that "we call on all Arab and international parties to intervene immediately to stop targeting hospitals in Gaza and northern Gaza."

"We renew our call to all international institutions to come immediately to Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the hospitals in northern Gaza to protect the health system and enable it to carry out its purely humanitarian tasks," he added.
 

Thousands of people are calling for a ceasefire and marching in solidarity with Gaza in London as international calls for a ceasefire increase.

MP's Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell were at the front of the march which started at Hyde Park and will move to the US embassy in London via Vauxhall Bridge. 

London right now! #CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/FRjOkEE5V8

— PSC (@PSCupdates) November 11, 2023

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah is making his second speech since the start of Israel's war on Gaza. Here's what he has said:

The purpose of Israel's onslaught and its crimes in Gaza is to push Palestinians out, to force Palestinians to "forget" about their lands, their prisoners and their homes.

In its onslaught, Israel is also sending a message to Lebanon as if to say: "look what we did to Gaza".

Israel's aggression towards Palestinian civilians, including children and women, is "monstrous" and "unprecedented".

Nasrallah highlighted that the "strangest" of Israel's crimes against Palestinians is the blatant attacks on hospitals while hiding behind false claims.

The purpose of Israel's onslaught and its crimes in Gaza is to push Palestinians out, to force Palestinians to "forget" about their lands, their prisoners and their homes.

In its onslaught, Israel is also sending a message to Lebanon as if to say: "look what we did to Gaza".

Regional leaders have issued statements at the joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said "the international community failed to bear its legal and ethical responsibilities."

"For how long will the international community treat Israel as if it is above international laws," he added. 

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan called for an international peace conference to be convened to find a permanent solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, saying "what we need in Gaza is not pauses for a couple of hours, rather we need a permanent ceasefire."

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for an immediate sustainable ceasefire in Gaza "without restrictions or conditions."

"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.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that Palestinians are facing an "unmatched genocidal war," and called on the United States to pressure Israel into halting its offensive on Gaza.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called Saturday on Islamic governments to designate Israel's military a "terrorist organisation," citing its current operations in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Raisi also urged nations that have ties with Israel to sever them and called for greater support for Palestinians.

Iraq's al-Harir airbase, which hosts US and international forces, was targeted by an armed drone, two security sources said on Saturday.

The sources said the attack caused infrastructure damage.

(Reuters)

The regional director for Near and Middle East of the The International Committee of the Red Cross Fabrizio Carboni, has said that "the information coming from the Al Shifa hospital is distressing."

He added that the medical staff, wounded, and displaced persons at the hospital "need to be protected in line with the laws of war."

The information coming from the Al Shifa hospital is distressing.

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.

— Fabrizio Carboni (@FCarboniICRC) November 11, 2023

An Israeli drone struck Saturday a vehicle deep in Lebanese territory, official media in Lebanon said, after weeks of skirmishes mainly limited to border areas since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said "an enemy drone targeted a pick-up truck" on a farmland in the Zahrani area on Lebanon's coast, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the Israeli border, without reporting any casualties.

Saturday's was the deepest Israeli strike on Lebanese territory since the latest hostilities began. It also came hours before Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was due to make a televised address at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT).

The Israeli army's Arabic spokesperson has said that the army would allow the passage of civilians from northern Gaza to the south through the Salah al-Din road as well as through Gaza's beach.

The passage would be allowed between 9:00am and 4:00pm.

The spokesperson also said that military activities around Jabalia refugee camp would be suspended from 10:00am till 2:00pm to allow for the evacuation of civilians from the camp southwards. 

Due to destruction on roads, the majority of people, including children, the elderly and the injured, have to make the move on foot.

Footage shared on social media showing thousands of Palestinians moving south have drawn comparison with the 1948 displacement of Palestinians during the Nakba.

Israel has told civilians to move south but has also targeted the south with air strikes and bombing, killing hundreds.

Many say there is no safe place from Israel's military onslaught, adding that they would rather die at home.

The draft resolution on Gaza to be submitted to an emergency Arab League (AL) summit in Riyadh on 11 November was agreed on 9 November at a meeting of foreign ministers in the Saudi capital, the assistant AL secretary general has said.

A press statement by Hossam Zaki said that the ministerial meeting concluded that the Arab position was to demand an immediate ceasefire and to reject "all ideas or efforts made by any parties, whether the occupying power or other countries, to separate Gaza from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory".

Zaki had previously criticised stances of Western countries on Israel's war on Gaza, and said that Moscow and Beijing were "more rational" and had a "much greater understanding of what is happening".

Regarding Arab perspectives on the future of Gaza after the conflict, he replied: "The Arabs refuse to talk about this matter before the ceasefire."