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Israel releases video allegedly showing Hamas used hospital for fighters and hostages
Israel’s military released video Monday from what it said was a children’s hospital that its forces moved into over the weekend. The video showed weapons it said were found inside, as well as rooms in the basement where it believes the militants were holding some of the around 240 hostages they abducted during the initial attack.
“Hamas uses hospitals as an instrument of war,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the army’s chief spokesman, standing in a room of the Rantisi Children’s Hospital decorated with a colorful children’s drawing of a tree, with explosive vests, grenades and RPGs displayed on the floor.
He showed another area that he said could have been used to hold hostages. It included what appeared to be a hastily installed toilet and air vent, a baby bottle and a motorcycle. He said forensic experts were examining the scenes.
— Associated Press
Biden on Al-Shifa and other hospital strikes: ‘Hospitals must be protected’
U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions from the news media after signing a presidential memorandum on women’s health research in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 13, 2023.
Leah Millis | Reuters
After an Oval Office event at the White House today, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell asked President Joe Biden about Israeli strikes on hospitals in Gaza.
Biden responded, “Hospitals must be protected.”
Biden also called for “less intrusive action” by Israeli forces.
Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants has encircled the sprawling Al-Shifa medical facility, prompting thousands to flee.
Shifa hospital has been without electricity and water for three days, and gunfire and bombings outside the compound have made the situation more difficult.
“Well, as we know, I have not been reluctant expressing my concerns with what’s going on,” Biden said in the Oval Office. “My hope and expectation is that there will be less intrusive action relative to hospitals and we remain in contact with the Israelis.”
“Also there is an effort to get this pause to deal with the release of prisoners and that’s being negotiated … So I remain somewhat hopeful, but hospitals must be protected.”
Shifa hospital has been without electricity and water for three days and “is not functioning as a hospital anymore,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Sunday. He said there has been gunfire and bombings outside the compound.
Patients there include dozens of babies at risk of dying because of a lack of electricity, health officials at the facility said.
A view of 33 premature babies whose lives are in danger at intensive care unit as the Israeli attacks continue on its 36th day in Gaza City, Gaza on November 11, 2023.
Al-Shifa Hospital | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
— NBC News, Associated Press
Images show daily life amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war
Images published on Monday depicted troops on the ground amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, flares descending over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and children waiting to fill containers with water in the southern Gaza Strip.
This picture taken on November 13, 2023 from a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows troops on the ground amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas.
Fadel Senna | Afp | Getty Images
A Palestinian boy rides a bicycle amidst debris in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 13, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mohammed Abed | Afp | Getty Images
Men walk on November 13, 2023 along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Fadel Senna | Afp | Getty Images
Flares descend over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon on November 13, 2023 in Northern Israel.
Amir Levy | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Palestinian children fill containers with water in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 13, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mohammed Abed | AFP | Getty Images
A Palestinian boy stands near empty shells at a supermarket in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 13, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mohammed Abed | AFP | Getty Images
A Palestinian youth holds his younger brother as they stand amid debris of a destroyed building in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 13, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mohammed Abed | AFP | Getty Images
Internally displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip are seen in their camp in Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital, in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023, as they express their support for Hamas and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Majdi Fathi | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Internally displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip are seen in their camp in Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital, in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023, as they express their support for Hamas and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Majdi Fathi | Nurphoto | Getty Images
People stand over a crater following an Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mahmud Hams | AFP | Getty Images
Palestinians including injured people leave their homes to escape Israel’s bombardments to reach southern part of the city in Gaza City, Gaza on November 11, 2023.
Belal Khaled | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
A child reacts as people salvage belongings amid the rubble of a damaged building following strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 12, 2023, as battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continue.
Mohammed Abed | AFP | Getty Images
‘We are collapsing,’ surgeon at al-Shifa hospital says
The situation at Gaza’s largest hospital, the al-Shifa medical facility, is on the cusp of collapse, the head of neurosurgery at the hospital told NBC News on Monday.
Dr. Nidal Abu Hadrous said that roughly 2,000 people are currently inside the hospital, including 600 patients and staff that can now only supply “nursing” services, following fuel and medical supply depletions. Bombardment and shooting are preventing people from evacuating al-Shifa, while the hospital is running out of food, Abu Hadrous said.
He added that 36 babies have had to be removed from incubators in the neonatal unit and would likely die. Three other infants died over the weekend.
A picture shows a view of the exterior of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Nov. 10, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Ismail Zanoun | Afp | Getty Images
On Saturday, Israeli military denied that al-Shifa was under siege and said it would help evacuate babies from the hospital. However, medical professionals inside the hospital told NBC Sunday that no one had left as far as they were aware.
The IDF say Hamas refused to allow in 300 liters of fuel that the Israeli military attempted to deliver to al-Shifa. Hamas denied the account and said the volume of fuel is not enough to keep hospital generators online for more than 30 minutes.
Both al-Shifa and the Gaza Strip’s second-largest medical facility, al-Quds, are no longer able to function in a hospital capacity.
It comes as the besieged Gaza Strip remains deprived of fuel to power medical equipment and desalinate water. A total of 20 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are no longer operational, according to U.N. estimates.
“Personally, we are collapsing,” Abu Hadrous told NBC News. “I’m not sure how many days more we will be able to survive … I don’t believe in humanity anymore. I don’t believe in all these special committees and organizations anymore. Nobody is taking care of us.”
Earlier in the day, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said al-Quds is blockaded amid ongoing shelling and fire, and that an evacuation convoy headed for the facility had to turn away.
“The medical team, patients, and their families; remain besieged in the Hospital with no food, water, or electricity,” the PRCS said on social media.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Civilians line up for flour in front of Al Salam Flour Plant
Civilians line up for flour in front of Al Salam Flour Plant, which has difficulty in finding fuel to keep the generators running, after the flour ran out in the markets as the Israeli attacks on Gaza continue on the 38th day in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on Nov. 13.
Civilians line up for flour in front of Al Salam Flour Plant, which has difficulty in finding fuel to keep the generators running, after the flour ran out in the markets as the Israeli attacks on Gaza continue on the 38th day in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on November 13, 2023.
Ashraf Amra | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Civilians line up for flour in front of Al Salam Flour Plant, which has difficulty in finding fuel to keep the generators running, after the flour ran out in the markets as the Israeli attacks on Gaza continue on the 38th day in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on November 13, 2023.
Ashraf Amra | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Civilians line up for flour in front of Al Salam Flour Plant, which has difficulty in finding fuel to keep the generators running, after the flour ran out in the markets as the Israeli attacks on Gaza continue on the 38th day in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on November 13, 2023.
Ashraf Amra | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Civilians line up for flour in front of Al Salam Flour Plant, which has difficulty in finding fuel to keep the generators running, after the flour ran out in the markets as the Israeli attacks on Gaza continue on the 38th day in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on November 13, 2023.
Ashraf Amra | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
UN aid chief calls for humanitarian pauses, fuel supplies
BEIRUT, LEBANON – MARCH 31: EU Commission Crisis Management Member Janez Lenarcic holds a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon on March 31, 2023. (Photo by Hussam Shbaro/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The EU crisis management and aid chief has called for the implementation of humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas war, and for the delivery of fuel to the Gaza Strip, where the situation is “catastrophic and only getting worse by the hour.”
Speaking to reporters on the day of an EU foreign affairs summit, Janez Lenarcic said more humanitarian aid needs to be brought in and distributed into the Gaza enclave, “wherever there are people who need humanitarian assistance, and for that it is urgent to define and respect humanitarian pauses.”
The U.N. has previously estimated that roughly 500 trucks of supplies would enter the Gaza Strip daily prior to the conflict.
“Fuel needs to get in,” Lenarcic added,” As you can see, more than half of the hospitals stopped [working].”
Calls for fuel have mounted as hospital equipment in medical facilities has stopped working, preventing treatment. Twenty out of 36 hospitals in the region, including the strip’s two largest such facilities, are no longer working.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Israeli military opens humanitarian corridor
Palestinians including injured people leave their homes to escape Israel’s bombardments to reach southern part of the city in Gaza City, Gaza on November 11, 2023.
Belal Khaled | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The Israeli military has opened a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time, covering the main road of Salah al-Din toward the area south of the Wadi Gaza wetlands, where Palestinian people have been previously instructed to take shelter.
The Google-translated message was communicated on social media by Avichay Adraee, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson for Arab media, and aimed especially at residents of the northern Gaza Strip and the Rafah area.
— Ruxandra Iordache
UN relief agency says Israeli navy struck its guesthouse in the Gaza Strip
The Israeli navy on Sunday struck and damaged a guesthouse of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, the agency said in a statement.
U.N. international staff in Rafah had left the building prior to the strike, and no casualties were reported. The guesthouse was “severely” impaired.
CNBC could not independently confirm the developments.
UNRWA says it shares coordinates of all of its facilities within the Gaza Strip with all parties to the conflict, adding it disclosed the coordinates of the staff guesthouse twice, including on Nov. 10.
“This recent attack is yet another indication that nowhere in Gaza is safe. Not the north, not the middle areas and not the south. The disregard for the protection of civilian infrastructure including UN facilities, hospitals, schools, shelters and places of worship is testament to the level of horror that civilians in Gaza are living every day,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
Roughly 780,000 displaced people are currently taking shelter in UN buildings and facilities, UNRWA estimates.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Israeli military says it has carried out 4,300 strikes to date
The Israel Air Force and ground troops have carried out 4,300 strikes to date, the Israel Defense Forces said in an operational update.
A fireball erupts in the Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment, near a position across the border in southern Israel on November 8, 2023 amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Jack Guez | AFP | Getty Images
The attacks hit anti-tank missile launch posts, roughly 300 tunnel shafts belonging to the extensive Hamas underground network that spans the subterranean territories of the Gaza Strip, as well as 3,000 Hamas positions, including command and control centers.
CNBC could not independently verify the information.
The IDF maintains the aim of its war campaign in the Gaza Strip is to fully demilitarize Hamas and release the over 200 hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.
— Ruxandra Iordache
David Cameron, returned to UK political fold, stresses ‘daunting’ challenge of Mideast crisis
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 19: Former British Prime Minister David Cameron leaves after giving evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry on June 19, 2023 in London, England. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is examining the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and learning lessons for the future. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Carl Court | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron, who unexpectedly returned as foreign minister following a minor cabinet reshuffle on Monday, has emphasized the severity of the Israel-Hamas war and the U.K.’s role to play in it.
“We are facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East,” he said in a statement. “At this time of profound global change, it has rarely been more important for this country to stand by our allies, strengthen our partnerships and make sure our voice is heard.”
His surprise appointment comes after his predecessor James Cleverly was named U.K. minister of the interior, replacing Suella Braverman. She drew criticism after repeatedly likening pro-Palestinian marches to “hate marches” and penning an op-ed to The Times in which she said the protests were “disturbingly reminiscent” of past scenes in Northern Ireland.
As prime minister, Cameron has previously met with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, while also urging a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip during the war of 2014.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Two-state-solution is the only way to achieve peace and security: German foreign minister
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters Monday that a two-state-solution is the only way to achieve peace and security for people in both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Annalena Baerbock, Foreign Minister, takes part in a press statement in Israel.
Michael Kappeler | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
“Even if this appears to be in the far distance, the conversation about this, the political horizon of it, is now more important than ever to keep hope alive in this unbelievable situation at a time where many people are losing hope,” she told reporters, according to a CNBC translation.
Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Baerbock said they all had to “rack their brains” to take steps toward containing the “humanitarian catastrophic situation in Gaza” and the “nonstop endangerment of Israel through Hamas.”
Humanitarian breaks are crucial for addressing the suffering as water access and food packages are urgently needed, especially in Gaza, Baerbock said.
“The people in Israel and the Palestinian areas must be able to live in peace and safety, and we as Europeans are doing everything to ease the current suffering in the region,” she said.
— Sophie Kiderlin
EU’s top diplomatic emphasizes need for multiple immediate humanitarian pauses
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell arrives at the European Council, the EU leaders meeting at the headquarters of the European Union. Josep Borrell Fontelles of the European External Action Service does doorstep statement to the media representatives, talks about the meeting agenda and answers questions from journalists and international press. EU leaders and heads of states have on their agenda to discuss on the 2-day summit the topics of the humanitarian "pauses" in Israel’s war with Hamas, the support to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and the migration crisis situation. EUCO in Brussels, Belgium on 26 October 2023 (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for “immediate pauses” in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas to assist Palestinian civilians stranded in the besieged and resource-deprived Gaza enclave.
“I’m saying that in plural, not a single one, but several ones. Pauses,” he stressed Monday, while speaking to reporters in Brussels. “Immediate pauses and humanitarian corridors to be established in order to face the dire situation of the people in Gaza.”
Borrell chairs a summit of European foreign affairs ministers on Monday. On Sunday, he issued a statement condemning “the use of hospitals and civilians as human shields by Hamas,” as well as urging the Palestinian militant group to release its hostages. Borrell also called on Israel “to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the protection of civilians.”
— Ruxandra Iordache
Israel, Lebanon exchange further fire
Fire exchanges have intensified between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah over the past day.
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday reported they had identified 15 launches from Lebanon in the course of an hour, with seven of its soldiers wounded during the engagement.
Plumes of smoke rise following Israeli artillery shelling on the outskirts of Alma al-Shaab, along Lebanon’s southern border with northern Israel on November 13, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.
– | Afp | Getty Images
Two further mortal launches were recorded crossing into Israel from Lebanese territory as early as Monday morning, this time producing no casualties, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on social media, according to a Google translation.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar news outlet said Israeli artillery and other “enemy” forces shot at several sites in Lebanon, including the Aita al-Shaab town, Chihine municipality and the city of Naqoura.
CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.
— Ruxandra Iordache
British PM fires minister of interior for lambasting police over pro-Palestinian march
Suella Braverman, UK home secretary, arriving at 10 Downing Street to attend a Cabinet meeting discussing the u-turn on the energy crisis, after Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked and replaced by Jeremy Hunt in London, United Kingdom on October 18, 2022.
Photo by Stuart Brock/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday reportedly fired controversial Interior Minister Suella Braverman, as he begins a reshuffle of his top cabinet.
Braverman drew widespread criticism last week after printing an op-ed in The Times newspaper that ignored guidance from Downing Street and accused London police of political bias in policing protests.
Braverman has repeatedly referred to pro-Palestine marches in London as “hate marches.” In the letter to The Times, she said that the protests were “disturbingly reminiscent” of past scenes in Northern Ireland — comments widely condemned as both incendiary and inaccurate.
A number of far-right groups clashed with police in London following her remarks, which were criticized as undermining confidence in police ahead of a substantial protest on Armistice Day on Saturday.
— Elliot Smith
Clashes continue near al-Quds hospital
Clashes are continuing near al-Quds, the second-largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said on social media.
“Israeli tanks and military stationed near Al-Quds Hospital from all directions. Bombardment is ongoing; while the hospital preparations are underway to evacuate patients and their families, and medical personnel,” it said.
CNBC could not independently confirm the information.
The PRCS previously reported that al-Quds was no longer operational after fuel sources and aid supplies critical to keeping medical equipment online and providing patient treatment ran out.
Twenty out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are no longer functioning on similar grounds, the U.N. estimates.
— Ruxandra Iordache
U.S. attacked two positions in Syria, White House defense secretary says
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the national security supplemental request, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on October 31, 2023.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The U.S. on Sunday attacked two facilities in eastern Syria that Washington purports were being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups.
“I just want to remind you that these strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the freedom of action and capabilities of these groups which are directly responsible for attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a press briefing.
“We’ve seen a number of attacks against our forces here in in recent past and we have said, and we will continue to say that we will take all necessary measures to protect our troops.”
He separately also acknowledged “tit-for-tat” fire exchanges between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, stressing “no one wants to see another conflict break out in the north on Israel’s northern border.”
— Ruxandra Iordache
Over 30 babies are at risk of dying at al-Shifa, surgeon tells NBC News
Dr. Marwan Abusada, a surgeon at al-Shifa Hospital, told NBC News on Sunday that a critical lack of resources means that three babies have died and a further 36 are at immediate risk.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is affiliated with Hamas, said earlier in the day that three babies had died at the medical facility.
It comes amid growing fears that the hospital could soon lose all power, leading critical health machinery, such as ventilators and incubators, to fail. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, on Sunday said that the medical facility had been lacking electricity and water for three days, “which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential care.”
The Israeli Defense Forces over the weekend denied that Al-Shifa was under siege and said they would help evacuate babies from the hospital. The military force also said it had opened safe routes from a number of health facilities in Gaza.
Abusada said he was not aware that anyone had left the hospital via the IDF evacuation route. A plastic surgeon at the hospital, Dr. Ahmed el-Mokhallalati, also told NBC that he was not aware of anyone departing.
— Katrina Bishop
Hamas denies refusing fuel for hospital use from Israeli military
Hamas on Sunday denied it has refused the offer of 300 liters of fuel from Israeli military intended for the use of the al-Shifa hospital, the largest medical facility of the Gaza Strip.
“The offer belittles the pain and suffering of the patients who are trapped inside without water, food, or electricity. This quantity is not enough to operate hospital generators for more than thirty minutes,” Hamas said, in comments reported by Reuters. The Palestinian militant group added that it was not associated with the management of al-Shifa.
In separate comments on Telegram, the Hamas government accused Israel of deliberately firing at departments of the al-Shifa hospital and injuring a worker who attempted to inspect an electric generator — which CNBC could not independently confirm.
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces said on social media that it attempted to hand deliver the 300 liters of fuel to al-Shifa for urgent medical purposes, but that the facility was forbidden by Hamas from accepting the supplies. The Israeli military has previously accused Hamas of storing fuel volumes and denying access to them for civilian use.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been slowly going offline, amid ongoing bombardment and the depletion of fuel to operate critical medical equipment. Twenty out of the enclave’s 36 hospitals are now no longer functioning, the U.N. said Friday.
The Israeli military justifies its attacks by saying there are Hamas military positions, personnel and infrastructure on site or nearby hospital units.
— Ruxandra Iordache
UN flies flags at half mast to honor colleagues killed in Israel-Hamas war
The flag of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) flies at half-mast to mourn the lives of UN workers lost during the war between Israel and Hamas, in front of its building in Beijing on November 13, 2023. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP) (Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)
Pedro Pardo | Afp | Getty Images
The U.N. is on Monday flying its flags at half mast to pay tribute to deaths of dozens of the agency’s colleagues killed in the conflict in the Gaza Strip. All U.N. offices will observe a minute of silence at 9:30 a.m. local time, wherever they are located.
Last week, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees announced that over 100 of its members had perished.
— Ruxandra Iordache
WHO demands cease-fire as hospital fatalities escalate
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a press conference organised by the Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, on July 3, 2020 at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said Sunday that the situation at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza has grown increasingly dire and that a cease-fire is necessary to preserve civilian lives.
He said on social media that he had received updates from health care professionals at the hospital.
“It’s been 3 days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential care,” said Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
He added that the number of patient fatalities has increased significantly: “The hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore.”
Hospitals are supposed to be protected by the standards of international humanitarian law, but speculations about Hamas’ operations within the Al-Shifa hospital have made it a primary target of Israeli attack.
Adhanom Ghebreyesus ended his social media post by demanding a cease-fire “NOW.”
— Rebecca Picciotto
Blinken speaks with Qatari prime minister on safe passage for foreign nationals out of Gaza, return of hostages
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with Qatar’s prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, to discuss “ongoing efforts to evacuate the critically wounded and urgently increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“Secretary Blinken and Prime Minister Al Thani also discussed efforts to ensure the safe passage of foreign nationals out of Gaza and the immediate and safe return of all hostages. Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the importance of the strategic partnership between the United States and Qatar,” Miller also said.
— Fred Imbert
European Union demands ‘immediate’ humanitarian pauses
The European Union on Sunday demanded an immediate pause in fighting so a humanitarian corridor can be properly established for aid deliveries and civilian evacuation.
An injured Palestinians man gets support to walk as Palestinians leave from the northern part of the Gaza to flee the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip on November 10, 2023.
Belal Khaled | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
“The E.U. is gravely concerned about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the E.U.’s statement read.
The E.U. reiterated its support for Israel to defend itself against Hamas and demanded the release of Hamas’ hostages. It also noted that according to international humanitarian law, hospitals must not become targets of attack.
In recent weeks, the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza has become a central point of combat due to the theory that Hamas is conducting significant operations within it. The hospital has experienced prolonged power outages, putting patients’ lives at risk.
“In this context, we urge Israel to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the protection of civilians,” the E.U. said.
— Rebecca Picciotto
Hamas attacks do not justify collective punishment, UN’s Guterres says
Rescuers and civilians stand amid the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mahmud Hams | AFP | Getty Images
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday Hamas’ attacks on Israel do not justify the collective punishment of Palestinians.
“You cannot use the horrific things that Hamas did as a reason for collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Guterres told CNN in an interview, adding that 101 U.N. personnel have died so far in the Hamas-Israel war that erupted after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
— Reuters
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