Live
[Live] Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital: Biden calls on Israel to take 'less intrusive' actions
Thousands of people remain trapped Tuesday at the site of Gaza's main hospital, amid fighting between Hamas and the Israeli army. For days, clashes between Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers have been concentrated around the al-Shifa compound, which the army suspects is home to Hamas' strategic infrastructure. "I hope and expect less intrusive actions on the hospital," President Joe Biden said at the White House.
Gaza, al-Shifa hospital, patients and refugees jumble in the corridors of the hospital, November 10, 2023. AFP--
By: RFI Follow
Advertising
Read More
Essential information:
► Israeli tanks were massed Tuesday at the gates of Gaza's main hospital, considered a strategic Hamas hideout, but Biden called on Israel to exercise restraint to protect the thousands of people trapped there.
► According to the UN, about 10,000 Palestinians (patients, staff, people displaced by the fighting) are crammed into the hospital site, or even more, according to local officials.
Hamas "has lost control in Gaza" and its fighters are "fleeing south," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday after more than five weeks of war with the Palestinian Islamist movement.
►There are only 48 hours left before UNRWA's humanitarian activities cease, UNRWA Director Thomas White said on Monday. By then, their fuel reserves will run dry. Israel still refuses to allow fuel to enter through the Rafah crossing on the territory's southern border.
Times given in Universal Time (UTC), click here to refresh
9:15 a.m.: Thedirector of al-Shifa hospital says at least "179 bodies" have been buried in a "mass grave" dug in the hospital compound. He said among them were seven premature babies who died because of a lack of electricity to keep them alive. "We were forced to bury them in a mass grave," said Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya. "There are bodies strewn in the aisles of the hospital complex, and the cold rooms in the morgues are no longer supplied" with electricity because not a drop of fuel has entered the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, he added.
On Tuesday, "one woman and one man in intensive care died," Abu Salmiya said, bringing to 29 the number of patients in intensive care who have died since the power cut in al-Shifa on Saturday. A journalist working with AFP inside the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, reported that the smell of decomposing bodies was choking. Fighting and airstrikes continued throughout the night, he added, but less intensely than on previous nights.
8:43 a.m.: The Israeli army announced on Monday, November 13, the death of two more soldiers in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, bringing to 46 the total number of its soldiers killed in the Palestinian territory since the beginning of the war with Hamas, which rules it.
7:22 a.m.: The death of Israeli-Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver, who had been missing since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, has been confirmed, an Israeli diplomat said Monday in Toronto. "Tragic news: Vivian Silver, the Canadian-Israeli peace activist previously alleged hostage, is confirmed dead, murdered by Hamas in Kibbutz Beeri," Israeli Consul General Idit Shamir announced on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Vivian Silver, 74, had won numerous awards for her commitment to peace. In 1998, she became director of the Negev Institute for Peace Strategies. In 2014, she helped create an Israeli feminist and peace movement, Women Wage Peace, which has more than 45,000 members. It had also set up aid programs for Gazans and helped them seek medical treatment in Israel.
In 1990, she moved to Kibbutz Beeri, near Gaza. Founded in 1946, this village is known as a stronghold of the Israeli left, which has become a minority in recent years in Israel. In the last parliamentary elections in 2022, the Labor Party won more than 35% of the vote in Beeri (compared to 3.6% nationally) and the far-left Meretz party 16.4% of the vote, AFP reports.
6:21 a.m.: "If we don't have fuel, we won't be able to work anymore" in the near future, says Tamara Alrifaï, director of field operations at UNRWA, the United Nations office for Palestinian refugees, in a morning interview with RFI. The delivery of bread, clean water, and medical care from UNRWA's mobile services will stop. Tamara Alrifaï also recalls that 102 employees of the humanitarian organization were killed in Gaza. "We call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," she said.
Listen hereTamara Alrifaï (UN): "We call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip"
4:40 a.m.: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accuses Israel of committing "acts of terrorism" in Gaza. "They are not killing soldiers, they are killing children," the Brazilian president said as he greeted passengers on a flight of Brazilians returning from Gaza.
Aos 78 anos, eu já vi muita brutalidade e violência. Mas eu nunca vi uma violência tão desumana contra inocentes. O Hamas cometeu ato de terrorismo mas a resposta de Israel também é letal contra crianças e mulheres inocentes. Destruição de tudo que foi construído com muita luta,...
— Lula (@LulaOficial) November 14, 2023
Brasilia Military Airport, night of 13-14 November: President Lula da Silva welcomes Brazilian refugees from Gaza. REUTERS - UESLEI MARCELINO
4 a.m.: Clashes in the occupied West Bank
Five Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the Tulkarm area of the northern occupied West Bank, the director of the local hospital said.
3 a.m.: Israeli army confirms identity of soldier hostage of Hamas
The Israeli military on Tuesday confirmed the identity of a soldier held hostage by Hamas, after the Palestinian Islamist movement released a video showing the young woman in captivity.
«
Our hearts go out to the Marciano family, whose daughter, Noa, was brutally kidnapped by the Hamas terror organization The IDF said, accusing Hamas of "resorting to psychological terrorism."
This is the first time the army has confirmed the identity of any of the approximately 240 people taken hostage and taken to the Gaza Strip during Hamas' bloody attack on Israeli soil on October 7.
2:30 a.m.: The situation is very serious in al-Shifa
On the site of the huge al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the territory, where thousands of Palestinians (patients, staff, people displaced by the fighting) are crammed "the situation is very serious, it is inhumane," Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned yesterday on X (ex-Twitter). "We don't have electricity, food or water in the hospital," said an MSF doctor. People are going to die in a few hours without ventilators that work."
«
I hope and expect less intrusive actions about the hospital al-Shifa, President Biden said at the White House. "The hospital must be protected," he added.
In the Oval Office on Monday, Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, politely but bluntly asked: "Indonesia calls on the United States to do more to stop the atrocities in Gaza. A ceasefire is an obligation for the good of humanity." Joe Biden avoids answering him in public, preferring to talk about the temperature outside in Washington. He had already been questioned a few minutes earlier by the press about the strikes on hospitals. "You know I don't mind expressing concern about what's going on. And I hope and expect that there will be less intrusive actions in hospitals. We are in contact with the Israelis. So I'm still hopeful. But the hospital must be protected. The U.S. position remains support for Israel and its right to defend itself.
01:11
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, on a visit to the United States, calls on his counterpart
For days, clashes between Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers have been concentrated around the al-Shifa compound, which the army suspects is home to Hamas' strategic infrastructure.
UNRWA to cease operations
As UNRWA is about to cease its operations in Gaza due to a lack of fuel, the Palestinian Prime Minister has asked the UN to parachute humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. If, in fact, this mechanism is conceivable, the United Nations does not envisage it in the immediate future.
The UN has already airdropped food in Sudan, for example. It can set up this system, but it needs a minimum of support, as Romuald Sciora, a United Nations specialist, explains to us, contacted by Amélie Beaucour. "Technically, it's possible. But the United Nations will need other international actors. It will need equipment, it will need help, and it will also need authorization, because Israel will obviously have to give permission to this airdrop. »
Not infeasible, but difficult to organize so quickly before the end of the week. Tamara Alrifai, director of field operations at UNRWA, the UN office for Palestinian refugees, said other solutions should be pursued. "At the moment, airdrops are not an option for the United Nations. We continue to be engaged in discussions with the Israeli authorities, but also through intermediate countries, the USA, France and other countries, to be able to use other land crossings. »
For UNRWA, the Rafah crossing alone is not logistically suitable for the number of trucks needed for humanitarian aid. In addition, the Kerem-Shalom crossing on the Israeli border would have to be opened. Before 7 October, nearly 500 trucks passed through this area to supply the stores. Without the opening of this trade line, in support of the humanitarian line, NGOs alone will not be able to stem the current crisis.
NewsletterGet all the latest international news straight to your inbox
Subscribe now
Keep up to date with all the latest international news by downloading the RFI app
Share:
Most read
1
11/11/2023
Mali: army closes in on Kidal, fighting breaks out a few kilometres from the city
2
12/11/2023
AFCON 2024 in Côte d'Ivoire: large crowds for the opening of the online ticketing service
3
12/11/2023
European Union condemns Hamas' use of 'hospitals and civilians as human shields'
On the same subject