Israel says its forces are carrying out a “precise and targeted operation” at the Al-Shifa Hospital. Israel has claimed the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, includes a Hamas command center, an allegation denied by hospital officials and Hamas.
Hundreds of staff and patients are inside Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports, along with several thousand people who sought shelter from Israel’s offensive. The hospital director said the situation was “catastrophic” prior to the raid by Israeli forces.
UN trucks are expected to bring fuel Wednesday into the Gaza Strip for the first time since October 7, a US official told CNN. A UN agency warned its aid operation would cease soon if fuel was not allowed into the enclave.
Hamas blames Israel and the US for Israeli army raid on Gaza's largest hospital
From CNN's Andrew Carey
Both Israel and the United States are to blame for the Israeli army’s raid on Gaza’s largest hospital, according to a statement from Hamas.
The raid on the Al-Shifa hospital also constituted a failure by the United Nations to defend Palestinians, Hamas said.
“The silence of the United Nations and the betrayal of many countries and regimes will not deter our Palestinian people from clinging to their land and their legitimate national rights,” Hamas said.
Hamas claimed the US had given Israel, “a green light … to commit more massacres against civilians” by supporting what it called Israel’s “false narrative” – that Hamas was using Al-Shifa hospital as a command and control base.
The remarks echoed claims made by Israel, which Palestinian hospital officials and Hamas have consistently rejected.
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Hundreds of people facing "catastrophic conditions" inside Al-Shifa hospital as Israeli operation gets underway
From CNN Staff
Hundreds of staff and patients are still inside Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.
Doctors reported Monday that premature babies at Gaza’s largest hospital were being wrapped in foil and placed next to hot water in a desperate bid to keep them alive.
Meanwhile, a reporter for the Al Arabiya network who was inside the hospital told CNN that people were too scared to flee due to the heavy fighting.
Global attention has turned to the hospital amid reports suggesting several patients, including children, have died in what the hospital’s director has called “catastrophic” conditions.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, the director-general of the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, said Monday that medical staff had refused an Israel Defense Forces evacuation order because they fear approximately 700 patients would die if they were left behind.
“The problem is not the doctors, it’s the patients. And if they are left behind, they will die, and if they are transferred, they will die on the way. This is the problem: We are talking about 700 patients,” Al-Bursh told CNN on Monday.
A doctor present at Al-Shifa hospital told CNN they were given a 30-minute warning before the Israeli operation on the complex began early Wednesday.
Amid the deteriorating conditions, military spokesperson Peter Lerner told CNN that the Israeli forces were trying to “mitigate” the presence of civilians at Al-Shifa hospital – citing the presence of medics and Arabic speakers among those carrying out the raid – which was making the ground operation “challenging.”
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Israeli tanks have entered Al-Shifa hospital complex, journalist inside says
From CNN's Abeer Salman
Israeli tanks have breached Gaza’s largest hospital complex, according to a journalist inside Al-Shifa.
“We can see them pointing the guns of the tanks toward the hospital. We are not sure whether soldiers are inside the hospital [buildings], but they are inside the complex with the tanks,” Khader Al Za’anoun, a reporter for the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, told CNN.
There were gunfire exchanges across the yard, and some of the windows in one of the buildings were out, Al Za’anoun added.
Hundreds of staff and patients are still at Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand people who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.
Israel believes it has given the Hamas operatives it accuses of being inside the hospital sufficient time to cease their activities inside the building, according to the statement.
Hospital officials have consistently rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas has built a command and control center under the hospital.
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Israel says it's carrying out a "precise and targeted operation" in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza
From CNN's Andrew Carey and Celine Alkhaldi
Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City on November 8.
A statement accused Hamas of “continued military use of the Shifa hospital,” which, it said, “jeopardised the hospital’s protected status under international law.”
Israel believes it has given the Hamas operatives it accuses of being inside the hospital sufficient time to cease their activities inside the building, according to the statement.
Hospital officials have consistently rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas has built an important command center under the hospital, Gaza’s largest.
Hundreds of staff and patients are still at Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.
Medics “who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment” are among the Israeli forces carrying out the raid, the IDF said.
A doctor at Al Shifa told CNN they were given a 30-minute warning before the Israeli operation on the complex began.
“We were asked to stay clear of the windows and the balconies. We can hear the armored vehicles, they are very close to the entrance of the complex,” Dr. Khaled Abu Samra said.
The remarks echoed claims made by Israel, which Palestinian hospital officials and Hamas have rejected.
The Pentagon said the US has newly declassified intelligence that claims to show that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were using hospitals — including Al-Shifa — as a “way to conceal and support their military operations and hold hostages.”
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Israel says it's in control of northern Gaza as concerns mount about hospital safety. Here's what to know
From CNN staff
Israel and Hamas are moving closer to a deal to secure the release of hostages in exchange for a sustained, days-long pause in fighting, a senior United States official familiar with the talks said on Tuesday.
Meantime, concerns continue to mount as Israeli forces pound medical facilities in the Palestinian enclave. Israel’s defense minister claimed that Hamas has lost control in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City.
The continuing fuel blockade has resulted in a deepening humanitarian crisis as hospitals, water systems, bakeries and other services reliant on electricity shut down.
Latest death toll: At least 11,255 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, about 4,630 of whom were children, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. The ministry said in a statement that it was having significant difficulties obtaining updated information because of the parlous state of communications in Gaza.
Where hostage negotiations stand: The United States, Israel and Hamas — with Qatar playing a significant mediating role — have been engaged in talks for weeks to free the hostages. The broad parameters that are currently being discussed entail Hamas releasing a large group of people at the same time Israel frees Palestinian prisoners. The exchange would take place in the course of a sustained, days-long pause in fighting. Israel recently asked for 100 hostages to be released, according to a Hamas spokesman and a source familiar with the negotiations.
Optimism from the US: President Joe Biden said he believes a deal can be reached to release hostages taken during the October 7 attacks. “I believe it’s going to happen. But I don’t want to get into detail,” Biden told reporters at the White House. The State Department would not say whether any deal for Hamas to release hostages would include freeing all 10 American citizens held. The youngest American hostage and the only known US minor child currently being held has been identified as 3-year-old Abigail Edan, according to a family member.
Israeli offensive actions: Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli troops are in control of northern Gaza and “especially Gaza City.” He said it was demonstrated by Israeli soldiers entering the Legislative Council building in the heart of the city on Monday. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in Tulkarem during an overnight raid on the town, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said. The Israeli army said it was pursuing militants.
The humanitarian crisis continues: An estimated 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza since November 5, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Another UN human rights agency is warning that “hundreds of thousands of civilians” remain trapped in Gaza City. Egyptian officials are also working to bring 36 newborn babies from Al-Shifa Hospital to Egypt, according to the country’s health minister. Gaza’s largest flour and wheat manufacturing mill could stop production in a few days due to the lack of fuel, the head of public relations for Al-Salam Mills said.
Fighting across the border: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah “not to test Israel” after intense fire was reported around the border overnight. The IDF said its fighter jets fought back at mortar launches fired from Lebanon overnight and also struck Hezbollah infrastructure and operational command centers.
Global pressure: The government of Belize has approved measures to suspend diplomatic ties with Israel and repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he discussed the situation in Gaza with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and both sides “expressed deep concern at the unprecedented increase in civilian casualties,” the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that there should be the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Back and forth with the UN chief: Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “does not deserve to be the head of the United Nations” after the UN chief commented that something is “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operation in Gaza. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric later defended Guterres, saying he is continuing his work and is focused on international humanitarian law and human rights.
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Both Israel and the United States are to blame for the Israeli army’s raid on Gaza’s largest hospital, according to a statement from Hamas.
The raid on the Al-Shifa hospital also constituted a failure by the United Nations to defend Palestinians, Hamas said.
“The silence of the United Nations and the betrayal of many countries and regimes will not deter our Palestinian people from clinging to their land and their legitimate national rights,” Hamas said.
Hamas claimed the US had given Israel, “a green light … to commit more massacres against civilians” by supporting what it called Israel’s “false narrative” – that Hamas was using Al-Shifa hospital as a command and control base.
The remarks echoed claims made by Israel, which Palestinian hospital officials and Hamas have consistently rejected.
Link Copied!
Hundreds of staff and patients are still inside Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.
Doctors reported Monday that premature babies at Gaza’s largest hospital were being wrapped in foil and placed next to hot water in a desperate bid to keep them alive.
Meanwhile, a reporter for the Al Arabiya network who was inside the hospital told CNN that people were too scared to flee due to the heavy fighting.
Global attention has turned to the hospital amid reports suggesting several patients, including children, have died in what the hospital’s director has called “catastrophic” conditions.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, the director-general of the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, said Monday that medical staff had refused an Israel Defense Forces evacuation order because they fear approximately 700 patients would die if they were left behind.
“The problem is not the doctors, it’s the patients. And if they are left behind, they will die, and if they are transferred, they will die on the way. This is the problem: We are talking about 700 patients,” Al-Bursh told CNN on Monday.
A doctor present at Al-Shifa hospital told CNN they were given a 30-minute warning before the Israeli operation on the complex began early Wednesday.
Amid the deteriorating conditions, military spokesperson Peter Lerner told CNN that the Israeli forces were trying to “mitigate” the presence of civilians at Al-Shifa hospital – citing the presence of medics and Arabic speakers among those carrying out the raid – which was making the ground operation “challenging.”
Link Copied!
Israeli tanks have breached Gaza’s largest hospital complex, according to a journalist inside Al-Shifa.
“We can see them pointing the guns of the tanks toward the hospital. We are not sure whether soldiers are inside the hospital [buildings], but they are inside the complex with the tanks,” Khader Al Za’anoun, a reporter for the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, told CNN.
There were gunfire exchanges across the yard, and some of the windows in one of the buildings were out, Al Za’anoun added.
Hundreds of staff and patients are still at Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand people who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.
Israel believes it has given the Hamas operatives it accuses of being inside the hospital sufficient time to cease their activities inside the building, according to the statement.
Hospital officials have consistently rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas has built a command and control center under the hospital.
Link Copied!
Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City on November 8.
A statement accused Hamas of “continued military use of the Shifa hospital,” which, it said, “jeopardised the hospital’s protected status under international law.”
Israel believes it has given the Hamas operatives it accuses of being inside the hospital sufficient time to cease their activities inside the building, according to the statement.
Hospital officials have consistently rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas has built an important command center under the hospital, Gaza’s largest.
Hundreds of staff and patients are still at Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.
Medics “who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment” are among the Israeli forces carrying out the raid, the IDF said.
A doctor at Al Shifa told CNN they were given a 30-minute warning before the Israeli operation on the complex began.
“We were asked to stay clear of the windows and the balconies. We can hear the armored vehicles, they are very close to the entrance of the complex,” Dr. Khaled Abu Samra said.
The remarks echoed claims made by Israel, which Palestinian hospital officials and Hamas have rejected.
The Pentagon said the US has newly declassified intelligence that claims to show that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were using hospitals — including Al-Shifa — as a “way to conceal and support their military operations and hold hostages.”
Link Copied!
Israel and Hamas are moving closer to a deal to secure the release of hostages in exchange for a sustained, days-long pause in fighting, a senior United States official familiar with the talks said on Tuesday.
Meantime, concerns continue to mount as Israeli forces pound medical facilities in the Palestinian enclave. Israel’s defense minister claimed that Hamas has lost control in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City.
The continuing fuel blockade has resulted in a deepening humanitarian crisis as hospitals, water systems, bakeries and other services reliant on electricity shut down.
Latest death toll: At least 11,255 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, about 4,630 of whom were children, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. The ministry said in a statement that it was having significant difficulties obtaining updated information because of the parlous state of communications in Gaza.
Where hostage negotiations stand: The United States, Israel and Hamas — with Qatar playing a significant mediating role — have been engaged in talks for weeks to free the hostages. The broad parameters that are currently being discussed entail Hamas releasing a large group of people at the same time Israel frees Palestinian prisoners. The exchange would take place in the course of a sustained, days-long pause in fighting. Israel recently asked for 100 hostages to be released, according to a Hamas spokesman and a source familiar with the negotiations.
Optimism from the US: President Joe Biden said he believes a deal can be reached to release hostages taken during the October 7 attacks. “I believe it’s going to happen. But I don’t want to get into detail,” Biden told reporters at the White House. The State Department would not say whether any deal for Hamas to release hostages would include freeing all 10 American citizens held. The youngest American hostage and the only known US minor child currently being held has been identified as 3-year-old Abigail Edan, according to a family member.
Israeli offensive actions: Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli troops are in control of northern Gaza and “especially Gaza City.” He said it was demonstrated by Israeli soldiers entering the Legislative Council building in the heart of the city on Monday. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in Tulkarem during an overnight raid on the town, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said. The Israeli army said it was pursuing militants.
The humanitarian crisis continues: An estimated 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza since November 5, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Another UN human rights agency is warning that “hundreds of thousands of civilians” remain trapped in Gaza City. Egyptian officials are also working to bring 36 newborn babies from Al-Shifa Hospital to Egypt, according to the country’s health minister. Gaza’s largest flour and wheat manufacturing mill could stop production in a few days due to the lack of fuel, the head of public relations for Al-Salam Mills said.
Fighting across the border: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah “not to test Israel” after intense fire was reported around the border overnight. The IDF said its fighter jets fought back at mortar launches fired from Lebanon overnight and also struck Hezbollah infrastructure and operational command centers.
Global pressure: The government of Belize has approved measures to suspend diplomatic ties with Israel and repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he discussed the situation in Gaza with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and both sides “expressed deep concern at the unprecedented increase in civilian casualties,” the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that there should be the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Back and forth with the UN chief: Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “does not deserve to be the head of the United Nations” after the UN chief commented that something is “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operation in Gaza. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric later defended Guterres, saying he is continuing his work and is focused on international humanitarian law and human rights.
