The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
US official McGurk said set to visit Israel as part of Mideast quest for hostage deal
Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, will reportedly visit Israel on Tuesday as part of a whirlwind tour of countries in the region with the goal of reaching a US-brokered deal securing the release of many of the hostages being held in Gaza by Palestinian terrorists.
The Walla news site, citing two unnamed Israeli and American senior officials, reports that McGurk will first visit Brussels for talks with NATO and European Union officials on the Israel-Hamas war.
He’ll then arrive in the Jewish state, where he’ll meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior security and intelligence officials, the report says.
McGurk will then head to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, the report says.
The White House declines to comment on the report, which says one of the options under discussion is a deal that would see 80 women and children freed from captivity in Gaza in return for Israel releasing female and underage terror convicts from prison, as well as a several-day pause in the fighting and possibly some fuel entering Gaza.
World Health Organization says it’s lost contact with Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has lost communication with officials at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, saying it assumes its contacts have joined the stream of an estimated hundreds of thousands of civilians who have fled to the Strip’s south in recent days.
Fighting has raged increasingly closer to the Palestinian enclave’s biggest hospital, under which Israel says the Hamas’s terror group maintains a major command center as part of its vast network of tunnels.
Jerusalem has urged the hospital’s staff and patients, along with all Gaza City residents, to flee south to avoid harm as Israeli forces isolate and attempt to gain control of the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
There have been reports of gunfire targeting civilians seeking to exit the hospital and flee, with Israel saying the shooters are Hamas gunmen and the terror group blaming Israel.
In a series of tweets, WHO says several people have died and others injured in attacks that have hit parts of Shifa Hospital, and that some areas of operations have shut down.
Deeply worrisome and frightening: @WHO has lost contact with its focal points in Al-Shifa Hospital in #Gaza, amid horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks.
There are reports that some of those who fled the hospital have been shot at, wounded, or killed.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023
The UN body says it “has grave concerns for the safety of the health workers, hundreds of sick and injured patients, including babies on life support and displaced people who remain inside the hospital.
“WHO calls again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as the only way to save lives and reduce the horrific levels of suffering. Hospitals, patients, health staff, and persons sheltering in health facilities are protected under the Geneva Conventions & International Humanitarian Law,” it says.
The organization also calls for the “sustained, orderly, unimpeded and safe medical evacuations of critically injured and sick patients into Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing.”
Regarding the at least 239 hostages held in the Strip by terrorists after they were abducted from Israel on October 7, WHO says “all hostages should receive appropriate medical care and be released unconditionally.”
Air Force strikes terror targets in Syria in response to rocket fire
Israeli warplanes struck terror infrastructure in Syria a short while ago, the Israel Defense Forces says.
The IDF says this is in reaction to rocket fire several hours ago from Syria toward the Golan Heights.
The IDF doesn’t immediate give details about the targeted sites.
Jordan says it has again dropped humanitarian aid to Gaza from planes
Jordan has again dropped humanitarian aid from the air to help a field hospital operated by Amman in the Gaza Strip, the Jordanian army has announced according to Hebrew media.
The packages are reportedly dropped from planes along with parachutes, in the second such operation in recent weeks. The previous time, about a week ago, was coordinated with Israel, despite no Israeli officials inspecting the equipment ahead of time.