Gaza: Death toll tops 12,000, communications partly restored after blackout

Five people have been killed in an Israeli drone strike on the office of the Palestinian Fatah movement in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said seven seriously injured people had been taken to the Rafida hospital in Nablus.

🚨🚨 Breaking: Israeli drone airstrike targets Fatah office in middle of the Balata refugee camp in Nablus (West Bank). The building was severely damaged/partially collapsed. Several people reported killed & injured. pic.twitter.com/f77wKAhEsH

— Nour Odeh 🇵🇸 #NojusticeNopeace (@nour_odeh) November 17, 2023

Israel has rejected a proposal by Qatari mediators which would have seen 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian women and children prisoners held by Israel, an Israeli news site has reported.

YNet News said that Israel was insisting that family members held hostage in Gaza would be released together and that all Israeli mothers and children be released.

It said that another proposal which would see 70-80 Israeli hostages released was still under discussion.

The Israeli site also said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had stopped negotiations after Israel began its siege and assault of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, which has resulted in the deaths of dozens of patients, including premature babies.

The deputy speaker of Israel's parliament, Nissim Vaturi, has called on Israeli forces to 'burn Gaza now', saying that Israel had been 'too humane' in its war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Vaturi, who is a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party, said that Israel should keep denying fuel and water to Gaza, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

X limited the visibility of his post, saying it may contain 'violent speech'.

Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza has so far killed over 12,000 people and flattened residential areas. Its forces have targeted hospitals and schools and its actions have resulted in the deaths of hospital patients, including premature babies.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas's military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, has claimed that the group damaged 62 Israeli army vehicles in the last four days and killed nine Israeli soldiers.

He said that Hamas fighters had destroyed two military jeeps and a building used as a base by Israeli troops west of Beit Lahia.

“We have killed nine Israeli soldiers, we are pursuing the enemy from street to street,” Abu Obeida said.

The Hamas military spokesman added that the number of Israeli soldiers killed “is much greater than you expect”.

The spokesman of Gaza's Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidra has said there is no water in Al-Shifa hospital as Israeli troops continue to besiege and storm the building.

“There is not a drop of water, the situation is catastrophic, doctors are unable to change dressings on wounds or perform surgery,” he told Al-Jazeera.

“Children have a number of issues from diarrhoea to high temperatures, we aren’t able to treat them due to the lack of water and fuel in the hospital.”

Communications services have been partly restored in the Gaza Strip after a limited amount of fuel entered, Gaza's main telecom companies Paltel and Jawwal have said.

We would like to announce the partial restoration of telecom services in various areas within Gaza Strip. This comes after a limited quantity of fuel was provided through UNRWA to operate our main generators.#KeepGazaConnected

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— Paltel (@Paltelco) November 17, 2023

Some 17,000 litres of fuel entered Gaza on Friday through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, a Palestinian border official said, the first shipment since Israel's war cabinet said it would allow a very limited amount of deliveries.

The Palestinian official said the fuel was "for the telecommunications company" Paltel, which on Thursday confirmed a total communications blackout in Gaza after it ran out of fuel.

US President Joe Biden and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other developments in Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza in a phone call on Friday, the leaders' offices said.

"The two leaders discussed the urgent need for all hostages held by Hamas to be released without further delay," the White House said in a statement.

"The leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to increase the flow of urgently needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza and Israel’s decision to resume fuel deliveries for life-saving aid."

The White House said they agreed to remain in close touch on these issues.

Four premature babies have died in their incubators in Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital, Munir al-Barsh, the general manager of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, has said from inside the Israeli-besieged healthcare facility.

Al-Barsh added that another five babies are in critical condition, due to Israel’s raid on the hospital and the shortage of fuel, which has forced Gaza's main hospital to shut down essential services.
 

Five countries, including South Africa and Bangladesh, on Friday called for an International Criminal Court investigation into Israel's indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip, which has left over 12,000 people, among them more than 5,000 children dead.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti - all ICC members - had sought an investigation of "the situation in the state of Palestine".

Khan said in a statement that an investigation into events in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank started in March 2021 now "extends to the escalation of hostilities and violence since the attacks that took place on October, 2023."

Israel said Friday it had agreed to allow two tankers of diesel daily into the Gaza Strip, as hospitals, water and sewage facilities stopped working over critical fuel shortages. 

The decision was taken as Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza raged into its sixth week and the UN and other organisations warned aid operations were facing collapse after fuel reserves ran dry. 

Tzachi Hanegbi, national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the move was in response to a "special request" from Washington.

Israel cut off all fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip after Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, only allowing in a first delivery of some 23,000 litres on November 15 for UNRWA's delivery trucks. 

UNRWA said this was only around "nine percent" of what it needed daily. 

After Israel's announcement, an UNRWA spokesman told AFP its trucks did not even have enough fuel to reach the border to fill their tanks. 

Earlier this week, UNRWA said 70 percent of Gaza's population of 2.4 million people no longer had access to clean water in southern Gaza, where raw sewage had started to flow on the streets.

Gaza's authorities said on Friday that the death toll from Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza had exceeded 12,000 since October 7. 

The authorities said that over 5,000 children were among the dead alongside 3,300 women, with more than 30,000 more people wounded. The Gaza health ministry has previously said it could not give exact fatality figures as intense Israeli bombardment had prevented bodies from being recovered.

The actual number of dead is believed to be much higher than previous death tolls because many bodies remain trapped under the rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.

Videos have surfaced on social media, where several protesters were filmed demonstrating outside the Fox News building- in opposition for their coverage on Israel's war on Gaza.

Protesters were heard chanting slogans and holding a banner reading, “Fox News’ Lies Cover Up Genocide!”.

This comes after the controversial decision by certain US media outlets who have allowed its correspondents to be embedded with Israeli forces- as certain critics say it's 'PR not journalism'.

BREAKING: Police in New York begin arrests of protesters at #ShutItDown4Palestine action at Fox News corporate HQ

But activists remain determined to disrupt business as usual until Palestine is free! pic.twitter.com/8SR7xd38rU

— ANSWER Coalition (@answercoalition) November 17, 2023

Israeli forces have detained a prominent Palestinian photographer and journalist in Jerusalem, , local media outlets have reported. 

Abdelafo Bassam is one of several Palestinians who have undergone Israel's crackdown in occupied east Jerusalem and beyond within the occupied West Bank. 

In addition, an incursion last week in Jenin resulted in 14 Palestinian deaths, according to the health ministry, in the deadliest single raid in the West Bank since at least 2005, according to United Nations data.

#Israeli forces kidnap journalist Abelafo Bassam from occupied #Jerusalem as part of a massive crackdown on Palestinians in the #WestBank. pic.twitter.com/s2yyjMOAkm

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 17, 2023

Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, said that the UK's David Cameron would visit Israel the following week, following his congratulatory message to the recently appointed foreign secretary.

Cohen added that they would continue their discussion on attempting to release captives held by Hamas, since the October 7 attack.

Six ambulances given by Saudi Arabia are currently on route to the besieged Gaza Strip, Saudi state TV reported.

Pope Francis is expected to meet with relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and separately with a Palestinian delegation which includes some people from Gaza, sources tell news agency Reuters.

Two sources reported the planned visit with Palestinians after Reuters reported earlier on Friday about the visit with the Israelis.

Both are due to take place on Wednesday in the Vatican.

The amount of water set to be available to people trapped in Gaza will still be just 17 per cent of pre-siege levels, British charity Oxfam has warned. 

Despite announcements that Israel will allow a limited two trucks of fuel into the besieged territory,  Oxfam says that only 58 million litres is available, while without the availability of fuel, this would drop to less than 25 million litres - seven per cent.  

The charity added that the 'international standard' for an emergency is having 15 litres of water per person daily.

However, Palestinians have been reported to survive on rationing between 1-3 litres a day for both municipal and domestic use- while resorting to drinking sea and untreated water.

97% of Gaza's water was unsafe to drink even before the most recent Israeli military assault, which has devastated water infrastructure. Now, a dire situation has become catastrophic.
Water is life. The denial & destruction of it is genocide.

Visual in partnership with @10Tooba pic.twitter.com/sWbG7Ht6zW

— Visualizing Palestine (@visualizingpal) November 16, 2023

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Berlin for talks with German leaders Friday, following the Turkish leader's branding of Israel as a "terror state".

Erdogan has been increasingly critical of Israel's war on Gaza after Hamas launched a surprise attack on October 7 that Israel said killed around 1,200 people.

The Turkish leader has accused Israel of committing war crimes with its bombardment and ground incursion in Gaza, where the death toll has mounted past 11,000, mostly civilians and including thousands of children, according to Palestinian health authorities in the besieged territory.

 Erdogan will be making his first visit to Germany since 2020, when he attended a conference on Libya in Berlin.

Talks on opening a humanitarian aid corridor into north Gaza could yield results soon, Greece's foreign minister George Gerapetritis said on Friday, a day after meeting his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts.

Gerapetritis said he believed Israel was considering allowing increased aid and was keen to hear all possible options.

Cyprus has also made a proposal, which Greece endorses, to open a maritime corridor to expand capacity for relief into the Palestinian enclave beyond the Rafah crossing from Egypt.

"I am in constant communication with both parties and I am relatively optimistic that we could have some positive results soon," said the minister, who met Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Ramallah and Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Jerusalem on Thursday.

Norway's foreign ministry has said it will offer a flight on Saturday from Egypt's Cairo to Oslo to bring home Norwegians who have left Gaza in recent days.

The flight will be operated by Norwegian Air, the airline said in a separate statement.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) have released an update that its teams are “besieged” as Israeli tanks are continue to remain stationed within the hospital’s vicinity, as heavy gunfire ensues.

“We demand immediate intervention to protect our teams that are now in danger,” the PRCS said.

PCRS also reported on Thursday that there have been "several casualties in the hospital courtyard about 30 meters away" from its team but were not able to reach. 

🚨🚑PRCS emergency medical teams remain besieged at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. Israeli tanks are stationed in the hospital’s vicinity, amidst heavy gunfire by Israeli soldiers.

🔊We demand immediate intervention to protect our teams that are now in danger⚠️#Gaza#NotATarget…

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 17, 2023

In the Bedfordshire town of Luton, a sixth form college has begun protesting in solidarity with Palestine.

The students of Luton Sixth Form College have been demonstrating against the college's links with arms manufacturer Leonardo, which arms Israel's military forces.

Videos have surfaced online, as recent footage shows hundreds of students gathering outside the sixth form college, waving banners and Palestine flags- while chanting slogans such as 'Free Palestine' and 'Justice Now'.

HAPPENING NOW: Hundreds of students at Luton Sixth Form College walk out in solidarity with Palestine and in protest at the college's links with arms manufacturer Leonardo. pic.twitter.com/q7kpcYIkQS

— Taj Ali (@Taj_Ali1) November 17, 2023

Hamas has said that it considers the Biden administration in the US responsible for the “ethnic cleansing” that has been committed by Israeli forces at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

In a statement, the group has called Israel's conducts at the hospital a “systematic extermination,” as Israel has been raiding the hospital on its third day, while the world watches.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza has said Friday that 24 patients have died in the past two days at Al-Shifa hospital owing to power cuts, as Israeli forces search the facility for alleged Hamas hideouts.

"Twenty-four patients in different departments have died over the last 48 hours as vital medical equipment has stopped functioning because of the power outage," said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported today that over 800,000 Palestinians remain in the besieged Gaza City and northern areas despite ongoing Israeli destructive ground operations. 

The PCBS said in a statement that this figure indicates that "two-thirds of the population of the northern governorates still reside in the northern areas of the Gaza Strip."

It noted that Palestinians decided to stay in the northern parts of the enclave "despite the barbaric brutality of the Israeli occupation bombardment, which led to mass murdering of civilians in their own homes and tremendous destruction of residential buildings, and of all civil facilities, including hospitals, schools, places of worship, bakeries, (and) facilities."

A third of the population or 400,000 Palestinians in the northern parts of Gaza has been displaced to the south of Gaza, the statement said, adding that "The population currently residing in the central and southern governorates of Gaza Strip (including Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah) is 1.43 million people."

A doctor at the Gaza Strip's Al Shifa hospital has said that Israeli forces had "found nothing" during searches of the hospital complex, and that food and water were running out.

Doctor Ahmed El Mokhallalati told news agency Reuters that despite the "difficult" conditions at the hospital, no babies had died there since Israel's troops entered it on Wednesday.

"It’s a totally terrifying situation, here the Israeli tanks and the Israeli troops have been moving within the hospital area, all over the hospital," said Dr. Mokhallalati.

"They have found nothing. They have found no single resistance. No single gunshot, against them within the hospital area."

"What happened is that the people, we run out of food, we ran out of drinking water. And then, yesterday, [Israeli forces] arranged some, just some food and water, which is very, very minimal, which doesn't cover, maybe 40% of the number of people around here," he added.

The BDS branch in Morocco have issued an open letter to the Royal Moroccan Football Federation to disband its contract with its technical supplier Puma.

The letter said that as result of Israel's current assault on Gaza and prior, BDS emphasised on Puma's connection to the Israeli Football Association as a sponsor which was reported to open in illegal settlements.

BDS Maroc also urged the Moroccan National women's team to pressure the federation, following the team's show of solidarity to Palestine during their match against Namibia on October 31.

"At BDS Maroc, we have repeatedly called on the Royal Moroccan Football Federation to terminate the contract with Puma company and distancing the university from polishing Puma’s complicity," the letter said.

"We are counting on you - the Lionesses of the Atlas - to consolidate your solidarity And our support in pressuring the Moroccan Football Federation to end its contract with Puma, which is complicit in crimes."

Turkish news outlet TRT World has said that Israeli police attacked their news team while covering the Friday prayers in occupied East Jerusalem.

TRT World posted a video on X that showed Israeli forces hitting their camera, cracking the lens.

Fahrettin Altun, the country’s director of communication, also tweeted his condemnation of the attack and said that “this ugly attack has added a new embarrassment to Israel’s record on press freedom.”

An israeli soldier vandalistically smashes the television camera of the Turkish News Channel @trtworld in Jerusalem | via @Angelo4justice3 pic.twitter.com/0Y1XtAAP8W

— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) November 17, 2023

İsrail, askerinden polisine tüm silahlı unsurlarıyla uluslararası hukuku çiğnemeye, adeta kural, ilke tanımamaya devam ediyor.

İsrail polisinin Kudüs'te TRT Haber ekibine saldırısını kınıyorum, TRT ailesine geçmiş olsun dileklerimi iletiyorum.

Hiç kuşkusuz bu çirkin saldırı,…

— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) November 17, 2023

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has announced that it will submit a notice of intention to seek prosecution of Canadian government officials for "aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza". 

Several members of the government such Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and others are due to receive the notice.

The ICJP's Legal Working Group for Canadian Accountability added that it would gather evidence on the named Canadian officials and send to "appropriate legal forums", including the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

🚨BREAKING🚨

Canadian government issued with notice of intention to seek prosecution of politicians for complicity in war crimes in Gaza.

PM @JustinTrudeau one of four Canadian politicians issued with the notice.

Full letter available below⬇️https://t.co/LCxL1fQvIM pic.twitter.com/cmobBlWKEK

— ICJP (@ICJPalestine) November 16, 2023

Dozens of people were killed, while 100 other people have been wounded during the attack on al-Falah School located in the Zeitoun neighbourhood south of Gaza City, witnesses tell news publication Al Jazeera English.

Al-Falah was sheltering thousands of displaced people and the attack by an Israeli strike had taken place last night.

However, the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza said it discovered the attack occurred the following morning due to a telecommunications blackout across the besieged Strip.

More updates to come.

In occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have begun firing tear gas at demonstrators who are campaigning against Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to Palestinian activists and news outlets posting on social media.

Videos have surfaced online showing crowds of people who are escaping from the tear gas, as drones fly above.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) wrote on X that Israeli forces are also blocking its paramedics "from accessing injuries within a private vehicle at the entrance of Hebron, specifically in Ras al-Joura area”.

Israeli Occupation forces are obstructing our teams from accessing injuries within a private vehicle at the entrance of Hebron, specifically in Ras al-Joura area.#Gaza#NotATarget #IHL pic.twitter.com/99TV518no9

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 17, 2023

Israeli occupation forces quell a protest in Hebron, the occupied West Bank, against the ongoing Israeli genocide in #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/HPprLTk00X

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 17, 2023

 The families of Israeli hostages and thousands of supporters marched towards Jerusalem on Friday, ramping up pressure on the government to secure their release nearly six weeks after Hamas abducted them and took them into Gaza.

The procession left Tel Aviv three days ago and at this point stretched a few kilometres.

Police blocked off parts of the main highway as the marchers began to ascend the foothills leading to Jerusalem.

They held up pictures of their loved ones, waved Israeli flags, and chanted "We won't give up, we demand the hostages' release!"

⚡️ March from Tel Aviv to occupied Quds by families of Israeli hostages...

These families have been abandoned by Israeli regime that prioritizes killing Palestinian children rather than saving their own! pic.twitter.com/mLQpi8TwM2

— 𝐄𝐡𝐬𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐣𝐚𝐝 🇮🇷🇵🇸 (@Safarnejad_IR) November 17, 2023

 Israel's war cabinet has approved letting in two fuel trucks a day into Gaza to help meet UN needs, an Israeli official tells news agency Reuters.

The official, who declined to be identified, said the decision came after a request from Washington.

Allowing in the fuel, the official said, gives Israel extra room to maneuver in the international arena so it can continue its campaign to eradicate Hamas in Gaza.

The amount of fuel will give "minimal" support for water, sewage and sanitary systems in Gaza to prevent pandemics, the official said. 

Israeli forces surrounded a Gaza City hospital on Thursday, with the Palestine Red Crescent Society reporting that its ambulance crews were trapped there.

The Red Crescent's teams at Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital reported explosions in the area as well as heavy gunfire, the humanitarian group said on social media platform X, amid fears of a repeat of the brutal Israeli siege on the nearby Al-Shifa hospital.

Its medics were unable to reach dead and wounded people some 30 metres away in the hospital courtyard.

Read more below:

Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians during a raid on the occupied West Bank's Jenin refugee camp.

Israeli forces carried out an operation late on Thursday and early hours of Friday, during which they hurled explosives and fire on the camp.

They said the five Palestinians killed were "militants".

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said three people were killed in the Jenin raid, with 15 more wounded, four in critical condition.

Read our previous reporting on the escalation in the occupied West Bank since Israel's onslaught on Gaza began on 7 October.

A number of people have been pronounced dead and others were wounded following an Israeli strike that has targeted al-Falah School, Al Jazeera English reports.

The school also took in thousands of displaced people in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

Norway's parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the government to be ready to recognise an "independent" Palestinian state, in a new sign of Europe's anxiety over the Gaza war.

The proposition was made by Norway's ruling coalition to counter a resolution by smaller parties calling for an immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.

Passed with an overwhelming majority in parliament, it said the assembly "asks the government to be ready to recognise Palestine as an independent state when recognition could have a positive impact on the peace process, without making a final peace accord a condition."

The wording means that no recognition is likely in the immediate future but is a sign of the concern over the Gaza war in national assemblies across Europe.

Iceland, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania are among countries to have already given legal recognition to a Palestinian state.

The Los Angeles Times threatens to blocks staff from conducting the Gaza conflict coverage for at least three months if journalists signed an open letter that condemned western media coverage of the war, Semafor reports.

Following the report's release, LA Times reporter Suhauna Hussain confirmed that several staff members had been suspended from covering Gaza, as she said the company's actions "removes a great many Muslim journalists and most [if] not all Palestinians at the LA Times from coverage".

She also clarified that 'more than three dozen' members of staff have signed the letter in opposition to the war on Gaza.

actually, it wasn’t just a dozen LA Times employees who signed, it was more than three dozen. and yes it’s true we’ve been taken off coverage, which in effect removes a great many Muslim journalists and most of not all Palestinians at the LA Times from coverage https://t.co/88EE27wsxJ

— suhauna hussain (@suhaunah) November 17, 2023

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it was very concerned about the spread of disease of Gaza as weeks of Israeli bombardments have caused the population to crowd in shelters with scarce food and clean water.

"We are extremely concerned about the spread of the disease when the winter season arrives," said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

He said that more than 70,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and over 44,000 cases of diarrhoea had been recorded in the densely populated enclave, figures higher significantly higher than expected.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged leaders of developing nations to unite in the face of growing challenges due to the Israel's war on Gaza, as he convened a virtual summit of more than 100 countries.

The Voice of Global South Summit was convened to follow up on decisions made during the Group of 20 top world economies meeting in September that New Delhi claimed was a diplomatic success and where the African Union was added as a member.

Modi in his speech also condemned civilian deaths during the conflict and emphasized the new challenges from the war.

“India has condemned the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. We have exercised restraint as well. We have given emphasis on dialogue and diplomacy. We also strongly condemn the deaths of civilians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” Modi said.

Hamas has accused the US of "involvement in war crimes and genocide being committed by the Israeli occupation" in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement issued by the group earlier today.

Hamas criticised Washington for "the repetition of a blatantly false narrative, demonstrated by ridiculous stories fabricated by the occupation army's spokesman after they stormed the Al-Rantisi and Al-Shifa Hospitals", denying Israeli reports that the medical facilities had been used as a base for militants.

"We affirm that by giving a green light to the Israeli occupation to commit more crimes and massacres, the US holds a political and legal responsibility, that has no statute of limitations," the statement, posted on the Hamas Telegram channel, said.

Israel last night carried out fresh strikes against several sites near the Syrian capital Damascus.

“Our air defence systems responded to an Israeli missile attack targeting several sites in the Damascus area”, Syrian regime broadcaster SANA reported.

The attack took place at 02:25 local time (23:25 GMT), and it was launched from “the occupied Syrian Golan”, according to SANA. It also said it had “shot down most of the missiles”.

Earlier this week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Israel carried out strikes in Syria’s south-western Deraa province after two missiles where launched from Syrian territory into the Golan earlier on the same day.

Israel launched new strikes against Lebanon this morning, bombing the outskirts of Naqoura and Aalma al-Shaab.

There were also strikes reported on the outskirts of six towns in the south, including Naqoura.

According to numbers released yesterday by a research laboratory at the American University of Beirut, Israel has carried out 553 strikes on Lebanon since 7 October.

Hezbollah meanwhile claimed overnight to have targeted an Israeli tank and a number of Israeli army positions across the border.

On Tuesday we released our first weekly timeline of escalation on the Lebanese southern border. To read details on the almost 700 events so far and filter through the data, visit our interactive dashboard at: https://t.co/maSZC1V8yz https://t.co/09ZxnzfOXJ pic.twitter.com/i7XOvKBhPY

— Beirut Urban Lab (@BeirutUrbanLab) November 16, 2023

Telecommunication and internet services were cut off in the Gaza Strip last night due to fuel shortage.

Paltel, Gaza’s biggest telecommunications provider, said in a statement that “all telecom services in the strip have gone out of service as all energy sources sustaining the network have been depleted, and fuel was not allowed in".

The Jawwal telecommunications company also issued a similar statement.

This is the third outage of its kind in the strip since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on 7 October. 

An outage was reported following heavy Israeli bombardment at the start of the ground incursion into Gaza on 27 October, but service was later restored.