Gaza: WHO chief says al-Shifa no longer functioning as hospital

This live blog on the Gaza war has now ended. Make sure to follow us for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Israeli forces wound two Palestinians in Yatta, a town south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Confrontations began after the Israelis raided a charity headquarters, with two Palestinians shot in the foot, sources were cited as saying by local media.

Israeli aircraft have launched violent raids on central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, Palestinian media report.

They have also targeted the area around the Indonesian Hospital in the enclave's north.

A Palestinian is arrested near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank after being assaulted, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

Israeli forces searched his home before before they made the arrest in Silwad town.

A university student who was formerly imprisoned in Israeli jails was also arrested in the village of Beit Rima in Ramallah province.

Three children and four others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a home near Khan Younis, Al Jazeera cites a correspondent as saying.

Others were wounded when a home in al-Qarara, a town near Khan Younis, came under bombardment, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

Al Jazeera additionally reports its correspondent as saying people were killed and injured after Israel hit Gaza City in the Sidra area, without providing specific figures.

State-run Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has signed a $1.2-billion deal to supply air defence systems to Israel's military, the company said on Sunday, citing the Gaza war.

"IAI finds itself in an accelerated mode to supply systems and solutions for Israel's defence establishment, for all theaters of operation, whether sea, ground, air or space," IAI said, noting the deal was with the defence ministry.

(Reuters)

New Zealand's government on Monday said 11 New Zealanders left Gaza overnight on Sunday and entered Egypt via the Rafah border crossing.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokeswoman in an email said the people were met by a New Zealand consular team and provided with support.

Gaza's border authority announced that the Rafah land crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders after being closed on Friday.

The MFAT spokeswoman said New Zealand is working around the clock to get its remaining citizens and permanent residents out of Gaza.

New Zealand last week said it was working with 21 New Zealanders, family members and permanent residents to help them leave Gaza.

(Reuters)

Another hospital in Gaza has stopped functioning.

Kamal Adwan Hospital chief Ahmed al-Kahlout tells Al Jazeera the site's main generator has no more fuel.

The medical institution, located in the north of the strip, has therefore ceased functioning.

UN children's agency UNICEF posts a video with moving remarks from a 12-year-old from Gaza as it reiterates its call for a ceasefire.

"Of course we are scared," says Remas.

"We are still children. What is our fault? To be forced to come to shelters where there is no water, no mattresses, and we sleep on the floor in the cold."

"We are still children. What is our fault?” asks 12-year-old Remas from Gaza.

UNICEF continues to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian access across Gaza, and immediate and safe release of all abducted children. pic.twitter.com/7Japa8NxsM

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) November 12, 2023

More than 180,000 people across France, including 100,000 in Paris, marched peacefully on Sunday to protest against rising antisemitism in the wake of the Gaza war.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, representatives of several parties on the left, conservatives and centrists of President Emmanuel Macron's party as well as far-right leader Marine Le Pen attended Sunday’s march in the French capital amid tight security.

Macron did not attend, but expressed his support for the protest and called on citizens to rise up against "the unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism".

But the leader of the left-wing France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, stayed away from the march, saying on social media platform X on Tuesday that the march would be a meeting of "friends of unconditional support for the massacre" in Gaza.

The interior ministry said at least 182,000 people marched in several in French cities in response to the call launched by the leaders of the parliament's upper and lower houses. No major incident has been reported, it said.

The United States carried out two air strikes in Syria against Iran-aligned groups on Sunday, a US defence official told Reuters, in what appears to be the latest response to a series of attacks against American forces in Syria and in Iraq.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one of the targets was a weapons storage facility. The other was a "command and control" facility, which would suggest a headquarters or other staffed structure.

The official said the strikes took place within the past couple of hours and said a US review was underway to determine whether the strikes killed or wounded any Iran-aligned militia members.

The series of attacks against US forces in Syria and Iraq comes amid the Gaza war.

(Reuters)

Nearly three dozen Brazilians who had been trapped inside Gaza for weeks, and whose predicament had driven a diplomatic wedge between Brasilia and Israel, crossed the border into Egypt on Sunday, the foreign ministry said.

"The group of 32 Brazilians and families are already in Egyptian territory, where they were received by a team from the Brazilian embassy in Cairo, which is responsible for the final step of the repatriation operation," the foreign ministry wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The Brazilians are due back in Brazil late on Monday evening, the ministry said, and are expected to meet with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Two of the group decided to stay for personal reasons, it said. In total, 17 children, nine women and six men exited via the Rafah crossing, through which foreign nationals and aid have been transported back and forth into Gaza.

The slow pace of release of the trapped Brazilians increased friction between Brazil and Israel, which erupted last week after Israeli spy agency Mossad said it helped foil a Hezbollah attack in Brazil.

An appearance by Israel's ambassador to Brazil with far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, a staunch Israel ally and longtime Lula political foe, also irked Brazilian officials.

(Reuters)

The head of Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital has called Israeli allegations the facility declined fuel "propaganda".

Muhammad Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera that Israeli authorities contacted him twice regarding giving fuel.

On one occasion, they offered 2,000 litres and the other 300, Abu Salmiya said, noting that al-Shifa requires between 8,000 and 12,000 litres a day.

The hospital director said: "The same person called me at 2am and said the 300 litres can be picked up from a specific spot that is dangerous and susceptible to shelling. I told him to send it or a larger quantity so we can operate a generator via the Red Cross.

"Israel wants to show the world that it is not killing babies. It wants to whitewash its image with 300 litres of fuel, which barely last 30 minutes."

Hamas has also denied refusing the fuel.

"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 30 minutes," the Palestinian group added in a statement.

The statement also added that Hamas was not associated with al-Shifa Hospital management, "nor is [Hamas] part of its decision-making structures. [The hospital] is completely subject to the authority of the Palestinian health ministry".

(The New Arab, Reuters)

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a phone call from US President Joe Biden to discuss developments in Gaza, the emir's office reports.

During the call, Al Thani stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the permanent opening of the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

(Reuters)

A total of five premature babies and seven critical patients have died in Gaza's al-Shifa hospital, an official says, as the facility suffers fuel shortages.

"We fear the toll will rise further by morning," says Youssef Abu Rish, deputy health minister in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says Gaza City's al-Shifa is no longer functioning as a hospital.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posts on social media platform X that WHO has been able to get in touch with health professionals at the site.

"The situation is dire and perilous," he says, adding that there has been no electricity or water, and very poor internet for three days.

"The constant gunfire and bombings in the area have exacerbated the already critical circumstances," Adhanom Ghebreyesus adds, saying the number of patient deaths has risen significantly.

The world "cannot stand silent" as hospitals are turned into scenes of "death, devastation, and despair", the WHO chief says, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

.@WHO has managed to get in touch with health professionals at the Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza.

The situation is dire and perilous.

It's been 3 days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential…

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023

Medical group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it has been unable to contact its staff inside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the strip's largest, since last night.

"Other MSF colleagues living in Gaza City have reported that the hostilities around al-Shifa have not stopped," the organisation says on social media platform X.

MSF adds that one of its staff in Gaza said this morning: "There are dead people on the streets. We see people being shot at. We can see injured people. We hear them crying for help, but we cannot do anything. It is too dangerous to go outside."

Medical staff, patients in critical condition, and displaced civilians remain inside al-Shifa and must be protected, MSF says.

"YET AGAIN, we call for a cessation of attacks on hospitals, for an immediate ceasefire, and safe passage for those who wish to leave hospitals," the group adds.

🔴UPDATE:

Since last night, we have not been able to contact our staff inside Al-Shifa hospital. Other MSF colleagues living in Gaza city have reported that the hostilities around Al-Shifa have not stopped.

We are worried for their lives.

— MSF International (@MSF) November 12, 2023

The European Union says it is "gravely concerned" over Gaza's "deepening humanitarian crisis".

"The EU joins calls for immediate pauses in hostilities and the establishment of humanitarian corridors, including through increased capacity at border crossings and through a dedicated maritime route, so that humanitarian aid can safely reach the population of Gaza," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says in a statement.

He adds that the EU "re-emphasises Israel's right to defend itself" in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law.

"The EU calls for continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs," Borrell says, adding that the bloc welcomes the results of a humanitarian conference that took place in Paris on Thursday.

"The EU reiterates its call on Hamas for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. It is crucial that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is granted access to the hostages."

The UN calls for urgent international action to stop the ongoing attacks on Gaza's hospitals.

The regional directors of the World Health Organization, UN children's agency UNICEF, and the United Nations Population Fund issue a statement calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

They say: "We are horrified at the latest reports of attacks on and in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Rantissi Naser Paediatric Hospital, Al-Quds Hospital, and others in Gaza City and northern Gaza, killing many, including children. Intense hostilities surrounding several hospitals in northern Gaza are preventing safe access for health staff, the injured, and other patients.

"Premature and newborn babies on life support are reportedly dying due to power, oxygen, and water cuts at Al-Shifa Hospital, while others are at risk. Staff across a number of hospitals are reporting lack of fuel, water and basic medical supplies, putting the lives of all patients at immediate risk."

The UN agencies' regional directors say attacks on medical facilities and civilians are "unacceptable" and breach international humanitarian and human rights law and conventions.

"They cannot be condoned. The right to seek medical assistance, especially in times of crisis, should never be denied," the directors add.

They say over half of Gaza's hospitals are shut and those still functioning are heavily strained. Fuel, water, and food shortages are endangering the wellbeing of thousands of displaced people sheltering in and around hospitals.

"The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair," the UN agency regional directors say.

"Decisive international action is needed now to secure an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and prevent further loss of life, and preserve what’s left of the health care system in Gaza.

"Unimpeded, safe and sustained access is needed now to provide fuel, medical supplies and water for these lifesaving services. The violence must end now."

Gaza authorities said Sunday the death toll from Israel's war on the besieged Palestinian enclave had risen to 11,180.

The government media office said the dead included 4,609 children and 3,100 women, whilst a further 28,200 people have been wounded.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society expresses its pain after announcing earlier today that Gaza City's al-Quds Hospital was no longer operational due to fuel depletion and the outage of power.

"Today we feel sadness, pain, and disappointment," Red Crescent spokesperson Nebal Farsakh says in a video posted to social media platform X.

She adds that her organisation had called on the international community and humanitarian groups to bring urgent assistance to the hospital for a week.

"The hospital was left alone under relentless bombardment, which threatened the lives of patients and health workers," Farsakh says.

"The international community, and signatories to the Fourth Geneva Convention, are accountable for the health sector collapse in the Gaza Strip."

#PRCS Spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh: “Today we feel sad, angry, and disappointed; after we had to announce that Al-Quds Hospital is out of service.#Gaza #NotTarget#AlQudsHospital#IHL pic.twitter.com/Ff0Xp9p47D

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 12, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US media Sunday a deal could be afoot to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, but declined to provide details for fear of scuttling the potential plan.

"We heard that there was an impending deal of this kind or of that kind and then we learned that it was all hokum. But the minute we started the ground operation, that began to change," Netanyahu told NBC show Meet the Press.

Asked whether there is a potential deal to free more of the hostages being held by Hamas militants, Netanyahu replied: "There could be."

But the leader stopped short of providing specifics about any plan that might be coming together to free some or all of the 239 hostages that Israel says are being held captive.

"I think the less I say about it, the more I'll increase the chances that it materializes," he said.

Netanyahu has flatly rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza without release of the hostages.

In a series of appearances on US Sunday talk shows, he sought to make clear Israel was doing everything it can to rescue or secure release of those held captive.

Asked on CNN whether he agrees with the US position that an extended pause in Gaza fighting is needed in order to get the hostages released safely, Netanyahu said: "We don't disagree with that. We need to get our hostages out."

A Palestinian official in Gaza, however, laid the blame for inaction at Netanyahu's feet.

"Netanyahu is responsible for the delay and obstacles in reaching a preliminary agreement on the release of several prisoners," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"He is not interested in finding them alive," the source said. "He is only concerned with preserving his political future."

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC that there has been "active negotiation and conversations going on with our counterparts in the region" on a potential hostages deal.

But like Netanyahu, he stayed quiet on details.

"The less said publicly about these sensitive negotiations and conversations, probably the better," Kirby said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday he opposed an "immediate" ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as calls multiply globally to halt the war in the Palestinian enclave.

"I don't think the calls for an immediate ceasefire or long pause – which would amount to the same thing – are right," Scholz said in a debate organised by the German regional daily Heilbronner Stimme.

"That would mean ultimately that Israel leaves Hamas the possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles," he added, calling instead for "humanitarian pauses".

Scholz's stance clashes with many Arab countries, France's Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is due to meet the German leader in Berlin next week.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called for pressure on the United States to stop Israel's war on Gaza, but said there would be no agreement unless Washington accepted the enclave as Palestinian land.

Erdogan returned from a summit on Saturday of Arab and Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh, which condemned Israeli forces' "barbaric actions" in Gaza without approving concrete punitive measures.

He is due to visit Germany on Friday and plans to travel to Egypt and host Iran's president in the coming weeks.

"We should hold talks with Egypt and the Gulf countries, and pressure the United States," Erdogan told Turkish reporters on board his return flight from Riyadh.

"The US should increase its pressure on Israel. The West should increase pressure on Israel... It's vital for us to secure a ceasefire," he said. 

Read the full report here. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that 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 Israel's war on Gaza. 

Patients are out "in the streets without care" after "forced evacuations" of two paediatric hospitals in Gaza, an official in the Palestinian enclave said on Sunday, countering the Israeli army which said it secured safe passage for civilians.

"The forced evacuations of Al-Nasr and Rantisi paediatric hospitals have left sick people on the streets without care" in Gaza City, Mohammed Zaqut, director-general of hospitals in the Palestinian territory, told reporters.

"We have completely lost contact with the caregivers" at these two hospitals, he added.

Earlier Sunday, the Israeli military said it had "enabled the evacuation" of the two hospitals and opened an additional route to facilitate the safe passage of the civilian population to the south of the Gaza Strip.

Zaqut also described a "catastrophic" situation inside Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, saying "no one can enter or leave it" amid heavy fighting.

Doctors and aid groups on Saturday said two out of 39 babies had died in Al-Shifa's neonatal unit after power to their incubators was cut off.

"We must save premature babies," Zaqut said.

Perched on trucks, crammed in cars, pulled by donkeys on carts and on foot, many thousands of Palestinians on Sunday fled Israeli army strikes on the territory squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean.

Youssef Mehna, one of many who moved south, said his sick wife is in a wheelchair so he had to rent "carts pulled by donkeys, trucks, cars" to transport her.

Sometimes, between rides, they were forced to go on foot. "So it was me who pushed my wife's chair," he told AFP.

Almost 1.6 million people have been internally displaced since October 7, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. This equals about two-thirds of Gaza's population.

However, people arriving in the south were no longer able to find tents or improvised shelter, with some sleeping in the streets, according to AFP journalists.

Strikes were also hitting buildings at the southern end of Gaza in Rafah, the area to which civilians have been urged to evacuate.

A strike in southern Bani Suheila destroyed a dozen houses on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounded at least 30, said an AFP reporter at the scene.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US media Sunday a deal could be afoot to free hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, but declined to provide details for fear of scuttling the potential plan.

"We heard that there was an impending deal of this kind or of that kind and then we learned that it was all hokum. But the minute we started the ground operation, that began to change," Netanyahu told NBC News show "Meet the Press."

Asked whether there is a potential deal to free more of the hostages being held, Netanyahu replied: "There could be."

WATCH: Israel PM @netanyahu delivers a message to students around the world he says are “protesting for Hamas.”

“Who do you protest against? Do you protest against the Nazis? Or ... against the Allies? … It’s an indictment of higher education in some of our universities.” pic.twitter.com/t8By4h0dTM

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 12, 2023

Around 500 foreigners and dual nationals, as well as several wounded Palestinians, were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt on Sunday, reports from both sides of the border said.

Some "500 foreign nationals from 15 different countries entered Egypt," an Egyptian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

AlQahera News, an outlet close to the Egyptian intelligence services, reported the crossing of an additional "seven wounded Palestinians" through the border terminal.

Rafah is the only crossing out of Gaza not controlled by Israel, and had been closed on Friday and Saturday.

Doctors Without Borders have said they are witnessing a major escalation of violence against Palestinians in Jenin. The group wrote on X that they have been called to the public hospital almost every night since October 7, with patients who have been shot in the abdomen and legs.

The occupied West Bank city has been rocked by continuous Israeli incursions with tanks and ground troops. Over the past month, Israeli forces have killed 30 people and injured at least 162 more in Jenin city alone.

“Most of the patients we receive have been shot in the abdomen and the legs. Some have had their liver and spleen shattered.”

Our teams in Jenin, Palestine, are witnessing escalating violence in the West Bank.

Learn more 👇https://t.co/QmCMmlJqzK

— MSF International (@MSF) November 12, 2023

Hamas on Sunday said it is suspending hostage negotiations because of Israel's handling of the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, a Palestinian official briefed on the hostage talks told Reuters.

The hospital has come under intense fire as Israeli forces close in on the facility. Two babies have died after the hospital ran out of fuel, leading to their incubators shutting down.

Israel accuses Hamas of using the hospital as a cover for a "command centre" without providing proof. Hamas has denied the accusations, while various independent witnesses who worked at the hospital also deny the Israeli claims.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, has said that Al-Shifa Hospital is completely out of service, and cannot provide any treatment even to the patients inside the facility, due to constant Israeli attacks, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Israeli bombing has been targeting the vicinity’s external surroundings as well as anyone walking inside the courtyard and between its various buildings, and those wanting to reach the gate of the complex.

“We have deaths in the nursery after the life support machines stopped working inside the section that includes 37 other children who may be on the verge of death,” al-Qudra said to Al Jazeera.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon said gunfire from an unidentified source hit a member of its contingent early Sunday, adding that the peacekeeper was in a stable condition.

The statement from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) did not indicate whether the incident was linked to ongoing exchanges of fire on the Lebanese border, mainly between Hezbollah and Israel, since Israel began its war on Gaza. 

"Shortly after midnight last night, peacekeepers in a UNIFIL position near Al-Qawzah reported hearing gunfire nearby," force spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement.

"One peacekeeper was hit by a bullet and underwent surgery. He is recovering and currently stable," the statement said, adding that the origin of the fire was unknown and the force had launched an investigation.

Late last month, shelling lightly wounded a UN peacekeeper near the border village of Hula, just hours after UNIFIL said a shell hit its headquarters in Naqura near the Israel-Lebanon border.

"Attacks against civilians or UN personnel are violations of international law that may amount to war crimes," the UNIFIL statement said.

"We continue to urge all parties involved to cease their fire," it added.

Pope Francis on Sunday reiterated his plea for an end to hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, and called for "much more" humanitarian aid for Gaza.

"Enough, enough brothers, enough", Francis said, adding the wounded in the Gaza Strip needed to be taken care of immediately and the protection of civilians assured. He also said hostages held by Hamas must be freed.

Addressing the crowds in St Peter's Square after his weekly Angelus prayers, Francis said arms would never bring peace and that the conflict must not widen.

"I am close to all those who suffer, Palestinians and Israelis," he said, adding he was praying for them.

Israeli forces fired artillery into southern Lebanon on Sunday after an incoming anti-tank missile wounded several Israeli civilians near the border, an army spokesman said.

The Israeli army said "a number of civilians were wounded" in the anti-tank missile strike near the village of Dovev, just half a mile (800 metres) from the frontier with Lebanon.

"Artillery is striking the origin of the launch," a statement said.

The Israel Electric Corporation said that the missile from Lebanon had "hit employees" who were repairing power lines downed by earlier strikes.

Since the October 7 Hamas attacks which launched Israel's war in Gaza, Israel has also traded fire with militant groups in southern Lebanon on a near-daily basis.

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai Alkaila, has said in a press release on Sunday that "Israeli forces are not evacuating people from hospitals; instead, they are forcibly evicting the wounded and patients onto the streets, leaving them to face inevitable death."

"This is not evacuation but expulsion under the threat of arms," Alkaila said as reported by Wafa. "There is a catastrophe unfolding in hospitals, with patients now dying without receiving their treatments, such as children and adults with kidney failure who are perishing at home without undergoing dialysis sessions," she added.

Alkaila also said all 3,000 cancer patients who were receiving treatment at al-Rantisi and Turkish hospitals had been abandoned to face imminent death after Israeli forces forcibly evicted them.

The first group of foreigners and injured Palestinians evacuated after the Rafah border crossing re-opened arrived in Egypt from Gaza on Sunday, four Egyptian security sources told Reuters.

Several injured Palestinians arrived on Egyptian soil to receive medical treatment, plus 80 foreign nationals and dependents, with more undergoing border procedures, the sources said.

Evacuations through the border crossing were suspended on Friday after issues transporting injured Palestinians from northern Gaza.

The number of deaths in the ongoing Israeli military attacks since October 7 has surpassed 11,100, including more than 8,000 children and women, the government media office in Gaza said on Sunday.

“Due to the targeting of hospitals and the prevention of entry of any of the bodies or wounded, the Ministry of Health was unable, on Saturday, to issue accurate statistics for the numbers of dead and injured during the past hours,” the media office said in a statement.

“We recall that the occupation [forces] committed more than 1,130 massacres, and the number of casualties reached more than 11,100 dead, including more than 8,000 children and women, and the number of wounded was more than 28,000,” it said.

Last week the US State Department's Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Barbara Leaf said before a House committee hearing that the number of those killed in Gaza is likely "higher than is being cited. 

Read more about Leaf's comments here. 

Israel's Minister for Agriculture has described what is happening in Gaza as "Gaza's Nakba", which is a reference to the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland during the foundation of Israel. 

Avi Dichter of Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, who has served in his current cabinet position since 2022, but has previously been Minister of Internal Security among other portfolios, was asked by N12 News  about images of Gaza residents evacuating south and whether that was a goal of the war, or only temporary.

He replied by describing the situation as "Gaza's Nakba". 

"We are now actually rolling out the Gaza Nakba," says Avi Dichter, Israel's Minister for Agriculture and former head of Shin Bet.

pic.twitter.com/idUA5lnnmP

— Hanno Hauenstein (@hahauenstein) November 11, 2023

This comment from a senior Israeli minister will cause alarm about Israel intentions regarding the future of Palestinians who have been and are being displaced by the war, with many fearing that they might never return to their homes. Egypt yesterday indicated that it fears that Israel plans to displace Palestinians permanently, either within the Gaza strip or potentially in the Sinai.

You can read more about that here. 

The evacuation of Russian nationals from the Gaza Strip has begun and more than 60 Russian passport holders have crossed into Egypt, Russia's emergencies ministry said on Sunday, according to Reuters.

A limited evacuation, which began on Nov. 1, of foreign passport holders and Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment, to Egypt has faced difficulties. It was paused several times in the past week due to bombardments that aid staff said hit or targeted medical convoys.

"At the moment, citizens of the Russian Federation who wish to leave the conflict zone are crossing the checkpoint," Russia's emergencies ministry said.

"Russian Emergency Situations Ministry specialists are providing medical and psychological assistance to the people on site, and providing them with food and water," it said.

It said that Russian citizens will be transferred to Cairo and will be assisted with necessary paperwork.

The ministry didn't say, how many Russian citizens are expected to leave Gaza. According to Russian media, some 1,000 Russians and nationals from the republics of the former Soviet Union have expressed a wish to leave Gaza. 

A Gaza health official said Sunday that an Israeli air strike destroyed the cardiac ward of Gaza's biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, as fighting raged around the facility.

"The occupier (Israel) completely destroyed the cardiac department of Al-Shifa hospital... The two-storey building has been completely destroyed in an air strike," Youssef Abu Rish, deputy health minister in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, told AFP.

Witnesses confirmed a strike on the hospital.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An official of the Jordanian Armed Forces said a Royal Air Force plane Saturday dropped urgent medical aid for the second time using parachutes to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza, according to the Petra news agency.

The drop operation came in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar to enhance the hospital’s capabilities and increase the ability of medical personnel to provide health and treatment services to Palestinians in Gaza.

The Armed Forces confirm that the hospital continues to operate despite the difficult conditions the hospital is suffering from amid ongoing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
 

The Palestinian Red Crescent had announced that Al-Quds Hospital is out of service and no longer operational. It comes as Israel launches an unprecedented attack on health facilities in northern Gaza, while fuel has meant medical facilities face blackouts.

@PalestineRCS announces Al-Quds Hospital out of service and no longer operational.

🚨✋The cessation of services is due to the depletion of available fuel and power outage.

🛑 PRCS holds the international community and signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention accountable… pic.twitter.com/SPg69Zv7GH

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 12, 2023

13 Palestinians have been killed in Khan Younis in an Israeli airstrike on a residential complex, health authorities in Gaza have confirmed.

The city is in the south of the strip, where Israel has been urging civilians to flee. 

Israel's three major TV news channels, without citing named sources, said there was some progress toward a deal to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Netanyahu said he would not discuss details of any possible deal, which according to N12 News would involve 50 to 100 women, children and elderly being released in stages during a three to five day pause in fighting.

According to the reports, Israel would release women and minor Palestinian prisoners and consider letting fuel in to Gaza, while reserving the right to resume fighting.

The United Nations said several people have been killed and wounded in strikes on a UN facility in Gaza City, where hundreds of Palestinians have taken refuge to escape the war.

"The shelling has reportedly resulted in a significant number of deaths and injuries," the United Nations Development Programme said in a statement issued late Saturday.

"This is wrong on every count," he added. "Civilians, civilian infrastructure & the inviolability of UN facilities must be always protected", Achim Steiner, the head of the UNDP said on X.

.@UNDP/@UN office in Gaza was shelled last night, with reports of deaths & injured among those who sought safety in our compound. This is wrong on every count. Civilians, civilian infrastructure & the inviolability of UN facilities must be always protected https://t.co/3yg3AlGDXD

— Achim Steiner (@ASteiner) November 12, 2023

Israeli forces have killed another Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, bringing the death toll in the occupied territory since 7 October to 186, the Palestinian health ministry has said.

In a statement, the ministry said: "Montaser Muhammad Amin Saif, 34, was shot Sunday by the Israeli occupation forces in the village of Burqa north of Nablus."

The Israeli forces stormed the town of Burqa and searched several homes, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Overnight, Israeli forces arrested at least 21 Palestinians in raids in Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, and Tulkarm provinces, WAFA reported.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has lost communication with its contacts in Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, with the organisation saying reports of the hospital coming under attack was "deeply worrying 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. The latest reports say the hospital was surrounded by tanks," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. 

"WHO is gravely concerned about the safety of health workers, hundreds of sick and injured patients, including babies on life support, and displaced people who remain inside the hospital. WHO again calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza as the only way to save lives and reduce the horrific levels of suffering."

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.

The… https://t.co/buhccOjRqF

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023