The Shifa hospital, the largest in the Strip in the center of Gaza City, is under siege. The soldiers surrounded the structure under which they believe the leader of Hamas is hiding in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, who has long disappeared from circulation and is hunted by Israel, which considers him the number one person responsible for the October 7 massacres. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite American warnings, reiterated that the army “will maintain control over Gaza even after the war”, rejecting the idea of relying on “international forces” for the management of the Strip put forward by many European leaders on the Unifil model.
Gaza, Israeli tanks surround the al-Rantisi pediatric hospital
According to Israeli intelligence, which has shown various evidence in this regard including the testimonies of captured militiamen, the Shifa beneath its surface conceals the central command of the Islamic faction, from which it directs all operations. And where he would cram 500,000 liters of fuel. His accusations rejected by Hamas which instead speaks of a normal hospital, currently full of displaced people arriving from the north of the Palestinian enclave. “It is an absolute lie that the Hamas command center is hidden under the hospital,” said the director of the health facility Muhammad Abu Salmiya, denouncing that an Israeli raid this morning damaged the hospital’s outpatient clinic. Hamas reported that “13 martyrs” died in the attack and dozens were injured. According to the testimony of a Shifa nurse released by Doctors Without Borders, “the facility was hit” while he was on his way to work: “All of us – said Maher Sharif – were horrified, some threw themselves to the ground. I saw corpses, including women and children. A horrible scene that made us all cry.”
Israel, Hamas terrorists under arrest admit: “The commanders are hiding under the Shifa hospital”
The director of Shifa himself then said that during the day he received “about fifty bodies after the bombing of a school” in Gaza City, where there were many displaced people. The battle rages not only around Shifa but also in other hospitals in Gaza City: Rantisi, Nasser and Al Quds. The first two began evacuating patients along a humanitarian corridor towards the south of the Strip. Unlike Shifa, where Hamas militiamen would instead have prevented hospital staff from letting the patients out. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari denied that any bombings had taken place in Shifa or Rantisi. But, he warned, “if the Israeli army sees Hamas terrorists shooting from hospitals in Gaza, it will do what needs to be done.”
Gaza, mass graves are dug in the Deir el-Balah cemetery
In the progressive isolation of Gaza City, the army also took control of the office of Muhammad Sinwar, brother of the Hamas leader, and the death of Reua Hamam, nephew of the faction leader Ismail Haniyeh who lives in Qatar, was announced. In the northern part, Israel continues the work of dismantling Hamas military structures. In Jabalya, two leaders of the Nukbha unit who took part in the October 7 attack were killed: Ahmed Musa and Omar Al-Hindi. Together with them, the head of the sniper unit of the Hamas Northern Brigade, Mohammed Kahlout, was eliminated. Also in the north, the Badr stronghold of the Shati battalion was destroyed, with the killing of 150 militiamen in recent days. The outpost was located near a refugee camp and civilian buildings.
Meanwhile, today a humanitarian corridor was reopened to evacuate the exhausted population from north to south (so far over 100 thousand Palestinians have passed through) while the fate of the 240 hostages in the hands of Hamas and the other Palestinian factions remains uncertain. Al Arabiya spread rumors about an agreement to exchange 100 Palestinian women and minors detainees for the same number of hostages. But an Israeli political source denied everything. And the military spokesman urged “not to go after uncontrolled rumours”. If Gaza remains the main front – from where rocket attacks continue towards the Jewish state, including Tel Aviv – that of Lebanon continues to worry the Israelis.
In the afternoon three drones infiltrated the north of the country and a missile injured three soldiers. The Lebanese Hezbollah has recalled around 1,500 fighters from northern Syria to their homeland and has reported the death of 7 of its militiamen. In Gaza, the victims announced by Hamas are now 11,078 – an estimate that Washington has also said it considers “accurate” – while Israel has revised the death toll on 7 October downwards, from 1,400 to 1,200: “Because there were many corpses that have not been identified and now we think that they belong to terrorists, not to Israelis”, explained Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat.
To know more
– Gaza, attack on hospitals: “The head of Hamas is underneath”
– Janez Lenarcic: “A horrible situation in Gaza, humanitarian aid must be released”
– The challenge of 4000 teachers: “Stop collaboration with Israeli universities”
Media: Israel prepares for year-long battle in Gaza
The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) are preparing to fight in Gaza for a year: the Times of Israel writes, quoting Channel 12. According to these rumors, the source of which is not cited, the Israeli army is “preparing for a period of a year of fighting… in different areas… with different methods, but a year of fighting to get to the fourth phase of this war: the entry of a new government in Gaza that is not Hamas and is not supported by the Iranians” , writes the newspaper.
Russia at the UN: first step in Gaza, timely ceasefire
Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said during the Security Council meeting on Gaza that the “first step would be a timely ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone.” “The increased foreign military presence in the conflict zone, especially American units, is also part of the overall escalation and this only increases tension,” he added.
Biden calls the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said
“Protect civilians in Gaza, create conditions for lasting peace”
US President Joe Biden spoke today with the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said. The White House reports this in a note. The two leaders discussed the situation in Gaza, as well as “the importance of humanitarian aid and the importance of protecting civilians in Gaza, in line with international humanitarian law.” Biden and Al Said stressed the importance of “deterring threats from any state or non-state actor seeking to expand the conflict and working towards a lasting and sustained peace in the Middle East, including the creation of a Palestinian state.” .
Save the Children, stop attacks on hospitals and schools
Following the bombing of the largest hospital complex in Gaza and three other hospitals, Save the Children, the organization that has been fighting for over 100 years to save boys and girls at risk and guarantee them a future, calls for attacks on hospitals and schools in Gaza, where according to the United Nations almost a million civilians are taking refuge, should cease immediately. This is what we read in a note. Hospitals and health facilities in northern Gaza are hosting thousands of patients, but also more than one hundred thousand displaced people seeking shelter from airstrikes and fighting. Attacks on schools and hospitals are considered by the United Nations to be a serious violation against children and may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law. Save the Children calls for an immediate ceasefire. The international community must ensure that an immediate and independent investigation into the attack takes place and those responsible are held to account. Save the Children has been providing essential services and assistance to Palestinian children since 1953. The Organization’s workers in the occupied Palestinian territories work around the clock, providing vital aid to support people in need and to find ways to get assistance to Gaza.
Extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit tomorrow in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia will host an extraordinary summit between the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation tomorrow, Saturday, “in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in Gaza”. Riyadh makes this known.
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