Live blog: Gaza health system has reached 'point of no return' - Red Cross

At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,506 children, as Israel's war on Gaza enters its 35th day.

 Photo: Reuters / Photo: AFP
AFP

 Photo: Reuters / Photo: AFP

Friday, November 10, 2023

1705 GMT -

The Red Cross called for medical facilities and workers in Gaza to be protected, warning the health system there had "reached a point of no return".

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its teams in recent days had distributed critical supplies to medical structures across Gaza, and had seen "horrendous images that have now gotten worse due to sharpened hostilities".

This was severely affecting hospitals and ambulances, and taking a heavy toll on civilians, patients and medical staff, it said in a statement.

"Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return."

1300 GMT - Israel besieges hospitals

The Israeli army is cordoning off the Al Rantisi and Al Nasr hospitals in central Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry in enclave said.

Child patients are at fatal risk due to the Israeli military siege of the hospitals, ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said in a statement.

He added that medical staff and displaced people in the two hospitals are under a complete siege with no food and water.

Earlier on Friday, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila said 18 hospitals in Gaza ceased operation since the start of the Israeli onslaught in early October.

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1536 GMT — Palestinians ask war crimes court to probe Israel over genocide allegations

Three Palestinian human rights groups said they have asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel, accusing it of committing war crimes including genocide by bombing and besieging Gaza.

The three rights groups - Al Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestine Human Rights Campaign - said they had asked the ICC to focus on Israeli air strikes on densely populated civilian areas of Gaza, the siege of the territory and displacement of the population.

1528 GMT — Palestinian Red Crescent says one killed at Gaza hospital

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that one person was killed and 28 others were wounded in a shooting by Israeli forces at Al Quds hospital in Gaza, the organisation said.

The majority of the injured were children and two are in critical condition as a result of sniper fire targeting the hospital, a Red Crescent statement said.

1420 GMT — Gaza hospital says received 50 bodies after strikes on school

Around 50 people were killed in strikes that hit a Gaza City school, said the director of Al Shifa hospital where the casualties had been taken.

"About 50 martyrs were recovered from inside Al Buraq school... in the Al Nasr neighbourhood in Gaza after missile and artillery strikes that targeted the school this morning," hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya said.

1410 GMT — Palestinian evacuees say thousands of people sheltering at Shifa hospital have fled after strikes

Thousands of Palestinians have fled from around Gaza's main hospital after a series of strikes that staff blamed on Israel hit in and around several hospitals overnight.

They joined a growing exodus of people toward the south amid intensified fighting as Gaza officials said the Palestinian death toll from the war surpassed 11,000 people.

Reuters

Thousands of Palestinians streamed onto Gaza’s only highway Friday, fleeing the combat zone in the north after Israel announced a window for safe passage. / Photo: REUTERS

1407 GMT — Israel targets hospital in southern Lebanon
Israeli army targeted the Mays Al Jabal Hospital in southern Lebanon, state media reported, as tensions between the neighboring countries remain high since the Oct. 7 cross-border offensive by Palestinian group Hamas.

An unexploded 155-caliber artillery shell landed in the courtyard of the hospital, the official National News Agency reported.

1300 GMT — Israeli army in West Bank uses Palestinian detainee as human shield

A video that went viral on social media on Friday showed the Israeli military using a Palestinian detainee as a human shield in the southern occupied West Bank.

The blindfolded detainee is seen seated on the ground, with military vehicles behind him using him as a shield, and an Israeli soldier aiming his rifle towards a group of Palestinians.

Eyewitnesses reported to Anadolu that the incident took place early Friday in the Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military raided the camp, arresting several individuals, in the process sparking confrontations with dozens of Palestinians, the eyewitnesses said.

1252 GMT Türkiye using all its diplomatic means to secure ceasefire in Israel-Palestine conflict: President Erdogan

Türkiye is using all the diplomatic means at its disposal to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

On Türkiye’s priorities at this weekend’s extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit, Erdogan said the summit’s main theme will be the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

"We will gather to discuss the topic in detail and negotiate to ensure an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. We will focus on the questions: What can each country participating here do? What can the Gulf countries do?" he told journalists on his return flight from an Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, Tashkent.

"Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, we will discuss in detail what each of us can do."

1251 GMT — Israeli army raids refugee camp in Bethlehem, kills Palestinian

The Israeli army has raided the Aida refugee camp in the city of Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank, killing at least one Palestinian.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that the Israeli forces prevented medics from vacating an injured Palestinian who was left bleeding to death.

Later, Israeli authorities informed the Palestinian side of the death of the Palestinian.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that an Israeli force raided the Aida camp to search homes and detain Palestinians, triggering clashes with them.

1230 GMT - If there is a hell on earth, it is the north of Gaza: UN

The UN humanitarian office has said that they cannot deliver aid trucks to the north of Gaza as the war in the besieged enclave rages.

"If there is a hell on earth, it is the north of Gaza," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the weekly press briefing in Geneva.

Laerke said UN humanitarian trucks reach the south of Gaza, however, they cannot deliver aid to the north part of the enclave where hundreds of thousands of people still reside.

A group of UN experts have recently warned that Palestinians are “at a grave risk of genocide” as the Israeli government maintains a complete siege on Gaza.

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1151 GMT — Israel bars Palestinians from performing weekly Friday prayers

Israeli authorities continue to impose strict restrictions on Palestinians, banning them from entering Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for Friday prayers for the fifth consecutive week.

However, an official with the Waqf Department in Jerusalem told Anadolu that only 4,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were elderly, had managed to reach Al Aqsa Mosque to perform the Friday prayers.

The official, who preferred not to be named, added that the mosque appeared to be empty due to Israeli strict control of the streets.

Since early Friday morning, Israeli forces have been heavily deployed across occupied East Jerusalem, particularly in the Old City and the entrances leading to the mosque.

Hundreds of Palestinians were forced to perform Friday prayers in the streets near the Old City area after being barred from entering Al Aqsa Mosque.

1143 GMT — Russia sends another 25 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza

Russia has sent another cargo plane containing 25 tons of humanitarian aid for the people of the besieged Gaza.

The Il-76 cargo plane departed from southwestern Russian city of Kazan, and will land in Egypt, where humanitarian assistance will be transferred to the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, which will then deliver it to Gaza, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement.

The shipment was prepared at the instruction of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and includes food, clothing, personal care products, blankets, and portable ovens, the ministry noted.

1119 GMT — Türkiye sends field hospital aid ship to Egypt for Gaza

"As part of the aid, a fully equipped heavy-climate type field hospital with operating rooms and intensive-care units and inflatable type field hospitals were sent," he said.

The ship was expected to reach Egypt's Al Arish port on Saturday, Koca said, with the field hospitals and ambulances to be deployed to Gaza or points closest to its Rafah border crossing with Egypt in coordination with Egyptian authorities.

1118 GMT — Qatar's emir holds talks in Egypt on ending Gaza violence
The leaders of Qatar and Egypt have met in Cairo, both hoping to mediate a de-escalation of violence in Gaza, the provision of humanitarian aid and the release of Israeli hostages.

The talks between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed intensified efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of sufficient quantities of aid for its 2.3 million besieged residents, a statement from Sisi's office said.

Qatar said "joint efforts to stop the aggression against Gaza, reduce escalation and bring in urgent humanitarian aid" were discussed.

The Qatari emir's visit comes a day after Qatar's prime minister met the chiefs of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israeli spy agency Mossad in Doha to discuss the parameters of a deal for a hostage release and a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas.

1109 GMT — Saudi crown prince calls for end of war in Gaza

Saudi Arabia's crown prince called on Friday for an end to the war in Gaza.

"We condemn what Gaza is facing from military assault, targeting of civilians, the violations of international law by the Israeli occupation authorities," Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said during an African-Saudi summit held in the kingdom's capital, Riyadh.

"We stress on the need to stop this war and the forced displacement of Palestinians."

1109 GMT Gaza 'carnage simply must stop': top UN aid official

The United Nations has called for an end to the carnage afflicting war-torn Gaza during Israel's attacks, according to a top UN aid official's comments released.

"The present course chosen by the Israeli authorities will not bring the peace and stability that both Israelis and Palestinians want and deserve," Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), wrote in a media opinion piece.

"Razing entire neighbourhoods to the ground is not an answer for the egregious crimes committed by Hamas. To the contrary, it is creating a new generation of aggrieved Palestinians who are likely to continue the cycle of violence. The carnage simply must stop".

1032 GMT Israeli army blows up homes of 2 Palestinian detainees in occupied West Bank

The Israeli army has blown up two homes near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron belonging to two Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.

According to an Anadolu Agency reporter, the Israeli army blew up two apartments in a building for detainees Mohammad Al Shantir and Saqer Al Shantir in the town of Dura.

Both were detained by the Israeli army in August after they were accused of opening fire on Israeli settlers, killing one and injuring another.

1023 GMT — Hamas govt says Israeli strike on Gaza's biggest hospital kills 13

The Hamas government in Gaza has said an Israeli strike on the territory's largest hospital killed 13 people.

"Thirteen martyrs and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on Al-Shifa compound today" in central Gaza City, a government statement said.

Al Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya said "Israeli tanks fired on Al Shifa hospital", while the Israeli military did not offer an immediate comment.

1002 GMT — Germany will continue diplomatic efforts to prevent regional war in Middle East

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said the German government will continue its diplomatic efforts to prevent the Gaza war from turning into a major regional conflict.

“Together with the US, our European allies and our partners in the region, we are doing everything we can diplomatically to prevent this from becoming a conflagration,” he said at a military conference in Berlin.

0951 GMT PA ready to assume responsibility in Gaza as part of political solution: Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority is ready to assume responsibilities in Gaza as part of a comprehensive political solution for the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

0922 GMT — Russia sends 25 tonnes of aid to Gaza amid Israeli strikes

Russia has sent 25 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Egypt to be delivered to Gaza, which has been under near-total siege and relentless bombardment.

"A special aircraft of the Russian Emergencies Ministry delivered 25 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the Arab Republic of Egypt," Russia's emergency services said on social media.

It published images of staff loading cargo onto an Il-76 plane in an airport in the central Russian city of Kazan, saying the shipment contained food and hygiene products, as well as clothing and portable cookers.

0919 GMT — 'More needs to be done' to protect Palestinian civilians: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed Israel's agreed pauses in its offensive in Gaza, but that more needed to be done.

"Far too many Palestinians have been killed. Far too many who suffered these past weeks, and we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximise the assistance that gets to them," Blinken said, speaking in New Delhi.

Blinken said Israel's agreed four-hour pauses, as well as two humanitarian corridors, will allow people to move away from the fighting.

"I think some progress has been made but I was also very clear that much more needs to be done in terms of protecting civilians and getting humanitarian assistance to them."

0859 GMT Türkiye using all its diplomatic means to secure cease-fire in Israel-Palestine conflict: Erdogan

Türkiye is using all the diplomatic means at its disposal to secure a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamad conflict, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

On Türkiye’s priorities at this weekend’s extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit, Erdogan said the summit’s main theme will be the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

"We will gather to discuss the topic in detail and negotiate to ensure an immediate humanitarian cease-fire. We will focus on the questions: What can each country participating here do? What can the Gulf countries do?" he told journalists on his return flight from an Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, Tashkent.

0828 GMT — Israel must protect Palestinians in occupied West Bank — UN

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said that Israel must take immediate measures to protect Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as they find themselves targeted by more violence since the Israel's war on Gaza errupted last month.

Volker Turk said at least 176 Palestinians, including 43 children and one woman, had been killed in incidents involving Israeli security forces since the beginning of October. At least eight Palestinians had been killed by Israeli settlers.

However, according to the Wafa news agency, the death toll from the attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank is 182.

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I ...appeal as a matter of urgency for Israeli authorities to take immediate measures, to take steps to ensure the protection of Palestinians in the West Bank, who are being on a daily basis subjected to violence from Israeli forces and settlers, ill treatment, arrests, evictions, intimidation and humiliation

0815 GMT — Another Israeli soldier killed in Gaza brings death toll since start of ground operation to 38

The Israeli army has announced the death of another soldier in battle in northern Gaza overnight.

In a statement, the Israeli army identified the soldier as Gilad Rozenblit, 21, who was killed in the northern Gaza.

It added that the Israeli army death toll since the start of the fighting in Gaza on October 7 rose to 354.

0750 GMT — Türkiye sends ship full of medical humanitarian aid to Gaza

A ship carrying life-saving humanitarian aid for Palestinians in besieged Gaza from Türkiye has left from the Aegean province of Izmir.

Medical supplies and ambulances were loaded onto the cargo ship, which anchored at Izmir’s Alsancak Port late on Thursday.

After the loading was completed, the ship left port to head to Al Arish, Egypt, close to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing into the embattled enclave.

0702 GMT Israeli airstrikes target Gaza hospitals, kill six Palestinians in Al Shifa Hospital

The Israeli warplanes have carried out several overnight raids on Gaza hospitals, including Al Shifa, the main hospital in the besieged enclave.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Al Shifa Hospital came under heavy bombardment in the very vicinity of the hospital, killing at least six Palestinians and injuring others.

The Israeli army continues to strike Al Shifa Hospital, alleging that Hamas military leadership is stationed in it, a claim vehemently denied by the Palestinian group.

0626 GMT Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank, death toll rises to 182

A Palestinian has been killed and nine others were injured when the Israeli army raided Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, Palestine's official media said.

According to the Wafa news agency, Leys Mohammad Bakir Nasasra, 21, was killed by the Israeli army gunfire when clashes broke out between the Israeli forces and Palestinians resisting the raid on the town of Beit Furik.

The recent killing has raised the death toll from the attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since last month to 182, the report added.

0535 GMT Iran warns expansion of scope of Gaza war 'inevitable'

An expansion of the scope of the war in Gaza is inevitable due to the heightened Israeli "aggression", Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has told his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Press TV reported.

0503 GMT Civilians flee north Gaza or shelter at a hospital

Crowds of Palestinian families stretching as far as the eye could see have walked out of Gaza City and surrounding areas toward the south to escape Israeli air strikes and ground troops battling Hamas fighters in dense urban neighbourhoods.

Others joined tens of thousands taking shelter at the city's biggest hospital, not far from the fighting.

Growing numbers of people have been living in and around the hospital complex, hoping it will be safer than their homes or United Nations shelters in the north, several of which have been hit repeatedly.

Israeli troops were around 3 kilometres from the hospital, according to its director.

0452 GMT Israeli attacks on Gaza kills nearly 100 UN staff: officials

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said that 99 of its staff have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war on October 7.

This came in a speech delivered by UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini during the International Humanitarian Conference for Civilians in Gaza held in Paris, France.

"The past month was painful for UNRWA," said Lazzarini.

He said "99 of my male and female colleagues were killed in Gaza. This is by far the largest number of United Nations relief workers killed in a conflict in such a short time."

He noted that they are among 10,000 people killed since the beginning of the war, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

0344 GMT — Protesters stage sit-in at New York Times headquarters to call for ceasefire in Gaza

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have occupied the lobby of The New York Times, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza while accusing the media of showing a bias toward Israel.

The latest in a series of near-nightly demonstrations since the start of the war saw thousands march through Midtown Manhattan to protest Israel's attacks on Gaza.

At around 5 pm local time, a small group of demonstrators led by media workers calling themselves “Writers Bloc” entered the atrium of the Times building carrying a banner calling for a ceasefire.

They remained for over an hour, reading off the names of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza, including at least 36 journalists whose deaths have been confirmed since the war began.

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'We've been given the choice between a slow ethnic cleansing or an aggressive slaughter'

0315 GMT Netanyahu rules out ceasefire, says no plans to occupy Gaza

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza, saying the military was performing "exceptionally well," but insisted Israel does not plan to reoccupy the Palestinian territory.

"A ceasefire with Hamas means surrender," he told Fox News, adding there was no "timetable" for the military offensive.

"I think the Israeli army is performing exceptionally well," he added. "However long it takes, we'll do it."

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0216 GMT — Gaza hospitals come under new Israeli attacks

Israel has launched air strikes on or near at least three hospitals, further stressing the Palestinian enclave's precarious health system as it struggles to cope with thousands of people wounded or displaced in Israel's war on Gaza.

"The Israeli occupation launched simultaneous strikes on a number of hospitals during the past hours", Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Al Jazeera television.

The medical facilities included Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa, where Israel without proof said Hamas has hidden command centres and tunnels, allegations Hamas denies. Qidra said Israel targeted the Gaza City medical complex's courtyard and there were casualties, but he did not provide details.

0139 GMT — Half of Gaza's housing destroyed in 1 month by Israeli war: UN

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has released a report revealing that 50 percent of the housing in Gaza was destroyed in one month as a result of the Israeli attacks on the area.

Abdallah Al Dardari, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau for Arab States, and Rula Dashti, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), held a press conference in which they briefed the media on the findings of the report, which was issued jointly by the two organisations and titled Gaza War: Expected Socioeconomic Impacts on the State of Palestine: Preliminary estimation until 5 November 2023.

Al Dardari said 50 percent of the housing in Gaza was destroyed in one month.

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A day in the life of a diabetic patient in bombed-out Gaza

For our live updates from Thursday (November 9), click here.

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