Israel-Hamas war top developments: Gaza death toll climbs to 11,180, says Hamas

Hamas said on Sunday that the death toll in the Gaza Strip has climbed to 11,180. The media office said the dead included 4,609 children and 3,100 women. 

Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters clashed in South Africa's Cape Town on Sunday (Nov 12). According to a report by the news agency AFP, a prayer for Israeli hostages was to be held in an affluent area of Cape Town. Read more

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Sunday (Nov 12) that a family of four Indonesians have successfully been evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

The family was the second family evacuated in its first cohort of evacuees in the ongoing conflict. 

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that there could be a potential deal to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"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."

On being asked by NBC if there could be a deal to rescue hostages, Netanyahu said, "There could be."

However, the prime minister refused to elaborate. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) in its current form should not run Gaza. 

Addressing a press conference, Prime Minister Netanyahu aired his long-standing grievances over the PA's school syllabus, which he says fuels hatred of Israel, and its policy of giving salaries to families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Such an organisation should not take charge of Gaza, Netanyahu said.

Hamas on Sunday announced that it was halting negotiations concerning hostages due to Israel's actions at Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, a Palestinian official familiar with the hostage talks told Reuters. This comes as the hospital faces heavy shelling with Israeli forces advancing.

Israel alleges that Hamas is using the hospital as a command centre without presenting evidence, a claim denied by Hamas.

The situation in Gaza's Al Shifa hospital as per a MSF surgeon there is dire, with incubators and ICU ventilators coming to a near halt.

Reuters reports that MSF surgeon Mohammed Obeid feels that the medical staff at the hospital feels they are "alone".

"The situation, as I said before, is very very bad. We are nearly sure that we are alone now, no one hears us. We want someone to give us the guarantee that they can evacuate the patients," said the surgeon in a phone call recorded by MSF on Saturday (November 11).

Pope Francis has reiterated his plea for an end to hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians.

Addressing the crowds in St Peter's Square after his weekly Angelus prayers, the Pope called for "much more" humanitarian aid for Gaza.

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

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

In an opinion piece published in South Africa’s Sunday Times, the country’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor says she expects the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

“We call on the prosecutor [of the International Criminal Court] to speed up the investigation and explore breaches of three of the four crimes under ICC jurisdiction: war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide,” Pandor wrote.

“We expect that warrants of arrest should be executed for those most responsible as per the ICC principles of command and superior responsibility,” she said, adding that these include Netanyahu and some of his cabinet members.

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy has accused international agencies operating within Gaza of actively putting Palestinian civilians’ lives at risk.

Specifically naming the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, Levy said:

"For a month, they’ve refused to support an evacuation from north. Now they’re endangering everyone by requiring a hasty evacuation in the middle of ground urban warfare."

Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has announced that al-Quds Hospital is no longer operational due to a lack of fuel and a power outage.

“PRCS holds the international community and signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention accountable for the complete breakdown of the health system and the resulting dire humanitarian conditions,” it said on X.

Israel's military said it was ready to evacuate babies from Gaza's largest hospital on Sunday, where Palestinian officials said two newborns died and dozens more were at risk after fuel ran out amid intense fighting in the area.

Ashraf Al-Qidra, who represents the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, said the  Al Shifa hospital suspended operations after fuel ran out. He said two babies had died in an incubator as a result. He said there were 45 babies in total.

He said Israeli shelling killed a patient in intensive care and that Israeli snipers on rooftops fired into the medical complex from time to time, limiting people's ability to move.

The Israel Defence Force (IDF) wrote on its Telegram channel the details of what it called an anti-terrorist operation in Al-Shati camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

It says that over the past 24 hours, "soldiers killed numerous terrorists and uncovered a large number of terrorist infrastructure in the area."

It said: "During one of the battles with the terrorists, IDF troops identified civilians who were located in a building in the area. The IDF secured an evacuation route for the civilians, and as the civilians were evacuating, terrorists fired at the troops from the outskirts of the area. In order to protect the evacuation route, IDF troops responded with light weapons fire and tanks to kill the terrorists."

The Israeli military’s Arabic language social media channel announced limited opening of humanitarian corridor for residents in north Gaza to mouth south of the Gaza river.

It said: "Hundreds of thousands of residents have moved over recent days through the humanitarian safe corridor, either by car or on foot along Salah al-Din Street. Sunday, Salah El-Din Street will also be opened to your traffic, from 9am (7am GMT) in the morning until 4pm (2pm GMT) in the afternoon in order to move south beyond Wadi Gaza. Do not surrender to Hamas – your continued presence in the region exposes you to very great danger."

The message also announced a "temporary tactical cessation of military activities for humanitarian purposes in the village of Jabalia and Ezbet Mlin" which they said, will run from 10am (8am GMT) until 2pm (noon GMT).

Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said that there still 1,500 patients at the al-Shifa hospital, along with 1,500 medical personnel and between 15,000 and 20,000 people seeking shelter, the Associated Press reported. 

“If we do not stop this bloodshed immediately with a ceasefire or at the bare minimum a medical evacuation of patients, these hospitals will become a morgue,” medical aid group Doctors Without Borders warned Sunday, according to the AFP.

The United States has asked Israel to clarify over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comment that Israel will have security responsibility for the Gaza Strip once the war with Hamas is over.

The Times of Israel is reporting that a US official confirmed the report that Washington indeed demanded clarification from Israel.

The Israeli military is closing in on Al-Shifa hospital, where Israel says Hamas headquarters are located. 

Television footage of the area shows heavy fighting in the vicinity of the hospital, with constant sound of gunfire and explosions.

Thousands of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped in and around the Al-Shifa Hospital.

Protesters in downtown San Francisco are set to march against a range of issues, including corporate profits, environmental abuses, poor working conditions, and the Israel-Hamas war. This demonstration coincides with the arrival of world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, for the APEC global trade summit.
 

IDF in an operational update on early Sunday (Nov 12) said that its fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and military posts in Lebanon in response to attacks on Saturday (Nov 11).

"In addition, a Hezbollah terrorist cell launched several rockets from Lebanon toward northern Israel earlier today. In response, an IDF aircraft struck the terrorist cell and launch pad," it wrote on X. 

A big rally is taking place in Australia calling for the release of hostages by Hamas and also an immediate ceasefire. Thousands of protesters gathered at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne on Sunday to demand an immediate end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Israeli PM called Hamas an "integral part of the axis of terrorism" led by Iran. While addressing a press conference along with Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz at Kirya in Tel Aviv, he said, "Hamas is an integral part of the axis of terrorism led by Iran, and this axis of terrorism and evil endangers the entire Middle East, and the entire Arab world as well. I am convinced that many Arab leaders understand this."

Palestinian Authority said up to 40 raids were happening in West Bank every day. Since Oct 7 terror attack on Israel, 185 people have lost their lives in West Bank.

As Israel escalated its shelling and ground attacks around hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza, the UN reported that several hospitals were directly hit. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian Territories highlighted that power was cut off at Al-Shifa and the Indonesian Hospital due to fuel shortage.

Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City faced generator failures amid bombardment and fighting. Tens of thousands evacuated to southern Gaza, while those remaining in the north struggle to access essentials, leading to concerns about dehydration and waterborne diseases from drinking water from unsafe sources.

Israeli PM Netanyahu said IDF will look to de-militarise Gaza after taking full control of the strip and govern the security there. He also rejected the idea that the PA will control the region, along with West Bank.

Gaza authorities said Rafah land crossing will be opened for foreigners on Sunday, holding valid foreign passports. Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign citizens and Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment were suspended on Friday, three Egyptian security sources and a Palestinian official said.

Left-wing organisers held a pro-Palestine rally in France's Paris on Saturday. They gathered to press France to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and "stop the massacre."

"I came to support the Palestinian cause, for a ceasefire in Gaza," said engineer Ahlem Triki, while carrying a Palestinian flag over her shoulders.

The Israeli military on Sunday said it carried out targeted strikes against "terror infrastructure" in Syria after cross-border fire directed at Golan Heights. "A short while ago, in response to the attack toward the Golan Heights yesterday (Saturday), IDF (Israel Defense Forces) fighter jets struck terror infrastructure sites in Syria," the army said on Telegram.

The WHO said it has lost contatc with Al-Shifa hospital. “As horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks continue to emerge, we assume our contacts joined tens of thousands of displaced people and are fleeing the area,” the WHO said in a post on X.

After the death of two prematurely born babies in Gaza's largest Al-Shifa Hospital, Israeli military said it will work to evacuate patients from the site.

“We are in contact with local authorities in Gaza, with the manager and others and assisting them and informing them where they can go in order to evacuate from the area, and we are also trying to coordinate the  safe removal and transport of the remaining patients that are in the hospital,” Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus was quoted by CNN as saying early Sunday morning.

However, Conricus also reiterated the claims that Hamas was operating military tunnels under the hospital.

Netanyahu has rubbished the idea that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will also control Gaza, apart from West Bank. US, Israel's biggest ally, has also made clear that it is against an Israeli occupation of Gaza. US said it envisions a unified Palestinian government in both Gaza and the West Bank at some stage as a step toward Palestinian statehood.