Israel war top developments| Israeli forces not firing on Al Shifa hospital, says military

The Israeli military said on Saturday that its forces were not firing at Gaza's Al Shifa hospital but there were clashes with Hamas militants around it.

The east side of the hospital was open for anyone who wants to evacuate safely, Colonel Moshe Tetro of COGAT, an Israeli Defence Ministry agency, said. 

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday accused Hezbollah of "dragging Lebanon into a war that may happen."

A doctor from the Al Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday that the biggest hospital in the Palestinian enclave has turned into a war zone.

Speaking to the news agency Reuters, senior plastic surgeon, Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati said, "Those who are staying in Al Shifa hospital already decided they are dead until they survived the massacre that is happening. It is more of a war zone here, it’s continuous bombardment for more than 24 hours now, nothing stopped, you know, it’s all from the tanks, from the street, from the airstrike, so it’s totally a war zone, it’s a totally scary atmosphere here in the hospital. But it’s our mission to take care of our patients."

The Riyadh summit, which gathered  Arab and Muslim leaders for an immediate end to the conflict in Gaza, called for an Israel arms embargo.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Riyadh, the first since rapprochement between the two nations. 

"As a result of the lack of electricity, we can report that the neonatal intensive care unit has stopped working. Two premature infants have died, and there is a real risk to the lives of 37 other premature infants" at Al-Shifa hospital, the Israeli doctors' group said in a statement.

Host Saudi Arabia "confirms that it holds the occupation (Israeli) authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people," says Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf kingdom's de facto ruler, at the emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday (Nov 11) supported UN calls for a ceasefire in Gaza during an address to an Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh.

He said, "Our first priority is the establishment of a ceasefire and the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid. What is urgently needed is a permanent ceasefire, not a few hour break."

More than 11,000 Palestinians, the majority of which women and minors, have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began.
 

Palestinian demonstrators rallied in Ramallah in the West Bank on Saturday in support of the people of the Gaza Strip. At least one Israeli flag was set alight during the protest in the main city of the occupied territory.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called Saturday on Islamic governments to designate Israel's military a "terrorist organisation", citing its current operations in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Raisi also urged nations that have ties with Israel to sever them and called for greater support for Palestinians.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Saturday that Israel bears responsibility for what he called “crimes committed against Palestinian people”, calling for an end to the siege of the Gaza Strip.

"Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action," Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for the summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

"Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important," he added.

Almost 2,000 police officers will be on duty Saturday when more than 100,000 pro-Palestinian supporters are expected to march through London, with extra powers in place to protect landmarks honouring Britain's war dead.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday is hosting an extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh in response to the Israel-Hamas war. Heads of state and government from around the region were seen arriving at the airport throughout the morning. The Saudi government had planned to hold separate extraordinary Arab and Islamic summits.
 

The general director of hospitals in the Gaza Strip on Saturday appealed to the international community for help to stop the Israel-Hamas war. Mohammad Zaqout described the situation in the territory's hospitals as Israel continued its military operation against militants in the enclave. He said patients were dying because of the lack of electricity and medicine, whilst many injured were unable to reach the hospitals for treatment. Zaqout added that many people sheltering in or near hospitals had been killed in Israeli strikes and staff were unable to recover their bodies.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a summit on Gaza, state-affiliated media reported, his first visit since the two countries agreed to restore ties in March. Footage aired on the Al-Ekhbariya channel showed Raisi, wearing a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, greeting Saudi officials at the airport after disembarking from his plane.

An official media in Lebanon said that an Israeli drone struck Saturday a vehicle deep in Lebanese territory, This comes after weeks of skirmishes mainly limited to border areas since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said "an enemy drone targeted a pick-up truck" on a farmland in the Zahrani area on Lebanon's coast, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the Israeli border, without reporting any casualties. 

Palestinians in Gaza hold on to their pets as they flee their homes, carrying a bird cage or a fish bowl on the lengthy road to safety.

Thousands of Gazan who took shelter in a number of hospitals were forced to evacuate and many fled the north, looking for safety.

-Reuters 

Media news outlet Al Jazeera, from inside the facility, has spoken to Muhammad Abu Salmiya, who isthe director of al-Shifa Hospital director. 

He said: "All I can say is that we’ve started to lose lives. Patients are dying by the minute, victims and wounded are also dying – even babies in the incubators. We lost a baby in the incubator, we also lost a young man in the intensive care unit." 

"The hospital compound is cordoned off and the buildings of the hospital are targeted. Any moving person within the compound is targeted. The Israeli occupation forces are outside, preventing any person to move," he added. 

Before departing to Riyadh for the summit of Arab and Islamic nations, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said that the "unity of the Islamic countries is very important". 

"The summit will send a strong message to warmongers in the region and result in the cessation of war crimes in Palestine," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who is accompanying Raisi, was quoted as saying by the Padolat government website.

"America says it doesn't want an expansion of the war and has sent messages to Iran and several countries [to this effect]. But these statements are not consistent with America's actions," Raisi said in the televised comments at Tehran airport.

"The war machine in Gaza is in the hands of America, which is preventing a ceasefire in Gaza and expanding the war. The world must see the true face of America," Raisi said.

The Iran President Ebrahim Raisi left for Riyadh to attend Islamic-Arab summit where discourse over Israel-Hamas war is set to dominate the talks between the leaders. 

Before leaving Iran, Raisi accused Washington of sending contradictory signals on Israel-Hamas war.

"Americans say that they don’t want the expansion of the war … but their words and actions don’t match. It’s Americans that provide the fuel of the Zionists’ war machine," Raisi said.

This is the first time an Iranian president visits the Gulf country since Tehran and Riyadh restored ties in a China-brokered deal in March.

Gaza's hospitals are increasingly becoming the flashpoint of ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli troops were closing in on major hospitals in Gaza City on Friday (Nov 10), an Israeli official was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

The director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City’s largest, said its compound was struck four times on Friday, killing seven people.

Every ten minutes a child is being killed in the Gaza Strip amid ongoing Israeli bombardment following October 7 Hamas attack, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. 

"Nowhere and no one is safe" he said, adding that half of Gaza's 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary healthcare centers were not functioning and those that were operating were way beyond their capacities, describing the healthcare system as being "on its knees." "Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying. Morgues overflowing. Surgery without anesthesia. Tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals,"

Israel Defense Forces shared a video from inside Gaza to claim that Hamas used a school as its military base. Israeli forces said that they captured a base from Hamas after intense fighting, and found that one of the military sites was in fact, a school. 

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WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that a child was being killed in Gaza every 10 minutes.

“Nowhere and no one is safe,” he told the UN Security Council.

Earlier he said the health system in Gaza was "on its knees." So far, more than 100 UN colleagues have been killed in Israeli raids.

Medical charity MSF International has reported "dramatic intensification" of attacks at al-Shifa hospital by Israel, which had now allegedly turned into "a catastrophic situation."

“We urgently reiterate our calls to stop the attacks against hospitals and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff, and patients,” the organisation said.

Local media in Japan quoted Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa as saying that she wants her nation to "take a lead" in Gaza peace efforts.

Kamikawa said in an interview with Kyodo News that Japan will also proactively work with other nations towards the realisation of a “two-state solution” to establish an independent Palestine state alongside Israel.

“We will aim to improve the humanitarian situation and help de-escalation in the short term, and approach them to realize a two-state solution in the long term,” Kamikawa said.

Early morning raids were underway in West Bank on Saturday at multiple locations. Of all, Jenin became the most visible target, where sounds of explosions and gunfire could be heard. Palestinian fighters have reportedly used explosives against Israeli soldiers.

(WION can't verify the authencity of the reports)

Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators are expected to gather in London today for so-called “National March for Palestine” to press Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.

However, the planned protest has already stirred a political controversy as some say it could undermine the significance of Armistice Day, which also falls today.

Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany.

The prestigious Columbia University has suspended two student groups for what it said were protests on Israel-Hamas war with "threatening rhetoric and intimidation."

Columbia University chair of the special committee on campus safety Gerald Rosberg said that  Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace were suspended and would remain so throughout fall semester. 

"This decision was made after the two groups repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday afternoon that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation," he said in a statement.
 

While Macron agreed that Israel had right to defend itself after October 7 Hamas attack, he added, "These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed....So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop."

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Explosions have been heard near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. It is the largest hospital in the city. Hamas has said that an Israeli strike targeted the hospital earlier on Friday. Israel denies bombing hospitals.

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Israel to stop bombing in Gaza. In an interview with BBC, though Macron agreed that Israel has a right to defend itself after October 7 Hamas attack, he added,"These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop."
 

"Around 1,200 is the official number of victims of the October 7 massacre," said Lior Haiat, spokesman of Israel's foreign ministry. He said that the figure was revised on Thursday (November 9),

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Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli soldiers on the border with Gaza. He told the soldiers that he was focusing to eliminate Hamas.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that health system in the Gaza Strip is "on its knees"

"Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying; morgues overflowing; surgery without anesthesia; tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals," he told United Nations Security Council. 

"The health system is on its knees, and yet somehow is continuing to deliver lifesaving care," he said.

He said that half of the 36 hospitals in the enclave are not functioning.

France has expelled a Palestinian activist to Egypt. Mariam Abu Daqqa (72), the expelled activist, is a leading member of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The European Union considers PFLP A "terrorist" organisation. The activist was detained by police on Wednesday night.

Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The leaders met at the Extraordinary Summit of Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) which has been called to discuss situation in Israel-Hamas war.

Israel has revises death toll on October 7, the day of the Hamas attack. It has now said that the death toll is 1200 and not 1400.

"This is the updated number. It is due to the fact that there were lot of corpses that were not identified and now we think those belong to terrorists ...  not Israeli casualties," ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told AFP.

Patients in several hospitals in Gaza are trapped inside and while the fight goes on in the vicinity. Patients in several hospitals in north Gaza are facing such a situation.