An Israeli flag stands at the top of a destroyed building in the Gaza strip. Photo: AP/PTI
LIVE | Day 42: Internet, phone networks collapse; Israel set to target south Gaza
Internet and telephone services collapsed across the Gaza Strip on Thursday (November 16) for lack of fuel, the main Palestinian provider said, bringing a potentially long-term communications blackout even as Israel signalled its offensive against Hamas could next target the south of the territory, where most of the population has taken refuge.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops for a second day searched Shifa Hospital in the north for traces of Hamas. They displayed guns they say were hidden in one building, but have yet to release any evidence of a central Hamas command centre that Israel has said is concealed beneath the complex. Hamas and staff at the hospital, Gaza's largest, deny the allegations.
The military said it found the body of one of the hostages abducted by Hamas, 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss, in a building adjacent to Shifa, where it said it also found assault rifles and RPGs. It did not give the cause of her death.
The communications breakdown largely cuts off Gaza's 2.3 million people from each other and the outside world, worsening the severe humanitarian crisis in southern Gaza, even as Israeli airstrikes continue there. International pressure is growing on Israel to allow pauses in fighting to let in aid, with food, water and electricity increasingly scarce and UN officials saying relief efforts are endangered by fuel shortages.
Most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million is crowded into southern Gaza, including hundreds of thousands who heeded Israel's calls to evacuate the north to get out of the way of its ground offensive. If the assault moves into the south, it is not clear where they would go, as Egypt refuses to allow a mass transfer onto its soil.
The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by Hamas' October 7 attack into southern Israel in which the militants killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured some 240 men, women and children. Weiss, the woman whose body was found on Thursday, is the third hostage confirmed dead, while four others have been freed and one rescued. Israel responded to the attack with a weeks-long air campaign and a ground invasion of northern Gaza, vowing to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities.
More than 11,470 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Palestinian health authorities. Another 2,700 have been reported missing, believed buried under rubble. The official count does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, and Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.
Live Updates
- 17 Nov 2023 6:45 AM GMT
4,000 litres of water, 1,500 readymade meals sent to Shifa Hospital: IDF
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Friday claimed that it prioritises on the wellbeing of civilians stranded inside the Shifa Hospital in Gaza and has sent over 4,000 litres of water and 1,500 units of readymade meals for them.
The IDF shared photos of the purported consignment along with a message on X.
- 17 Nov 2023 6:00 AM GMT
Thousands in 'danger of death' amid hospital raid
Israeli strikes continue across Gaza, with the enclave under a communications blackout due to a lack of fuel for generators.
- Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza health ministry spokesman, says “thousands of women, children, sick and wounded are in danger of death” as Israeli raids on al-Shifa continue for a third night.
- 17 Nov 2023 5:52 AM GMT
Turkey's Erdogan to visit Germany as differences over the Israel-Hamas war widen
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected in Berlin on Friday on a short visit to Germany as the two countries' stances on the war between Israel and Hamas are poles apart.
Erdogan is due to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany's largely ceremonial president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Scholz invited Erdogan to visit in May following his re-election.
Turkey is viewed as an awkward but essential partner in Germany, which is home to more than 3 million people with Turkish roots. It's a NATO ally that also is important in efforts to control the flow of refugees and migrants to Europe, but there have been tensions in recent years over a variety of issues.
This visit is overshadowed by a growing chasm between the two countries' stance on events following Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.
Germany is a staunch ally of Israel and has opposed calls for a cease-fire, while pushing for aid to civilians in Gaza, advocating “humanitarian pauses” and seeking to keep open channels of communication with other countries in the region to prevent the conflict from spreading.
Erdogan has taken an increasingly strident stance against Israel. On Wednesday, he called it a “terrorist state” intent on destroying Gaza along with all of its residents. He described Hamas militants as “resistance fighters” trying to protect their lands and people. Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and European Union.
- 17 Nov 2023 5:27 AM GMT
Modi condemns death of civilians in Israel-Hamas war
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday condemned the killing of civilians in the Israel-Hamas war and said there needs to be an increased cooperation among the Global South amid rising challenges in West Asia due in the wake of the conflict.
“We all are seeing that new challenges are emerging from the events in the West Asia region. India has condemned the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7,” Modi said while addressing the inaugural session of the second Voice of Global South Summit.
He said while India has stressed on dialogue and diplomacy, it vehemently condemns the death of civilians in the conflict.
“After talking to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, we have also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine. This is the time when the countries of the Global South should unite for the greater global good,” he said.
- 17 Nov 2023 4:24 AM GMT
IDF claims it has found tunnel shaft in al-Shifa hospital
The Israeli military in a communication late on Thursday (November 16) said that it had discovered a Hamas tunnel shaft as well as a vehicle with weapons at the al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza.
“In the Shifa hospital, IDF (Israel Defence Forces) troops found an operational tunnel shaft and a vehicle containing a large number of weapons,” said a statement from the military.
It has made public some videos and photographs of the tunnel shaft and weapons. However, no independent verification of this claim was possible as yet.
