LIVE | Israel-Hamas War Day 40: Israeli forces storm Gaza’s Shifa Hospital
Director of hospitals in Gaza says Israeli tanks entered the compound and soldiers entered buildings, including emergency and surgery departments
Israeli forces raided Gaza’s largest hospital early on Wednesday, where hundreds of patients, including newborns, have been stranded with dwindling supplies and no electricity, as the army extended its control across Gaza City and the north.
Shifa Hospital has become a symbol of the widespread suffering of Palestinian civilians during the war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted after the militant group killed some 1,200 people and seized around 240 captives in a surprise October 7 attack into southern Israel.
The hospital is also at the heart of clashing narratives over who is to blame for the thousands of deaths and widespread destruction in the besieged territory. Israel accuses Hamas of using Palestinians as human shields, while Palestinians and rights groups say Israel has recklessly endangered civilians as it seeks to eradicate the group.
Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, said Israeli tanks had entered the medical compound and that soldiers had entered buildings including the emergency and surgery departments, which house intensive care units.
“The occupation forces stormed the buildings,” he said angrily over the phone. He said the patients, including children, are terrified. “They are screaming. It’s a very terrifying situation ... we can do nothing for the patients but pray.”
The Israeli military said it was carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital.” It said it warned “relevant authorities in Gaza” that all military activities within the hospital must cease. “Unfortunately, it did not.”
Israel says Hamas has a massive command centre inside and beneath Shifa, but has not provided visual evidence, while Hamas and the hospital staff have repeatedly denied the allegations. Hours before the raid, the United States said it had its own intelligence suggesting Hamas used Shifa and other hospitals, and tunnels beneath them, to support military operations and hold hostages.
The military said the forces raiding Shifa have medical teams and are searching for hostages as part of the operation. Israeli forces also claimed control of several key buildings and a downtown neighbourhood in Gaza City. (AP)Live Updates
- 15 Nov 2023 3:09 AM GMT
Israel says it shot down a missile targeting Red Sea city
The Israeli army says it has intercepted a long-range missile that was headed toward the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
The missile strike set off air-raid sirens in Eilat. The army said its Arrow missile defence system intercepted the projectile before it reached Israeli airspace.
Israeli media said the missile appears to have been launched from Yemen, where Iranian-backed rebels have fired a series of missiles toward Israel in recent weeks. (AP) - 15 Nov 2023 3:08 AM GMT
Israel probes sexual assaults during Oct 7 attack
Israel says it is investigating several cases of sexual assault and rape from the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Israel's national police chief on Tuesday showed a small group of international reporters video testimony from an eye witness at a music festival in southern Israel. This was the first time the police showed international reporters the footage.
The woman in the video, her face blurred, described watching another woman get gang raped and mutilated by militants before one of them shot her in the head while he was assaulting her.
“I couldn't understand what I saw,” she said, saying she had survived the rampage by pretending to be dead.
Police say they're combing through 60,000 videos seized from Hamas, social media and security cameras as well as 1,000 testimonies to try to bring the perpetrators of last month's killings, abductions and sexual assault to justice. They say it is Israel's biggest criminal case in history.
But when it comes to documenting sexual assault, officials said it's been harder to gather evidence and that it's also challenging to get people to come forward. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, first responders were trying to identify the victims in an active combat zone, which lasted for 48 hours, making it hard to properly gather and preserve evidence, they said.
The police wouldn't give details about how many cases they had, beyond saying they have several witnesses as well as testimonies and that investigations could take months. They said they had no cases of rape survivors, further complicating the investigation.
Israel says some 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, and many others fled back to Gaza. But Israel says it is holding hundreds of captured militants. (AP) - 15 Nov 2023 3:08 AM GMT
Rocket fire wounds two people in Tel Aviv
Israel's emergency response service Magen David Adom says at least two people were injured from shrapnel in Tel Aviv on Tuesday as militants from Gaza Strip continued launching rockets at Israel.
The emergency responders said one of the injured, a 20-year-old man was in serious condition and another, a 43 year-old woman in moderate condition. They received injuries to their limbs. (AP) - 15 Nov 2023 3:08 AM GMT
At least 11,255 Palestinians killed in Gaza, most by Israeli airstrikes, ministry says
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry said that, as of Monday, at least 11,255 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since the conflict broke out on October 7. The vast majority have been killed in Israeli airstrikes that have pounded the besieged territory since the Hamas assault on southern Israel.
In an online report, the ministry said 4,630 of the dead were children, while 3,130 were women.
The ministry also said that for the past three days it has been experiencing difficulties updating the death toll “due to the interruption of communication services in the Gaza Strip.” (AP)
