Israel-Hamas war: Hamas chief says they are approaching a truce agreement with Israel
The leader of Hamas claims they are “close to reaching a truce agreement” with Israel as more airstrikes kill patients at a Gaza hospital. Follow updates. Warning: Graphic
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Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has claimed they are “close” to reaching a deal with Israel on a truce, in a statement posted on Telegram.
Two sources familiar with the truce talks also told AFP a tentative deal includes a five-day truce, comprised of a ceasefire on the ground and limits to Israeli air operations over southern Gaza.
In return, some of the Israeli hostages would be released along with some Palestinians, including women and children, in Israeli prisons which is also reportedly being discussed.
“The movement delivered its response to the brothers in Qatar and the mediators, and we are close to reaching a truce agreement,” Haniyeh said.
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed so far, with at least half being children. The figure doesn’t include the thousands injured or stuck under the rubble.
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‘COMPLIANT WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW’: ISRAEL DEFENDS HOSPITAL STRIKE
At least 12 people have been killed, including patients, and dozens wounded after Israel hit another hospital in Gaza.
Ashraf al-Qudra — a spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry — said about 200 patients had so far been evacuated from the Indonesian Hospital, in coordination with the Red Cross.
Hundreds remained inside but efforts continued to move them to hospitals in southern Gaza.
“We fear the same thing will happen there as it did in al-Shifa (Gaza’s largest hospital),” Qudra said.
“There are still 400 patients in the hospital and we are working with the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) to evacuate.”
Footage on social media appeared to show Israeli tanks close to the medical complex firing towards the facility as well as patients badly injured, including a doctor forced to perform an amputation on a man amidst the rubble.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk said that firing into the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza was proportional and “in complete compliance with international law.”
“We are in complete compliance with international law, with proportionality, distinction and there is a clear military necessity to destroy Hamas, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Falk told CNN.
“In the course of destroying Hamas, which is what the IDF is doing right now, we are distinguishing, making a clear distinction between civilians and terrorists.”
RIGHTS GROUP URGES IDF TO END CURFEW IN HEBRON
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has sent a legal correspondence to the IDF’s Central Command urging the army to remove the curfew it has imposed exclusively on Palestinians — and not on settlers — in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The Israeli military has barred 750 families in Hebron’s Old City from stepping outside except for one hour in the morning and one in the evening on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursday.
700 radical Jewish settlers live among 34,000 Palestinians under heavy military protection in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.
“Individuals from the Jewish settlements [in H2] take advantage of the forced absence of Palestinians from public spaces to seize control, damage property, break into and harm homes and shops,” ACRI said in a statement, according to Times of Israel.
“Palestinian activities in the city are completely suspended. There is no trade or education, residents cannot go to work, receive medical treatment or visit family members. Even obtaining food, medicine, or water has become an almost impossible task.”
CIVILIANS KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES ON REFUGEE CAMPS
At least 17 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Another three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombing of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.
Among the dead from Israel’s air attacks on Monday was journalist Ayat Khadura. She was the second Palestinian journalist killed in 24 hours.
Palestinian medics have said repeated Israeli bombardment of Jabalia, an urban extension of Gaza City that grew out of a camp for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, has killed scores of civilians.
KILLING OF CIVILIANS ‘UNPARALLELED’
UN Secretary General António Guterres has said it is clear that the war in Gaza has seen “a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict” since he began his role in 2017.
At a press conference, Mr Guterres also said he did not believe a UN protectorate in Gaza would be a solution to the conflict and that war must “move in a determined, irreversible way to a two-state solution”.
ACRI sent legal correspondence to the Central Command requesting the removal of the curfew imposed on the Palestinian residents of Hebron. pic.twitter.com/gMxt0CsQBg
— ACRI (@acri_online) November 20, 2023
GAZA BABIES TREATED IN EGYPT
Twenty-eight premature babies arrived in Egypt despite 31 being evacuated from Gaza’s largest hospital.
Egyptian media said the babies arrived in the country through the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s southern border and were placed in incubators.
A medical source told AFP not all the infants would be able to be treated at El-Arish hospital 45km west of the Gaza Strip.
“There are not enough incubators at El-Arish hospital, and some babies will have to be transferred to Ismailia or Cairo,” the source said.
The World Health Organisation said on Sunday that 31 “very sick” babies were moved in a joint operation with the UN and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
WHO’s Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 28 of the babies first arrived at al Arish hospital in northern Egypt for treatment, with 12 then being sent off to Cairo.
The WHO added that the three remaining babies were being treated at the Emirati Hospital in the south of Gaza.
The newborns had been in north Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital, where several others died after their incubators were knocked out amid a collapse of medical services during Israel’s military assault on Gaza City.
EXPERTS URGE END TO ‘MISUSE OF HOLOCAUST MEMORY’
In an open letter published in The New York Review of Books, the scholars expressed their “dismay and disappointment at political leaders and notable public figures invoking Holocaust memory to explain the current crisis in Gaza and Israel”.
They pointed to recent comments from Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, who compared Hamas to Nazis, as well as US President Biden, who said the Palestinian group had “engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust”.
“It is understandable why many in the Jewish community recall the Holocaust and earlier pogroms when trying to comprehend what happened on October 7,” said the open letter’s signatories, which included professors in Canada, Germany, Israel, the US and the UK.
“However, appealing to the memory of the Holocaust obscures our understanding of the anti-Semitism Jews face today, and dangerously misrepresents the causes of violence in Israel-Palestine,” they said, adding that the Israeli occupation and blockade of Gaza are among those root causes.
“Israeli leaders and others are using the Holocaust framing to portray Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza as a battle for civilisation in the face of barbarism, thereby promoting racist narratives about Palestinians,” the scholars wrote.
“There is no military solution in Israel-Palestine, and deploying a Holocaust narrative in which an ‘evil’ must be vanquished by force will only perpetuate an oppressive state of affairs that has already lasted far too long.”
‘LIKE THE APOCALYPSE’
Alarm has surged over the dire humanitarian situation across Gaza where cold autumn rain has deepened the misery by soaking families living in tents and turning dust to mud.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of spreading sickness with 44,000 cases of diarrhoea and 70,000 acute respiratory infections registered in shelters.
With a majority of Gaza’s hospitals no longer functioning, the territory on Monday received from Jordan what Palestinian officials said is the first field hospital since the war began.
It has a 41-bed capacity, the Jordanian royal palace said.
Israel has told Palestinians to move from north Gaza for their safety, but deadly air strikes have continued to hit central and southern areas.
Families walked along cracked roads as gunshots and explosions rang out in the distance.
“It’s like the apocalypse,” a tearful woman Renad al-Helou said.
“We are tired. There’s no water, no food … There’s nothing left in Gaza. There’s only destruction, suffering and torture.”
South Africa, long a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, will on Tuesday host a virtual summit of the BRICS group of nations to discuss the Israel-Hamas war.
AT LEAST 50 JOURNALISTS KILLED
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have said at least 50 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began, updating a previous statement earlier today that put the death toll at 48.
The second-deadliest day occurred on November 18, with five journalists killed.
The deadliest day of the war was its first day, 7 October, with six journalists killed, it said.
As of November 20, in the #Israel-#Gaza war, CPJ has documented:
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) November 20, 2023
- 50 journalists and media workers dead: 45 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 1 Lebanese
- 11 journalists injured
- 3 journalists missing
- 18 journalists arrested
- Multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship,…
MEDICAL CLINIC UNDER FIRE
The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said on X, formerly Twitter, that its Gaza City clinic had come under fire on Monday local time" as heavy fighting took place all around it. An Israeli tank was seen in the street.”
Twenty-one people inside are “in extreme danger”, MSF said.
ISRAEL SPLIT ON CEASEFIRE
Israel’s war cabinet is reportedly split over a decision to hold a ceasefire in exchange for 50 hostages, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday insisting no deal be made, as troops push harder into Gaza’s south.
There are hopes a deal with militant group Hamas could save some of the 240 hostages snatched on October 7 in exchange for a pause in hostilities.
The deal, brokered by the US and Qatar, is also facing logistical difficulties, with questions arising about how to actually release the 50 women and children from the group onto a battleground.
Under one proposal being considered, 50 hostages could be released in batches of 10 in exchange for a five-day ceasefire as early as this week.
Israel said it may accept three days to allow hostages out and the safe passage of aid for the civilians trapped in the enclave.
It comes as Israel’s military said it was “expanding its operational activities in additional neighbourhoods … of the Gaza Strip”.
HOSPITAL STAFF QUESTIONED ABOUT HAMAS
A doctor inside Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital has accused Israeli forces of “pushing around staff and questioning them about Hamas”, according to CNN.
“The common question: Do you know anything about the Hamas groups? Do you know anything about the tunnels within the hospital?” Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, the head of the hospital’s burns unit said.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) believe the hospital is a major Hamas underground base.
AUSSIES ESCAPE GAZA WAR ZONE
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has revealed 31 people, including Australian citizens, permanent residents and family members have escaped Gaza via the Rafah crossing and were being supported by Australian consular staff in Egypt.
“Australia has been clear in our calls for safe, sustained and immediate humanitarian access so essential assistance can reach people in need and civilians can reach safety. We all want to take the next steps towards a ceasefire, but it cannot be one‑sided,” she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
31 people including Australian citizens, permanent residents and family members left Gaza via the Rafah crossing this morning.
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) November 20, 2023
They are being supported by our consular staff in Egypt.
The Australian Government has facilitated the departure of a total of 62 people from Gaza. pic.twitter.com/2yWqzmwgCv
‘UNACCEPTABLE’: MORE THAN 5000 CHILDREN KILLED IN GAZA
There has not been a let up in shelling of Gaza for more than one month, with 13,000 Palestinians killed, mostly civilians, including 5500 children. Suspected Hamas fighters have also been killed.
While Mr Gallant reportedly fears any let up in the fighting would allow Hamas to regroup, former defence minister Benny Gantz insisted any hostages should be saved any way possible.
Mr Gantz was in opposition until the start of the war when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited him and others to join an emergency government and war cabinet.
Mr Netanyahu is to meet with relatives of hostage victims on Tuesday.
According to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the civilian death toll in Gaza was “staggering and unacceptable” as he appealed for an immediate ceasefire.
JABALIA REFUGEE CAMP ‘STRUCK’
Another Palestinian refugee camp in Jabalia – which grew as a result of the 1948 Israeli-Arab war – has reportedly been struck.
Via social media in Arabic, Israel’s military told residents of several Jabalia neighbourhoods to evacuate south “to preserve your safety” and were given a 10am and 2pm window to flee.
About a dozen people were then killed, but Israel said they were Hamas operatives.
A Hamas health officials said more than 80 people were killed in twin strikes on Jabalia on Saturday, including a UN school sheltering displaced people.
HAMAS TERROR TUNNELS REVEALED
Israel published CCTV and drone footage it says shows hostages being taken into Al-Shifa and a 55-metre tunnel network beneath the hospital.
The evidence of Hamas’s use of the civilian infrastructure for military operations, a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions, comes amid negotiations for the release of hostages that US President Joe Biden said was “close” to finalising.
Drone footage shows an opening amid the rubble of Gaza’s main hospital that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claims runs 10 metres deep and leads to a blast-proof door.
“This type of door is used by the Hamas terrorist organisation to block Israeli forces from entering the command centres and the underground assets belonging to Hamas,” the IDF said in a statement, without revealing what lay beyond the grey door.
OPERATIONAL UPDATE: IDF and ISA forces revealed a significant 55-meter-long terrorist tunnel, 10 meters underneath the Shifa Hospital complex during an intelligence-based operation.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 19, 2023
The tunnel entrance contains various defense mechanisms, such as a blast-proof door and a firing… pic.twitter.com/tU4J6BD4ZG
HOSTAGES ‘TAKEN TO GAZA HOSPITAL’
CCTV footage released separately showed two hostages surrounded by Hamas terrorists being taken into the hospital following the October 7 massacre, according to the IDF.
The injured Nepalese and Thai civilians appear to receive treatment from hospital staff while being guarded by Hamas members.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, meanwhile, said they have “solid intelligence” that a 19-year-old Israeli soldier was also taken to the hospital complex with the two foreign civilians.
“Noa was taken by Hamas terrorists inside the walls of Shifa hospital. There, she was murdered by a Hamas terrorist,” Hagari said.
These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organization used the Shifa Hospital complex on the day of the October 7 Massacre as terrorist infrastructure. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/2UzlpKrNnv
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 19, 2023
A UK doctor who worked at the Al-Shifa hospital said he would be shot by “dodgy-looking” people if he went into areas of the hospital deemed off-limits.
“I was welcome everywhere else, and as I say, the doctors and nurses there were very welcoming and very kind, and the hushed tones under which this was said were consistent with all the other hushed tones with which Hamas was discussed. You know, people were genuinely fearful,” the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told France 24.
“I cannot emphasise too much the air of collective paranoia that existed there.”
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