Israel war updates: Israeli troops and tanks raid Gaza’s largest hospital
Israel’s army has deployed bulldozers at the Al-Shifa hospital, which Israel claims sits above Hamas headquarters, a day after a raid at the same site sparked global outrage. Follow updates. Warning: Graphic.
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The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip said that the Israeli army had deployed bulldozers at the Al-Shifa hospital, which Israel has said sits above a Hamas command centre.
“Israeli bulldozers destroyed parts of the southern entrance” to the hospital, the ministry said in a brief statement in Arabic on Thursday.
The Israeli army told AFP that an operation was currently underway at the hospital complex.
“Tonight we conducted a targeted operation into Shifa hospital. We continue to move forward,” Major General Yaron Finkelman, head of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, said on the army’s Telegram channel.
Khader Al-Za’anoun, a reporter for the Palestinian news agency Wafa, described scenes of heavy fighting to CNN.
“Explosions are shaking the buildings of Al-Shifa Hospital … which is besieged from all four directions, following the launching of rocket and artillery shells in the vicinity of the hospital,” he said in a text message.
Al Za’anoun said Israeli forces had “invaded the hospital with large numbers of soldiers and military vehicles, including tanks, armored vehicles, troop carriers, and bulldozers,” adding they were preventing anyone from leaving.
The army carried out an operation at Al-Shifa on Wednesday, sparking serious international concern and criticism.
A journalist in contact with AFP, trapped inside the hospital, said soldiers shot in the air and ordered young men to surrender when they burst into the hospital overnight.
By early evening, Israeli troops had withdrawn from the facility, the journalist said, redeploying around the hospital.
Both Israel and its top ally the United States said the Palestinian militants have a command centre below the Al-Shifa complex, a charge denied by Hamas and directors at the hospital, which has become a focal point in the 40-day-old war.
The Israeli army said troops had found “military and combat equipment” inside the compound during Wednesday’s operation, a claim the Hamas-run health ministry denied.
At least five Hamas terrorists were killed in the raid while no Israeli troops were injured, according to the IDF.
A senior military official told The Times of Israel that they would release the “concrete evidence” it found, including weapons that indicated the presence of Hamas.
“During searches inside one of the hospital’s wards, the troops located a room containing unique technological means, combat equipment, and military equipment used by the Hamas terrorist organisation,” the IDF said.
The IDF released a social media post with a video of assault rifles, grenades, and other military equipment the IDF claims indicates the hospital was used as a Hamas headquarters.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari added in a press conference that Hamas uniforms “that were thrown on the hospital floor so that the terrorists could escape in civilian guise.”
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ALBO KEEN TO DISCUSS ‘A WAY FORWARD’ FOR GAZA
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was keen to discuss “a way forward” for Gaza after the war with his colleagues at the APEC summit in San Francisco.
“We have said very clearly that Israel has a right to defend itself, but how it defends itself matters as well,“ he said.
“We do need to, I think, begin to have discussions about what happens in the future in that region in Gaza. We know that Hamas is not a potential partner for peace because of their own position. But we need to have those discussions, and clearly, the international community will have a role to play.“
HOSTAGE GIVES BIRTH IN CAPTIVITY
The Israeli premier has come under increasing pressure to do more to free hostages, with relatives of the captives calling on him to agree a deal for their release immediately.
One woman abducted by Hamas had given birth in captivity, Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife wrote in a letter to US First Lady Jill Biden released by the premier’s office.
“You can only imagine, as I do, what must be going through that young mother’s mind as she is being held with her newborn by these murderers,” Sara Netanyahu said.
‘WORST IN MY LIFE’: AUSSIE MP’S ANTI-SEMITISM FEAR
Jewish MPs say rates of anti-Semitism are “off the charts” and “the worst in my lifetime” and are concerned about further escalations in violence.
Macnamara MP Josh Burns – whose electorate includes Caulfield, the site of last Friday’s clash between Palestinian supporters and the Jewish community – said rates of anti-Semitism were “certainly the worst in my lifetime”.
He said he was concerned not just by the far right but more so the “smaller groups of people who clearly feel quite aggrieved by what’s going on in the world and are … visiting the Jewish community”.
Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, who represents the largest Jewish community in the country, said her community were “scared right now” and needed the country to be united, not divided.
“The point I want to make is that the parliament and the community is really concerned about anti-Semitism, but it doesn’t do any good to have a shouting match in parliament about conflating a bunch of different issues,” she told ABC News.
“For us right now as a country we need to have our parliamentarians come and showing that we need to lead from the front and we need to lead from a point of view of saying, let’s work together because we have real concerns about anti-Semitism and concerns actually about Islamophobia.”
MEN WITH ‘PALESTINIAN FLAG’ BRAWL IN BONDI
A brawl allegedly broke out between four men with a Palestinian flag and a Jewish man near one of Sydney’s famous beaches, according to reports.
About 10.20pm on Wednesday, police were called to a service station on Old South Head Road, North Bondi, following reports of a fight.
The Australian Jewish Association alleged in a post shared to the social media platform X – formerly known as Twitter -that the brawl broke out between the four men with a Palestinian flag and a Jewish man at the Ampol service station.
No injuries were reported and no charges have been laid.
Police are investigating the incident and would not confirm whether it was a racially motivated attack.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR ‘HUMANITARIAN PAUSES’
The UN Security Council has called for “extended humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza Strip, the first time it has broken its silence since the start of the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The resolution, prepared by Malta and adopted with 12 votes in favour, “calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days” to allow aid to reach civilians in the besieged territory.
Three states abstained – the United States, Britain and Russia. Diplomats say members waited to schedule a vote until they were relatively sure of success.
US WARSHIP SHOOTS DOWN HUTHI DRONE
An American warship shot down a drone that was heading toward it from Yemen, the US military said, with the Iran-backed Huthi rebels saying they launched the aircraft and warning of a response.
“On November 15th and while transiting the international waters of the Red Sea, the crew of the USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) engaged a drone that originated from Yemen and was heading in the direction of the ship,” the US Defense Department said in a statement, referring to a guided missile destroyer.
“The Hudner’s crew engaged and shot down the drone to ensure the safety of US personnel. There were no US casualties or any damage to the ship,” the statement added.
Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, a member of the Huthis’ Supreme Political Council, said on social media that the aircraft belonged to the group and that it “will reserve the right to respond to the destruction of its drone.”
The incident comes after the US Navy shot down multiple missiles and drones last month that it said were fired by the Huthis, who seized Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014 and control much of country.
TURKISH PRESIDENT CALLS ISRAEL ‘TERROR STATE’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a “terror state”, stepping up his condemnation of the spiralling civilian toll of its war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Erdogan’s latest – and one of the most heated – verbal attacks against Israel came two days before he plans to make a sensitive visit to Germany for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“I say clearly that Israel is a terror state,” Erdogan told members of his Islamic-rooted ruling party in parliament.
“While we curse the Israeli administration, we do not forget those who openly support these massacres and those who go out of their way to legitimise them,” he said, pointing to the United States and other Western supporters of Israel.
He called the war in Gaza a conflict “between the cross and the crescent”, suggesting that Christian, Western supporters of Israel were fighting the Muslim world.
“They are trying to exonerate the murderers,” he said, referring to the West. “We are faced with a genocide,” Erdogan added, repeating a term he has used on several occasions.
UK LABOUR LEADER HIT BY FRONTBENCH REVOLT
Labour leader Keir Starmer was hit by a string of resignations from his frontbench in the House of Commons on Wednesday night, after facing a rebellion from his MPs over his refusal to back a ceasefire in Gaza.
The vote calling for the ceasefire was defeated by 293 votes to 168, but eight of Starmer’s frontbenchers resigned from the frontbench after supporting the amendment.
High-profile frontbencher Jess Phillips, who was one of the most senior Labour MPs to resign, said she was quitting with a “heavy heart”.
“On this occasion I must vote with my constituents, my head, and my heart which has felt as if it were breaking over the last four weeks with the horror of the situation in Israel and Palestine,” she said in a letter to her party leader.
Starmer – who looks set to become Britain’s next prime minister at an election expected next year, according to polling – has refused to call for a permanent ceasefire.
Instead, the former human rights lawyer has called for a humanitarian pause to Israel’s bombardment to allow much-needed aid to reach ordinary Palestinians unable to leave the coastal enclave.
JORDANIAN FIELD HOSPITAL STAFF INJURED
Amman said an “Israeli bombing” close to the Jordanian field hospital in north Gaza had injured seven of its staff.
Jordan was awaiting the results of an investigation to “take the necessary legal and political steps against this heinous crime”, Amman’s foreign ministry said.
FUEL ARRIVES IN GAZA
Fuel has started arriving in Gaza after Israel gave the go-ahead for 24,000 litres of diesel for UN aid distribution.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said Israel had decided not to cap the number of trucks allowed into Gaza.
Mr Griffiths told reporters the UN had nearly 460 trucks ready in El Arish, the closest major Egyptian city to the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip.
HAMAS VIOLATING RULES OF WAR: WHITE HOUSE
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the IDF was targeting Hamas terrorists operating at Al-Shifa Hospital, which is a breach of the Geneva Conventions and is considered a war crime.
“What Hamas is doing … It is a violation of the law of war to headquarter yourself in a hospital,” he said.
ISRAEL WILL TAKE ‘ANY ACTION’ TO FREE HOSTAGES
Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says they will take “any action” possible to rescue the 240-odd hostages being held captive by Hamas.
“We are going to perform any action that can lead to the rescue of our hostages. When I say ‘rescue,’ it could mean a ground operation and it could come from another place,” Gallant said, adding only military pressure would push Hamas to the negotiating table.
“That is why I pushed all the way for the [ground] manoeuvre because first of all, it achieves the goals of the war. And secondly, Hamas only understands force. If you don’t act with force, they don’t understand.”
ISRAEL WITHDRAWS FROM AL-SHIFA
A journalist trapped inside Gaza’s largest hospital said that Israeli troops had withdrawn from the building after entering overnight and had redeployed around its outskirts.
During Wednesday’s operation, troops had interrogated dozens of civilians, some of whom were stripped to their underwear, all of whom were released when the troops withdrew, said the journalist.
He also said the troops had left behind three crates of medical supplies and water.
US DID NOT DIRECT HOSPITAL RAID
The United States did not green-light Israel’s raid of Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, according to the White House.
After Hamas said President Joe Biden was “wholly responsible” for the move, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US was not involved in the manoeuvre.
“We did not give an OK to their military operations around the hospital,” he said.
Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday but Kirby declined to say whether the US president had been given forewarning of the offensive.
“I won’t go into detail about the conversation,” he said, adding however that “there’s no expectation by the United States to map it all out.”
STENCH OF CORPSES
Witnesses have described conditions inside the hospital as horrific, with medical procedures taking place without anaesthetic, families with scant food or water living in corridors, and the stench of decomposing corpses filling the air.
“There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,” said hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya.
Anticipating a fierce backlash against the hospital raid, the Israel Defense Forces said it had provided evacuation routes for civilians and given authorities in Hamas-run Gaza 12 hours’ notice that any military operation inside must cease.
“Unfortunately, it did not,” the Israeli military said, again calling on “all Hamas terrorists present in the hospital to surrender”.
The United Nations has said it estimates that at least 2300 people – patients, staff and displaced civilians – were inside and may be unable to escape because of the fighting.
The situation in Gaza’s other hospitals is also dire, with the World Health Organisation saying 22 of 36 are not functional due to a lack of generator fuel, damage or combat.
HOW HOSPITAL RAID UNFOLDED
Israeli forces, some wearing face masks and firing guns into the air, raided Gaza’s biggest hospital in the army’s battle against Hamas.
“All men 16 years and above, raise your hands,” a soldier shouted in accented Arabic through a loudspeaker, to those sheltering inside Al-Shifa hospital, which has become the centre of fierce urban combat for days.
“Exit the building towards the courtyard and surrender,” the soldier ordered, according to a journalist who visited the hospital several days ago for interviews and was trapped inside because of the fighting outside.
– with AFP
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