Israel surrounds Gaza hospital, Arab leaders meet in Saudi Arabia, Nasrallah to speak for second time: Everything you need to know to start your Saturday

Here’s what happened yesterday and what to expect today, Friday, Nov. 11

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up.

Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of day 35 of the Hamas-Israel war here.

There is increasing pressure on Israel to protect civilians in Gaza as its military surrounds the enclave's largest hospital in its efforts to destroy Hamas. Late Friday night, Israeli forces began bombarding the direct vicinity of Gaza's Shifa Hospital, trapping anyone at the hospital inside. Already at least 13 people have been killed by the attacks. There has been growing international pressure on Israel to take more care where it targets as the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 11,000 with the vast majority of the dead being civilians. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas maintains a command center either under Shifa Hospital or nearby, a claim that Hamas has denied. This is even starting to show with Israel's closest ally, the United States, which has become increasingly concerned with the growing civilian death count. During a trip to India, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that "too many Palestinians have been killed" and that "far too many have suffered these past weeks."

In a rare show of unity, Arab leaders and Iran are scheduled to meet on Saturday to discuss the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza and demand an end to the conflict before it expands to other countries. This will be Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's first trip to Saudi Arabia since the two countries restarted diplomatic relations back in March. Many Gulf Arab nations are wary of Iran but the fact that they are all gathering together in support of a single issue further underscores the significance of this emergency meeting being held in the Saudi capital Riyadh. However, not everyone is optimistic that this meeting will amount to anything. During a press conference in Beirut, Islamic Jihad's deputy secretary-general, Mohammad al-Hindi, lambasted the conference as pointless and that he was not putting much hope that it would accomplish anything. "We are not placing our hopes on such meetings, for we have seen their results over many years," al-Hindi stated. "The fact that this conference will be held after 35 days (of war) is an indication of its outcomes."

Just a week and a day since his last speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is set to speak today at 3 p.m. for the group's annual "Martyrs Day" where they commemorate the memories of Hezbollah's fallen soldiers. In most other years, this would just be another one of Nasrallah's speeches for one of the party's significant historical events, but with the ongoing war in Gaza and the fact that around 70 Hezbollah fighters killed in the first direct conflict between Hezbollah and Israel since 2006, Nasrallah's words are likely to carry significantly more weight than they normally do. His previous speech on Nov. 3 was highly anticipated as it marked the first time that the Shiite leader had spoken publicly since the start of the war and it would likely set the tone for what Hezbollah would do going forward. Hezbollah and Israel have been involved in near-daily clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border where Hezbollah fires missiles and rockets and Israeli military positions and Israel retaliates by shelling the outskirts of villages. However, with Israel pushing deeper into Gaza, Hezbollah will be under more pressure to escalate the fighting. To know how to follow Nasrallah's speech and L'Orient Today's coverage, click here.

Here are some articles worth reading ahead of the speech tonight:

"In South Lebanon, a month of unnamed war"

"In southern Lebanon, children bear the brunt of horror"

"What are the ‘rules of the game’ between Hezbollah and Israel in south Lebanon?"