Internally displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip seeking shelter sleep in the stairwell as others are camped in the grounds of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Nov. 9, 2023. (Credit: Mahmoud Hams/AFP)
Here is a summary of today’s events.
— The Israeli army shelled houses in Tayr Hafa and Markaba, while other strikes hit within the vicinity of al-Marj, Aita al-Shaab, Aitaroun, Bint Jbeil, Blida, Houla, Hunin, Jibbain, Labbouneh, Mais al-Jabal, Odaisseh, Rab al-Thalathine, Ras al-Naqoura and Wadi Saluki. Residents in Ibn al-Saqi told L'Orient Today that they found an Israeli drone stuck in a tree. The Lebanese Army was deployed to handle the situation. Hezbollah announced four separate strikes on northern Israel.
— Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into Israel’s attack on a civilian vehicle in Ainata, southern Lebanon, on Nov. 5. The strike, which HRW calls an “apparent war crime,” killed journalist Samir Ayoub's sister and his three granddaughters, aged 10, 12, and 14. The Lebanese government filed a complaint to the UN about the targeting of a group of journalists in Yaroun yesterday.
— The Israeli army announced it took control of Hamas government buildings in northern Gaza, including the Parliament and police headquarters. Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim responded by saying that attacking buildings, “some of which have already been destroyed, is a desperate attempt to stage a victory out of thin air and create the illusion of control over places that are in any case empty." The Israeli army also claims to be dismantling Hamas infrastructure in Shati refugee camp, also in northern Gaza. The camp is supposedly a significant operational base for Hamas.
— Al-Shifa Hospital remains without power and under siege. Desperate conditions and the inability to leave due to military operations surrounding the compound forced people sheltering in the hospital to dig a mass grave for 170 bodies that were creating worrisome sanitary conditions in the courtyard. Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis also ran out of fuel. This brings the total number of hospitals unable to function to 25, according to a Hamas official. Ten functioning hospitals remain. Since the power went out on Saturday at al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, 29 ICU patients have died, including at least seven newborns.
— The death toll in Gaza is at least 11,320 Palestinians, including 4,650 children and 3,145 women, since the beginning of the war, according to the latest Gaza Health Ministry report. Hamas announced an inability to adequately update the death toll going forward due to loss of internet connection and severed communication with the hospitals. In Israel, the death toll remains at 1,200, recently revised down from 1,400 by Israeli authorities. At least 40 Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza and 240 hostages remain in the Strip.