Medical workers treat a Palestinian injured in an Israeli strike, using flashlights due to the power cut, at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Nov. 10, 2023. (Credit: Anas al-Shareef/Reuters)
Here is a summary of today’s events.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society announced that al-Ahli Hospital, the only hospital in northern Gaza that was still operating and accepting patients, is under siege by Israeli tanks in a “violent attack.” Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a surgeon stationed there, said the attacks have turned the hospital into a basic first aid station, preventing operations, meaning “hundreds of injured are now in the hospital without being able to undergo surgery. They will die from their injuries."
• Meanwhile, the World Food Program warns that people in Gaza are facing the “immediate possibility of starvation,” since food supplies and water are “virtually nonexistent” in the Strip, and aid coming in through the Rafah border crossing is “only a fraction of what is needed.”
Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis (C) listens to his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki (R) during a visit in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Nov. 16, 2023. (Credit: Zain Jaafar/AFP)
• The Israeli army’s raid of al-Shifa Hospital is ongoing. The director of the hospital, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, told the BBC today that there are 650 patients and about 5,000 displaced people trapped inside, where there is no oxygen station, no fuel, and no water. “The conditions are tragic and those in the hospital are screaming from thirst,” he said. The Israeli army reports they found the body of a 65-year-old woman who was taken hostage in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, in "a structure adjacent to the Shifa Hospital.” The army continues to search the premises and interrogate patients, staff, and those sheltered in the compound.
• France pushed back against comments from Israel about a prolonged presence in Gaza after the war. According to a Reuters report, Anne-Claire Legendre, spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry, said it’s not up to Israel who governs Gaza after the war. "Concerning the West Bank, I'd like to express the strongest condemnation by France of the violence carried out by the settlers against the Palestinians,” she said. "Violence which has the clear objective of forced displacement of the Palestinians and a policy of terror."
Compiled by Amelia Hankins.