Palestinian-territories

Nov 18, 2023 at 7:32 AM Update: an hour ago

Israel warns residents of Khan Younis to flee the southern city in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian news agency, a bombing occurred on the night of Friday to Saturday HE DIED several people, including many children, died.

Pamphlets that Israel distributed across the city tell people to go to shelters. That appears to be an announcement of larger military operations in southern Gaza.

At least twenty Palestinians are said to have been killed in the bombing in Khan Younis. It would mainly concern children.

Israel recommends people settle west of Khan Younis, further away from the firing line and closer to humanitarian aid. That is also more towards the border with Egypt. The border crossing at Rafah is used to bring aid supplies into the area.

Israel wants to expel Hamas fighters from Khan Younis

“We are asking people to move. I know it is not easy for many of them, but we don’t want civilians to be caught in the crossfire,” Mark Regev, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters on Friday. MSNBC.

That would mean that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled the Israeli attack on Gaza City to the south would have to move again. Together with the more than 400,000 residents of Khan Younis.

According to Regev, Israeli troops will have to enter the city to drive Hamas fighters out of underground bunkers and tunnels, but such a “huge operation” is not necessary in the less built-up areas in the west. “I’m pretty sure they won’t have to move again.”

The conflict explained

Image: An injured child is taken to hospital after an airstrike on Khan Younis (November 18), Getty Images

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2023-11-18 06:32:04
#Bombing #South #Gaza #Israel #residents #leave #Khan #Younis

Nov 14, 2023 at 9:42 AM Update: an hour ago

The situation around Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is comparable to a cemetery, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The dead are piling up and bodies are “in a state of decomposition” as fighting continues just outside the hospital doors.

Thousands of people may be trapped in Gaza’s largest hospital. Injured people, refugees and about five hundred staff members cannot leave because of fighting around Al Shifa.

The hospital manager speaks of a blockage. Tanks and other armored vehicles would be around the doors. US President Joe Biden called for an end to the fighting around the hospital. “Patients and workers must be protected,” he said.

According to Israel, Hamas has a network of tunnels and a command center under the hospital. Hamas denies that. Israel says it is indeed fighting in the region around Al Shifa, but reports that there is no question of a siege. “Everyone is free to go,” the Israeli Defense Forces leadership said.

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‘Bodies pile up and create unpleasant odors’

But according to the hospital manager, that is not possible. It is dangerous not only because of the fighting, but also because the deaths are piling up in and around the hospital. “There are bodies everywhere in the aisles of the hospital,” reports the director of Al Shifa.

“It’s like a cemetery,” says the WHO. The bodies are piling up because they cannot be transported to the morgue. Many are in a state of decomposition, which causes unpleasant odors. The piles of bodies also attract stray dogs.

Negotiations on evacuating patients from the hospital have so far been unsuccessful. According to the BBC the Israeli authorities do not give permission for this. Many patients and children are at the mercy of equipment that has run out of fuel. According to Hamas, seven newborn babies died as a result.

IDF supplies incubators to Al Shifa Hospital

The Israeli army (IDF) says it is in the process of transferring incubators to the hospital. A photo of a soldier near a van with incubators was shared on social media.

According to the army, the medical devices come from a hospital in Israel. There are said to be 36 premature babies in Al Shifa that actually need incubators.

There are more than six hundred patients in the hospital, reports UN organization OCHA. Since the power outage, 34 people are said to have died in hospital. On Tuesday, 179 bodies were said to have been buried in a mass grave near the hospital.

There are patients everywhere in the hospital, including outside operating and nursing rooms. Photo: AFP

The conflict explained

2023-11-14 08:42:27
#Shifa #hospital #area #Gaza #cemetery #War #Israel #Hamas

Nov 13, 2023 at 9:04 PM Update: an hour ago

NU.nl regularly gives you an overview of the situation in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. With this time: The staff of Al Shifa Hospital wants a safe corridor to evacuate patients. And international pressure on Israel for a ceasefire is increasing.

Developments in Israel and the Palestinian Territories are following each other in rapid succession. We therefore regularly list recent events. Subscribe to the tag ‘Gaza conflict update’ to receive a notification when we post another overview.

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The medical staff at Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave. This was reported by the aid organization Doctors Without Borders. The staff wants the patients to be evacuated first. That would not be possible safely at the moment.

Doctors Without Borders was in contact on Monday with people still in hospital. There is heavy fighting around the hospital. According to the aid organization, people who tried to leave the hospital were also shot at.

Palestinian health authorities say 32 people died after the hospital lost power on Saturday. The medical staff want a safe corridor for the other more than 650 patients, as Israel previously promised.

But according to Doctors Without Borders, this is currently not possible. A sniper would have aimed his sights at the hospital. Tanks would also be located in front of the hospital.

Fighting has been taking place around Al Shifa Hospital and Al Quds Hospital for several days. The power has gone out in both hospitals because fuel has run out.

Israel says Hamas fighters use hospitals as shelters and patients as shields. Hamas denies that. The Israeli army claimed to have killed 21 Hamas fighters on Monday. They allegedly shot at Israelis at the entrance to the Al Quds hospital.

International pressure for a ceasefire is increasing

International pressure on Israel to declare a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is increasing. This is indicated by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. He says against Haaretz that the pressure is not yet very high, but that he expects it to increase in the coming weeks.

He tells the newspaper that colleagues ask him in conversations about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. “There are some who, not in public, are asking for a ceasefire.” But Cohen said the Israelis will continue to fight “as long as necessary.”

Israel says a ceasefire would help Hamas by allowing the organization to regroup and recover.

Four Dutch people evacuated from Gaza Strip

Another four people with Dutch nationality or residence status have left the Gaza Strip. This was announced by outgoing Minister Hanke Bruins Slot (Foreign Affairs) on Monday.

The Dutch crossed the border between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah. They are welcomed by employees of the Dutch embassy in the Egyptian capital Cairo. “They are currently working on going to Cairo,” said Bruins Slot. Once there, they are offered medical help and psychological assistance.

It is not clear if and when the foursome can go to the Netherlands from Cairo. We are working on that, Bruins Slot said.

In addition to these four Dutch people, hundreds of foreigners have also left the Gaza Strip. This includes people from Spain, Sweden and the United States. A number of injured Palestinians were also taken to Egypt.

UN holds minute’s silence for deceased employees

The United Nations held a minute’s silence on Monday to commemorate employees who died in the Gaza Strip. This concerns more than a hundred UN employees.

“This is the largest number of aid workers killed in the history of our organization in such a short time,” said Tatiana Valovaya, director general of the UN office in Geneva.

The flags of many UN buildings flew at half-mast. In Gaza, the flag will remain hanging at the top of the mast, to make it clear to the population that the UN is still present and serves the people.

A UN employee hangs the flag at half-mast in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: AFP

The conflict explained

2023-11-13 20:04:56
#chaos #hospitals #Gaza #Strip #pressure #ceasefire #increases #War #Israel #Hamas