Israel-Hamas war live: patients and staff leave main Gaza hospital after conflicting reports of evacuation order

Here is where the day stands:

• A Palestinian prisoner has died, bringing to 6 the number of prisoners who died in Israeli prisons since October 7, the Palestinian news Agency WAFA said late on Saturday, Reuters reports. Thaer Samih Abu Assab, who has been detained in 2005 and sentenced to 25 years in jail, died in the Negev desert prison, the agency said, quoting the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs.

• The World Health Organization led a “very high risk UN assessment mission” to Al Shifa hospital on Saturday. “Given the current state of the hospital, which is no longer operational or admitting new patients, the team was requested to evacuate health workers and patients to other facilities,” the WHO said.

• In a new op-ed in the Washington Post on Saturday, US president Joe Biden said that the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza and the West Bank following the war between Israel and Hamas. “Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution,” he wrote.

• In Joe Biden’s Washington Post op-ed, the US president also said that “extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop.” “Those committing the violence must be held accountable,” said Biden, adding: “The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”

• More than 20 members of the US Congress, New York state legislators and New York City council members penned a letter to Columbia University asking it to reinstate two pro-Palestine groups. The letter comes as the Ivy League school suspended the groups for hosting a peaceful but “unauthorized event” that called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

• There would be a “significant pause” in the Israel-Hamas war if hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are freed, a US official said. Speaking at a security conference in Bahrain on Saturday, US president Joe Biden’s main Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, said: “The surge in humanitarian relief, the surge in fuel, the pause … will come when hostages are released.”

• Thousands of demonstrators, including family members of hostages kidnapped by Hamas, marched into Jerusalem on Saturday in angry calls for the Israeli government to do more to bring their relatives home. The march capped a five-day trek from Tel Aviv and represented the largest protest on behalf of the hostages since they were dragged into Gaza by Hamas on October 7.

• The head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that Israel’s approval of “only half of the daily minimum requirements for fuel for humanitarian operations in Gaza … is far from enough.” In a statement on Saturday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said: “This is far from enough to cover the needs for desalination plants, sewage pumps, hospitals, water pumps in shelters, aid trucks, ambulances, bakeries and communications networks to work without interruption.”

• More than 80 people were killed on Saturday by double Israeli strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza’s health ministry said. “At least 50 people” were killed in an Israeli strike on early Saturday morning at the UNRWA-run al-Fakhouri school in the Jabalia refugee camp a Gaza health ministry official said. Another strike on a separate building in the camp killed 32 people of the same family, 19 of them children, according to the official.

• Thousands of Iranians took to the streets on Saturday as part of state-sponsored marches to demonstrate against the Israeli killings of more than 12,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children, in Gaza. Reuters reports Iranian state television showing protestors carrying mock body bags to symbolize the children killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza ahead of World Children’s Day on Monday.

A Palestinian prisoner has died, bringing to six the number of prisoners who have died in Israeli prisons since 7 October, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said late on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Thaer Samih Abu Assab, who was detained in 2005 and sentenced to 25 years in prison, died in the Negev desert prison, the agency said, quoting the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs.

Here are some images coming through the newswires of pro-Palestine rallies that took place across Europe on Saturday in which thousands called for a ceasefire in Gaza where over 12,300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the last six weeks:

The World Health Organization led a “very high-risk UN assessment mission” to Dar al-Shifa hospital on Saturday, the UN organization announced.

In a statement on X, the WHO said:

Due to time limits associated with the security situation, the team was able to spend only one hour inside the hospital, which they described as a ‘death zone,’ and the situation as ‘desperate.’ Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and were told more than 80 people were buried there …

Given the current state of the hospital, which is no longer operational or admitting new patients, the team was requested to evacuate health workers and patients to other facilities.

WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families. Over the next 24–72 hours, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict, additional missions are being arranged to urgently transport patients from Al-Shifa to Nasser Medical Complex and European Gaza Hospital in the south of Gaza. However, these hospitals are already working beyond capacity, and new referrals from Al-Shifa Hospital will further strain overburdened health staff and resources.

In Joe Biden’s Washington Post op-ed, the US president also said that “extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop”.

“Those committing the violence must be held accountable,” said Biden, adding: “The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”

Since 7 October, there has been a surge in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli settler violence has increased “significantly, from an already high average of three incidents per day thus far in 2023 to a current average of seven per day”.

Israeli settler violence against Palestinians includes threatening – and at times killing – Palestinians using guns, home demolitions, as well as livestock theft.

In a new op-ed in the Washington Post on Saturday, US president Joe Biden said that the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza and the West Bank following the war between Israel and Hamas.

Biden writes:

As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.

Biden also said that a two-state solution is “the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people”, adding that Gaza “must never again be used as a platform for terrorism”.

He also said:

There must be no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no reoccupation, no siege or blockage, and no reduction in territory … After this war is over, the voices of Palestinian people and their aspirations must be at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza.

Biden’s words come in stark contrast with language used by the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last week told CNN that “there has to be a reconstructed civilian authority” in Gaza after the war with “an overriding and overreaching Israeli military envelope”.

Netanyahu appeared to reject the idea of the Palestinian Authority governing Gaza, saying:

A civilian authority has to cooperate in two goals – one is to demilitarize Gaza and the second is to deradicalize Gaza. I have to say, the Palestinian Authority has unfortunately failed on both counts.

Here are some images from the newswires of 15 Palestinians, including wounded children, traveling from Egypt to the United Arab Emirates on Saturday for medical treatment as part of the UAE’s pledge to treat 1,000 Palestinians across its hospitals:

More than 20 members of the US Congress, New York state legislators and New York City council members penned a letter to Columbia University, asking it to reinstate two pro-Palestine groups after the Ivy League school suspended the groups for hosting a peaceful but “unauthorized event” that called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The letter, whose signatories included New York Democratic representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, said:

On behalf of the Columbia community and our constituents, we, as elected officials from New York, urge you to reverse your decision to suspend Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as official student groups through the fall term.

We understand this ‘unauthorized event’ to be a reference to the peaceful student walk-out and art installation that occurred on the Low Steps of Columbia University, on November 9, 2023. As the Columbia Spectator described this event, it involved ‘hundreds of students’ engaging in a ‘silent gathering,’ followed by student speeches calling for a ceasefire that included remarks from a Palestinian refugee who had been shot in the leg by an Israeli soldier at the age of 15. The organizers were peacefully demonstrating for the basic human rights of Palestinians and should not be punished for their speech.

We support the University’s stated desire to maintain an atmosphere that is safe and free of hate; however, suspending these student groups based on the pretext of ‘safety’ does the opposite. Unfairly implying that JVP and SJP protesters engaged in ‘threatening rhetoric and intimidation’ at the November 9th event – a suggestion refuted by multiple sources, including the Columbia Spectator – aligns with the dangerous narrative that those who express empathy for the lives and dignity of Palestinians, or who speak about the historical context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, are antisemitic or inherently dangerous.

Médecins Sans Frontières’ Canada director has written a letter to the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, urging the government to do “everything within its power” to bring an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The letter, which was penned by MSF Canada’s Joseph Belliveau, said:

Ending the indiscriminate violence is the only way to prevent more deaths and scale up desperately needed humanitarian assistance.

My colleagues and I, like so many Canadians, were aggrieved and outraged by Hamas’ deliberate and unconscionable attack on Israeli civilians. We are now horrified by Israel’s incessant and indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian civilians and civilian spaces, including hospitals, in Gaza …

IHL [international humanitarian law] remains the clearest expression of our global agreement to preserve a space for humanity in war. For governments committed to this principle and legal framework, including Canada, now is the time to defend it wholeheartedly and unequivocally …

Canada recently called for a humanitarian ‘pause’ in Gaza, but this is not a solution. A ‘pause’ implies that violence and bombing will resume. Thus far, the actions of world leaders, including in Canada, have been too weak and too slow to stem the relentless bloodshed, and atrocities are still being committed every day. A total and immediate ceasefire is the only humane option.

I call on you and the Canadian Government to do more than just remember healthcare workers and patients in Gaza when it is too late. Take action to uphold our shared humanity by demanding an immediate ceasefire.

There would be a “significant pause” in the Israel-Hamas war if hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are freed, a US official said.

Speaking at a security conference in Bahrain on Saturday, US president Joe Biden’s main Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, said:

“The surge in humanitarian relief, the surge in fuel, the pause … will come when hostages are released,” Agence France-Presse reports.

He added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “horrific” and “intolerable”.

Here are some images coming through the newswires of thousands of protesters, including family members of hostages taken by Hamas, marching into Jerusalem, where they are are voicing angry calls towards the Israeli government to do more to bring the hostages home:

Thousands of demonstrators, including family members of hostages kidnapped by Hamas, marched into Jerusalem on Saturday in angry calls for the Israeli government to do more to bring their relatives home.

The Associated Press reports:

The march capped a five-day trek from Tel Aviv and represented the largest protest on behalf of the hostages since they were dragged into Gaza by Hamas on Oct. 7 as part of the militants’ deadly attack in southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel on the day of the surprise Hamas assault.

On Saturday, the marchers carried Israeli flags and photos of the hostages as they finished the 70-kilometer (45-mile) walk to Jerusalem and slowly converged on Netanyahu’s office.

Netanyahu has not yet agreed to meet with them, provoking fury among the demonstrators. Other members of Israel’s war cabinet – former opposition leader Benny Gantz and former army chief Gadi Eisenkot – were set to sit down Saturday evening with representatives of the hostage families.

“We are here today with many families walking up to Jerusalem to keep the awareness of the hostage issue as a top priority for the government of Israel,” said Ruby Chen, whose 19-year-old son is a hostage.

“We are gathered here from all across the nation to support the families of the kidnapped and to send a direct message to the government,” marcher Hvihy Hanina said. “These hostages must be set free. They belong with us. They belong with their families.”

The protest came amid widespread Israeli media speculation that the war cabinet is considering a Qatari-brokered deal to win the release of the women and children among the hostages. In exchange, Israel would agree to a cease-fire of several days and release several dozen of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners it is holding.

Describing the overcrowded environment and lack of medical suppiles at al-Awda hospital, Adnan Radi, the northern Gaza hospital’s head of obstetrics and gynecology, told the humanitarian organization ActionAid:

In the last [few] days, we have become the only hospital in the entire Gaza Strip and the north who receive obstetrics, cesarean sections and gynecology services. Because all hospitals in Gaza and the north, after the siege, lost any services for women and obstetrics.

Two days ago, we performed 16 caesarean sections under exceptional circumstances. There were cases of very severe bleeding and placental abruption as a result of difficulty in access, strikes etc … We did not have blood-transfusion services…

There are premature babies born at 30 or 31 weeks and we do not have anything to deal with [their cases]. There are no artificial respirators, there are none at all. We look at a child after birth, [their] weight is 1,200g, 1,300g, 1,400g or one and a half kilograms. We do not have anything to deal with them. We look at babies losing their life because we have nothing.

In addition, there are women who suffer from postpartum bleeding and bleeding after operations and there are no blood transfusions at all. Two days ago, had a placental abruption case, and it was opened two or three times. We were trying to find two units of blood to compensate for what was lost. With difficulty, her life was saved.

Médecins Sans Frontières has released the following update on Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities in the West Bank city of Jenin:

In the early hours of November 17, Israeli forces surrounded hospitals across Jenin, including MSF-supported Khalil Suleiman Hospital, while the military forces were conducting incursions into a refugee camp in the city.

An explosion and shooting were heard from the hospital compound. The MSF team inside the emergency room of Khalil Suleiman Hospital was unable to receive and treat any casualties from the camp, as ambulances were blocked by Israeli forces.

Around 6am, the Israeli forces ordered through megaphones everyone inside the hospital to come out; the staff did not leave the hospital out of fear. They then withdrew an hour later …

Healthcare workers are regularly being attacked by the Israeli military while ambulances cannot move freely to reach the injured and ill. These attacks must stop now.

Medical staff from Gaza’s Dar al-Shifa hospital have been forced to flee the strip’s largest hospital on foot with critically ill patients including premature babies, according to Medical Aid for Palestinians.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, the UK-based humanitarian organization said:

With two-thirds of hospitals in Gaza now shut down, there is no capacity to receive them …

Among those still to be evacuated are the surviving premature babies, who have been forced out of incubators by Israel’s denial of generator fuel. The last information MAP received indicated that four have died and 35 remained alive. Their lives are at immediate risk.