Israel-Hamas war updates: Houthi vessel seizure in Red Sea ups the stakes
Houthi commandos repelled down from a helicopter to capture the Israel-linked ship on a major shipping route, stoking fears of further escalation in the region.
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- Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Red Sea and took two dozen crew members hostage, raising fears of escalation in Israel’s war on Gaza.
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- Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Red Sea and took two dozen crew members hostage, raising fears of escalation in Israel’s war on Gaza.
- Thirty-one prematurely born babies have been evacuated from al-Shifa Hospital and taken to the European and Nasser hospitals in the south.
- A deal on captives has not yet been reached between Israel and Hamas after The Washington Post reported a US-brokered deal is close.
- At least 13,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll in Hamas’s attacks stands at about 1,200.
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This live page is now closed. Please follow the latest on the Israel-Hamas war on our new live page here.
You can read more about the Israeli army’s claims about al-Shifa Hospital here and here.
For more on Yemen’s Houthi rebels seizing a cargo ship in the Red Sea, you can read here.
For more on Israeli attacks on schools and refugee camps, you can read here.
And you can always find more of our coverage on the Israel-Gaza war here.
WATCH: Attacks on school shelters should be investigated
The Israeli attack on the Al Fakhoura school was the most “grave attack that there’s been”, Maleiha Malik, the executive director of Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC), has told Al Jazeera.
Malik described the attack on the school, which was being used a shelter, as a “flagrant breach of international humanitarian law” and called for an “independent commission to establish the truth of what’s going on and establish accountability”.
If you’re just joining us…
It’s just after 1am on Monday (23:00 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel.
Here’s a recap of the developments over the last few hours.
- Mounir el-Boursh, the Gaza health ministry director, dismissed an Israeli statement on a tunnel allegedly found at al-Shifa Hospital as a “pure lie”.
- Israel’s military claimed it found a 55-metre-long (180 ft) tunnel under al-Shifa Hospital – the latest in a series of such allegations.
- Thirty-one newborns evacuated from al-Shifa to Tal al-Sultan Hospital in Rafah will be taken to Egypt on Monday.
- Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel says the international community should support “voluntary resettlement” of Palestinians from Gaza, instead of contributing money to rebuilding the besieged enclave.
- Osama Hamdan, the Beirut-based Hamas representative, accused Israel of carrying out “atrocities with the aim of accelerating Palestinian displacement”.
‘Sufficient evidence’ lacking of Hamas ‘Pentagon’ under al-Shifa
The Israeli army is essentially trying to prove the claims it has been peddling, not just in this war but for years, that Hamas is using al-Shifa and the area underneath it as a military headquarters. Essentially calling it the Pentagon of Hamas’s military operations.
They showed an opening in the ground where they then descended a camera 10 metres (32 ft) down to show that the tunnel, according to them, was 50 metres (164 ft) long and ended with a door that is a protective barrier with a firing hole inside of it.
Now the Israeli army has been releasing small bits of information in the form of photos and videos to try and prove their claims. But they have not shown sufficient evidence to back those up.
WATCH: Al-Nakba – The Palestinian catastrophe
‘Misleading and false’: Hamas rejects Israel’s video claims
Hamas has responded after Israel released a CCTV video it claimed to show two captives being brought to al-Shifa Hospital on October 7.
“The statements of the occupation army regarding the use of al-Shifa Hospital to detain Zionist prisoners are misleading and false. The occupation’s statements aim to cover up its security and military failures,” the group said in a statement.
In an earlier briefing, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Hamas attackers brought a Nepalese and a Thai national into the medical facility. They were among the foreign workers seized in the raid. He did not name the two hostages.
‘Unprecedented fiasco’: Israeli writer condemns Oct 7 security failure
Gideon Levy, a columnist at Haaretz, called the security failure on October 7 “an unprecedented fiasco”.
The comments come after Haaretz.com reported that an Israeli military helicopter responding to the Hamas attack at a music festival may have shot civilians.
“I don’t think a serious investigation is taking place. There are so many things to be investigated. So many question marks, so many mysteries. Unprecedented behaviour of the army, of the police, everyone,” Levy told Al Jazeera.
“Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t take any accountability and he’s not going to. He didn’t know, he didn’t see… But after the war, there’s no doubt public opinion will demand a serious investigation by a serious committee.”
Gaza gov’t: 13,000 Palestinians killed, 30,000 injured
At least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed and 30,000 wounded in Gaza since Israel launched its attacks following October 7.
At least 5,500 of the dead are children and 3,500 are women, Gaza’s government media office said.
Israel says about 1,200 people died in the Hamas attack on October 7.
Gaza’s health ministry is the only official source for Gaza casualties. Israel has sealed Gaza’s borders, barring foreign journalists and humanitarian workers. In previous wars, the ministry’s counts have held up to UN scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel’s tallies.
LISTEN: Blood, grief, and checkpoints mark the road out of north Gaza
Updates on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, al-Shifa Hospital’s refugees, raids in the occupied West Bank and rumours of a deal for Israeli captives:
US demands Houthis release captured ship and crew
We just got a response to this from the US National Security Council, the top body of advisers to the White House.
“The Houthi’s seizure of the vessel Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea is a flagrant violation of international law. We demand the immediate release of the ship and its crew. We will consult with our UN partners for the appropriate next steps.”
The US has beefed up its presence since the start of the war in the seas of the Middle East. They sent two aircraft carriers with accompanying warships in their words “to assist with the defence of Israel”.
But they obviously haven’t been able to prevent this happening in this case.
Qatar PM to visit Russia, UK to press for Gaza ceasefire
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, also Qatar’s foreign minister, will begin the Europe trip on Tuesday.
Foreign ministry spokesman Majed Alansari said the diplomatic mission is part of “official visits by a number of brotherly foreign ministers to some of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to push for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip”.
Sheikh Mohammed’s trip also includes Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
“This step comes on behalf of all member states of the Arab League and the OIC to push for a real and serious political process to achieve a comprehensive and permanent peace,” Alansari said.
المتحدث الرسمي لوزارة الخارجية @majedalansari : رئيس مجلس الوزراء وزير الخارجية @MBA_AlThani_ يزور روسيا وبريطانيا ضمن تحرك عربي – إسلامي لوقف الحرب في غزة#الخارجية_القطرية pic.twitter.com/McNKqPzXVf
— الخارجية القطرية (@MofaQatar_AR) November 19, 2023
WATCH: Could Israel’s war on Gaza provoke regional instability?
Palestinians suffer daily horrors while the US stands by its ally Israel, as do the UK and European Union.
As Israel steps up its bombardment of Gaza, military and political support from the US remains steadfast.
But could this war – which has caused such a humanitarian catastrophe – lead to wider regional instability?
‘Stop the hand of the aggressor’: Pakistan rally condemns Israel, US
Thousands of people demonstrated in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Pakistan’s second biggest city Lahore.
Supporters, including women and children, marched while holding banners and posters with slogans opposing Israel and the US and in support of the Palestinians.
Senator Sirajul Haq, the chief of Pakistan’s main religious political party, said the words issued by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation will not work and that Muslim leaders must rise up to “stop the hand of the aggressor”.
WATCH: The US media has a Palestine problem
Sana Saeed looks at what US media coverage has gotten wrong about events in Gaza, Sheikh Jarrah and occupied Palestine, and offers her own media critique.
‘Pure lie’: Gaza’s top health official refutes Israeli tunnel claim
Mounir el-Boursh, the Gaza health ministry director, dismissed the Israeli statement on a tunnel allegedly found at al-Shifa Hospital as a “pure lie”.
“They have been at the hospital for eight days … and yet they haven’t found anything,” he told Al Jazeera.
At one point a shelter for tens of thousands of Palestinian war refugees, al-Shifa has been evacuating patients and staff since Israeli troops swept in last week on what they called a mission to root out hidden Hamas facilities.
Israel’s repeated attacks on medical facilities, health personnel and ambulances in Gaza should be “investigated as war crimes”, international NGO Human Rights Watch has said.
UN boss praises Qatar for mediation efforts
With speculation brewing that some captives taken into Gaza may soon be freed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised efforts by Qatar to mediate between Hamas and Israel.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani earlier said the main obstacles to a hostage deal are now “very minor” with mainly “practical and logistical” issues to surmount.
A White House official added the “very complicated, very sensitive” negotiations are making progress.
“I believe we are closer than we have been in quite some time – maybe closer than we have been since the beginning of this process – to getting this deal done,” White House official Jon Finer told the NBC News programme Meet the Press.
When will Israeli army explain inconsistencies in al-Shifa videos?
It has been nearly five days since the Israeli army deleted a social media post that alleged Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital was used as a control-and-command centre by Hamas before it was occupied.
The army removed the original post on Wednesday, replacing it with a shorter version reposted with an edit the next day. No explanation for the deletion was given by the Israeli military.
Read more here.
Israeli minister: Nations must back Gaza’s ‘voluntary resettlement’
The international community should promote the “voluntary resettlement” of Palestinians from Gaza around the globe, an Israeli minister says.
Writing in The Jerusalem Post, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel said that “instead of funneling money to rebuild Gaza or to the failed UNRWA, the international community can assist in the costs of resettlement, helping t
he people of Gaza build new lives in their new host countries”.
UNRWA is the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
“Gaza has long been thought of as a problem without an answer. We must try something new and we call on the international community to help make it a reality,” Gamliel wrote.
“It could be a win-win solution: a win for those civilians of Gaza who seek a better life and a win for Israel after this devastating tragedy.”
Macron to Netanyahu: ‘Too many civilian losses’
French President Emmanuel Macron told Israel’s prime minister there were “too many civilian losses” in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Macron reminded Netanyahu of the “absolute necessity to distinguish terrorists from the population”, the French presidency said.
He also condemned violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank in a conversation with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.
Premature babies to be taken to Egypt for treatment
The 31 newborns evacuated from al-Shifa to Tal al-Sultan Hospital in Rafah will be taken to Egypt on Monday, says Mohamed Zaqout, the director of Gaza hospitals.
“They’ll go to Egypt for more specialised care,” he added.
The babies suffered from dehydration, vomiting, hypothermia and some had sepsis because they hadn’t received medication and had not been in “suitable conditions for them to stay alive”, Zaqout said.
Four babies died before the evacuation, he added.
Israel accelerating Palestinian displacement: Hamas
Osama Hamdan, the Beirut-based Hamas representative, accused Israel of carrying out “atrocities with the aim of accelerating Palestinian displacement”.
In a news conference in the Lebanese capital, Hamdan said President Biden and his administration should withdraw their support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
He reiterated the group’s call for the opening of the Rafah crossing for desperately needed aid and humanitarian corridors, and said the UN should try Israeli “war criminals”.
Netanyahu slams Palestinian Authority one day after Biden op-ed
The Israeli prime minister has issued a statement condemning the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its president, Mahmoud Abbas.
This comes a day after US President Joe Biden wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post proposing that the PA take control over Gaza in the war’s aftermath.
In a statement, Netanyahu accused the PA and Abbas of denying that Hamas fighters killed Israelis at a concert near Gaza.
‘There is no evidence’ of Hamas command centre under al-Shifa
Well bravo, it’s probably one out of dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of tunnels. We all know there are tunnels in Gaza.
The problem is not finding a tunnel. The problem is the Israeli excuse – and their supporters in London and Washington, too – that there was “a city under a city”. It was the same excuse before the 2003 war against Iraq. There’s a “command centre” – multiple layers underneath al-Shifa Hospital. It is so absurd, it doesn’t need commentary.
Now we know it does not exist. There is no “city underneath a city”. There is no command centre of multiple levels. They found some wires, apparently to operate an elevator under the hospital. And they said these wires could be for a command centre. It is not serious. There is no evidence.
Israel military claims to find long tunnel under al-Shifa Hospital
The Israeli military says it uncovered a long tunnel under al-Shifa Hospital.
“Troops exposed a 55-metre-long terror tunnel 10 metres deep underneath the Shifa hospital complex,” an army statement said.
In the days leading up to the hospital raid, Israel insisted Hamas was operating tunnels underground al-Shifa Hospital. It also said the health facility was a command centre and military post for Hamas.
The latest video showed a narrow passage with arched concrete roofing ending at a grey door. The statement did not say what was beyond the door.
Hamas repeatedly called for a committee from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to verify Israel’s claims – something it has refused.
‘Saw death in every colour’: Palestinians fleeing north Gaza recount horror
Thousands of displaced Palestinians have been forced to leave Gaza City and northern Gaza, making their way to the central region of the coastal territory under attack by Israel.
But many Palestinians described the so-called “safe corridors” that Israel announced to allow for their evacuation as replete with horror.
Find our story and pictures here.