Israel-Hamas war updates: Aid groups warn Israel’s siege strangling Gaza

This live page is now closed. Please follow the latest on the Israel-Hamas war on our new live page here.

To read about the mounting death toll at al-Shifa Hospital, which Israeli forces are continuing to occupy, read our story here.

For a piece detailing the “dirty secret” of Israel’s weapons exports, check out this feature story.

And the Philippines is on the wrong side of history when it comes to Palestine, professor Susan Reyes Kurdli argues in this opinion piece.

We’ll soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of today’s main events:

• Al-Shifa Hospital director said 7,000 people, including patients, medics and other civilians seeking shelter, are trapped in Gaza’s largest hospital as Israeli soldiers continue to occupy the complex.
• Palestinian telecommunications firm Paltel said service has been partially restored in the enclave after the delivery of fuel to power its generators.
• UN officials and rights experts warned that Israel’s siege on Gaza is worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis.
• Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of premature babies who have died at al-Shifa Hospital rose to four.
• The Israeli military said it will target Hamas anywhere in Gaza, even in the south, raising fears about the fate of an area Israel said was “safe” despite repeated bombardment.
• Israel’s army again claimed to have found Hamas “infrastructure” at al-Shifa Hospital.
• Dr Munir al-Bursh, a general director at the Ministry of Health, accused Israeli forces of taking 18 unburied bodies from the courtyard of al-Shifa to an unknown location.
• Hezbollah and Israel continue to carry out cross-border attacks.
• Gaza’s government media office said the total number of Palestinians killed since October 7 has exceeded 12,000. The official death toll in Gaza has not been updated for days due to the collapse of the enclave’s health system, which collected data.
• Israel announced it would allow two fuel trucks into Gaza per day to power water and sewage operations, but aid groups say the deliveries are insufficient.

It has been six days since Dina Alalami heard from her family in Gaza City after she received a text message from a relative informing her that they were alive.

The 33-year-old mother of two, who has been living in Qatar’s capital Doha for the past five years, has no idea whether her sister, two brothers-in-law, two nephews and three other relatives are still alive or have fallen victim to Israeli bombardment that has killed more than 11,500 people in Gaza.

“On Friday [November 10], they decided to leave their house and head south because the Israeli tanks had gotten closer and were surrounding the area,” Dina told Al Jazeera on Thursday. “They took the decision because they said they wouldn’t survive the night if they stayed. We called the Red Cross and asked them to help secure a safe passage for them.”

But the Red Cross and Red Crescent said they were unable to help.

Read more here.

Israeli fighter jets attacked the Jabalia refugee camp, homes in Beit Lahiya, the vicinity of residential towers in Sheikh Zayed City, and the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital, according to Palestinian state news agency Wafa.

The number of casualties is still unclear.

Almost all of the hospitals in northern Gaza are out of service.

In a video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad unit, journalist Hussam Shabbat described the scale of heavy Israeli bombardments in northern Gaza.

“We lived 15 minutes of hell,” Shabbat said from the Indonesian Hospital.

Israeli attacks in northern Gaza were reported in the vicinity of the hospital, as well as in the Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahiya, the Wafa news agency reported.

Shabbat said that while Israel has bombed the area daily, Friday was the most difficult day since the war began.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa shared the statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

It welcomed the ICC referral, saying it comes “on the heels of the deadliest year for the Palestinian people and a catastrophic humanitarian situation caused by the commission of crimes listed in the Rome Statute”.

We reported earlier that five countries – South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti – had asked the ICC to investigate.

US lawmakers John Garamendi and Mark DeSaulnier – both California Democrats – have joined a growing list of Congress members calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. They also urged the release of captives held in the enclave.

Garamendi decried the “horrific loss of life” in the conflict and expressed support for talks to bring the fighting to an end.

“As ceasefire negotiations continue, we must not lose sight of our objective to achieve long-lasting peace in the region for both Israelis and Palestinians to live with dignity, safety and security,” he said in a statement.

For his part, DeSaulnier said a ceasefire would save lives and enable much-needed humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

“Hamas also needs to be brought to justice for the October 7 attack on Israel,” DeSaulnier said.
“This is a necessary first step to ensure that both Israelis and Palestinians are safe and should be used as a baseline toward a political resolution that achieves lasting peace, security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians.”

My statement on the need for a negotiated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. pic.twitter.com/FOiHVFdDbh

— John Garamendi (@RepGaramendi) November 17, 2023

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Palestinians face “not only a humanitarian catastrophe on a massive scale but an outright genocide that the Israeli government has been very open about wanting to carry out”.

“The world cannot continue making an exception when it comes to the protection of Palestinian human rights and dignity,” Awad said.

“If any other government was behaving the way the Israeli government is, they would be rightfully held to account and condemned.”

The world must act to prevent not only a humanitarian catastrophe on a massive scale, but an outright genocide that the Israeli government has been very open about wanting to carry out against the people of #Gaza. The world cannot continue making an exception when it comes to the… https://t.co/HmPmzw6OCK

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) November 17, 2023

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in security studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that comments by Israeli officials “certainly suggest a genocidal intent”.

“We [have] a situation where there are grave violations of humanitarian law being committed by Israel. We’ve got potential war crimes being committed on a daily basis,” he said.

“We have incidents of indiscriminate bombings of civilians, buildings, infrastructure, hospitals and places of worship. All of these are of grave concern. All of those could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.”

Krieg added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “one of the worst, if not the worst in the world right now”.

“Because it is not just about a lack of food, lack of water and lack of sanitary facilities, but it is also these people being bombed and exposed to explosive devices and artillery.”

A doctor who was caring for the elderly in Gaza has been killed in Israel’s latest “barbaric attack” on a healthcare facility, the director of Al-Aqsa Hospital told reporters.

Iyad Abu Zaher said during a news conference that Medhat Mheisem – a doctor at al-Wafa Hospital for the elderly – was killed when the facility came under attack a short while ago.

Mheisem also served as head of the board of directors at al-Wafa in central Gaza.

“This selfless man, who refused to remain home, was carrying out his duties and was serving the elderly at the hospital,” Abu Zaher said.

“A short while ago [Mheisem] asked me to send them water. They don’t have any drinking water,” he said, adding that the elderly at the hospital now have “no one but God” to care for them.

As the death toll continues to rise in Gaza, some experts warn of a potential genocide.

Israeli leaders have at times justified their attacks on the besieged Strip by invoking the history of persecution of Jewish people, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling Hamas’s attack on October 7 “the worst act of anti-Semitic violence since the Holocaust”.

How is Jewish history influencing Israel’s response to the war on Gaza?

In this UpFront special, the executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace Stefanie Fox, political analyst and commentator Omar Baddar, and professor of Holocaust and genocide studies Omer Bartov join Marc Lamont Hill to discuss.

Watch below:

The latest proposal to be presented by Qatari mediators to Israel – which would have involved the release of 50 captives held in Gaza – was rejected by the Israeli war cabinet on Friday, according to a report in the Israeli media outlet Ynet News.

The report said that the cabinet refused to agree to any deal that would see family members split up. However, a deal that would see 70 to 80 captives released is still under consideration.

Ynet also claimed that the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, has stopped negotiations as a result of Israel’s actions in al-Shifa Hospital.

Tanzania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the death of Clemence Felix Mtenga.

He was among two Tanzanians who had been missing since the October 7 attack.

The ministry said Mtenga was among 260 young Tanzanians who had gone to Israel as part of an agriculture training programme.

It added that it was continuing to monitor the status of the second missing Tanzanian citizen, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

The health facilities in Khan Younis in southern Gaza also have not had any electricity over the same period, PRCS said.

Al-Amal Hospital, and PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis, with no electricity or water since 5 days.#Gaza#SaveGazaHospitals#humanitarianaid#NotATarget pic.twitter.com/IhGo6rJNjr

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 17, 2023

Sanders has emerged as one of only a handful of US legislators urging conditions to be applied to a Biden administration request for more military funding for Israel.

“There is a horrific humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Israel must stop the bombing now and allow for massive amounts of humanitarian aid, including fuel, to reach those who need it,” Sanders posted on X.

“Congress cannot pass a supplemental spending bill that allows these actions to continue.”

Sanders has failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza despite intense pressure from US progressives.

There is a horrific humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Israel must stop the bombing now and allow for massive amounts of humanitarian aid, including fuel, to reach those who need it. Congress cannot pass a supplemental spending bill that allows these actions to continue.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 17, 2023

Here are the latest events:

• Gaza’s Ministry of Health has said the number of premature babies who have died at al-Shifa has risen to four, and that five more were barely clinging to life without fuel and oxygen for incubators. That comes after health officials said all patients on life support at the hospital had died.
• Israel announced it would allow two fuel trucks into Gaza a day to power water and sewage operations. Aid groups have said the deliveries will only have a small impact.
• A Palestinian telecoms firm has said service has been partially restored after receiving some fuel from UNRWA.
• Israel’s military has said it will target Hamas anywhere in the enclave, even in the south. That comes as Amnesty International warned about Israeli orders for Palestinians to evacuate some areas of Khan Younis, where Israel has stepped up air attacks, killing civilians.
• Fighting has continued to rage in northern Gaza, as the Israeli military appeared to be pushing from the west of Gaza City towards the neighbourhoods of Shujayea and Zeitoun.
• Israel’s military has again claimed to have found Hamas “infrastructure” at al-Shifa Hospital, which it continues to occupy, although it was not immediately clear what they referred to.
• Five countries have referred the war in Gaza to the International Criminal Court, its prosecutor has said, adding the court is already probing possible crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories.
• WHO Chief Tedros has said Israel’s actions in Gaza appear “increasingly unjustifiable”.
  

  

Nissim Vaturi, who is also a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said Israel has been “too humane” in Gaza.

In a post on X, the deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament said the country should instead “burn Gaza now”.

Vaturi also called on Israel not to allow much-needed fuel into the enclave, and to block water “until the hostages are returned”.