Live Updates: Israeli defence minister claims control over western Gaza City

Friday, November 17, 2023

10:12 GMT — The Israeli army claims control over the western area of Gaza City, the country's defence minister said, announcing the start of the “next phase” of ground invasion.

Speaking to soldiers at the 36th Division's command centre in southern Israel, Yoav Gallant said: "During the past 24 hours, we took operational control of the western area of Gaza City, and the next phase of ground operations has begun."

He added: "The more we continue this operation, the more pressure we will put on Hamas and the more we will succeed in eliminating its infrastructure, including its headquarters and tunnels."

Israel's bombardment of Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack, accompanied by a ground invasion, has killed over 11,000 Palestinians, more than half of them being women and children.

09:00 GMT — Israeli army kills 3 Palestinians, injures 9 others in airstrike on Jenin camp

The Israeli army has killed three Palestinians in an air strike on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Israeli air strike also left nine others injured, including two critically.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, pushed more than 80 military vehicles including bulldozers into Jenin city and the Jenin refugee camp, raided Palestinian homes and detained several Palestinians.

08:35 GMT — Israeli military says it retrieved the body of a captive soldier near Gaza's Al Shifa hospital

The Israeli military has said it retrieved the body of a soldier, who had been held captive by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, in a building near Gaza's Al Shifa hospital.

The Israeli military confirmed the death of the soldier after Hamas issued a video of her alive followed by images of what the Palestinian group said was her body after she was killed in an Israeli strike.

08:20 GMT — 10 Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike on southern Gaza

At least 10 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in the Al Qarara area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Several others were injured in the attack, Palestine TV reported.

"Israeli warplanes also targeted a residential apartment west of Rafah in southern Gaza, while intense airstrikes were reported in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City," said the official WAFA news agency.

This came after Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee renewed his warning to the people of Gaza, calling on them to move south for their safety.

The government media office in Gaza has repeatedly reported attacks on roads that Israel declared “safe” towards the south of Gaza.

07:10 GMT — US statements on Gaza hospitals 'repetition of blatantly false narrative': Hamas

American allegations about the use of hospitals and schools in Gaza as military sites are a "repetition of a blatantly false narrative" provided by the Israeli army, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas said, holding the US "politically and legally responsible" for Israel’s crimes in the enclave.

"The Pentagon's claim that Hamas used Al Shifa Hospital for military purposes... and the US State Department's claim that Hamas used hospitals and schools as military sites is a repetition of a blatantly false narrative," Hamas said in a statement published on the group's Telegram account.

It added that this "was exposed by the flimsy and ridiculous theatrics of the spokesperson for the occupying army, after their raid on Al Rantisi and Al Shifa hospitals and threatening the safety of patients and medical staff.”

06:40 GMT - Thousands at Al Shifa Hospital 'fighting death'

Over 7,000 displaced people, patients, and medical staff at Al Shifa Hospital are "fighting death due to a lack of water and food" caused by the Israeli military blockade, besieged Gaza media office reported.

According to a statement released on Telegram, the office emphasised the critical situation, stating that there is "no food, water, or milk for infants at Al Shifa Hospital."

"We may lose a number of malnourished children at the hospital due to the power outage, leaving them without incubators," it said.

The media office highlighted "the dire conditions at Al Shifa Hospital, which houses 650 patients and approximately 7,000 displaced individuals.

Medical teams, patients, and displaced individuals are struggling for survival due to the absence of life's essentials."

The statement pointed out that "Israeli forces have destroyed all vehicles in the hospital compound and refuse to allow medical staff or patients to leave."

The Gaza media office "appealed for urgent international intervention to rescue those present in the compound."

It reported that "the Israeli army conducted search and inspection operations inside Al Shifa Hospital, transferring the bodies of martyrs to an unknown location.

The occupying forces have converted the facility into a military barracks."

06:10 GMT — Israeli forces raid Jenin refugee camp in occupied West Bank

The Israeli army stormed the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank and besieged the Jenin refugee camp, leading to clashes with Palestinian fighters.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that large numbers of Israeli military vehicles entered the city accompanied by bulldozers.

They said the army approached from several directions and targeted several neighborhoods while imposing a siege on the Jenin camp.

Electricity was cut off in the camp and the Al Jabriyat neighborhood while military helicopters and drones flew over the area.

05:50 GMT — Pro-Palestinian protesters slam UK Labour Party for opposing ceasefire

Pro-Palestinian protesters held a rally in East London to denounce the Labour Party over its stance against calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Gathering outside the party's office in Tower Hamlets, they also called on Labour Party lawmaker Rushanara Ali to resign after she abstained from a vote supporting a motion calling for a cease-fire in the besieged enclave.

The crowd carried signs and Palestinian flags, chanting "Labour Party, shame on you. Rushanara Ali, shame on you."

05:40 GMT — PM Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel not successful in bid to minimise civilian casualties

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said attempts to minimise casualties in besieged Gaza were "not successful."

US television's CBS News asked Netanyahu whether Israel's killing of thousands of Palestinians would fuel a new generation of hatred.

"Any civilian death is a tragedy. And we shouldn't have any because we're doing everything we can to get the civilians out of harm's way, while Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm's way," Netanyahu said.

"So we send leaflets, [we] call them on their cell phones, and we say: 'leave'. And many have left," Netanyahu said.

"The other thing I can say is that we'll try to finish that job with minimal civilian casualties. That's what we're trying to do: minimal civilian casualties. But unfortunately, we're not successful."

Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of the blockaded enclave has left at least 11,500 Palestinians killed, over 4,700 of them children.

05:20 GMT — Blinken urges Israel to take action against settler violence in occupied West Bank

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called on Israel to take "urgent" action to stop settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Blinken, in San Francisco for an Asia-Pacific summit, made the plea in a telephone call with Benny Gantz, an opposition leader who joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wartime cabinet.

Blinken "stressed the urgent need for affirmative steps to de-escalate tensions in the [occupied] West Bank, including by confronting rising levels of settler extremist violence," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

On the war front, Blinken with Gantz "discussed efforts to augment and accelerate the transit of critical humanitarian assistance into Gaza," Miller said.

05:10 GMT — Heads of UN agencies reject unilateral proposals to create ‘safe zones’ in Gaza

The leaders of a number of UN agencies and humanitarian organisations said that they will not take part in any "safe zones" in Gaza declared by Israel, which is only one side in the conflict.

"As humanitarian leaders, our position is clear: We will not participate in the establishment of any 'safe zone' in Gaza that is set up without the agreement of all the parties, and unless fundamental conditions are in place to ensure safety and other essential needs are met and a mechanism is in place to supervise its implementation," the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, the highest-level humanitarian coordination forum of the UN system, said in a statement.

Under the current circumstances, any proposals to unilaterally establish "safe zones" are likely to harm civilians, including potentially causing significant casualties, and should be rejected, the committee said.

For our live updates from Thursday (November 16), click here