dle East
AS IT HAPPENED
Israel will hit Hamas all over Gaza – including ‘in the south’, IDF says
Israeli troops will hit Hamas targets wherever they can find them, including in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Israel’s chief military spokesman said on Friday, as forces continued their ground operation in the northern part of the besieged enclave. The news comes after Israel’s war cabinet approved letting two fuel trucks a day into the Gaza Strip to help meet UN needs, said an Israeli official. Read our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
Issued on: 17/11/2023 – 02:52
Modified: 17/11/2023 – 22:54
1 min
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave on November 17, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave on November 17, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. © Kenzo Tribouillard, AFP
By:
FRANCE 24
Follow
|
FRANCE 24
This blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, please click here.
Please refresh the page if the live blog does not appear.
Key Developments from Friday, November 17
A dire lack of fuel shut down all internet and phone networks in Gaza.
Israeli troops continued to carry out building-by-building searches at Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military said it had found a tunnel shaft used by Hamas militants at the hospital.
Israel’s army said Friday it killed at least seven militants in two separate confrontations in the West Bank.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about boosting aid to Gaza, urged ‘urgent’ action against settler violence in the West Bank.
Israel’s chief military spokesman said on Friday that Israel will hit Hamas targets wherever they can find them, including in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
Germany’s Scholz and Turkey’s Erdogan traded barbs over Israel-Hamas war.
FRANCE 24 spoke with some Palestinians exiled in Jordan. You can find the report below.
02:28
Last to first
Last Update: 8 hours ago
8 hours ago
This brings us to the end of our live blog on the war between Israel and Hamas. Thank you for watching. You can find our full coverage here.
SHARE
9 hours ago
Tensions remain high in East Jerusalem after checkpoint shootout
Tensions remained high on Friday in occupied East Jerusalem, reports FRANCE 24’s James Andre, a day after three Palestinian assailants opened fire at a checkpoint on a road between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
One Israeli soldier was killed before the attackers were shot dead, Israeli police said. The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
SHARE
9 hours ago
17,000 litres of fuel enter Gaza for telecoms firm, says Palestinian border official
Some 17,000 litres (about 4,500 gallons) of fuel entered Gaza on Friday through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, a Palestinian border official said, the first shipment since Israel’s war cabinet said it would allow regular deliveries.
The Palestinian official said the fuel was “for the telecommunications company” Paltel, which on Thursday confirmed a total communications blackout in Gaza after it ran out of fuel.
SHARE
9 hours ago
SHARE
10 hours ago
Biden raises the ‘urgent’ need for Hamas to free hostages with Qatar
US President Joe Biden pressed on Friday for the immediate release of hostages seized by Hamas in Israel during talks with the leader of Qatar, which has relations with the militants.
Biden, in San Francisco for an Asia-Pacific summit, in a telephone call with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani “discussed the urgent need for all hostages held by Hamas to be released without further delay,” a White House statement said.
SHARE
10 hours ago
Israel will hit Hamas all over Gaza, including south, says military spokesman
Israeli troops will hit Hamas targets wherever they can find them, including in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Israel’s chief military spokesman said on Friday, as forces continued their ground operation in the northern part of the besieged enclave.
“We are determined to advance our operation. It will happen wherever Hamas exists, including in the south of the strip,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari during a regular briefing. “It will happen at the time, place and conditions that are best for the military.”
SHARE
12 hours ago
Erdogan says ‘killing children does not exist in the Torah’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday lashed out at Israel over its air and ground campaign in Gaza during a visit to Germany, saying that attacks on children and hospitals are not mentioned in the Jewish holy book.
“Shooting hospitals or killing children does not exist in the Torah, you can’t do it,” Erdogan said during a media appearance with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
SHARE
12 hours ago
Qatar’s emir discusses developments in Gaza with Biden
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed developments in Gaza with US President Joe Biden over the phone, a statement from Amiri Diwan, the emir’s administrative office, said on Friday.
SHARE
12 hours ago
Gaza government says more than 12,000 killed in Israeli strikes
At least 12,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the government media office in the Hamas-controlled enclave said on Friday.
SHARE
13 hours ago
Bahrain Crown Prince calls on Hamas and Israel to release hostages
Bahrain’s Crown Prince on Friday called on the Palestinian militant group Hamas to release Israeli women and children taken hostage in Gaza and for Israel in exchange to release Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.
SHARE
13 hours ago
Five nations have requested war crimes probe in Palestinian territories, ICC prosecutor says
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday said he had received a request from five countries to investigate the situation in the Palestinian territories.
Prosecutor Karim Kahn said the referral had come from South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti.
The ICC already has an ongoing investigation into “the situation in the State of Palestine” for alleged war crimes committed since June 13, 2014.
SHARE
13 hours ago
Erdogan says Israel’s attacks ‘must end’ while on visit to Germany
Israel must immediately halt its military operation against Hamas militants and agree to a ceasefire, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on a visit to Germany on Friday.
“President Erdogan stated that Israel’s attacks on Palestinian lands must end and that the reaction from the whole world against human rights violations is important,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement after Erdogan met German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“A ceasefire should be established immediately,” the statement said.
SHARE
13 hours ago
German president stresses Israel’s ‘right to exist’ to Erdogan
Germany’s president underlined Israel’s right to exist and to self-defence during talks in Berlin on Friday with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had raised questions over Israel’s legitimacy.
“Due to the latest statements from Turkey on the Middle East conflict, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made clear Germany’s position,” his spokeswoman wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Steinmeier “highlighted Israel’s right to exist as well as its right to defend itself”.
SHARE
13 hours ago
Six Saudi ambulances to reach Gaza on Friday, reports Saudi state TV
Six ambulances provided by Saudi Arabia will reach the Gaza Strip on Friday, reported Saudi state TV.
SHARE
13 hours ago
Pope to meet with Palestinian delegation and relatives of Israeli hostages
Pope Francis is expected to meet with relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants and separately with a Palestinian delegation that includes some people from Gaza, sources said on Friday.
Two sources told Reuters about the planned visit with Palestinians after Reuters reported earlier on Friday about the visit with the Israelis. Both are due to take place on Wednesday in the Vatican.
SHARE
14 hours ago
Hamas’s armed wing says hostages are not in hospitals, were taken to care centres for treatment
Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said on Friday that “Zionist” hostages were not held in hospitals but were transferred to care centres for treatment due to the seriousness of their condition and to save their lives.
SHARE
14 hours ago
‘I’m always thinking about them’: Gazans in Jordan desperately wait for news from loved ones
Around 350,000 Palestinians live in the Baaka refugee camp in Jordan, with at least 10,000 of them from the Gaza Strip. As the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave continues and communication networks remain patchy at best, many desperately wait for news of their loved ones from back home.
Despite finding refuge in Jordan, many are treated as second-class citizens there, as they are not allowed to vote and have no hopes – at present – of obtaining Jordanian citizenship.
Watch FRANCE 24’s report below:
SHARE
15 hours ago
UN says starvation imminent in Gaza as Israel continues to search Al Shifa hospital
UN aid deliveries to Gaza were suspended again on Friday due to shortages of fuel and a communications shutdown, with the United Nations’ World Food Programme warning civilians faced the “immediate possibility of starvation” due to the lack of food supplies.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers are still inside Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital, where they have been searching for evidence of a Hamas command centre they say was operating below the facility.
FRANCE 24’s Irris Makler reports from Jerusalem.
SHARE
16 hours ago
Hamas-run health ministry says 24 have died at Al Shifa hospital over past 2 days due to power cuts
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that 24 patients have died in the past two days at Al Shifa hospital due to power cuts, as Israeli forces search the facility for Hamas hideouts.
“Twenty-four patients in different departments have died over the last 48 hours as vital medical equipment has stopped functioning because of the power outage,” said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.
SHARE
16 hours ago
‘Race against time’ for IDF to justify Al Shifa raid or ‘risk compromising entire’ Gaza operation
Al-Shifa hospital has become a focal point for Israeli operations in northern Gaza since soldiers raided the complex on Wednesday, hunting for a command centre they say the Palestinian militant group Hamas operates at the site, an allegation Hamas and hospital managers deny.
There has also been international concern over the thousands of people – including wounded patients and premature babies – believed to be inside.
As Israeli forces search the hospital, FRANCE 24’s Will Hilderbrandt is joined by Dr Rob Geist Pinfold, lecturer in Peace and Security in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University to discuss the unfolding situation.
SHARE
Show More Posts
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, receives data from every hospital in the strip. Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every body arriving at a morgue. The ministry collects data from other sources also, including the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
