21-11-2023
GAZA CITY: 31 neo-natal babies were evacuated from Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, on Sunday. The WHO called the facility which has seen intense fighting nearby, a “death zone” after UN workers visited and found a mass grave near the entrance.
Video shows dozens of bodies, including women and children, after a blast rocked a UN school that was used as a shelter in northern Gaza. A UN agency confirmed the school was hit Saturday but did not have further details.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is still no deal to release some of the hostages captured by Hamas during the militant group’s October 7 attacks. He’s under pressure at home to secure their release.
US President Joe Biden rejected calls for a Gaza ceasefire in an op-ed published Saturday, saying it would only give Hamas time to regroup. He also condemned violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Israeli military announced a brief suspension on Sunday of “military activities” in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, for “humanitarian purposes.”
The pause took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time (3 a.m. to 7 a.m. ET) Sunday, according to an IDF spokesperson.
At the southern part of Rafah city is the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only crossing in and out of Gaza that is not controlled by Israel, making it the sole option for foreigners trying to leave the besieged enclave.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army says it carried out military operations at two neighborhoods in Gaza City’s to “identify and destroy Hamas infrastructure and assets.”
“During the operations, the soldiers located approximately 35 tunnel shafts as well as a large number of weapons and eliminated terrorists,” the IDF said in a statement Sunday.
The military also said that it carried out a raid on the homes of senior Hamas officials in al-Rimal, the city’s once vibrant business district and social epicenter.
“Embedded in the Rimal area are the residences of senior Hamas officials, who took control of the buildings in the area to conduct and direct terrorist activities,” the IDF said.
Israeli airstrikes and shelling hit south Lebanon on Sunday, the country’s National News Agency reported.
The network said Al-Tayba and Al-Qal’iya, in the eastern sector of the border area, as well as Al-Naqoura and Al-Labouba in the west, were among the places shelled, and said there had been an airstrike Sunday morning near Aita Al-Shaab in the western sector.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that air defense fighters successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon. It said IDF aircraft had destroyed infrastructure belonging to the militant organization Hezbollah.
“In addition, about ten launches of mortar bombs were detected towards a peaceful area that fell in an open area (near Shlomi). The IDF is attacking the source of the shooting in Lebanese territory,” it said. (Int’l News Desk)