Live blog: Israeli army opens fire on Gazans fleeing Al Shifa Hospital

Saturday, November 11, 2023

A doctor at the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has said that the Israeli army opens fire on those who want to flee the hospital.

The Israeli army has surrounded the hospital area and they are "not even a metre away, they are at the door," Fadia Malhis, a gynecologist at the hospital, told an Anadolu correspondent in frequently interrupted phone conversations.

"They shoot anyone who wants to go out of the hospital. If anyone moves between units, they shoot them. There are many martyrs in the yard in front of the emergency room, the situation is very bad and dangerous, it is indescribable," she said.

"It is like a prison without water, electricity, or food. There were more than 100 martyrs in the garden. They opened fire at those who tried to bury the martyrs in the hospital yard. The hospital garden is full of martyrs. Some tried to escape from the hospital, and they also killed them. They fired at me too, " she added.

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1856 GMT — Israel army says nearly 200,000 Palestinians fled north Gaza

The Israel army has said nearly 200,000 people have fled north Gaza for the south of the Palestinian territory, as fighting rages there between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops.

"Nearly 200,000 people left the north just in the past three days and moved southward," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.

1814 GMT — Arab, Muslim leaders slam Israel, but disagree on response

Arab and Muslim leaders have condemned Israeli forces' "barbaric" actions in Gaza but declined to approve punitive economic and political steps against the country over its war against Hamas.

The outcome of a joint summit in the Saudi capital of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation highlighted regional divisions over how to respond to the war even as fears mount that it could draw in other countries.

Some countries, including Algeria and Lebanon, proposed responding to the devastation in Gaza by threatening to disrupt oil supplies to Israel and its allies as well as severing the economic and diplomatic ties that some Arab League nations have with Israel, the diplomats said.

However, at least three countries -- including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020 -- rejected the proposal, according to the diplomats who spoke on condition on anonymity.

1351 GMT — Türkiye calls for international conference to reach peace in Middle East

Türkiye's President Tayyip Erdogan has said that an international peace conference should be convened to find a permanent solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Erdogan was addressing a joint Islamic-Arab summit in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, where leaders gathered to urge Israel to end hostilities in Gaza.

"Israel is taking revenge... on Gazan babies, children and women," Erdogan said, renewing his call for an immediate ceasefire. "What is urgent in Gaza is not pauses for few hours, rather we need a permanent ceasefire."

1300GMT — Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades strike house holding Israeli soldiers in Gaza

The Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, announced that it has targeted a house where "Israeli soldiers were holed up" in the north of Beit Hanoun, northeast of Gaza.

The Al Qassam Brigades said in a statement that it “targeted a house in which the occupation soldiers were barricaded, north of Beit Hanoun.”

It also shared a video clip on social media of the moment it targeted the house where Israeli soldiers were present.

Meanwhile, the brigades also stated that its forces had targeted "three military vehicles with Yassin 105 shells southwest of Gaza City."

Separately, the Palestinian Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, announced that it had caused casualties in the Israeli army during "violent clashes" in the Tal Al-Hawa area and the Al Shati camp west of Gaza City.

1258 GMT — Emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza kicks off in Saudi capital

An emergency joint Arab-Islamic summit kicked has kicked off in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the “dangerous developments” taking place in Gaza and the Palestinian territories.

According to official Saudi media, leaders and representatives of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation are participating in the summit which coincides with the ongoing Israeli bombardment in Gaza for the 36th day.

In the opening speech, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman reiterated the kingdom’s demand for an immediate halt to the Israeli “military operations” in Gaza.

He demanded lifting the siege imposed on the enclave and providing safe humanitarian corridors.

1232 GMT — Hamas urges Arab-Islamic summit to stop ‘aggression’ on Gaza

The Palestinian Hamas movement called on the leaders of the Arab and Islamic nations meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh to take a “historic decision” to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza “immediately.”

In a statement, the movement also called for the formation of medical, humanitarian, relief, and parliamentary committees “to immediately go to the Egyptian-Palestinian Rafah crossing, and challenge the Zionist occupation.”

Hamas stressed the necessity of bringing in medicines, food, fuel, and relief materials “to save all hospitals in the Gaza Strip before they turn into mass graves and massacres that shame humanity.”

The movement called on the leaders meeting in Riyadh to "employ all Arab and Islamic power to implement this, by putting pressure on the American administration, which bears direct responsibility for the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip."

1215 GMT — Israel strikes several locations across Gaza

Israeli forces have carried out intense airstrikes in several locations across Gaza, the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza said.

The ministry released statements to provide details for a string of Israeli forces attacks that were directed at various locations in Gaza.

"Occupation (forces) aircraft launched a series of violent raids in the vicinity of the Saraya Junction in the center of Gaza City,” the ministry said, adding that they also “launched violent raids on the Tal al Zaatar area and the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza."

Intense raids were carried out by the Israeli forces’ aircraft in the north and center of Gaza City, in the Al Nasr neighborhood, and close to the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza, it said.

0834 GMT — Israel targets surgery building of Gaza's al Shifa hospital

Israeli bombardments targeted a surgery building in Al Shifa Hospital in the besieged Gaza enclave, Palestine TV reported.

Ashraf al Qudra, spokesman of the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, also stated that Israel has cut off the internet at the hospital, preventing the transmission of images to the media.

"Operations are suspended at the Al Shifa hospital complex after it ran out of fuel completely," he said.

"As a result, one newborn baby died inside the incubator, where there are 45 babies,” al Qidra told Reuters.

0610 GMT — Action, not words needed on Gaza — Iran's Raisi

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that time had come for action over the war in Gaza rather than talk as he headed to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit on the crisis.

"Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action," Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

"Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important," he added.

2251 GMT — Saudi Arabia to host joint Islamic-Arab summit over Gaza

Saudi Arabia will host an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh on Saturday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.

Saudi Arabia was scheduled to host two extraordinary summits, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit and the Arab League summit, on Saturday."

The joint Islamic-Arab summit comes in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in Gaza," the ministry said.

2230 GMT — Israel bombing and killing 'babies, ladies, old people' in Gaza — France's Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to stop bombing civilians in Gaza, saying there was no justification.

In an interview with the BBC, Macron said Israel had "the right to protect itself" after the October 7 Hamas attack, but he added: "These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop."

0229 GMT — Israel accused of 'launching war' on overcrowded Gaza hospitals

Fighting has intensified near Gaza City's overcrowded hospitals, which Palestinian officials said were hit by explosions and gunfire.

"Israel is now launching a war on Gaza City hospitals," said Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, director of Al Shifa hospital.

He said later that at least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Al Buraq school in Gaza City, where people whose homes had been destroyed were sheltering.

Gaza officials said Israeli missiles landed in the courtyard of Al Shifa, the enclave's biggest hospital, in the early hours of Friday, damaged the Indonesian Hospital and reportedly set fire to the Nasser Rantissi paediatrics cancer hospital.

2200 GMT — US, Oman discuss importance of protecting Gaza civilians

US President Joe Biden and Oman Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said have discussed "the importance of sustained humanitarian access and the importance of protecting civilians, consistent with international humanitarian law," the White House said.

2115 GMT — Israel revises down Hamas blitz death toll to 1,200

2045 GMT — Gaza's health system 'on its knees'

The health system in Gaza is "on its knees," the head of the World Health Organisation warned, noting that half of the territory's 36 hospitals are no longer functioning.

Speaking to the Security Council, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the situation on the ground: "Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying; morgues overflowing; surgery without anesthesia; tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals."

"The health system is on its knees, and yet somehow is continuing to deliver lifesaving care," he said.

For our live updates from Friday (November 10), click here.