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A satellite image shows Al-Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza November 7, 2023. Photo: Reuters
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A satellite image shows Al-Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza November 7, 2023. Photo: Reuters
Summary:
- Israeli forces continue to operate in al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where thousands of patients, medical staff and displaced people remain trapped.
- The health system has collapsed across the Gaza Strip, just one element of a wider humanitarian crisis. Israel has begun to allow fuel to enter the territory, but Palestinians say it is not nearly enough to meet humanitarian needs and prevent disease.
- Israeli forces continue to bomb locations across the entirety of Gaza, including in the southern part of the enclave, which had previously been described as a safe area for displaced Palestinians to travel to. Israel has indicated that Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, will be a focus of increased attacks.
- At least 12,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas’s attacks stands at about 1,200.
9:58am
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia call for end of Gaza war after APEC summit
Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia have called for an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to the cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reports quoting Reuters.
The three countries said they were issuing their statement to give a better and fair reflection of the discussions on the Gaza situation during a meeting of leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in San Francisco.
APEC leaders were divided on their response to wars in Ukraine and Gaza as their meeting wrapped up on Friday, reports Al Jazeera.
The 21 economies that make up the APEC forum – which includes Russia, China and the United States – did not mention either conflict in their final joint communique, the AFP news agency reported.
9:48am
European Commission stops advertising on X over Israel-Hamas war disinformation
The European Commission will suspend advertising on X, formerly Twitter, over concerns that the social media platform spreads disinformation about the Israel-Hamas war, according to Politico, reports Al Jazeera.
Deputy Chief Spokesperson Dana Spinant said disinformation, particularly about the Israel-Hamas war, had led the commission to “recommend to temporarily suspend advertising on this platform until further notice to avoid risks of reputational damage to the Commission,” Politico reported on Friday, citing an internal note.
In October, the commission sent X a formal request for information to explain how its handling of illegal content and disinformation connected to Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israeli complied with the bloc’s new content moderation law.
The EU body’s move comes amid scrutiny of X’s role in shaping the narrative around the Israel-Hamas war.
On Friday, Elon Musk, X’s owner, said that pro-Palestinian language and phrases such as “decolonization” and “from the river to the sea” imply genocide and that “clear calls for extreme violence” would result in suspension from the platform.
Musk’s comments came as advertisers including Comcast and IBM suspended advertising on X after the South Africa-born businessman endorsed a post that critics said was anti-Semitic.
9:36am
17,000 litres of fuel enter Gaza for telecoms firm: Palestinian border official
Some 17,000 litres (about 4,500 gallons) of fuel entered Gaza 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, reports AFP.
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.
9:16am
Al-Shifa Hospital power outage causes 40 fatalities, including 4 Newborns: UN
As Israeli force raided Al-Shifa Hospital for a third day on Friday, administrators at the hospital reported the deaths of 40 patients, including four premature babies, since November 11 due to a lack of electricity at the medical facility, the UN reports, reports Al Jazeera.
The latest Gaza situation report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also said that late night airstrikes on residential buildings in central Gaza’s An Nuseirat area killed at least 20 people and left around 140 trapped under the rubble.
UNOCHA also reports that:
- Since 7 October, at least 71 internally displaced people have been killed, and more than 570 injured, while sheltering at UN facilities in Gaza.
- Overcrowding in UN shelters is contributing to the spread of diseases, including acute respiratory illness and diarrhea.
- An estimated 830,000 people are sheltering at 154 UN-run locations in Gaza and the shelters are so overcrowded that, on average, there is one shower for every 700 people and a single toilet for every 150 people.
8:25am
Deadly Israeli air attack in Khan Younis
The bombing of a residential neighbourhood in the area, in the southern Gaza Strip, has led to 26 dead, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
The Palestinian state news agency Wafa said that ‘around 26’ people had been killed, the majority children.
8:10am
IMF official says conflict ‘devastating’ Gaza’s population and economy
The International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, also says that the fund is “seriously considering” augmenting Egypt’s $3bn loan programme, due to the increased economic difficulties the country, which borders Gaza and Israel, is now facing.
Egypt announced the IMF deal in October, in a bid to rescue its struggling economy.
8:00am
Israeli raid in Tubas kills one Palestinian
Medics at the Tubas Turkish Hospital confirmed a short while ago that one Palestinian had been killed during the raid, in the northern occupied West Bank.
The man was named as 18-year-old Omar al-Shahrouri.
The Palestinian state news agency Wafa said that two other people have been injured, says Al Jazeera.
7:40am
Elon Musk signals clamp down on Palestinian free speech on X: Al Jazeera
The world’s richest man, and the controversial owner of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has posted that phrases such as “decolonization” and “from the river to the sea”, along with similar euphemisms, “imply genocide”. He added that “clear calls for extreme violence … will result in suspension” from the platform.
A follow-up post said that “anyone advocating the genocide of *any* group” would be suspended from X, after he came under fire from pro-Palestinian users pointing out that the policy restricted their free speech.
“From the river to the sea”, ie, from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, is a pro-Palestinian slogan that defenders say is a call for freedom. They say that attempts to label it as anti-Semitic are part of a wider push to criminalise pro-Palestinian voices and shut down free speech, in light of a growing movement on social media criticising Israel’s assault on Gaza, particularly among young people.
Musk has long called himself a free speech absolutist and sought to portray his takeover of Twitter as an attempt to end left-wing censorship.
The South Africa-born businessman’s decision comes on the same day it emerged that Apple was planning to pause all advertising on X, according to Axios, after ads were reportedly placed alongside far-right content. Musk himself was accused of anti-Semitism after he said that a post claiming that Jewish communities support “dialectical hatred against whites” through support for immigration was “the absolute truth”.
7:30am
Satellite images show Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza at Israeli checkpoint: Al Jazeera
The images from the ground showing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza after Israel demanded they leave have evoked memories of the Nakba, the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 upon the formation of the state of Israel, reports Al Jazeera.
Now, Maxar Technologies, a company specialising in satellite imagery, has released images taken from space on Friday that show a bottleneck at what Al Jazeera reporters on the ground have said is a checkpoint along Salah al-Din Street.
The checkpoint contained cameras but no Israeli soldiers, as they performed remote surveillance on those passing through to the south.
7:30 am
Recap
- Gaza’s hospitals continue to come under attack by Israeli forces. At al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, thousands of medical staff, patients and displaced people say they are trapped by Israeli forces who now control the complex. An Israeli attack killed a doctor at al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, according to the hospital’s director. The Palestine Red Crescent says that two health facilities in Khan Younis have been without water for five days.
- A Tanzanian citizen has been confirmed to have been among the dead in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, according to the Tanzanian Foreign Ministry.
- Israel has announced that it will allow two fuel trucks per day into Gaza to power water and sewage operations. Aid groups have said that will not be enough, while right-wing members of Israel’s own government oppose any move to allow water or fuel into the besieged enclave.
- The Israeli parliament’s deputy speaker, Nissim Vaturi, has said that Israel should “burn Gaza now”, rather than send in fuel and water.
- The Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel says that service has been partially restored after it was able to secure some fuel for its generators.
- Fears mount in southern Gaza, where Israel has threatened to expand ground operations. Israeli bombing has targeted areas of southern Gaza, including Khan Younis, home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the north of the Strip.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this thread has been gathered from sources, including BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, and other news networks
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