Israel-Hamas war LIVE: Second rescue mission to get patients out of Gaza’s largest hospital planned for today after 31 ‘very sick’ babies evacuated

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Ghebreyesus, has confirmed the evacuation of sick children from a Gaza hospital. He confirmed:

• The WHO has led a second UN and Palestine Red Crescent Society mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza #Gaza today, under extremely intense and high-risk security conditions.
• 31 very sick babies were evacuated, along with 6 health workers and 10 staff family members.
• 6 Palestine Red Crescent ambulances were used for the transfer. The babies were taken to Al-Helal Al-Emairati Maternity Hospital, where they are receiving urgent care in the neonatal intensive care unit.
• Further missions are being planned to urgently transport remaining patients and health staff out of Al-Shifa Hospital, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict.

• Since the October 7 attacks Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has apeared on Israeli television every evening to update the public on the battle with Hamas.
• In doing so he has become the face and the voice of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), and a reassuring presence for those fearful for their loved ones.
• Standing in the limelight is something of a contrast for a man who three years ago was leading the shadowy Shayetet 13 naval special forces, renowned for counter-terrorism and sabotage.
• Hagari’s evening briefings often include an arsenal of maps, satellite images, audio clips and videos: presenting the case for a ground war in the Gaza Strip to secure Israel’s future.
• Hagari’s PR offensive has earned him high public trust ratings domestically, according to a poll by Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.
• Some 74 percent of people questioned said the army spokesman was the most reliable source of information on the war – compared to less than four percent for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Worried soldiers who raised concerns about suspicious activity in the days leading to Hamas terror raids on Israel were threatened with court martial, it has emerged.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet have faced stiff criticism from Israelis who have accused them of being caught out by the raids which left more than 1,200 dead.

A further 239 people were taken hostage and although a handful have been released there are dozens of worried families still waiting for news on loved ones.

Now Israel’s leading Channel 12 news programme has broadcast claims from female soldiers they were threatened with court martial for raising concerns before the October 7 attack.

One said: ‘We were told that if we continue to harass on this issue, you will stand trial.’

You can read the full story below.

• On 18 November, one aid worker was killed in the north of Gaza due to airstrikes, the UN said.
• This brings the total to 104 workers killed since the beginning of the war – the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the UN.

• Hostage deal could be near completion with only ‘very minor details’ to resolve, Qatar has suggested, with the country’s Prime Minister saying he is ‘more confidant’.
• The Palestinian Red Crescent said it has evacuated 31 premature babies from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to the south, adding that they will be transferred to medical facilities in Egypt.
• The IDF said its paratroopers raided the homes of senior Hamas officials in an upmarket Gaza City neighbourhood, ‘killing Hamas fighters and locating 35 tunnels’.
• The United Nations said 10,000 people fled from northern Gaza to the south over the course of yesterday.

• October 7: Hamas terrorists stormed across the border with Israel, killing more than 1,200 and taking some 240 Israelis back into Gaza as hostage.
• October 20: The first hostages were released – an American mother and daughter who Hamas said were freed for ‘humanitarian reasons’.
• October 24: Two more hostages were released – 85-year-old Yocheved Lifschitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper.
• October 26: A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing claimed around 50 hostages had been killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, without providing any evidence.
• October 29: Israeli soldier Pvt Ori Megidish is rescued by the IDF.
• October 30: The IDF announces that Israeli-German hostage Shani Louk was killed after testing a DNA sample taken from a skull bone found in Gaza.
• November 17: The bodies of two hostages are found by Israeli forces near the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Israel said they belonged to soldier, Noa Marciano and grandmother and cancer sufferer named Yehudit Weiss.
• November 18: Tens of thousands of Israelis march on Jerusalem, led by families of some of the hostages, to demand the government bring the captives home (pictured below).
• November 19: Qatar’s Prime Minister said only ‘very minor details’ need to be ironed out in a possible hostage deal between Israel and Hamas and that he was ‘more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal.’ Neither Israel nor Hamas have confirmed this.

• European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has condemned ‘the unacceptable violence by extremists in the West Bank’.
• In a post on X, she repeated EU backing for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
• Following a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah, the President said the EU would continue to cooperate to get much needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.

• Israel’s Defence Forces carried out two major raids in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank.
• The IDF said operations in the Jenin and Balata camps saw 38 wanted Palestinians arrested.
• Clashes also took place between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters in the village of Tamum and the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, the Times of Israel reports.
• One Palestinian was killed in Jenin, and a second in Dheisheh, according to Palestinian media.

Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, has addressed a new video message to Jewish communities around the world amid the war on Hamas.

Here are some key messages in the video:

This is not only a war between Israel and Hamas. Israel may be fighting on the ground, but it is fighting the battle of the entire civilized world.

In the wake of the massacres, we have seen a terrifying surge of antisemitism throughout the world. This fact has exposed the close link between antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment.

Sisters and brothers, outside my window here in Jerusalem, I see an Israel that is thriving in spite of it all […] Jewish communities across the world are mobilizing with unprecedented energy.

Reports have been swirling that Israel and Hamas are nearing an agreement on the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

The deal is being brokered by Qatar, with officials there suggesting it could be nearing completion pending ‘minor details’. Israel and its backer the US however have denied any such deal.

Here is what has been said so far:

Qatar: Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said today: ‘The challenges that remain in the negotiations are very minor compared to the bigger challenges, they are more logistical, they are more practical.’ He added that he was ‘more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal.’

US: White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on X: ‘We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal.’

Israel: Last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied what he called ‘incorrect reports’ that an agreement was imminent. ‘As of now there is no deal,’ he said.

• A pro-Palestine supporter invaded the pitch at the Cricket World Cup final and approached Virat Kohli before being removed by security.
• Australia’s clash with India was disrupted after a man wearing a ‘FREE PALESTINE‘ t-shirt entered the field of play.

Read the full story here:

• Some 10,000 people fled from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the south yesterday, according to the United Nations.
• That figure is based on estimates by UN observers on the ground, its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
• It noted that among those fleeing were unaccompanied minors.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement on X (translated):

Today, Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance crews, in coordination with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), were able to evacuate 31 premature babies from Al-Shifa Hospital. They were transported by Red Crescent ambulances to the south, in preparation for their transfer to the Emirates Hospital in Rafah.

• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Muslim states to ‘at least cut off political ties with Israel for a limited period of time’, the Tasnim news agency reports.
• It comes weeks after he called for an Islamic oil and food embargo on Israel.
• At a November 11 conference, Muslim states did not agree to impose wide-ranging sanctions on Israel as requested by Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi.

• The IDF says a paratrooper brigade, supported by tanks and the air forces, are attacking the Sheikh Ejalin and Rimal neighborhoods in Gaza.
• ‘As part of the fighting, the fighters located about 35 tunnel shafts, many weapons and eliminated terrorists,’ the Israeli military said on X.
• Troops raided the homes of senior Hamas officials in the upmarket Rimal area, the IDF said, much of which has been destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.

• A spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry has claimed that 30 premature babies, reportedly evacuated from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City are being taken to medical facilities in Egypt.

• Qatar’s leader has said only ‘very minor’ details remain on a deal between Israel and Hamas to secure the release of some of some 238 Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
• ‘The challenges facing the agreement are just practical and logistical,’ he said during a press conference with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
• The plan is likely to involve the release of hostages in return for the release of Palestinian women and children held in Israel, it has been suggested.

• Gaza’s Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims that 30 premature babies were evacuated by a United Nations team from al-Shifa hospital.
• Earlier this morning, a World Health Organisation report indicated that 32 babies were left behind in a ‘critical’ condition after a mass evacuation from the hospital.

On 18 November 2023, an MSF staff’s relative died and another one was injured in an attack on an MSF convoy trying to evacuate 137 people – MSF Palestinian staff members and their families. They were trapped for a week in MSF premises located near Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. MSF condemns in the strongest terms this deliberate attack.

• A World Health Organization (WHO) team is heading to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to evacuate the babies, according to the Hamas-appointed director of hospitals in the enclave.
• An Associated Press reporter said they saw a convoy of ambulances, escorted by United Nations vehicles, heading north toward Gaza City.
• WHO has said it hopes to evacuate patients to southern Gaza.
• The IDF, which has taken control of the hospital, as said it is working to evacuate as many patients as possible from the compound, which it claims has been used as a Hamas command centre.

Read the full story here:

In a statement, the IDF said:

Following the alert in the north of the country a short time ago, the air defense fighters successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon.

• Yemen’s Houthi militia say they will target all ships owned and operated by Israeli companies or those carrying the Israeli flag, Reuters reports citing the group’s Telegram channel account.

Pictured: Houthi fighters conducting military exercises in Sana’a, Yemen, last month.

• The IDF says its warplanes destroyed Hamas infrastructure in the neighborhoods of Jabalia, Zeytun and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.
• Troops of the Nahal Brigade fought on the outskirts of the Jabalia refugee camp, where the IDF said the encountered and eliminated Hamas fighters with the help of tanks and air support.

The IDF shared footage of overnight air assaults, as well as ground operations here:

• Israel and Hamas have not yet reached a deal on a temporary ceasefire, a White House spokesperson said last night. The U.S. is continuing to work to get a deal between the two sides.
• World Health Organization (WHO) officials described al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City as a ‘death zone’ after a visit to the complex. They said they observed a mass grave at the site which they were told contained the remains of 80 people.
• A large number of people left al-Shifa hospital amid conflicting reports over whether an evacuation was ordered by the Israeli military, which the IDF categorically denied.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a full ceasefire with Hamas and said he will only consider only a temporary pause in exchange for the return of hostages.
• The Hamas-run health ministry inside Gaza said yesterday that the official death toll is 12,300 people, including 5,000 children.
• Thousands of Israelis completed a five-day march on Jerusalem to demand a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss plans to save hostages captured by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.