Israel-Gaza live updates: 3 premature babies die at Al-Shifa Hospital, doctor says
The hospital has been treating thousands of wounded people.
ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: November 12, 2023, 1:00 PM EST
Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 1, 6:03 am
What we know about the conflict
The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
Nov 10, 2023, 1:41 PM EST
Northern Gaza is 'hell on earth': UN
As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen by the day, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations humanitarian office, said, "If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza."
Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, Nov. 10, 2023.
Hatem Moussa/AP
"People who remain there, the corners of their existence are death, deprivation, despair, displacement, and literally, darkness," Laerke said. "The entire Gaza Strip has been plunged into darkness. … What do you tell your children in such a situation? It's almost unimaginable."
Nov 10, 2023, 1:19 PM EST
Mass exodus from Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital
People are fleeing Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, sources confirmed to ABC News, in the wake of a strike on the exterior area of the hospital's outpatient clinic. One surgeon told ABC News "everyone" has fled, calling it a "nightmare."
The hospital has been treating thousands of wounded people and housing as many as 80,000 displaced residents, according to The Associated Press.
Patients and internally displaced people are pictured at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Nov.10, 2023.
Khader Al Zanoun/AFP via Getty Images
A Palestinian woman, who was injured in an Israeli strike and was staying at Al Shifa hospital, moves southward after fleeing north Gaza, Nov. 10, 2023.
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters
The hospital's head of plastic surgery, Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati, told ABC News he is among the roughly 15% to 20% of staff members still there on Friday.
Although many patients have evacuated, he said, "There is no hospital in Gaza that can accommodate this number of ICU patients -- around 100 ICU patients."
23:19
ABC News Live: Explosions near a hospital in Gaza
This comes as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad releases new images that appear to show two hostages alive in Gaza.
ABCNews.com
The Palestinian Red Crescent said occupation snipers fired on Gaza's Al-Quds Hospital, killing at least one and injuring at least 28.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Richard Hecht said, "The IDF does not shoot at hospitals. If there are Hamas terrorists in the hospitals, the IDF will do what it needs to, but we are aware of the sensitivity. We tell Hamas to move the sick southward."
"Slowly we are closing in on them and taking every precaution not to harm the innocent," he said.
Nov 10, 2023, 12:47 PM EST
American diplomats send dire warnings about war's long-term impact
American diplomats abroad are giving stark warnings about the long-term ramifications of the war, telling their Washington counterparts in multiple diplomatic cables that their work and public opinion of the U.S. in the Arab world could be lost and denigrated for a generation, a State Department source told ABC News.
A child walks past a building damaged in an Israeli raid followed by clashes with Palestinians, in the occupied West Bank Jenin refugee camp, Nov. 10, 2023.
Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
Diplomatic cables are how U.S. embassies around the world privately communicate with State Department leadership about what U.S. diplomats are seeing on the ground. While some are just regular updates, others contain candid assessments and analysis about what senior embassy staff are seeing on the ground and the potential impacts on U.S. foreign policy or the U.S. standing in the region.
Nov 10, 2023, 8:49 AM EST
Kids with cancer evacuated from Gaza: WHO
Twelve kids with cancer or other blood disorders have been evacuated with their families from Gaza to Egypt or Jordan so they can continue their treatment, the World Health Organization said.
More kids with cancer are expected to be evacuated, the agency said.
2:08
War is one of the world’s worst public health crises
About 2 billion people, which is a quarter of the world’s population, is impacted by war each year.
Reuters
"I am relieved that children in vital need of cancer care have been able to leave the insecurity and uncertainty in Gaza and continue receiving life-saving treatment," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. "This show of desperately needed humanitarian action should serve to motivate increased access to life-saving care to all people affected by this conflict, both inside Gaza where needs are greatest today, and beyond. I pray this initiative can inspire all parties to put health and peace first."
