The Israeli army announced Friday that it had extracted from “a structure adjacent to the hospital” the remains of a 19-year-old soldier, Noa Marciano, taken hostage on October 7.
The war between Israel and Hamas entered its 42nd day on Friday November 17. As search operations continue at al-Shifa hospital, the Israeli army announced that it had extracted,“an adjacent structure” at the health establishment, the remains of a 19-year-old soldier, Noa Marciano, taken hostage on October 7. Franceinfo takes stock of the information to remember from the day.
Body of hostage found near al-Shifa hospital
The Israeli army, which continues its search operations in the al-Shifa hospital, which it presents as a strategic and military center of Hamas, which the Palestinian movement denies, announced that it had extracted,“a structure adjacent to the hospital”the remains of a 19-year-old soldier, Noa Marciano, taken hostage on October 7.
This is the second hostage remains that the army has announced the discovery of in Gaza in less than 24 hours. US President Joe Biden and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose country is a key mediator in negotiations for the release of the hostages, discussed the need “urgent” that Hamas liberates “without delay” captives, according to the White House.
A first delivery of fuel to the Gaza Strip after the green light from Israel
A first delivery of fuel arrived in the Gaza Strip after the green light given by Israel, in order to end the suspension of telecommunications which is blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel had shortly before authorized, at the request of the United States, the entry of two trucks of fuel each day into the Gaza Strip, where shortages of fuel, necessary to power generators, have put many hospitals out of service and shut down telecommunications as well as deliveries of humanitarian aid. A delivery of 17,000 liters of fuel arrived via Egypt, announced the Palestinian authority in charge of the Rafah border crossing, to power the telecommunications company’s generators.
A worrying humanitarian situation at al-Shifa hospital
The Hamas Ministry of Health claimed that 24 patients had died in “48 hours” in al-Shifa hospital, due to lack of fuel to power the generators.
A new premature baby died after its incubator lost power, said Ashraf al-Qidreh, a ministry spokesman.
The situation is “catastrophic” for the patients, caregivers and displaced people who found refuge there, around 2,300 people according to the UN, without electricity, “neither water nor food”, lamented the hospital director.
Israeli army says it killed ‘five terrorists’ in Jenin
The Israeli army announced that it had killed “five terrorists” in Jenin, a stronghold of the Palestinian armed movements. Hamas claimed responsibility for an attack near Jerusalem on Thursday, in which an Israeli soldier died.
Two Palestinians were also killed by the Israeli army in Hebron, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The army confirmed the death toll, indicating that the two men had “fired on soldiers who (…) responded with gunfire”.
WHO calls for daily evacuations of patients from Gaza to Egypt
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for regular, daily flows of patients to be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment in Egypt, to relieve overwhelmed hospitals.
The WHO hopes to be able to deploy a team to Gaza as soon as possible to assess the situation, and is calling for the establishment of a “mechanism to facilitate the evacuation of the most critical patients”, Richard Peeperkorn, head of the WHO Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told reporters in Geneva by videoconference from Jerusalem. He explained that 50 to 60 patients per day would have to be evacuated to Egypt.
“We are not asking for the moon”, just a “humanitarian ceasefire”, protests the UN
The heads of humanitarian operations at the UN, the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees and the WHO have demanded a “humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip for 2.2 million people trapped by “the horror” of the war between Hamas and Israel.
“We are not asking for the moon. We are asking for the basic measures necessary to meet the essential needs of the civilian population and stem the course of this crisis,” protested the head of UN humanitarian operations, Martin Griffiths, in a video intervention during an informal plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “A humanitarian ceasefire. Call it what we want, but what is needed from a humanitarian point of view is simple: stop the fighting to allow civilians to move around in safety,” thundered Martin Griffiths in front of the Member States.
Pope to meet families of Israeli hostages and Palestinians from Gaza
Pope Francis will meet separately on Wednesday with families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and relatives of Palestinians living in this territory, the Vatican announced. The 86-year-old pontiff wishes to express “his spiritual closeness to the sufferings of each person” on the occasion of these interviews which will be held on the sidelines of the general hearing on Wednesday, indicated his spokesperson Matteo Bruni, referring to “the purely humanitarian nature of these meetings”.
On Sunday, the pope stressed that “every human being, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, of any people or religion, every human being is sacred, precious in the eyes of God and has the right to live in peace. recalled his spokesperson.
Hamas government announces 12,000 Palestinians killed
According to the latest report from the Hamas government, 12,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, including 5,000 children and 3,300 women. No on-site source or image can support this assessment.
The Hamas attack left 1,200 dead on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians killed on October 7, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military estimates that around 240 people were taken hostage. According to her, 51 soldiers have been killed in the Palestinian territory since October 7.