The Israeli army announced early Wednesday, November 15, that it was carrying out an operation “targeted” against the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas in the al-Chifa hospital, the most important in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army has on site “medical teams and Arabic-speaking people who have been trained specifically for this sensitive and complex environment, with the aim of ensuring that no harm is caused to civilians used by Hamas as human shields”, she said. Follow our live stream.
Operation in progress. Before the IDF press release, The Hamas Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that it had been notified by the Israeli army of its intention to carry out an operation in the al-Chifa hospital. “We warn of a massacre at the hospital”alerted the ministry, accusing Westerners of being responsible for the situation. A senior Hamas administration official told AFP he saw “chariots” and “commandos” in the hospital complex.
Green light from the United States? Building on assertions from its Israeli ally, the White House assured Tuesday that Hamas and the other Palestinian Islamist group Islamic Jihad had “a command and control center from al-Chifa hospital”. Asked later about the ongoing Israeli operation, a White House spokesperson said that “hospitals and patients had to be protected”.
A march for the hostages. The Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons demanded in a press release that the government “approves an agreement [mardi] evening to bring home all the hostages from Gaza”. Around a hundred relatives of hostages, their portraits printed on black t-shirts, had started a 63-kilometer walk from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, to Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.