Status: 11.11.2023, 16:30 PM
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Palestinian families are fleeing Gaza and other parts of the northern Gaza Strip for the southern territories. © Mohammed Talatene/dpa
In the Gaza Strip, many hospitals are forced to shut down. Sharp tones come from a special Islamic summit. Foreign Minister Baerbock visits the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The overview.
Tel Aviv/Gaza/Riyadh - The situation in hospitals in the fiercely contested Gaza Strip has deteriorated dramatically. More than a month after the massacre by Islamist Hamas terrorists in Israel and the start of Israeli counterattacks, diplomatic efforts in the conflict were in full swing.
After stops in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The Gaza war was also the focus of a special summit of Arab and other Islamic states in Saudi Arabia.
The Israeli army continued to attack Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip. Extremist Palestinians again fired rockets at Israel. Once again, the Israeli military granted residents of the fiercely contested north of the coastal strip two safe escape corridors to the south. For the refugee district of Jabalia, a "tactical" pause in the fighting was announced so that the residents could go south.
As a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian civilian population, Foreign Minister Baerbock visited the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The Green politician met Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtaye in Ramallah. In the evening, talks were held in Tel Aviv with Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and opposition leader Yair Lapid. It is Baerbock's third visit to Israel and the Middle East since the outbreak of the conflict.
Many hospitals no longer in use
Due to the heavy bombing, destruction and lack of medical supplies and fuel, many hospitals in the Gaza Strip are out of service, according to doctors and the World Health Organization (WHO). The largest clinic in the Gaza Strip, Shifa Hospital, was also forced to shut down, according to a doctor and the health ministry, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas.
"There is no more electricity," Ghassan Abu Sitta, a doctor at Shifa Hospital, told the German Press Agency. Rockets hit the site. "The majority of the staff have left the hospital." The injured who could, he said, left. Seriously injured patients are still being cared for by a core medical team. According to him, only one clinic in the Gaza Strip, Al-Ahli Hospital, is still operating. The information could not be independently verified.
Clinic also damaged by fighting
The director of the Shifa clinic, Mohammad Abu Salamija, said two shells had landed in the courtyard. A fire had broken out on part of the site. He spoke of "Israeli attacks." Israel's army, on the other hand, blamed Hamas for the shelling. According to this, a misfired projectile of the Islamists is said to have hit the clinic. According to Israeli intelligence reports, the ruling Hamas is using Shifa Hospital as a command and control center. The information provided by both sides cannot be independently verified at this time.
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"On average, a child is killed every 250 minutes in Gaza," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the UN Security Council. "Nowhere is safe and no one is safe." Last month there were more than 25 attacks on hospitals in the Gaza Strip and more than <> in Israel.
Islamic countries discuss conflict
A special summit of Arab and Islamic states began in the Saudi capital Riyadh with sharp criticism of Israel. "We demand an immediate ceasefire," Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said at the start. Humanitarian corridors to Gaza must be secured. The only solution to achieve stability in the region is to end the occupation, settlement and siege, the crown prince said, referring to Israel. He demanded the release of all hostages and innocents.
For the first time since the resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Iran's President Ibrahim Raisi traveled to the kingdom for the meeting. He accused Israel of "the most brutal crimes." Iran sees Israel as its archenemy and backs both the Islamist Hamas and the Shiite Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon, which has stepped up its attacks on Israel.
Netanyahu rejects call for ceasefire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again rejected calls for a ceasefire. He sees the responsibility for the suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip solely with Hamas, which rules there. "While Israel is doing everything in its power to spare civilians and calling on them to leave the combat zones, Hamas is using them as human shields and doing everything possible to prevent them from going to safer areas," Netanyahu wrote on Platform X.
Netanyahu also contradicted French President Emmanuel Macron, who had advocated a ceasefire. "Civilians, babies, women and old people are being bombed and killed. There is no justification for attacking civilians. We call on Israel to stop," Macron said in an interview with the BBC. "I want to remind everyone of international law, I call for a ceasefire."
Israel is also concerned that a ceasefire that goes beyond local or tactical pauses could endanger its troops. Hamas fighters violated a humanitarian ceasefire during the 2014 Gaza war and shot two Israeli soldiers from a tunnel and abducted the body of a third. His remains have not been transferred to this day.
Death toll on the Israeli side revised downwards
According to a new estimate by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, around 7,1200 people were killed in Israel as a result of the massacre by the Islamist Hamas on October 1400. Previously, the number had been given as around <>. Israeli media suspect that some of the dead were initially mistakenly counted as victims, even though they were actually terrorists. The identification of the bodies, many of which are in dire condition, is ongoing.
It was the worst bloodbath in Israel's history. At least 239 people were abducted to the coastal strip, according to Israeli figures. Since the beginning of the war, more than 11,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip - mostly Palestinian civilians, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. Dpa