Israel-Palestine live: Israel and Palestinians agree to truce, hostage deal

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. 

Gaza’s government media office announced on Friday that the death toll for Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October has now reached at least 12,000. The figure includes at least 5,000 children and 3,300 women.

Meanwhile, Israel’s raid on al-Shifa Hospital is continuing, with four premature babies now pronounced dead, and five more described as being in critical condition. 

Medical officials say there is not a “single drop of water,” inside the hospital, while Israeli forces also ‘stole over 145 dead bodies’ from inside the hospital and a mass grave in the courtyard. 

Here are some of the main updates from today.

• There has been a large-scale outbreak of infections due to the lack of clean water. The infections are affecting around 30,000 people, the majority of them women and children.
• Most intensive care patients who were on ventilators in al-Shifa Hospital have now died due to lack of oxygen and fuel.
• 25 hospitals have now been rendered out of service as a result of Israeli bombardment and a lack of fuel and electricity. 
• An Israeli military spokesperson said that they will “reach Hamas wherever it exists, including in the south”. The statement comes after the Israeli military has dropped leaflets in south Gaza telling residents to leave their homes and go to "shelters".
• The Palestinian Red Crescent said that their emergency medical teams remain besieged at Gaza’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
• Abu Ubaida, the military spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Friday that the group has damaged 62 Israeli military vehicles in the last four days, rendering them out of service. 
• Israeli forces surrounded hospitals across Jenin, including the Khalil Suleiman Hospital, while the military forces were conducting incursions into a refugee camp in the city. Explosions and shooting were heard from the hospital complex. 

US lawmakers John Garamendi and Mark DeSaulnier have joined a growing list of Congress members calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“As ceasefire negotiations continue, we must not lose sight of our objective to achieve long lasting peace in the region for both Israelis and Palestinians to live with dignity, safety and security,” Garamendi said in a statement.  

DeSaulnier said a ceasefire would save lives and enable much-needed humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Hundreds of alumni of Brandeis University in the US threatened on Friday to withhold donations from their alma mater unless it lifts its ban on a prominent pro-Palestinian student group. 

They also demanded that the university issue a formal apology for allegedly authorising police to use violence to break up a demonstration last week on campus protesting the ban.

Brandeis announced two weeks ago that it was withdrawing recognition of the campus branch of Students for Justice in Palestine on the grounds that the group supports Hamas.

In a letter addressed to Brandeis President Ronald Liebowitz, the alumni charged that police used violence last week against three students. 

“We pledge to withhold any donations to Brandeis University until it reverses course to allow free speech on campus by re-chartering the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, apologising to the protestors who were harmed, and refusing to allow police to attack peaceful protestors,” the letter said. 
 

Footage shows an Israeli soldier throwing a stun grenade into the Budrus Mosque in the West Bank village of Budrus during the call to prayer. 

An explosion is heard in the background as the soldier retreats from the entrance of the mosque.
 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that intense Israeli bombing has meant that their staff in Gaza have not been able to go outside since last Saturday. 

In a statement published on Friday, they said that on 14 November, bullets were fired into the MSF guesthouse, and on 16 November, the office building was hit by shrapnel and the guesthouse’s water tank was shelled. 

“Our colleagues hear the constant sounds of gunfire, shelling, and drones. We can hear it when we speak with them on the phone. The evacuation route to southern Gaza remains unsafe,” says Ann Taylor, MSF Country Director in Palestine.

“They are terrified, they ran out of food several days ago and children have now started getting sick from drinking salty water, they must be evacuated now,” added Taylor.
 

According to a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli bombing has killed Dr Medthat Hussein, the director of Gaza’s al-Wafa care centre.

The care centre specialises in looking after the elderly. 
 

Ashraf al-Qudra, the Ministry of Health spokesperson in al-Shifa Hospital, said that the situation is “catastrophic”, as Israeli forces continue to raid the building. 

“There is not a drop of water, the situation is catastrophic, doctors are unable to change dressings on wounds or perform surgery,” he said on Friday, in a televised interview with Al Jazeera.

“Children have a number of issues from diarrhoea to high temperatures, we aren’t able to treat them due to the lack of water and fuel in the hospital.”

He added that ambulances have not been able to come to the hospital to collect dead bodies due to the ongoing bombing. 
“Israel forces are still carrying out searches across all rooms, even in the maternity ward,” he said. 
 

Telecom services have been partially restored in the Gaza Strip after the entry of a limited quantity of fuel through Unrwa, Gaza's main telecommunications companies Paltel and Jawwal said in a statement on Friday.
 

The former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said that “Khan Younis is the real headquarters of Hamas,” in an interview aired on Friday. 

In the interview, he said that Israel is still yet to come to the heart of the operation.

He said that in Khan Younis, south Gaza, “they [Hamas] have their leadership, they are hiding, they have bunkers, command positions, launching pads”.

Shona Murray, the Euronews correspondent interviewing him, quizzed him on previous Israeli statements which said that al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza was allegedly where Hamas was operating from and that there had been no evidence of that.

“I don’t know, there is so much fake news, it is part of life. But if you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have said the centre is really in Khan Younis.”

The comments come as the Israeli military has dropped leaflets in south Gaza ordering people to leave their homes and head to shelters, in order to allow Israeli forces to reach Hamas. 

Around 1.1 million people in north Gaza were forced to leave their homes when Israeli forces dropped leaflets ordering them to leave, with no guarantee of their return. Many civilians were targeted with air strikes and bombs while they were leaving for the south.  
 

The United Nations agency Unrwa Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a press conference on Thursday that the world is witnessing “the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948”, describing the scale of destruction and loss in Gaza as “staggering". 

Abu Ubaida, the military spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Friday that the group has damaged 62 Israeli military vehicles in the last four days, rendering them out of service. 

He added that west of Beit Lahia, they destroyed two Jeep vehicles and they also destroyed a building where Israeli forces were holed up. 

“We have killed nine Israeli soldiers, we are pursuing the enemy from street to street,” he added. 

He also said that the number of Israeli soldiers killed “is much greater than you expect”.

“The occupation is continuing its violations, and their attacks on medical facilities is proof that they have failed. They [Israeli forces] are criminals targeting premature babies inside hospitals.”

Abu Ubaida said that they have tried their best to take care of the Israeli hostages, but in some cases, some have been killed in Israeli bombings. 

“To the Israeli people, we tell you that your soldiers killed the hostages and you will see this sooner or later.”
 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Friday that Israeli forces surrounded hospitals across Jenin, including MSF-supported Khalil Suleiman Hospital, while the military forces were conducting incursions into a refugee camp in the city.

The organisation added that explosions and shooting were heard from the hospital complex. 

“The MSF team inside the emergency room of Khalil Suleiman Hospital was unable to receive and treat any casualties from the camp, as ambulances were blocked by Israeli forces,” they posted on X. 

“Around 6AM, the Israeli forces ordered through megaphones everyone inside the hospital to come out. The staff did not leave the hospital out of fear. The Israeli forces then withdrew an hour later,” they added. 

MSF said that Israeli attacks on healthcare professionals have now become routine across the West Bank, and have intensified since the start of the war on 7 October. 
 

Nissim Vaturi, an Israeli member of parliament for the Likud party, has called on Gaza to be burnt, in a post on X on Friday.

“All the preoccupation with whether or not there is internet in Gaza shows that we have learned nothing. We are too humane. Burn Gaza now, no less,” the post read. 

Four babies in incubators in al-Shifa Hospital  have now died, Munir al-Barsh, the general manager for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, said on Friday, speaking from inside the hospital.

He said that another five are in critical condition, due to Israel’s ongoing raid on the hospital and the lack of fuel which has meant that much of the complex’s medical facilities are out of service.  
 

Munir al-Barsh, the general manager for the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the situation in Gaza is dire, as a result of continued Israeli bombing. 

“We can hear and see people dying but emergency services can no longer reach them,” he said on Friday in an interview with Al Jazeera. 

Speaking inside al-Shifa Hospital which is under siege, he also added that Israeli forces had destroyed an MRI machine as well as other medical equipment. 

"They [Israeli forces] are searching for something that is not here, there is nothing here," he added.