Israel-Hamas war, Day 45 updates | Yemen’s Houthis release video footage showing armed men seizing ‘Israeli-linked ship’

South Africa will host a virtual summit of the BRICS group of nations, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, Pretoria and Moscow said Monday.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday 200 patients were evacuated from a hospital with the help of the Red Cross just hours after it was hit by a deadly Israeli strike.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP 200 people were evacuated from the Indonesian hospital in Jabaliya and taken by bus to Nasser hospital in the southern town of Khan Yunis. - AFP

There are a little more than 1,200 Americans, legal permanent residents and family members still in Gaza and at least six U.S. citizens have been killed since the October 7 rampage into Israel by Hamas, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. - Reuters

Israel on Monday released security camera footage from Oct. 7, which shows Hamas gunmen who crossed into Israel chase people from an outdoor music festival, with one seen executing a woman at point-blank range. - Reuters

The United States on Monday denounced the seizure of a cargo ship in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement as a violation of international law and demanded the immediate release of the vessel and its crew.

“The Houthi seizure of the motor vessel Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea is a flagrant violation of international law,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told a briefing. “We demand the immediate release of the ship and its crew and we will consult with our allies and U.N. partners as to appropriate next steps.” - Reuters

Cyprus is ready to “immediately” begin shipping large quantities of humanitarian aid to Gaza in vessels that can navigate shallow water once conditions on the ground allow for it, the president of the east Mediterranean island nation said Monday.

President Nikos Christodoulides said his country’s proposal for a maritime corridor from the Cyprus’ port of Larnaca to Gaza is the “only one currently being discussed on an international level” as a feasible way to significantly supplement the trickle of aid getting into the enclave through Egypt’s Rafah border checkpoint. - AP

The Galaxy Leader commercial ship was “illegally boarded by military personnel via a helicopter” on November 19 and is now in the Hodeidah port area in Yemen, the vessel’s owner said on Monday.

“All communications were subsequently lost with the vessel,” Isle of Man registered Galaxy Maritime Ltd, owner of the pure car carrier Galaxy Leader, said in a statement. - Reuters

Israel has recalled for consultations its ambassador to South Africa following the “latest statements from South Africa”, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party on Thursday had said it would support a parliamentary motion calling for the Israeli embassy in South Africa to be closed. - Reuters

Gaza’s Hamas government said Monday the death toll in the Palestinian territory had passed 13,300 since war began on October 7 between Israeli forces and Hamas militants. - AFP

Yemen’s Houthis released video footage on Monday showing armed men dropping from a helicopter and seizing a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea.

The footage was released by the movement’s TV channel Al Masirah a day after the ship was hijacked by the Iran-backed group, who said the ship was linked to Israel. Israel, however, says the seized ship was British-owned and Japanese-operated. - Reuters

US President Joe Biden said on Monday he believes a deal to free hostages in Gaza is close, as hopes grew for a Qatari-mediated accord to release some captives in exchange for a pause in fighting.

“I believe so,” Mr. Biden said, before holding up crossed fingers, when asked whether a deal was near during a Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House. - AFP

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who was reelected to the post last week, will travel to Israel and the Palestinian Territories on Thursday, his office said in a statement on Monday.

Mr. Sanchez will travel alongside his Belgian counterpart Alexander de Croo, representing the current and upcoming rotating presidencies of the Council of the European Union, respectively.

Both leaders are set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the statement added.

AFP

Turkey will not allow the issue of Israel’s nuclear weapons to be dropped from the global agenda, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, while attributing European support for Israel to what he called “the shame of the Holocaust”.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Mr. Erdogan said the West was trying to “vindicate” what he said were Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, adding Western countries had a “fraternity of lies” with Israel which he called “shameful”.

“The shame of the Holocaust has taken European leaders hostage,” he said. “We, as Turkey, will not allow the issue of Israel’s nuclear to be forgotten,” Mr. Erdogan added.

AFP

A UN protectorate in Gaza would not solve the conflict there, the body’s Secretary-General said Monday, calling instead for a “transition period” involving Arab nations and the United States and leading to a two-state solution.

Antonio Guterres said it was “important to be able to transform this tragedy into an opportunity” -- which, for him, meant moving “in a determined and irreversible way to a two-state solution.”

This means, after the current war between Israel and Hamas fighters in Gaza ends, “a strengthened Palestinian Authority, assuming responsibilities in Gaza,” he said.

But the Palestinian Authority cannot go into Gaza backed by Israeli tanks, he added -- meaning the “international community needs to look into a transition period.”

“I do not think that a UN protectorate in Gaza is a solution,” however, Mr. Guterres said.

AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the BRICS extraordinary virtual summit on Tuesday on the Hamas-Israel conflict, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced here on Monday.

Earlier, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the current chair of the BRICS group, convened a virtual summit of the BRICS group of nations on the Middle East situation in Gaza for Tuesday, the South African Foreign Ministry announced.

At the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi will attend the BRICS extraordinary virtual summit on the Palestinian-Israel issue and deliver important remarks in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Monday.

PTI

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, who has so far been excluded from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, called on Monday for lawmakers taking a harder line towards Hamas to be included in decisions about the war.

Mr. Netanyahu, whose ruling coalition includes parties from Israel’s far right, has been managing the war with a small group of ministers from his hawkish Likud party and a centrist opposition group that joined an emergency government shortly after Hamas’ deadly rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other hardline members of the broader cabinet have been excluded from much of the decision-making and were particularly critical of a decision last week to accede to a U.S. request to allow some fuel into Gaza for humanitarian reasons.

“I think this grave mistake necessitates the expansion of the war cabinet,” said Mr. Smotrich, arguing that letting in fuel gave Hamas a lifeline during the war.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.

Reuters

Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said it targeted troops in northern Israel with drones, artillery and missiles on Monday, claiming a string of new attacks.

The Israel-Lebanon border has seen daily exchanges of fire since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.

Hezbollah fighters targeted soldiers west of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel “with three attack drones”, the Iran-backed group said in a statement, adding shortly after that it had also targeted troops in the area with artillery fire.

Both statements claimed the attacks were “direct hits”.

AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in a virtual summit of the BRICS group of nations on Tuesday to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, the Kremlin said.

The meeting will be chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the hope of drawing up a common response to the more than six-week conflict.

“On November 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate in an extraordinary BRICS summit (via videoconference) to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” the Kremlin said, without providing further details.

AFP

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Monday that 12 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the north of the Palestinian territory.

The 12, including wounded patients and their companions, “were killed and dozens wounded as a result of the Israeli occupation targeting the Indonesian Hospital”, said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.

The Ministry Director said it had not been possible to recover the bodies.

AFP

The African Union said Monday that Israel’s response to Hamas’s massive attack last month was “inexcusable”, warning that civilian casualties would fuel further “extremism”.

“The acts (of Hamas) are reprehensible... but the response is inexcusable,” AU chairman Azali Assoumani told a press conference in Berlin.

“Imagine a child who has seen his mother, who has seen his father killed... it creates extremism,” he said.

AFP

Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron will stay on for a second term after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreed on an extension, removing a major market uncertainty that has lasted most of the year.

The decision to extend Mr. Yaron’s time in charge of the central bank comes as Israel has been fighting a war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza for the past six weeks. It would be brought to the cabinet for a vote at its next meeting, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Smotrich said in a joint statement.

Mr. Yaron’s five-year term ends at the end of 2023.

“It’s the right thing to do for the markets right now,” Mr. Smotrich’s spokesman said. “They work well together professionally and it’s the right decision.”

Reuters

Palestinian officials said a field hospital sent by Jordan entered the Gaza Strip Monday, the first since the war between Israel and the territory’s rulers Hamas erupted on October 7.

“The hospital will be established in Khan Yunis, to receive the wounded and the sick, under catastrophic conditions which southern hospitals are experiencing, with the influx of hundreds of wounded each day and continued aggressive aerial and artillery strikes,” said Mohammed Zaqout, director-general of Gaza hospitals.

There are around 30,000 wounded people across Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

The death toll in Gaza has hit 13,000, mostly civilians, the Ministry said Sunday.

AFP

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will host a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday of foreign ministers from members of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the situation in Gaza, the RIA news agency reported on Monday.

The RIA report, citing a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, did not specify which countries would be attending the meeting in Moscow. No further details were immediately available.

Russia, which previously enjoyed close relations with Israel, has struck a cautiously pro-Palestinian position since the outbreak of war around Gaza, rebuking Israel for civilian casualties, and restating its long-standing support for a Palestinian state.

Reuters

China’s top diplomat welcomed four Arab Foreign Ministers and an Indonesian one to Beijing on Monday, saying his country would work with “our brothers and sisters” in the Arab and Islamic world to try to end the war in Gaza as soon as possible.

The Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Indonesia chose to start in Beijing a tour to permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, a testament to both China’s growing geopolitical influence and its longstanding support for the Palestinians.

The tour aims to push for a cease-fire and propel the political process forward with the goal of lasting peace, as well as “hold the Israeli occupation accountable for the blatant violations and crimes in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank,” according to a statement published by the Saudi foreign ministry on X, formerly known as Twitter.

AP

Heavy fighting erupted Monday around a hospital in northern Gaza where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks, as Israel pressed an offensive it says is aimed at eradicating Hamas and uprooting their militant infrastructure.

A shell struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing at least 12 people, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza and a medical worker inside the facility. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The advance came a day after the World Health Organization evacuated 31 premature babies from Shifa Hospital. At least 28 were transported to Egypt on Monday. More than 250 critically ill or wounded patients remain stranded at the compound, which Israeli forces stormed days ago.

AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed the Israel-Hamas war in a phone call on Monday, agreeing “to avoid a more serious humanitarian crisis”, Beijing’s state media reported.

“The two heads of state exchanged views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and both believe that the top priority is to avoid further deterioration of the situation between Palestine and Israel, especially to avoid a more serious humanitarian crisis,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The phone call comes days ahead of a visit to China by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and as a delegation of top diplomats from the Palestinian Authority, Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan meet in Beijing for talks aimed at a “de-escalation” of the conflict in Gaza.

AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed the Israel-Hamas war in a phone call on Monday, agreeing “to avoid a more serious humanitarian crisis”, Beijing’s state media reported.

“The two heads of state exchanged views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and both believe that the top priority is to avoid further deterioration of the situation between Palestine and Israel, especially to avoid a more serious humanitarian crisis,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.

- AFP

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said Monday Israeli forces attacked the Indonesian Hospital and killed at least 12 people, including patients. Dozens more were wounded and around 700 people remained trapped inside the “besieged” medical centre.

The latest reported blow to Gaza’s devastated health sector came as hopes rose that 31 premature babies evacuated from another hospital, Al-Shifa have been taken to Egypt through the Rafah crossing.

- AFP

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More than 100 evacuees from Gaza are set to arrive in Turkey on Monday that also include dozens of people who will receive medical treatment there, Turkey’s Health Minister and a Foreign Ministry source said.

61 patients, accompanied by some 49 relatives, arrived in Egypt from Gaza on Sunday evening and were scheduled to fly to Ankara on Monday morning after spending the night at Al Arish hospital.

- Reuters

Fight breaks out around another Gaza hospital after babies evacuated from Shifa

A fight broke out around a hospital in northern Gaza where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks. The advance on the Indonesian Hospital came a day after the WHO evacuated 31 premature babies from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The plight of Gaza’s hospitals is at the focus of a battle of narratives over the war’s brutal toll on Palestinian civilians, thousands of whom have been killed or buried in rubble since the six-week-old war was sparked by Hamas’ October 7 rampage into southern Israel.

- AP

Israeli tanks have surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza where at least twelve people have been killed following Israeli strikes since the morning.

Israeli tank shells also hit the nearby Kuwaiti school where hundreds of families have been sheltering, reported Al Jazeera.

Arab and Muslim ministers called on Monday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as their delegation visited Beijing on the first leg of a tour to push for an end to hostilities and to allow humanitarian aid into the devastated Palestinian enclave.

The delegation, which is set to meet officials representing each of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, is also piling pressure on the West to reject Israel’s justification of its actions against Palestinians as self-defence. - Reuters

The Israel Defence Forces on Monday released a video footage on ‘X’ from the Shifa hospital on the day of Hamas’ attack claiming that a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian were abducted from Israeli territory “surrounded by armed Hamas terrorists”.

The video showed one of the injured hostages being carried on a hospital bed.

The international community must take urgent action to stop the “humanitarian disaster” unfolding in Gaza, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority nations on Monday. - AFP

Israeli troops were “expanding” their operation in the Gaza Strip Monday, as Qatari mediators said they were inching closer to a deal to free some of the 240 hostages held by Hamas militants.

Israel has warned residents of Gaza’s largest refugee camp Jabalia and a nearby coastal camp to evacuate, as the military said Sunday it was “expanding its operationa activities in additional neighbourhoods... of the Gaza Strip.” - AFP

Israel said on Sunday that Yemen’s Houthis had seized a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, describing the incident as an “Iranian act of terrorism” with consequences for international maritime security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said a ship - which it did not name - had been seized, and stressed that Israel was not involved in its ownership, operation or the make-up of its international crew.

“There were no Israelis on the ship,” it said. - AFP

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Sunday that they had seized in the Red Sea a ship owned by an Israeli businessman and rerouted it towards the Yemeni coast.

The announcement came days after the rebel group threatened to target Israeli vessels in the waterway over Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. - AFP

The Japanese government said on Monday that it “strongly condemns” the seizure of a Japanese-operated ship in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

“Yesterday we received information that car carrier Galaxy Leader, operated by Nippon Yusen, was seized by Huthis when it was navigating down southward in the Red Sea off Yemen... The government strongly condemns such an act,” government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said. - AFP

Palestinian medics evacuated 31 premature babies from Gaza City’s war-torn Al-Shifa hospital on Sunday in a high-risk operation, the UN said, pledging to also move patients and staff who remain there.

The hospital, Gaza’s largest, has been described by the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) as a “death zone”, after it sent a team to visit the facility on Saturday. - AFP