“My sister-in-law called with some devastating news,” writes Ghada Abed from Gaza. “Our home had been bombed.”
Updates
16 November 2023
“It is catastrophic here. The wounded are everywhere – corridors, stairs, floors and yards.” The doctors at Gaza’s remaining hospitals report from a system on the brink of collapse.
Israel reportedly built a bunker under al-Shifa hospital decades ago when its military occupation included troops stationed inside the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military may well “discover” an underground facility which they themselves built.
In September, Maram Salah left Gaza to pursue her master’s degree in Ireland. But safety abroad is a bittersweet relief, she writes, as “every day I know it is a possibility I will lose [my family] and so many others I care for in Gaza.”
In a highly charged and closely watched vote at Britain’s parliament on 15 November, British opposition legislators failed in a bid to change official UK policy on Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza to demand an immediate ceasefire.
“The Biden administration is bringing the Middle East to the brink of a potentially catastrophic regional war,” writes Greg Shupak. “Signs of a wider conflagration abound.”
“After Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza, I’ve always said that I never wanted to leave my house during any war,” writes Ruwaida Amer from Khan Younis. But she and her family fled to a nearby hospital late one night, fearing the seemingly endless Israeli bombardment was nearing their doorstep.
“Today, my prison is my cellphone”: a poem by Leila M. Aruri
People search through buildings destroyed during Israeli air strikes a day earlier in Nuseirat refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 16 November.
APA images
Dozens of independent UN human rights experts called for international action to “prevent genocide against the Palestinian people.” “The failure to urgently implement a ceasefire risks this situation spiraling towards a genocide conducted with 21st century means and methods of warfare,” the experts warned.
A “security source” in Lebanon told Reuters that cross-border fire between Hizballah and the Israeli military was one of the most violent days yet since 7 October. Hizballah said “it had hit eight sites in Israel, including a group of Israeli soldiers, a barracks and other military posts,” Reuters reported, while “Israeli bombardment, including drone strikes, hit at least a dozen villages all along Lebanon’s southern border.” According to the news agency, “more than 70 Hizballah fighters and 10 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, and 10 people including seven troops have been killed in Israel. Thousands more on both sides have fled shelling.”
Palestinian network providers Paltel and Jawwal reported that all telecommunications services in Gaza have stopped, “as all energy sources sustaining the network have been depleted, and fuel was not let in.” The telecom companies had warned earlier this week that services would stop due to the fuel shortage. The Israeli human rights group Gisha said that without internet or cellular service, “a catastrophic humanitarian situation is about to become even worse.”
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, said that there will not be any humanitarian aid deliveries at Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border the next day due to the lack of telecom services, making it “impossible to manage or coordinate humanitarian aid convoys,” the agency said.
New satellite photos show Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Palestinian Legislative Council building in Gaza City. One day earlier, soldiers with the Golani Brigade raided the complex and posed for photographs inside the government chambers. “It was not clear why the complex was destroyed,” noted The New York Times. The legislative council hasn’t sat in session at the building for more than 15 years.
One dialysis patient died and four others faced imminent death amid a worsening situation inside Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, where Israel is besieging 7,000 people. The hospital’s director, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, told Al Jazeera that there is no food, fuel or water and many people are at risk. Already, two injured people and three premature babies have died due to lack of adequate resources and treatment, the al-Shifa director said.
Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, has had no electricity nor water for four days, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Israeli tanks shelled Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, the Palestine Red Crescent Society stated. A “violent attack is underway,” the humanitarian group said, adding that “PRCS teams are unable to move and reach those who are injured.”
The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that thousands of internally displaced people and dozens of medical patients walked “for hours” from Al-Quds Hospital, which is in Gaza City, to the southern areas of Gaza.
At least 223 medical workers have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s bombardment of the territory began on 7 October, according to the Healthcare Workers Watch monitoring group. Among those killed include 72 nurses, 37 physicians, 26 pharmacists, 21 paramedics and 14 laboratory technicians.