Day 38 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Nov. 13

Clashes and airstrikes are increasing in the vicinity of hospitals and medical facilities as Israeli troops advance further into Gaza City.

Rina Bassist, Ezgi Akin, Beatrice Farhat, Elizabeth Hagedorn, Adam Lucente, Jack Dutton, Jared Szuba and Al-Monitor’s contributors on the ground in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel contributed to this blog.

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Live updates (all times EDT):

Monday, Nov. 13, 2023

4:25 pm: As Israel-Hezbollah tensions escalate, Iran not eager for 'all-out' war

Israeli political and security chiefs have ramped up their warnings against Hezbollah in the last 24 hours, stressing that Israel is preparing for the possibility of an expanded campaign against Hezbollah should the group increase its attacks. Experts stress that the party’s main backer, Iran, is not interested in a full confrontation with Israel. Rina Bassist reports.

2:50 pm: PLO sole representative of Palestinian people, says PA

The Palestinian Authority's presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Monday that the PLO is the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”

“The PLO and its institutions are the independent Palestinian national decision-makers,” said Rudeineh, the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news reported. Rudeineh made the remarks on the 35th anniversary of the declaration of the State of Palestine.

The PLO is internationally recognized as the representative of the Palestinian people and is led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

The comments follow speculation that the PA could return to governance in Gaza. Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a united Palestinian government in the West Bank and Gaza, while Abbas said the PA could play a role in governing Gaza. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the PA in its current form should not take over the enclave.

Hamas took over Gaza from the PA in 2007 and has governed it since without holding subsequent elections.

2:30 pm: IDF releases footage of Hamas tunnel under hospital, says evidence of Israeli hostages

The Israeli military released a video on X showing IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari visiting Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City and showing evidence that the building’s basement and tunnels under the structure were used as a command center by Hamas.

Hagari said that in addition to ammunition and other military equipment found underneath the hospital, “We also found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages here. This is currently under investigation, but we also have intelligence that verifies it.”

1:11 pm: US counts four new attacks on Syria bases after airstrikes against IRGC facilities

Militias have launched at least four projectile attacks on US bases in Syria since the US military carried out airstrikes against IRGC-linked facilities in eastern Syria last night in the latest bid to deter the attacks.

Following the US airstrikes on Sunday night, multiple rockets targeted the US Mission Support Site-Euphrates. The US base at Green Village near Syria’s largest oilfield and the US base at Shadadi were also each targeted with one one-way attack drone. Both were shot down by US forces, a military official told Al-Monitor.

On Monday, multiple drones targeted the US-led coalition’s Rumalyn Landing Zone base in Syria. One drone was shot down but the other impacted the base, damaging “four tents,” the official said, adding that no new US casualties were reported.

The Pentagon says its troops in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 52 times since Oct. 17 as suspected Iran-backed groups seek to pressure US forces to leave the region amid Israel’s war effort in the Gaza Strip.

11:50 am: Chevron resumes gas supplies from Israel’s Tamar field after Gaza war halt

Chevron resumed supplying natural gas from Israel’s major Tamar field Monday following a brief pause at the outset of the war on Oct. 7. Adam Lucente reports.

11:30 am: Syria front on edge as Israel targets airports, US hits Iran-linked groups

Amid the relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, focus on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts with Israel has taken a backseat. But bouts of irregular fighting and isolated missile strikes obscure a deeper “shadow war” that is threatening to boil over. Danny Makki reports from Damascus.

9:53 am: Israeli army announces 'tactical pause' in Rafah, no comment from Hamas

The Israel Defense Forces said it put in place a “tactical pause” in Rafah to allow civilians to evacuate. The pause lasted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, the IDF said in a post on X.

There was no immediate comment from authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Palestinian Authority’s Wafa and the Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agencies reported Israeli strikes in other parts of Gaza on Monday.

Rafah is located in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt. It is the sole exit point from the enclave that is not controlled by Israel. Rafah is also the entryway for aid into Gaza.

The White House said last week that Israel would agree to daily four-hour humanitarian pauses in Gaza.

The IDF said it implemented other pauses throughout the Gaza Strip in recent days.

5:35 am: Israeli tanks surround Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, patient death toll rises

Israeli tanks and snipers have surrounded the gates of Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, according to health officials. Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya said around 15,000 people, including patients and displaced people, are now trapped inside the hospital amid fears of a total blackout.

At least 32 patients, including three premature babies, have died in the past three days after some services were suspended due to fuel shortages. Speaking to Reuters, a spokesperson for Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry denied rejecting an Israeli offer of 300 liters of fuel to power emergency generators. Israel has intensified its strikes on Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, claiming the hospital houses a Hamas command center.

5:00 am: Israel has attacked 4,300 targets in Gaza

Since the Hamas attack against Israel Oct. 7, IDF jets and ground forces have carried out 4,300 attacks against Gaza targets, including hundreds of launching stations for anti-tank missiles, nearly 300 tunnel shafts, over 100 booby-trapped buildings and hundreds of local headquarters of Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip, said IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari.

4:29 am: UNRWA says south Gaza facility hit by Israeli fire

The UN refugee agency said one of its facilities in Rafah, in southern Gaza, was badly damaged in Israeli naval fire, despite sharing coordinates with all parties to the conflict. No casualties were reported, as the staff had evacuated the building 90 minutes before Sunday’s attack, UNRWA said in a statement.

“This recent attack is yet another indication that nowhere in Gaza is safe. Not the north, not the middle areas and not the south,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. Israel had ordered the residents of northern Gaza to move south ahead of its ground invasion. More than 1 million people have been displaced since the Hamas-Israel war erupted Oct. 7. Nearly 780,000 displaced people are now sheltering in UNRWA facilities across Gaza. UNRWA says over 60 of its facilities, 70% of them located in the central and southern areas of Gaza, have been targeted by Israeli fire.

4:10 am: Israeli forces detain more than 50 Palestinians in West Bank

At least 50 Palestinians, including former prisoners, were detained by Israeli forces in a series of raids in West Bank cities and towns, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, which reported that more than 2,520 Palestinians have been arrested in the West Bank since Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel Oct. 7. The Israeli army has launched a wide-scale arrest campaign in the area in tandem amid the escalation in the Gaza Strip. A 66-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in the southern city of Hebron, according to the WAFA news agency, bringing the total Palestinians killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7 to 187. Soldiers reportedly shot Ali Tamimi in the head as he drove his car near the administrative building of the Islamic Charitable Society for the Care of Orphans, which was being raided.

3:58 am: Al-Mayadeen news stream blocked in Israel

Israel’s Minister of Communications Shlomi Karhi signed an order to block the online broadcast in Israel of the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen channel, affiliated with Hezbollah. Last week, the Israeli government adopted legislation empowering it to shut down Al Jazeera in the country, but so far has not acted upon it.

3:00 am: Cross-border fire between Israel, Hezbollah continues

The Israeli army struck several towns and villages in southern Lebanon in response to two mortars fired from the north of the country toward Gornot HaGalil in northern Israel. The army said projectiles fell in open areas, leaving no damages or casualties. The southern Lebanese towns of Tyr Harfa, Shihin and Umm al-Tout were hit by artillery shelling, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported. Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in intensifying tit-for-tat exchanges along the Lebanon-Israel border since Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel Oct. 7. 

On Sunday, at least 17 Israelis including seven soldiers were injured in anti-tank missile attacks launched by Hezbollah toward military positions in the Israeli town of Dovev.

2:00 am: Turkish ship brings medical aid, ambulances, generators to Egypt

A ship carrying 500 tons of Turkish humanitarian aid for Gaza including equipment for field hospitals, 20 ambulances and generators arrived in Egypt’s Al Arish port, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. Koca added that medical aid will be transported to Gaza in coordination with Egyptian authorities. 

Announcing the departure of the ship last week, Koca said field hospitals would be installed near the Rafah crossing.

Rafah was reportedly opened again today for severely wounded Palestinians to be transported to Egyptian hospitals as well as foreign passport holders seeking to leave the Palestinian enclave.

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