Humanitarian team describes Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital as 'death zone': WHO - CNA

"WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families," it said.

"Over the next 24 to 72 hours, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict, additional missions are being arranged to urgently transport patients" to other hospitals in the south of Gaza.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the WHO statement or the visit.

The remaining 2,500 internally displaced people who had sought refuge on Al Shifa grounds were gone after the Israeli Defense Forces issued evacuation orders on Saturday, WHO said.

Israeli forces seized Al Shifa in their offensive across north Gaza last week, saying it concealed an underground Hamas command centre. The military said it found evidence of a Hamas base underground. Al Shifa staff say Israel has proven no such thing.

The visit was coordinated with the Israeli military to reduce risks but occurred in an active conflict zone, with heavy fighting close to the hospital, WHO said.

WHO repeated its call for an immediate ceasefire and sustained humanitarian assistance, saying options for medical care in the small coastal enclave were dwindling.

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2023-11-19 01:39:27Z
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Biden says Palestinian Authority should ultimately govern Gaza and West Bank - CNA

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Saturday (Nov 18) the Palestinian Authority should ultimately govern the Gaza Strip and the West Bank following the Israel-Hamas war.

"As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalised Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution," Biden said in an opinion article in the Washington Post.

"There must be no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no reoccupation, no siege or blockade, and no reduction in territory," Biden said.

He used the op-ed to try to answer the question of what the United States wants for Gaza once the conflict is over. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took issue with Biden's plan for the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza.

"I think that the PA in its current form is not capable of accepting the responsibility for Gaza after we’ve fought and done all this, to pass it to them," he said at a news conference in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu has previously said Israel must maintain "overall military responsibility" in Gaza "for the foreseeable future".

The Palestinian Authority used to run both the West Bank and Gaza but was ousted from the latter in 2007 after a brief civil war with Hamas.

Biden also said the United States is prepared to issue visa bans against "extremists" attacking civilians in the West Bank. Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has increased since the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable," Biden said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Biden to pressure Israel to stop violence against Palestinians.

"I also call on you to urgently intervene to stop the attacks by Israeli forces and the continuous terrorism by settlers against our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem, which foreshadow an imminent explosion," he said in a special address aired by Palestine TV.

The West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians who live among more than half a million Jewish settlers, has been seething for more than 18 months, drawing growing international concern as violence has escalated after Oct 7.

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2023-11-18 21:17:00Z
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Israel's government faces pressure as hostage families march on Jerusalem seeking answers - CNA

JERUSALEM: The families of Israeli hostages and thousands of their supporters arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday (Nov 18) at the end of a five-day march to confront the government over the plight of those taken captive by Hamas.

The estimated 20,000 marchers, including well-wishers who joined the procession along the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, want to put pressure on Israel's government "to do everything they can to bring the hostages back," said Noam Alon, 25, clutching a photograph of his abducted girlfriend, Inbar.

"We are expecting them to meet with us, we are expecting them to tell us how they are going to do it," he said. "We cannot wait any longer, so we are demand(ing) them to do that now, to pay any price to bring the hostages back."

Around 240 Israelis - ranging from babies to grandparents - are believed to be in the Gaza Strip after being taken hostage by the militant faction during an Oct 7 cross-border raid on southern Israeli villages and army bases in which 1,200 people were killed.

Many relatives and friends of the missing fear they will come to harm in Israeli attacks on Gaza designed to destroy Hamas. The government says the offensive improves the chances of recovering hostages, perhaps via a mediated prisoner exchange.

But many Israelis blame their government for being blindsided by the Hamas assault.

Among those who marched to Jerusalem was centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has been mostly supportive of the war but has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Miki Zohar, a member of Netanyahu's cabinet and party, was heckled on Friday when he visited the marchers at a rest stop.

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2023-11-18 15:41:37Z
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Hundreds flee as Israel orders Gaza's main hospital evacuated - CNA

KHAN YUNIS: Hundreds of people fled on foot on Saturday (Nov 18) after Israel's army ordered the evacuation of Gaza's main hospital where more than 2,000 patients, medics and displaced people were trapped by the war between Israel and Hamas.

An AFP journalist witnessed the movement, on a road leading south, but health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory said 450 patients unable to be moved remained at Al-Shifa hospital. The facility has become the focus of the war that is entering its seventh week after Hamas' Oct 7 attacks on southern Israel.

Israel has been pressing military operations inside the hospital, searching for the Hamas operations centre it says lies under the sprawling complex - a charge Hamas denies.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the Oct 7 attacks which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.

The army's air and ground campaign has since killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to the Hamas government which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

In Gaza City on Saturday morning, Israeli troops ordered over loudspeakers the evacuation of the Al-Shifa hospital "in the next hour", an AFP journalist at the scene reported.

They called the hospital's director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, to instruct him to ensure "the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront", he told AFP.

Israel has come under mounting pressure to back up its allegations that Hamas is using hospitals as command centres, a charge denied by Hamas, a militant movement with an armed wing. Al-Shifa Hospital has also rejected the allegation.

The United Nations estimated that 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were sheltering at Al-Shifa before Israeli troops entered the facility on Wednesday.

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2023-11-18 10:19:28Z
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Taiwan's opposition alliance falters over joint presidential ticket - CNA

TAIPEI: Taiwan's two leading opposition parties failed to agree on Saturday (Nov 18) on who would lead the ticket in a joint presidential bid for January's crucial elections.

The lead-up to Taiwan's Jan 13 vote is being closely watched because it will shape Taipei's future relations with China, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory.

The current frontrunner is Vice President Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is regarded by China as pro-independence.

The Kuomingtang (KMT), Taiwan's biggest pro-Beijing group, and the less established Taiwan People's Party (TPP) have both pledged to promote closer ties with China and struck a deal this week to evaluate recent polls to determine their candidate to oppose Lai and the DPP.

An announcement had been expected Saturday but the KMT and TPP disagreed on how to calculate the margin of error for polls, which led to a deadlock in negotiations.

"We should sit down and resolve this minor dispute - I believe it's a minor dispute - and quickly form a team to work together," KMT chairman Eric Chu said.

He stressed the importance of a close alliance between the two parties to come up with the best combination of candidates.

The KMT's candidate, Hou Yu-ih, is the mayor of New Taipei City and has been performing below expectations against Lai.

Former doctor Ko Wen-je, who positions his TPP as an alternative to break the usual two-party dominance of the KMT and the DPP, has surged ahead in the polls.

Ko said on Saturday his goal was to win the election against Lai.

"We still hope to continue negotiations with the Kuomintang but don't ask me ... to surrender unconditionally," Ko said.

"I can't justify that to my supporters," he said. "We are willing to negotiate, and we don't want it to just fall apart."

All candidates have until next Friday to register officially with the election commission.

A poll released by Taiwan's United Daily News on Friday showed Lai with 31.1 per cent support, Ko with 28.7 per cent and Hou with 22.4 per cent in a three-way race.

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2023-11-18 08:48:00Z
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Leader of Japanese lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai dies at 95 - Nikkei Asia

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Daisaku Ikeda, the longtime leader of the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai, one of the largest religious groups in Japan, died of old age on Wednesday at his home in Tokyo, the group said. He was 95.

Ikeda became the third president of Soka Gakkai, with a claimed membership of over 8.27 million households, in 1960. The group backs Komeito, the junior coalition partner of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party.

Ikeda established Komeito's predecessor political group in 1961 and formed Komeito in 1964. In the wake of a controversy over the separation of politics and religion, he became focused on the activities of Soka Gakkai, though he remained influential in politics.

Ikeda assumed the post of the group's honorary president in 1979, four years after establishing Soka Gakkai International, which claims 2.8 million members in over 190 countries and territories.

Upholding the "humanistic philosophy" of Nichiren Buddhism, Ikeda engaged in dialogue with world leaders and intellectuals, including the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, on measures to build global peace, according to Soka Gakkai's website.

Ikeda was born in Tokyo in 1928 to a family of seaweed manufacturers. His experience of life during World War II, propelled him to work for peace, the website says.

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2023-11-18 06:11:00Z
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Fuel enters Gaza to restore phone links after two days without aid - CNA

GAZA: A first consignment of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt late Friday (Nov 17) after Israel agreed to a US request to allow limited deliveries to end a communications blackout that has halted aid convoys for two days.

UN agencies have spoken of an increasingly desperate situation for the 2.4 million Palestinians trapped inside the besieged enclave, which Israel has been pounding by land and air for the past six weeks.

The fuel delivery came as troops combed Gaza's largest hospital in a search for the Hamas operations centre that Israel says lies hidden in bunkers beneath.

Israel has vowed to "crush" Hamas in response to the group's Oct 7 attack, when it broke through Gaza's militarised border to kill about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and take about 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

The army's air and ground campaign has killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

In response to a US request, Israel's war cabinet unanimously agreed to "provide two tankers of fuel a day to run the wastewater treatment facilities ... which are facing collapse due to the lack of electricity", national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.

"We took that decision to prevent the spread of epidemics. We don't need epidemics that will harm civilians or our fighters," he said.

A senior US official said Washington had exerted huge pressure on Israel for weeks to allow fuel in through the Rafah crossing from Egypt, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken making clear Israel needed to act immediately to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.

Israel has repeatedly demanded assurances that any fuel delivered to Gaza will not be diverted by Hamas for military purposes.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said 70 per cent of people have no access to clean water in south Gaza, where raw sewage had started to flow on the streets.

Under the deal, 140,000 litres of fuel will be allowed in every 48 hours, of which 20,000 litres will be earmarked for generators to restore the phone network, the US official said.

A first consignment of some 17,000 litres of fuel for telecommunications company Paltel passed through the Rafah crossing from Egypt late Friday, a Palestinian border official said.

It comes after aid trucks were unable to enter Gaza from Egypt for two straight days due to the near-total communications blackout, UNRWA said.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said fuel was "critical for the onward distribution of aid throughout Gaza, and for the functioning of vital services."

He told the UN General Assembly that the fuel currently being provided to UNRWA to distribute aid was "welcome but is a fraction of what is needed to meet the minimum of our humanitarian responsibilities".

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2023-11-17 21:57:42Z
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