November 14, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli tanks have breached Gaza's largest hospital complex, according to a journalist inside Al-Shifa.

There were gunfire exchanges across the yard, and some of the windows in one of the buildings were out, Al Za’anoun added.

Hundreds of staff and patients are still at Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand people who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.

Some context: In a statement early Wednesday morning, Israel Defense Forces said it is carrying out a "precise and targeted operation" in the hospital.

Israel believes it has given the Hamas operatives it accuses of being inside the hospital sufficient time to cease their activities inside the building, according to the statement.

Hospital officials have consistently rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas has built a command and control center under the hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces said it is carrying out a "precise and targeted operation" in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

A statement accused Hamas of “continued military use of the Shifa hospital,” which, it said, “jeopardised the hospital’s protected status under international law.”

Israel believes it has given the Hamas operatives it accuses of being inside the hospital sufficient time to cease their activities inside the building, according to the statement.

Hospital officials have consistently rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas has built an important command center under the hospital, Gaza’s largest.

Hundreds of staff and patients are still at Al-Shifa, according to the most recent reports from inside the hospital, along with several thousand who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.

Medics "who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment" are among the Israeli forces carrying out the raid, the IDF said.

A doctor at Al Shifa told CNN they were given a 30-minute warning before the Israeli operation on the complex began.

“We were asked to stay clear of the windows and the balconies. We can hear the armored vehicles, they are very close to the entrance of the complex,” Dr. Khaled Abu Samra said.

Some background: On Tuesday, the White House and the Pentagon said that Hamas is storing weapons and operating a command center from Al-Shifa Hospital.

The remarks echoed claims made by Israel, which Palestinian hospital officials and Hamas have rejected.

The Pentagon said the US has newly declassified intelligence that claims to show that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were using hospitals — including Al-Shifa — as a “way to conceal and support their military operations and hold hostages."

The post has been updated with the latest details from Al-Shifa.

The current phase of Israel’s war against Hamas could end in a “matter of weeks,” Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday. 

Erdan did not provide further details on what the next phase of Israel’s military campaign might look like.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said its Gaza fuel depot is empty and – with fuel still not allowed into the enclave – its aid operation there “is gradually coming to an end.”

Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, said no fuel had entered Gaza since October 7.

“Since then, we have heavily rationed the use of fuel and accessed pre-existing, limited amounts stored in a depot inside the Gaza Strip, through close coordination with Israeli authorities,” Lazzarini said. “The depot is now empty.”

“It is unbelievable that humanitarian agencies have to beg for fuel and operate on life support … I appeal to all parties to make fuel available now and stop using humanitarian assistance for political or military gains,” he added.

Israel has refused to allow fuel to enter Gaza since the Hamas October 7 attack, saying it would only be used by the militant group in its fight against Israel.

The fuel blockade has resulted in a deepening humanitarian crisis as hospitals, water systems, bakeries and other services reliant on electricity shut down.

An Israeli military spokesperson said Tuesday the fighting in the “heart of Gaza” continues as Israel claims Hamas has lost control of northern Gaza, especially Gaza City.  

Hagari also said the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since October 7 stands at 366.  

Asked whether Israel would expand the incursion to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Hagari responded:

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed to have fired ballistic missiles toward the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Tuesday.

The group’s military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yehya Saree, said the launch had come “24 hours after another military operation carried out by our armed forces with drones on the same targets," according to a statement on their official Telegram channel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Tuesday that its Arrow aerial defense system had intercepted a missile “in the area of the Red Sea” and it had not crossed into Israeli territory.

In recent weeks, the Houthis have claimed several missile and drone attacks against Israel and warned further strikes would come.

Asked about the Houthi launches at a news conference on Tuesday evening, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israeli military spokesperson, said Israel was “monitoring this matter along with the US and other countries in the region threatened by the Houthis for years.”

As winter approaches and Gaza's health system is collapses under the weight of Israel's war on Hamas, a United Nations children's aid organization said Tuesday there is a "massive concern" that waterborne and respiratory diseases will run rampant through the besieged enclave's underage population.

Toby Fricker, UNICEF spokesperson, said the organization has already received reports of rising levels of dehydration and more than 30,000 cases of diarrhea, including among UNICEF staff's children.

"The big concern now is to stop another catastrophe, meaning outbreaks of diseases, particularly as winter is approaching and today with the first rains inside the Gaza Strip," Fricker said.

He also warned about the extreme psychological stress Gazan children are going through and the immediate and long-term consequences of that trauma.

The spokesperson said the critical thing now is to try to alleviate some of the suffering that people living in "horrific conditions" are enduring by massively increasing the scale of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Egyptian officials are working to bring 36 newborn babies from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza to Egypt, according to the country's health minister.

The health ministry is trying to coordinate the transfer with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Egyptian Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said Tuesday.

“We've been asked to receive 36 newly-born neonates in incubators,” Abdel Ghaffar said, adding that he is working with his team and other officials to get them into Egypt "as soon as possible."

"I have 36 ambulances equipped with portable ventilators waiting on the border to receive those kids … (and) get them immediately to our hospitals," Abdel Ghaffar said.

The health minister said the transfer itself would be dangerous and having movable incubators ready in the ambulances is critical. He said was told by the PRCS that it was attempting to put three babies in one incubator “because they don’t have that much source of energy to support.” 

The minister said Egypt’s Red Crescent was ready at the Rafah border crossing to receive the babies.

The 3-year-old United States citizen being held hostage by Hamas has been identified as Abigail Edan, a family member said.

Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, the child’s great aunt, says Abigail is the child President Joe Biden was referring to in a recent call with the Emir of Qatar. 

The White House did not disclose additional information about the toddler. However, a White House official said the toddler is the youngest American hostage and the only known US minor child currently being held.

Abigail’s father, Roy Edan, was holding her outside their home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas terrorists began their attack on October 7, Naftali told CNN.

“Abigail’s siblings saw their mother being killed by Hamas terrorists in their home. They ran out to their father, who was holding Abigail, and he was murdered,” she said, adding that her niece, Smadar Edan — the child's mother — had also been killed in the attack.

Naftali relayed accounts she heard from the siblings — ages 10 and 6 — as they recalled running back inside their home and locking themselves in a closet for over 12 hours. The children believed their younger sister was dead until the family heard from a witness of the attack, Naftali said.

Naftali said the husband was injured while defending the kibbutz and a witness told the family that they saw a terrorist taking the wife and their three children along with Abigail away from the home.

President Biden discussed the war in Gaza and efforts to free hostages with the Emir of Qatar on Sunday.

"The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay," the White House said in a readout from the call.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.