Click to see full-size image. Source: the Israeli Defense Forces.
On November 10, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reached the vicinity of al-Shifa and Rantisi hospitals in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian media reports and statements by officials from the ruling Hamas Movement.
The reports said that Israeli special forces were operating around the two hospitals and armored units were closing in. Meanwhile, the head of the Hamas-run media office in Gaza, Salama Maarouf, told Al Jazeera that strikes were carried out near three hospitals in Gaza City in total, but gave no casualty figures.
The IDF didn’t comment on the reports, but released videos showing a multiple rocket launcher that was found on the beach of Gaza City as well as recent strikes on different parts of the Strip.
From its side, the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed on November 10 that heavy clashes were taking part in the northwestern part of Gaza City and said that its fighters destroyed a command main battle tank of the IDF with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Just a day earlier, the IDF said that the 162nd “Utzbat HaPlada” Armor Division was operating in Hamas’s “military quarter” of Gaza City. The IDF claimed that the military quarter is located right next to al-Shifa Hospital and described it as “the heart” of Hamas’s intelligence and operational activities.
The Israeli push into Gaza City was not without losses. The IDF admitted that two more soldiers were killed. Their death brought the toll of slain troops in Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza to 37.
The new push came after the IDF announced that it will be implementing a daily, localized, four-hour humanitarian pause to allow Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern part of the Strip. The decision, which was praised by the U.S., appears to be an attempt to cover up Israel’s refusal to accept a full ceasefire.
The IDF will likely advance deeper into Gaza City in the coming hours. Israeli ground operations and strikes will threaten the lives of thousands of medical workers, patients and refugees who are still trapped in several hospitals there.
