An official from the Hamas-run health ministry said more than 80 people were killed Saturday in twin strikes on northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, including a UN school being used as a shelter for people displaced by the Israel-Hamas war. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the enclave, receives data from every hospital in the strip. Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every body arriving at a morgue. The ministry also collects from other sources including the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
Key Developments from Friday, November 17:
- A dire lack of fuel shut down all internet and phone networks in Gaza.
- Israeli troops continued to carry out building-by-building searches at Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military said it had found a tunnel shaft used by Hamas militants at the hospital.
- Israel's army said Friday it killed at least seven militants in two separate confrontations in the West Bank.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about boosting aid to Gaza and urged ‘urgent’ action against settler violence in the West Bank.
- Israel's chief military spokesman said on Friday that Israel will hit Hamas targets wherever they can find them, including in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
Read yesterday's blog here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)