🔴 Live: Red Cross president meets Hamas chief in Qatar to 'advance humanitarian issues'

Palestinians look at houses destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah on Monday, November 20, 2023. © Hatem Ali, AP

The Red Cross said Monday that its president had travelled to Qatar to meet with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh "to advance humanitarian issues related to the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza". Gaza's Hamas government said Monday the death toll in the Palestinian territory had passed 13,300 since war began on October 7. The figure could not be independently verified. And heavy fighting broke out earlier Monday around the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks. Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the Israel-Hamas war. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

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About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

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 Sunday, November 19:

• The Israeli military on Sunday said it had uncovered a tunnel under Gaza's Al Shifa hospital that stretched 55 metres beneath the war-torn complex where troops have been conducting a major operation
• A deal to free hostages seized by Hamas in its October 7 attack on Israel now hinges on "minor" practical issues, Qatar's prime minister said Sunday. 
• Thirty-one premature babies were evacuated from Gaza's biggest hospital Sunday, the World Health Organization said, seeking to get the last patients and staff out of what it has dubbed a "death zone".
• At least 13,000 Palestinians, including at least 5,500 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the government media office in the Hamas-controlled enclave said on Saturday.
• Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial attack by Hamas, and around 240 were taken captive by militants. 

Read yesterday's blog here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)