French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a ceasefire in Gaza and is urging other world leaders to join him. “There is no justification to attack civilians,” he said.
Israeli tanks have “completely surrounded” a Gaza hospital, its director told CNN, as strikes reportedly hit the vicinity of other healthcare facilities in the enclave. Israel’s military has not commented on the strikes, but accuses Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has responded to CNN questions regarding tanks surrounding the Al Nasr and Al Rantisi Pediatric Hospitals, saying that it is currently “engaged in intense battle against Hamas” and is “unable to address” the queries.
The director of the two hospitals in northern Gaza, Mustafa al-Kahlout, told CNN on Friday that the health facilities had been surrounded by tanks, leaving staff members no way to leave.
The World Health Organization says it is “extremely disturbed” by reports of Israeli attacks near another site in Gaza City, Al-Shifa Hospital.
Israel has lowered its estimated death toll from the Hamas attacks on October 7 to 1,200, a downward revision from a previous figure of 1,400.
Saudi Arabia is to host a Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Saturday in response to the “unprecedented circumstances in Gaza.”
To be at work by 9 a.m., Joseph Handal gets up at 4:30 a.m., even though his workplace, a Franciscan church in the Old City of Jerusalem, is only a few miles from his home in Bethlehem.
The journey should take 25 minutes by road. But this is the occupied West Bank. Nothing is ever simple here.
“We wait for the bus and see if it comes. If it doesn’t come, the checkpoint is closed. Right now, it’s closed. But it may open later. Or maybe it won’t,” Handal told CNN, standing on the side of the road with a group of other workers.
As a Palestinian resident of the West Bank, Handal needs a permit to enter Jerusalem. He does have one – but whether he can make it to work depends on his ability to get through at least two Israeli checkpoints.
With Israel at war, he says this process has become a nightmare.
After Hamas launched its terror attack on Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people and kidnapping some 240 others, Israel stepped up its security measures and began severely restricting the freedom of movement of Palestinian residents of the West Bank.
CNN has asked Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) for comment on the increased restrictions, but has not received a response.
Israel controls all entry and exit points to the West Bank through roadblocks and checkpoints which are staffed by soldiers and armed police. The security forces have always had the ability to close these checkpoints without warning but, since October 7, the closures have been more frequent and have lasted longer, residents and human rights watchdogs say.
“It puts you in a position where you can’t even tell someone ‘I’ll meet you tomorrow,’” said Mohammad Jamil, an Arabic teacher from a village near Hebron, “Because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
(CNN)
