Joe Biden signs US government funding bill that does not include additional aid to Israel and Ukraine. The West, including the United States, increased pressure after the assault on the Al-Shifa medical complex for Israel to accept a pause in hostilities.
Among the demonstrations calling for a stop to hostilities, or in favor of Israel or Palestine, we highlight a march by Lebanese medical and nursing staff in solidarity with the medical teams in Gaza.
The body of a 65-year-old Israeli hostage is found near Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. The Israeli army shortly afterwards claims that it is Yehudit Weiss, in a building near the Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip.
The commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, General Ismail Qaani, sends a message to the commander-in-chief of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Muhammad al-Deif. Which reads: “You wrote a great epic entitled The Flood of Al-Aqsa, which God brought about at the hands of the mujahideen of the Al-Qassam Brigades and the mujahideen of the resistance in Gaza. You have clearly demonstrated the weakness and fragility of the Zionist usurping entity and have demonstrated in a practical and decisive way that it is weaker than a spider’s web. It is enough to describe this great event on what the enemy and the friend have agreed upon, that Palestine and the region will no longer be what it was before the Al-Aqsa Flood, after the Al-Aqsa Flood” .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed his visit to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital, fearing protests against him, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. It is also learned via social media that the settlements adjacent to the border strip with Lebanon cannot receive communications because most of the “cell phone” antennas were damaged after Hezbollah attacks.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday, November 16, that Israeli Defense Forces units had captured the western neighborhoods of Gaza City. “He said the IDF had completed the capture of the western part of Gaza City and had cleared the area of all Hamas agents and assets,” The Times of Israel reports. The Minister noted that the Army is now launching a new phase of the ground operation. Gallant also recalled that the military made “significant findings” during a search of the Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, but did not specify what their essence was.
The Israeli army, during a search on the territory of the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza, discovered the entrance to a tunnel and a vehicle with weapons, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said. “The Israel Defense Forces continue to intensify fighting in the sector, liberating already occupied areas, including tunnels, including under hospitals. The Israel Defense Forces today discovered the tunnel shaft under Al-Shifa hospital, and now military engineers are working on site,” he said during a briefing.
Israeli army spokesperson says recent Israeli attacks killed several members of Hamas’s high-ranking military leadership among them confirmed by Hamas: Jamil Al-Amouri, Abdullah Al-Husri, Wiam Hanoun, Bahaa Jamal Lahlouh (23 years) and two other militants Muhammad Azmi Husseinieh (34 years old), Muhammad Abu Al-Hassan (28 years old) all belonging to the Jenin Brigade.
Israeli media have claimed that Hezbollah is waging a war of attrition against the Israeli army in every sense of the word.
Hamas has interrupted negotiations with Israel on the release of the hostages, according to the Israeli ambassador in Moscow. Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said during a press conference: “The resistance men are teaching the enemy on the ground lessons that will be a lesson for the rest of time. Salute to the resistance which today carried out an operation against the occupation forces in Jerusalem. The occupation committed a brutal war crime by storming the Shifa medical complex with tanks. After attacking all the hospital facilities for 20 hours, the occupiers told the ridiculous story of having found several rifles and old shoes. The lies of the occupation and the American administration have become clear everywhere. In the last 48 hours the Qassam Brigades managed to destroy and damage 33 vehicles.”
The head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh: In a statement, among other things, he wrote: “After 41 days of barbaric aggression, the enemy will not be able to achieve any of its targets nor recover his prisoners except by paying the price determined by resistance. We have followed the work of the emergency Arab and Islamic summit and I call for the immediate implementation of the decisions taken, in particular those relating to the cessation of the aggression and the breaking of the siege. I say to the leaders of our nation and its people that the strength of the Palestinian resistance is your strength and an asset, and that its ability to curb the ambitions of the enemy is a source of strength for the entire nation. […] Yesterday’s Security Council resolution should have included a clear and direct condemnation of the war crimes and ethnic cleansing committed by the enemy in Gaza and the West Bank. We emphasize the importance of forcing the enemy to stop aggression, open the crossings, quickly meet all needs of the sector, completely end the siege and recognize the right of our people to establish their own independent state.” Ismail Haniyeh also called for: “Supporting Gaza with money, weapons and jihad must overcome all obstacles, whatever they are: there are no excuses for those who sit back or are satisfied with a little effort and work. The battle of the Al-Aqsa flood is the battle of the entire nation, and all efforts must be united and aim without hesitation towards courageous choices.”
According to Al Arabiya at 12:00 on November 17, the warring parties in Gaza reached an agreement for a three-day truce in the sector.
According to a poll conducted in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the vast majority of Palestinians believe that there is no possibility of coexistence with Israel after the ongoing war.
The leader of the “Houthis” has rejected American offers in exchange for abstaining from fighting alongside the Palestinians. In Response Israel said: “Any military action against “Israeli” shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait will be a major challenge for “Israel”
And now a look at the Israel-Hams front updated at 4.00pm on November 17th.
Let’s start with the summary of the Hezbollah attacks from November 16th until 2pm on November 17th:
Attack on the Miskav A’am military site at midnight
Attack on the Bayad Blida military site at 12.15pm
Attack on Yiftaf barracks at 12.15pm
Attack on the Metulla base at 1.15 pm
Attack on the Hermon military base at 2.25pm
Attack on a group of Israeli soldiers near Karantina Hill in Hadb Yaroun at 2.25pm
Attack on a group of Israeli soldiers near Shtula at 2.50pm
Attack on the Al-Alam military site with rockets at 4.05pm
Attack on an Israeli tank with ATGM at 4.45pm
November 17: A group of soldiers attacked at 10.30 am in Al-Tayhat Square
A group of soldiers attacked at 10.30 am in Al-Marj
Al-Malikiah military site attacked at 11.30am
A group of soldiers attacked at 1.05pm in the Yar’oun settlement
A group of soldiers was attacked at 1.25pm at the Duhayra military site
Hezbollah deaths since the start of the October 7 attack on Israel 79
Here is also a summary of the operations of the Islamic Resistance against the positions and deployment of the Israeli army on the Lebanese-Palestinian border updated to November 16, 2023 at 12:00 am
Eastern sector:
1- At 12:00, a General Miskaf site was targeted, causing direct damage.
2- At 12.15pm, the Bayad Blida site was targeted and direct damage was achieved.
3- At 12.15pm, Yiftah Barracks was targeted, causing direct damage.
4- At 1.15pm, the Metulla site was targeted and direct damage was achieved.
Western sector:
1- At 2.25pm, the Harmon site was targeted and direct damage was done.
2- At 2.25pm, a gathering of Israeli infantry forces was targeted on Karantina Hill near the Hadab Yaron site with appropriate weapons, causing direct damage.
3- At 2.50pm, a group of Israeli occupation soldiers near the Shtoula site were targeted with appropriate weapons, causing direct damage.
4- At 4.05pm, the Jal al-Alam site was targeted with guided missiles, causing direct damage.
5- At 4.45pm, a Merkava tank of the Zionist occupation forces was targeted near the Pranit barracks with guided missiles, hitting it directly.
The Israelis continue the ground operation in the Gaza Strip: fighting is taking place near the Al-Wafa hospital, in the Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun areas, but there are no significant changes in the configuration of the front. On the evening of November 16, Palestinian sources wrote that the IDF had moved to the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, which is located closer to the city center, but there was still no footage from there.
Meanwhile, the Israeli command continues to show the world community that Al-Shifa hospital was the headquarters of Hamas and that the large underground bunker beneath it is still operational. As evidence, the IDF showed footage of the hospital, featuring small arms, hand grenades and Islamic literature. However, the Pentagon said: “We cannot reveal when the Hamas leadership used Al-Shifa hospital to run its operations.”
The best-known event was the terrorist attack on the Minharot checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem: three terrorists attacked the facility, injuring several civilians and killing an IDF soldier. After it became clear that the militants were from Hebron, the Israelis began mass arrests of the city’s residents, even arresting the mother of the deceased terrorist. The West Bank Al-Qassam Brigades announce their responsibility in the assault operation on the tunnel checkpoint south of Jerusalem.
There are no changes on the Israeli-Lebanese border: Hezbollah and the IDF exchange blows along the entire contact line. Pro-Palestinian fighters attacked Israeli strongholds in Dovev, Shtula, Metula and Yiftah. The latter responded again with fire in southern Lebanon.
On the evening of November 16, for the first time in recent times, or ever, the Israeli army evacuated everyone from the Metulla settlement and turned off all the lights. At 1.51pm the Israeli military site at Metulla was in flames following a recent attack from Lebanon.
At 10:24 am the entire Western Galilee region was closed because all its settlements are within range of Hezbollah fire.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
