Day 43 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Saturday, Nov. 18

Regional spillover from the fighting in the Gaza Strip has seen a spike in attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria and ongoing Israeli raids in the West Bank.

Rina Bassist, Ezgi Akin, Beatrice Farhat, Elizabeth Hagedorn, Adam Lucente, Jack Dutton, Jared Szuba and Al-Monitor’s contributors on the ground in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel contributed to this blog.

Click here for our most recent updates.

Live updates (all times EDT):

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023

8:45 pm: Israel, Hamas draw closer to hostage deal brokered by US, Qatar

The Washington Post reported on Saturday night that Israel, the United States and Hamas are close to an agreement that would free dozens of hostages in Gaza kidnapped on Oct. 7 in exchange for a five-day pause in the fighting.

The deal could begin within the next several days, the Washington Post said, and would “freeze combat operations for at least five days while an initial 50 or more hostages are released in smaller batches every 24 hours.” 

The outline of the six-page deal was put together in Doha in meetings between representatives from the United States, Israel and Hamas with Qatari mediators. CIA Director William Burns visited Doha last Thursday and White House senior official Brett McGurk is expected to head there on Sunday.

6:00 pm: Doctors Without Borders convoy 'deliberately' hit in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said late on Saturday that one relative of a staff member was killed and another person wounded during an attack on a convoy of its staff members and families evacuating from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

The convoy had departed in five vehicles marked with MSF identification. The organization said in a statement that it informed both Hamas authorities and the Israeli military of its planned movement, but that the vehicles were not permitted to cross a checkpoint for hours.

The convoy was attacked by undetermined sources, with two vehicles “deliberately” hit.

"Two of the MSF cars were deliberately hit, killing one MSF staff’s family member and injuring another,” the statement said.  
  
The organization called “to urgently allow the evacuation of our staff, as well as of thousands of other people, trapped by fighting and living in extremely dire conditions in northern Gaza.”

1:52 pm: Netanyahu says no hostage deal reached yet

Speaking at a press conference Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that at the moment no deal has been reached for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. 

The press conference came against the backdrop of a large rally held in the center of Tel Aviv. Earlier in the day, thousands of people, headed by families of the abductees who had marched for five days from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, demonstrated outside the Jerusalem residence of Netanyahu calling for the release of the hostages.

10:20 am: Saudi FM says Arab, Islamic foreign ministers to head to China for Gaza talks

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan announced that foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries will head to Beijing on Monday to work toward ending the war in Gaza.

Speaking at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain today, Prince Faisal said that following their recent summit in Riyadh, the ministers will convene in the Chinese capital and then travel on to a number of foreign capitals to up international pressure to facilitate humanitarian aid into the besieged Strip.

“We must strive to swiftly resolve this crisis and put an end to the war being waged against Gaza,” the top Saudi diplomat said. 

7:20 am: Hundreds evacuate from Al-Shifa hospital

Palestinian health officials said hundreds of patients, medical staff and displaced individuals have left Gaza’s largest hospital that was taken over by Israeli forces earlier in the week.

The officials said they received an evacuation order from the Israeli military on Saturday morning, while the military said it had offered safe passage to those hoping to leave.

7:15 am: 26 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza

Twenty-six Palestinians, mostly children, were killed in Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis city in southern Gaza early on Saturday, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

5:00 am: Israeli military carries out strikes in Lebanon

The Israeli army announced that its air force hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Saturday following surface-to-surface launches from the border. “Twenty-five launches from Lebanon toward northern Israel were identified a short while ago. In response, IDF artillery is striking the sources of the launches and additional Hezbollah terrorist targets,” the IDF said.

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