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Ceasefire + Days 7 thru 12 – More Relief & Evidence – Lots Good, Some Bad – Gaza & Al Shifa [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-11-27
The ceasefire finally took hold on Friday, with exchanges of hostages and prisoners on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some more evidence of Hamas activity at the hospital was found. A new problem developed in evacuating the remaining patients at the hospital, and some information has been released on Israel’s intelligence failure. Finally, there is a poll at the end.
This diary contains the next 5 days of the author’s daily reports on the Al-Shifa Hospital starting on November 15 when the IDF first entered the hospital.
Please note that this diary is intended as a news report, and not an analysis or opinion piece. However,the author’s opinions on some items is expressed where a further explanation may be useful.
The Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Days 4-6 diaries are on the Daily Kos.
This diary is likely the author’s last about Al-Shifa Hospital. This hospital has been the primary subject of the author’s diaries, but the focus of the news is moving away from this hospital. Updates may be provided as needed, and other diaries on related topics may be posted.
CEASEFIRE and HOSTAGES / PRISONERS
The best news this week has been the ceasefire and the exchange of hostages / prisoners. The ceasefire was supposed to start on Thursday, but began Friday morning, as details remained to be worked out. The ceasefire continues to hold as of Sunday. Hamas wants to extend the ceasefire. Israel Army Radio says that there are efforts to extend the ceasefire by 4 more days.
A total of 27 Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas as of Sunday, including a four year old girl with dual American-Israeli citizenship. Her parents were killed by Hamas in front of her on October 7. All are women and children, including teenagers. Hamas refuses to release any Israeli soldiers. 11 more Israeli hostages are to be released on Monday. (The BBC has a very good article on the Israeli hostages.).
An additional 14 hostages from Thailand, and one from the Philippines were also released by Hamas in a separate deal between Egypt and Hamas.
Israel released 117 Palestinians as part of their deal. They were all women and children, including teenagers.
Their release has been celebrated with great joy in Israel and the West Bank. (No information was found about celebrations in Gaza.)
Unfortunately, Israel’s most far right and hardline minister, Ben Gvir (whose party was responsible for Netanyahu’s victory in the last election, and who is responsible for the Israeli police) said that those who greet the prisoners will be considered terrorists by Israel. CNN says that the families of the prisoners have been unable to express their joy in public because of this statement.
Continuance of the Ceasefire
While many people want the ceasefire to continue, the prospects of this happening are dim. Hamas wants the ceasefire to continue beyond 4 days. Netanyahu says that the ceasefire can last at most 10 extra days. He also says that the military capability of Hamas must be eliminated, and they must be removed from the government of Gaza. President Biden said that there is no future role for Hamas in Gaza. President al-Sisi of Egypt suggests that a peacekeeping force of some type be deployed to Gaza. All of these actions require the military defeat of Hamas, which means ending the ceasefire. (Peacekeeping forces are unlikely to enter an active urban war zone due to the danger they would face.)
The ceasefire will likely be over once the hostage exchange reaches an impasse, with Hamas continuing to hold hostages, and Israel continuing to hold prisoners. Hamas is unlikely to release all of the hostages, especially the soldiers, in order to retain some leverage over Israel.
Another potential problem is the agreement to allow the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) to visit all the hostages. Hamas has not yet allowed these visits. It’s possible that Hamas hasn’t worked out the logistics, hasn’t gotten all the hostages healthy enough to be seen, has no intention of allowing the world to see them, or Hamas can’t convince other groups holding hostages (Islamic Jihad is one) to allow the ICRC to see them. This problem could well be Israel’s announced reason for ending the ceasefire.
TUNNELS and WEAPONS
(Author’s Note: Some of this information was reported in the last diary, but wasn’t fully presented.)
The IDF explored more of the tunnel they found on Tuesday. They were able to breach the blast door by cutting a large square out around the peep hole, and likely reaching in to open the door from the inside. The IDF also made an entrance to the tunnel next to the Qatari Building by excavating a hole down to the tunnel roof and lifting the roof off the tunnel sides.
Once inside the IDF found a long tunnel of 300+ meters, 330+ yards, with some rooms off the tunnel. The tunnel had to be carefully cleared of sand which was blocking the tunnel, and other debris. This clearance took time as booby traps could have been inside of these piles and debris.
The path of the tunnel is shown in the figure below. (The author annotated an IDF figure showing the underground structures with the path of the tunnel shown by the IDF.) The IDF stopped under the Qatari building where the IDF said there is an underground installation, as shown in the figure. The path also passes near another underground installation identified by the IDF.
Diagram of the Tunnel the IDF Uncovered in Yellow and Black. The dotted lines are extensions of the tunnel that the IDF has either not explored, or didn’t show in their video. The red boxes are the underground complexes the IDF identified at the start of their capture of the hospital, but still haven’t found. The symbols stand for (starting at the bottom of the figure): Q — Qatari Building; F — Facilities, which are shown on the right detail; RE — Roof Excavation by the IDF; BD — Blast Door; S — Shaft with Spiral Staircase (just text to the cross and in black). The symbols in the detail on the right are: B — Bathroom; K — Kitchenette; A/C and No A/C — rooms with and without air conditioning. Q — Qatari Building.
There was one group of living quarters under the Qatari Building consisting of two rooms with bathrooms across from each and a kitchenette in-between. Pictures of these rooms are shown below. One room was air conditioned (connected to its machinery above ground), and had more wires for communication than the other room. There were two platforms with webbing and a table built into the walls, with a very nice, decorative ceiling. The IDF identified this area as a command center due to the extra wires and air conditioner. (To the author, this room may be the bedroom for two higher ranking Hamas officers or commanders, given the ceiling, air conditioning, and additional wires. The IDF spokesman said people could sleep in this room.) The bathrooms and adjacent kitchenette are directly across from the bedrooms, which makes sense for living quarters.
The other room had fewer wires, no built-ins, no decorative ceiling, and no air conditioner. Its purpose could be another bedroom, or a meeting room.
Air Conditioned Room with Two Beds in the Back.
Front of Air Conditioned Room. There are some neatly coiled wires handing down from the wall. The air conditioner unit is next to the ceiling. There is a built-in desk in the lower right. A decorative ceiling tile is shown in the inset at the upper right.
Front of the Other Room. The door is to the left. There is only one wire, no built-ins, and no air conditioning.
The Kitchenette Between the Two Rooms. Someone cleaned the sink before they left.
Each Room Has a Bathroom Across the “Hall” from It.
Most likely, there will be further findings related to this tunnel and the underground structures that it should connect to.
The tunnel was also traced outside of the hospital, although this branch isn’t shown on the Figure. Another entrance with a spiral staircase led down to the extension of the tunnel outside of the hospital complex. The IDF said that it connects to a house containing a school for children, but the video doesn’t show this connection. The IDF found a stairway down to the tunnel beneath a false floor in the house.
No new weapons were found, or at least displayed, by the IDF in the last 7 days.
AL-SHIFA HOSPITAL DIRECTOR & Hospital Evacuation
Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, Director of Al-Shifa Hospital
The director of the Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, was arrested by Israel on Day 9, November 23, and taken for questioning by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service which has responsibility for Gaza. A picture of the hospital director is to the right.
The Gaza (Hamas) Ministry of Health says that the IDF pulled him, along with others, from a WHO convoy evacuating to southern Gaza. The IDF said that he was captured as he was in the process of evacuating to southern Gaza.
He has consistently denied knowing anything about Hamas being at, or under, the hospital. The IDF finds his denials unbelievable.
There has been no further word about him since he was arrested.
The Gaza (Hamas) Ministry of Health said that they will no longer cooperate with WHO evacuation operations from the hospital until their director is released and the WHO issues a statement as to what happened. The Ministry’s actions can be interpreted as their only way of trying to obtain the release of a valuable, high level employee; or trying to free him before he spills the beans; or both. It is also an attempt to put the onus on Israel for the patient’s distress. None of these reasons changes the harm done to the remaining patients in the hospital, who the Health Ministry is supposed to be helping. The Health Ministry also said that there are 200 patients left in the hospital, and only two doctors. (source)
The situation with the evacuation of the hospital is unclear as of Sunday. Al Jazeera posted an article on Sunday showing pictures of patients waiting for evacuation in the courtyard and ambulences waiting outside. The article said that the situation was dire for those who weren’t evacuated on Sunday, but didn’t elaborate on this claim. (This was the only article the author could find on the status of the evacuation of the Al-Shifa Hospital.)
ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE FAILURE
[END]
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