Vox Sentences - The al-Shifa hospital crisis, explained

Monday, November 13, 2023:

Hi, all — welcome back for another week of Sentences. Here’s what we’ll be discussing today: 

UP FIRST: Israel’s humanitarian pauses in Gaza, explained

CATCH UP: A shake-up in the UK government 

— Rachel DuRose, Future Perfect fellow

Israel’s humanitarian pauses in Gaza, explained

Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images

Last Thursday US officials announced that Israel agreed to daily pauses in their Gaza operations to allow civilians to evacuate and supplies to enter the area. The four-hour breaks in fighting have thus far allowed 100,000 people to flee northern Gaza, where the fighting is currently concentrated. 

The lowdown: Fighting continued over the weekend, and has escalated the humanitarian situation in Gaza City. Here’s what’s happening: 

• Before its ground assault, Israel gave the residents of northern Gaza 24 hours to leave. At that point, however, Israel was already pummeling the territory with airstrikes, and Gaza’s borders were shut. The UN reported it was impossible for the 1 million residents asked to evacuate to do so safely. 

• Since fighting began, hundreds of thousands of civilians have moved south, but thousands remain in and around Gaza City. The humanitarian pauses have allowed aid trucks to enter the territory, but few have been able to make it to the north. Hundreds of thousands of people remain in the north, some unable — and others unwilling — to leave. 

• The al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest medical center, has come under attack in recent days. Al-Shifa is reportedly out of fuel and low on supplies; it’s shut down most of its treatment centers, and has more than 4,000 more patients than it has beds. Hamas claims 40,000 civilians are sheltering in the hospital. 

• Israel claims a Hamas command center lies beneath the hospital. Hamas denies this, and leaders from Gaza’s Ministry of Health say medical staff are not adhering to IDF evacuation orders because approximately 700 patients who cannot leave the hospital would die.

The stakes: The IDF has taken up positions around al-Shifa, but claims the hospital is not under siege. Israeli officials say that over the weekend they were in communication with the hospital staff, working to get the babies at the hospital relocated (this announcement came after claims that two babies died on Saturday when the hospital ran out of fuel). It’s unclear whether any evacuations actually happened. At least 36 premature babies remain in al-Shifa and are receiving rudimentary, emergency care due to the lack of power. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the IDF delivered 300 liters of fuel to al-Shifa hospital on Sunday; an IDF spokesperson said the fuel had been dropped off roughly 1,000 feet of the hospital, and Gaza’s health ministry said no fuel was received at all.

Concerns about fuel and the unsanitary conditions in Gaza grow each day, but IDF airstrikes and operations remain the major cause of Palestinian death and casualties in Gaza, writes Ellen Ioanes. 

“The situation in al-Shifa is truly catastrophic,” Ann Taylor, Médecins Sans Frontières' head of mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said in a Saturday statement. “We call on the Israeli Government to cease this unrelenting assault on Gaza’s health system. Our staff and patients are inside Al-Shifa hospital where the heavy bombing has not stopped since yesterday.” 

Read Ellen’s full story on the humanitarian pauses here. 

If you have questions about the ongoing war, let us know here. And here’s where you can keep track of all our developing coverage.

 A shake-up in the UK government 

Carl Court/Getty Images

Today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed former prime minister David Cameron as the UK’s new foreign secretary. Cameron served as PM between 2010 and 2016.  

• Cameron left UK politics about seven years ago, following the “Brexit” referendum. The Conservative Party leader opposed Brexit, supported  marriage marriage equality, and expressed concern about the environment. He also supported China-UK relations. [Reuters]  

• The decision coincides with other reshufflings within the cabinet:

• • Home Secretary Suella Braverman — a consistent source of controversy due to her far-right rhetoric, who recently  “drew anger for accusing police of being too lenient with pro-Palestinian protesters” — was fired, and replaced with former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. [AP]

• • Environment Secretary Therese Coffey — who served under five PMs — announced she’d be resigning, and will be replaced by Health Secretary Steve Barclay. Treasury official Victoria Atkins will fill the vacancy left by Barclay’s transition. [Financial Times]

• • Richard Holden, a junior transport minister, will replace Greg Hands as the Conservative Party chair. [The Guardian]

• “Though I may have disagreed with some individual decisions, it is clear to me that Rishi Sunak is a strong and capable Prime Minister, who is showing exemplary leadership at a difficult time,” Cameron said in a statement about his appointment. [X]

• Months after the deadliest fire in American history, Hawaii once again grapples with a wildfire. While it’s nearly contained at this point, the fire raced across the island of Oahu, burning 1,681 acres. [ABC]

• Another Republican candidate — South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — has dropped out of the GOP presidential primary. Scott “surprised” his campaign staff and donors by withdrawing from the competition Sunday on Fox News. [AP]

• Over the weekend, approximately 4,000 people in Iceland were evacuated as the country prepares for a potential volcanic eruption. On Monday, hundreds of earthquakes shook the southern part of the country which is also a volcanic hotspot. [Reuters]

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