Israel bombarding Palestinian towns in West Bank But loses five more soldiers in Gaza

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is destroying settlements in the West Bank.

According to Al Jazeera, heavy military equipment and bulldozers are destroying the streets and infrastructure of Jenin City.

Israeli troops are bombarding Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Hebron in the southern West Bank, and Qalqilya, Tubas and Jenin in the north.

The IDF is also attacking Jenin from several directions, "heavy military equipment and bulldozers demolish streets and infrastructure, and destroy the Jenin refugee camp."

Against this background, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the evacuation of all patients and staff at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip within 24-72 hours.

The WHO is leading a joint humanitarian mission that visited the hospital and called it a "death zone" after what it saw.

A statement issued by the organization said that 25 staff and 291 patients are currently in the medical complex, and measures are being taken to transfer them to Nasser Hospital and the European Hospital, which are also in Gaza.

According to the document, the situation in Al-Shifa is very difficult, and there are signs of shelling and small arms fire on the buildings of the hospital complex. The WHO delegation also reported a large mass grave dug in the compound containing more than 80 bodies.

At the same time, the Israeli publication Haaretz reported that Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that a convoy of five vehicles bearing the organization's signs and evacuating people from al-Shifa was attacked en route, with two vehicles hit.

"MSF condemns this deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms," the statement said.

"Doctors Without Borders demanded 'urgently authorize the evacuation of our staff, as well as thousands of others trapped in the fighting and living in extremely difficult conditions in northern Gaza'."

In the meantime, IDF announced the deaths of five soldiers killed during fighting in the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 56.

They are: Maj. Jamal Abbas, 23, a company commander in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion, from Peki’in; Cpt. Eden Provisor, 21, a platoon commander in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, from Alfei Menashe; Staff Sgt. Shlomo Gurtovnik, 21, a combat medic in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion, from Modiin; Staff Sgt. Adi Malik Harb, 19, of the Nahal Infantry Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Beit Jann; Staff Sgt. Shachar Fridman, 21, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion, from Jerusalem

The IDF also said eight more soldiers were seriously wounded during fighting in the Gaza Strip in recent days.

As reported, the Israeli military continues to expand the scope of the operation against the Palestinian radical organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, extending its actions to new areas of Gaza City.

"The Southern Command continues to expand its operational actions in additional neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip area and carried out operational activities in the areas of Al-Zeitoun and Jebaliya to strike at Hamas terrorists and infrastructure," the statement said.

Units of the Israeli army's 36th Division are fighting the Zeitoun battalion of Hamas' armed wing in the Gaza neighbourhood of the same name, it reads.

"In parallel, additional units are operating on the outskirts of al-Zeitoun, including Sheikh Ijlin and Rimal, cleansing these areas of terrorists and striking terror infrastructure," the army pointed out.

In addition, the military noted, Israeli troops are also operating on the outskirts of Jebaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. "The divisions' engineering troops, infantry and armoured units, supported by the IAF, meet terrorists who deliberately operate inside civilian areas and attempt to attack [Israeli] troops with anti-tank missiles and explosive devices. During the clashes, many terrorists were killed and the troops hit a significant number of terrorist infrastructure sites, including underground infrastructure, and significant targets of the terrorist organization," the IDF press service added.

Moreover, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Israeli military intends to retain freedom of action in the Gaza Strip and after the completion of the current operation, only this can ensure the demilitarization of the enclave.

"The Israel Defense Forces will have absolute freedom of action to take action against any threat. This is the only way to guarantee the demilitarization of Gaza," he told a press conference. "Citizens of Israel, we will continue until the very end, until victory, we will surpass Hamas, we will bring back the hostages, and we will bring back security, both in the north and in the south," the prime minister added, pledging to rebuild all border settlements severely damaged by the Oct. 7 attack by militants from the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu emphasized that this goal is one of the three main objectives of Israel's military operation in Gaza. The first mission, he said, involves "achieving absolute victory and destroying Hamas," while the second is the return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

"The third mission is to guarantee that after victory, Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel. I will not allow [the Gaza Strip to have in power] an organization that supports terrorism, pays the families of terrorists and teaches its children to hate Jews and the State of Israel. Without such a coup in the civil administration in Gaza, it will return to the path of terrorism, and I simply will not allow that to happen," he pointed out.

Moreover, about 2,500 pro-Palestinian protesters marched in Berlin on November 18 in solidarity with the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip as German police accompanied the demonstration with several hundred officers.

The protesters demanded a free Palestine in chants as they walked through the streets, calling for Israel to "stop the war on Gaza."

They also accused the German government of taking a biased approach to the Gaza war by siding with Israel.

A group of doctors joined the protest, holding banners accusing Israel of committing war crimes by evacuating and bombing hospitals in Gaza.

"...we want to demonstrate against war and for peace, against the murder of children, against the weapons that are being fired on Gaza because of the genocide, against the expulsion, against the extermination, against the inhumane conditions that are happening in Palestine and against the situation in Germany. Against the views, the politics, the media," chief doctor and surgeon, Ihlayle Meqdad, was quoted by Reuters as saying. 

Hesham Dashan, a Berlin-based Palestinian orthopedist and emergency doctor, said, "I come from Gaza myself and have now lost 65 members of my family. You know, it's a different story to what you see on German television. You just see the focus on the other side."

"The problem in Germany is that people mix criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. We are also allowed to condemn this war. We are also allowed to criticize Israel. It does not mean that we are anti-Semites. That is not true. Yes, and that's the problem. That's also what we get hammered into our heads every day here in Germany. Palestinians equal Hamas. Criticizing Israel equals anti-Semitism. That can't be true," he added.

Another protester said all Germans should attend pro-Palestinian protests and show solidarity with the Palestinian people killed in Gaza:

"So it's humanity to be here right now. It goes without saying. Every German living in Germany should be here. Children are being killed, women, and they've still been killed for 30 days, over a month. It goes without saying that we should show solidarity with them here," the protester added.

"So it's just about stopping this mass murder, about treating the people in Gaza with mercy. And finding and destroying a few weapons now or a few tunnels is no justification for killing thousands of people," another demonstrator was quoted as saying.

 Israel's devastating war on the blockaded territory started on October 7 following a surprise operation by Gaza-based resistance movements. It has so far claimed the lives of at least 12,300 Palestinians, including more than 5,000 children. More than 29,800 people have also sustained injuries.