Israel at War: What happened on day 39?

The IDF is currently undergoing operations on Al-Shifa Hospital early Wednesday morning, according to an IDF statement.

"Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Al-Shifa Hospital," the IDF statement said.

"The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians," the statement continued.

"The operation was preceded by an effort to evacuate the hospital from the sick and homeless and even opened a special passageway from it. The hospital management was informed ahead of time about the (IDF) entrance to the complex... Incubators, medical equipment, and baby food are expected to be transferred to the hospital," the statement continued.

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike near the Indonesian Hospital that ran out of fuel and electricity, in the northern Gaza Strip, November 12, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Anas al-Shareef)

Gaza's health ministry spokesperson warned early Wednesday morning of a potential Israeli raid on the enclave's Al Shifa hospital complex, saying Israel informed Gaza health officials that its forces would raid the facility – something the IDF statement seemed to confirm.

Al-Shifa Hospital's terror infrastructure

United States National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have used some Gaza hospitals to store weapons, hold hostages, and are prepared to fight the IDF from medical facilities.

“We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad used some hospitals in the Gaza Strip including Al-Shifa and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” Kirby said.

“Hamas and the PIJ members operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City. They have stored weapons there and they are prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility," Kirby continued.

The IDF confirmed on Tuesday that Noa Marciano, 19, a soldier in the Border Defense Force, had been killed while being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

On Monday, Hamas published footage showing Marciano. The circumstances of her death remain unclear.

Universities in Israel will not begin the academic year before December 24 due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the heads of the universities announced on Tuesday.

The universities will notify students and faculty at least two weeks before the academic year begins.

An Israeli victory against Hamas is a win against the Iranian axis of terror, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News late Monday night as the attempted to link the fate of the Jewish state with that of western world.

“Everyone is waiting to see who is going to win,” Netanyahu said as Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas in Gaza continued into its second month.

“We have to make sure that the forces of good, the forces of peace win,” he said.

“If Israel is in peril, if Israel goes down, Europe is next and you are next. We have to win, there is no substitute for total victory,” he stated.

The IDF spokesperson for Arabic media, Avichay Adraee, announced on Tuesday morning that the evacuation corridor along Salah al-Din street to southern Gaza would be open and safe from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. as it has been nearly every day in recent weeks.

#عاجل يا سكان غزة، وخاصة سكان شمال القطاع أودّ إخطاركم بالرسائل التالية:

🔴 أولاً، يظل الممرّ الآمن مفتوحاً اليوم ما بين التاسعة صباحاً (09:00) والرابعة عصراً (16:00) لأغراض إنسانية عبر محور صلاح الدين باتجاه المنطقة الواقعة إلى الجنوب من وادي غزة. والرجاء، حفاظاً على سلامتكم،… pic.twitter.com/bYj5P8D4fa

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 14, 2023

Additionally, the IDF will allow evacuation from the coast through Youssef al-Azma Street to the Salah al-Din evacuation route from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. the IDF will temporarily suspend military operations for humanitarian purposes in the al-Daraj and al-Tuffah neighborhoods.

"O residents of Gaza, do not surrender to Hamas, which has lost control over the northern Gaza Strip area and is trying to do everything it can to prevent you from moving south and protect yourselves," wrote Adraee on X (formerly Twitter). Adraee added that anyone being blocked by Hamas from evacuation can contact the IDF by texting +97250-341-0322 or messaging the Telegram account @gaza_saver.

As Israel’s offensive against Gaza continues, there is increasing US pressure on Israel to ensure fewer civilian casualties in the fighting and agree to a humanitarian pause that would also possibly enable the release of 239 hostages, most of them Israelis.

On Sunday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke on the CBS News program Face the Nation and expressed US President Joe Biden’s concerns regarding the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza. Sullivan also said there was concern about the developments surrounding Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, on which the Israeli military is zeroing in based on claims that Hamas has its key command center under the hospital grounds.

“The United States does not want to see firefights in hospitals where innocent people, patients receiving medical care, are caught in the crossfire. And we’ve had active consultations with the Israel Defense Forces on this,” Sullivan said.

Is Biden getting impatient with Netanyahu?

Last week, President Biden already indicated he was getting impatient with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He told reporters that “it’s taken a little longer than [he] had hoped” to persuade Netanyahu to agree to a humanitarian pause that was more than a few hours. For now, the Israeli military has been giving Gaza residents safe passage to the southern part of the territory for four hours a day, during which they are guaranteed there is no fire in those areas.

Netanyahu has repeatedly said there will be no ceasefire without the release of hostages. There have been reports of negotiations progressing towards a deal with Hamas on their release, however, there has not been any official confirmation or announcement.

The IDF demolished Monday the home of one of the Hamas terrorists who conducted the shooting attack in Eli in which four Israelis were killed in June, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

🔴مراسل صفا: جانب اخر من لحظة تفجير منزل الشهيد مهند شحادة في قرية عوريف جنوب نابلس، والذي يتهمه الاحتلال بتنفيذ عملية "عيلي" والتي أسفرت عن مقتل 4 مستوطنين قبل عدة أشهر. pic.twitter.com/sNn7321Rhh

— وكالة صفا (@SafaPs) November 14, 2023

Israeli forces entered the town of Urif, south of Nablus, and demolished the home of Muhannad Shehadeh, one of the two Hamas terrorists who conducted the shooting attack in June. The home of the second terrorist was demolished by the IDF in October.

כוחות הביטחון הרסו בכפר עוריף שבשומרון את דירתו של מחבל נוסף מארגון הטרור חמאס שביצע את פיגוע הירי בתחנת הדלק ליד עלי; בפעילות של חטיבת כפיר במחנה הפליטים טול כרם חוסלה מהאוויר חולית מחבלים חמושה שירתה והשליכה מטענים לעבר כוחותינו pic.twitter.com/eJJtlSkxQa

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 14, 2023

Drone strike targets terrorist cell in Tulkarm

Additionally early Tuesday morning, three Palestinians were killed in an IDF drone strike in Tulkarm and an additional three Palestinians were killed in armed clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city, according to Palestinian reports. Another 12 Palestinians were injured in armed clashes with Israeli forces in Tulkarm.

The IDF intercepted a "suspicious object" off the coast of Acre in northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

The IDF found a tunnel used by Hamas in a mosque in the Gaza Strip, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said on Tuesday morning.

Ground forces additionally directed fighter jets and combat helicopters to strike a Palestinian anti-tank missile squad that was firing at them.

בפעילות קרקעית של לוחמי סיירת חטיבת הנגב, לוחמי סיירת גבעתי במילואים, חשפה היחידה פיר מנהרה הממוקם במסגד.
כוחות קרקעים הכווינו מטוסי ומסוקי קרב שתקפו חוליית נ"ט שירו לעברם >> pic.twitter.com/k2W3jJZjvb

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 14, 2023

In the past day, the Israeli Air Force struck about 200 Hamas targets, including terrorists, weapons production sites, anti-tank missile launch sites, and military headquarters.

Overnight, Israeli naval forces struck a military camp used by Hamas's naval forces for training and weapons storage.

From his fallen son’s grave, bereaved Israeli-American father Yechiel Leiter called on United States President Joe Biden not to pressure Israel to stop its war to oust Hamas from Gaza.

“There are rumors, that you are putting pressure on Israel, to hold off, to cease the offensive,” said Leiter whose son Major (res.) Moshe Yedidya, 39, was killed over the weekend in a tunnel in Gaza. 

“If those rumors are true – I hope they’re not – but if they are true, Mr. President, I respectfully ask of you, here on my son’s grave, to cease and desist,” said Leiter.

Bereaved father's open letter to the US president

He put his words in the form of a letter which he read out in English at the tail end of his son’s funeral at Jerusalem Mt. Herzl military cemetery on Sunday.

"[My son] gave his life so the barbarians wouldn’t get through the gates of our democracies, of our Judeo-Christian Western values"

Bereaved Israeli-American father Yechiel Leiter