WHO hails al-Shifa hospital healthcare workers as "heroic" amid "death zone" The World Health Organization (WHO), which led a second assessment visit to al-Shifa hospital on Sunday, commended the healthcare personnel working in Gaza’s largest hospital which the WHO declared as a “death zone”. Addressing several healthcare workers, a WHO assessment crew member said: I am absolutely humbled by the work of you and your teams, the heroic efforts that you’ve made … The organization that I represent are immensely proud to call ourselves healthcare professionals, to look at the work you’ve done, to look at the work that you continue to do under the conditions that you continue to deliver the best possible care for your patients and their families is nothing short of heroic. Earlier today, the WHO helped evacuate 31 “very sick” babies, along with six health workers and 10 staff family members from the hospital, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus announced. The babies were taken to al-Helal al-Emirati maternity hospital where they are “receiving urgent care in the neonatal intensive care unit”, said Ghebreyesus. More than 13,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in the last six weeks, Gaza’s health ministry announced on Sunday. Out of the 13,000 killed, 5,500 are children and 3,500 are women. Additionally, 30,000 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli airstrikes since October 7, the ministry said. The leader of New Zealand’s Labour party, Chris Hipkins, has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel “so that a journey to a lasting peace can begin.” Hipkins is acting as prime minister under the country’s caretaker convention, until the incoming administration forms a government. In a departure from the caretaker convention – which requires the outgoing government to act in accordance with the wishes of the incoming government – Hipkins said on Sunday: “I want to acknowledge that this is an unusual period for New Zealand. While we wait for a government to be formed, we will continue to uphold the caretaker convention and as prime minister I will work within what can be agreed with the incoming government. However I speak today as the Labour leader. I, and the Labour party, cannot stand by any longer in the face of the horrific scenes we are witnessing without calling for a ceasefire.” Hipkins said he is “appalled by the devastation and loss of life” in the region and encouraged all parties to act in accordance with international law. He urged Hamas to release all hostages immediately and work towards peace, and added: “While we recognise the right to self-defence, we are particularly concerned that the actions of the Israeli Defence Force are disproportionate and indiscriminate. We remain very concerned about the humanitarian impact of the conflict and the blockade preventing essential services reaching people in Gaza. We are calling on Israel to allow movement of supplies and all parties to support the departure of those who choose to leave.” Hipkins’ statements came as thousands of protestors marched through Auckland and Wellington, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Meanwhile, a Talbot Mills poll conducted last week found that 60% of New Zealanders agreed the government should call for an immediate ceasefire. The incoming centre-right National party accused Labour of “playing politics” with Gaza, and said while it wanted an end to hostilities, it was not yet in favour of calling for an absolute ceasefire. National’s foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee told One News the party was seeking advice from the ministry of foreign affairs and trade, and wanted to move in “lockstep” with Australia and Canada. Israel and Hamas appear to be close to a hostage release deal, according to senior US and Israeli officials, as well as the Qatari prime minister. The Guardian’s Jason Burke and Patrick Wintour report: Israel and Hamas appear to be edging towards a deal that would see the release of a significant number of hostages, possibly in return for a limited ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Senior US and Israeli officials, as well as the Qatari prime minister, all suggested an agreement was close on Sunday, although observers have cautioned that public statements during such negotiations are often misleading and any potential deal could easily collapse. The Qatari prime minister said that only minor differences between Hamas and Israel remained to be resolved. The Israeli ambassador to Washington said Israel hoped a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas. “I’m hopeful we can have a deal in the coming days,” Michael Herzog said in an interview on ABC on Sunday. Qatar has been at the centre of mediation efforts to reach an agreement that would lead to the release of large numbers of hostages, starting with children and women. A humanitarian pause lasting as long as five days would be agreed to allow the transport of the hostages and some supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza. French president Emmanuel Macron told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that there were “too many civilian losses” in Israel’s war against Hamas. Macron’s call with Netanyahu comes amid the Gaza health ministry announcing on Sunday that over 13,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the last six weeks, including 5,500 children. According to Macron’s office, the French president also reaffirmed to Netanyahu the “absolute necessity to distinguish terrorists from the population” and the “importance of achieving an immediate humanitarian truce leading to a ceasefire”, Agence France-Presse reports. Marcon also condemned violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank during his call with Netanyahu, his office said, adding that Macron expressed his “great concern over the escalation in violence against Palestinian civilians” in the West Bank. Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 200 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began, according to the health ministry in Ramallah. UNRWA: nearly 884,000 internally displaced Palestinians sheltering across 154 UNRWA shelters Nearly 884,000 internally displaced persons are sheltering in 154 UNRWA installations across all five governorates of the Gaza Strip, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees announced on Sunday. “Just getting into one of the shelters makes you burst into tears,” an UNRWA employee said. “Children looking for food and water and standing in queues for over six hours just to get a piece of bread or a bottle of water. People are literally sleeping on streets here in Khan Younis as thousands keep escaping from the north,” the UNRWA employee added. According to the UN, the food security situation is “catastrophic and World Food Programme stocks inside Gaza are running out”. In total, 1.7 million Palestinians have become displaced in the last six weeks. Only nine out of the 22 UNRWA health centers are operational, the UN said on Sunday. “People in Gaza have got nowhere to go,” Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs told ABC on Sunday. White’s comments come amid Israel’s forced evacuations of Palestinians from Gaza’s northern part to its southern part which Israel has also repeatedly bombed, despite dropping leaflets warning Palestinians to flee to southern Gaza towns. He said: It’s unlike other conflicts where there’s fighting in one city and you move to another city. In Gaza, there is nowhere to go. Houses are being hit all across the Gaza strip. People are worried about if they’re in the north or in the south, are they safe? We’ve had 13 of the UNRWA shelters, people sheltering under a UN flag, that have been directly hit. There’s countless other shelters, over 30 shelters, that suffered collateral damage, Many of them are actually in the south … The reality is, Gazans have got nowhere to go for safety. They are all exposed to the threat of fighting and particularly airstrikes. Here is the latest update from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza where nearly 2 million Palestinians have become internally displaced: Tens of thousands of supporters from Pakistan’s main religious political party rallied in Lahore against Israel’s strikes on Gaza that have killed over 13,000 Palestinians. The Associated Press reports: Amid anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans the emotionally charged crowd also called for jihad, or holy war. Earlier this month, Jamaat-e-Islami held massive rallies in the port city of Karachi and the capital, Islamabad. Supporters, including women and children, marched for several kilometers (miles) to reach the location of the rally, holding banners and posters with slogans opposing Israel and the United States and in support of the Palestinians. Senator Sirajul Haq, the JI chief, said the ongoing rallies in support of Palestinians around the world awaken world governments and give a voice to the innocent. He said the resolutions and words issued by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation will not work, and that Muslim rulers have to rise and to stop the hand of the aggressor. The Israeli army has published footage of what it says is a Hamas tunnel at al-Shifa hospital. The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan reports: In a statement on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops operating near the in-patients building at al-Shifa found a booby-trapped pickup truck in a garage inside the medical complex’s walls. When it was destroyed in a controlled explosion, a tunnel was exposed beneath the floor of the garage, the IDF said, providing photographs. In footage dated 16 and 17 November taken by army robots, a tunnel shaft about 10 metres long is navigated by a rickety circular staircase, before it reaches a 55-metre-long tunnel. The tunnel contains electricity wires and slopes downwards until it ends at a blast-proof door, with a small slot through which to fire weapons. The IDF says it is yet to reach beyond the door. The World Food Programme is working alongside the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster to establish independent communications systems across Gaza amid frequent blackouts by Israel. In a video posted to Twitter/X, David Pickering, an emergency telecommunications coordinator, said: These blackouts are disrupting the entire humanitarian system, preventing responders from reaching families caught in this conflict … We [are] work[ing] tirelessly to establish the lifeline for Gaza, solar panels, solar connectivity solutions and radios. Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza, where over 13,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, including 5,500 children, as thousands others flee south under Israel’s orders despite facing continued bombardment by Israel in the southern part of the strip: In a new interview with CBS on Sunday, Jordanian ambassador to the US, Dina Kawar, said a ceasefire is “the only way forward” to stop the war between Israel and Hamas. Speaking to CBS host Margaret Brennan, Kawar said: The Jordanian government is asking for a ceasefire. And His Majesty [King Abdullah II) has spoken about the importance of going to a ceasefire, not because we want to think differently from the rest of the world, but because we feel that with the Arab countries and with the Islamic countries, this is the only way forward – to stop this war and to sit around the table and go back to negotiations. She went on to add: Our worry is that this violence is going just to breed violence and is putting pressure in the region. And if we cannot talk to the moral compass of the world, not to the humanitarian feelings, let’s talk strategic – strategic thinking. And that’s where we’re going. Here are additional updates from Reuters on reports of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis seizing a cargo ship in the Red Sea on Sunday, which Israel has described as an “Iranian act of terrorism”: Israel said on Sunday that Yemen’s Houthis had seized a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, describing the incident as an ‘Iranian act of terrorism’ with consequences for international maritime security. A US defense official said ‘we’re aware of the situation and are closely monitoring it.’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said a ship – which it did not name – had been seized, “There were no Israelis on the ship,” and Israel was not involved in its ownership or operation, it added. “This is another Iranian act of terrorism that represents an escalation in Iran’s belligerence against the citizens of the free world, with concomitant international ramifications vis-à-vis the security of global shipping routes.” Earlier on Sunday the Houthis said all ships owned or operated by Israeli companies, or carrying the Israeli flag could be targeted. Gaza"s health ministry: at least 13,000 Palestinians killed and 30,000 injured At least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed and 30,000 have been injured by Israeli strikes across Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry announced on Sunday. Out of the 13,000 killed by Israeli strikes, 5,500 of those are children and 3,500 are women, Reuters reports the statement adding. France to send warship with medical aid to Gaza France will send a warship to provide medical aid to Gaza, Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday. The French Dixmude helicopter carrier will set sail “at the start of the week and arrive in Egypt in the coming days”, the French president said in a statement, adding that the Dixmude is “configured for hospital support with a capacity for 40 beds”. Macron added: This ship is intended to treat the most serious cases and allow injured civilians to be taken into account in order to have them treated in surrounding hospitals, if necessary. He also said that France is “mobilizing all the means at its disposal, particularly air” so that patients can be treated in France. Arrangements have been made to receive up to 50 patients in French hospitals, he added. Macron said that he has also decided to charter a new Air Force plane that will transport over 10 tons of medical cargo next week. “In particular, it will carry two mobile health stations to treat around 500 seriously injured people each.”