WORLD BRIEFING: November 19, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
Hundreds of people including some patients left Gaza City's main hospital on Saturday. Some medical staff said they had been told to leave but Israel disputes this. Many were seen walking along rubble-strewn streets as gunfire rang out.
A UN team has reached Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. They were able to spend only one hour inside the hospital, which they described as a “death zone,” and the situation as “desperate.” Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and were told more than 80 people were buried there. Among 25 health workers and 291 patients remaining in Al-Shifa are 32 babies in extremely critical condition - WHO statement
Separately Hamas health officials said two explosions in Jabalia in northern Gaza together killed 80 people. Israel told the BBC it could not confirm it struck a UN school-turned-shelter but was investigating. BBC Verify has geolocated footage to al-Fakhoura school in Jabalia that shows many people - including women and children - with severe injuries or lying motionless on the floor in different parts of the building.
An Israel Defense Forces video on November 15 showing a tour of Hamas weaponry found at Al-Shifa hospital shows less weaponry at the scene than in later footage filmed by international news crews, indicating the weaponry may have been moved or placed there prior to news crews arriving - CNN
Jordan will not sign an energy-for-water exchange agreement with Israel, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Al-Safadi said on Thursday. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, he referred to discussions about signing an agreement for energy-water exchange (the project entails building a UAE-funded desalination plant on the Mediterranean coast to provide Jordan with water in exchange for a solar farm in the Jordanian desert that would provide clean energy to Israel) that was supposed to be signed in October stating: "We will not sign it…Can you imagine a Jordanian minister sitting next to an Israeli minister to sign an agreement while Israel is killing our people in Gaza?" Al-Safari warned that the West Bank is ablaze, witnessing settler terrorism, and tensions are rising with Lebanon. “The world must confront the reality that what Israel is doing destroys decades of building a peaceful environment.,” he said. “Israel is pushing the region into the abyss.” - Jordan News
“Can you imagine a Jordanian minister sitting next to an Israeli minister to sign an agreement while Israel is killing our people in Gaza? The world must confront the reality that what Israel is doing destroys decades of building a peaceful environment.,” he said. “Israel is pushing the region into the abyss”
Ukraine War
Russian attacks caused a blackout for around 2,000 families in Odesa Oblast, the DTEK energy company reported on Nov. 18. Russia attacked Ukraine with several waves of loitering munition attacks across the country during the night, damaging a critical infrastructure site in Odesa Oblast, and injuring a civilian worker, the Southern Command reported earlier in the day. “The situation also worsened due to unfavorable weather conditions,” DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said in a Telegram post.
Ukrainian forces looked to build on bridgeheads on the east bank of the Dnipro River on November 18 after a night in which Russian drone attacks blasted Ukrainian infrastructure and residential sites and caused at least two deaths in northern and southern Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Russian fleet has suffered "serious damage" largely caused by Ukrainian drones, according to Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk, who said the tactics have made Ukraine the driver of a new type of naval warfare - RFE/RL
The Russian government added the Moscow Times to its list of "foreign agents," the outlet reported, citing a Nov. 17 decision by Russia's Justice Ministry. The Moscow Times, an independent Russian media outlet that relocated to Amsterdam following the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, was added to the registry alongside several other journalists and activists. Russia’s “foreign agents” registry has been widely used to target and silence groups and individuals who are critical of the government, including independent journalists, activists, and NGOs. The "foreign agent law" requires organizations that receive funding from abroad or are perceived by the Kremlin to have been influenced by foreign entities to register as "foreign agents." The label imposes strict financial reporting and self-disclosure requirements. Any "foreign agent" must undergo rigorous financial audits and label all their content with a disclaimer stating that it is being distributed by a "foreign agent." - Kyiv Independent
Elsewhere
Dozens of third-country nationals are stranded at Finland's border with Russia on November 18 after Helsinki authorities blocked frontier crossings a day earlier. Finland has accused Moscow of sending migrants to the crossings in retaliation for its decision to join NATO, an allegation the Kremlin denied. Russian news outlet RBC reported that migrants had been let through by Russian border guards but that they were forced back by Finnish personnel. At midnight on November 17, Finland blocked four key border crossings in southeast Finland. Finland's Yle reported that four people did manage to enter Finnish territory and by law had their asylum applications accepted - RFE/RL
Amid wild cheers and applause, SpaceX's giant Starship rocket successfully lifted off around 8:03 a.m. ET from its launch pad in Texas. The Starship successfully separated from its first-stage booster as planned. But minutes later, the cheers subsided as mission control appeared to lose contact with the vehicle. SpaceX said it believes that Starship's self-destruct system activated, presumably because of a problem on board - NPR