Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari November 11th, 20:15

During the past day, significant ground forces, with cover from air and naval forces are deepening the operation in Shati Camp, a major stronghold of Hamas in the Northern Gaza Strip, near the heart of Gaza City. We are continuing to target terrorists. Today, in conjunction with the ISA, we killed terrorists who were planning, in Gaza, terror attacks to be carried out in Judea and Samaria, in central Israel. Hamas lost its grip in Northern Gaza.

The residents of Northern Gaza are evacuated, contrary to Hamas’ instructions. To prevent this, Hamas is lying about what is going on in the hospitals. Yesterday, they were quick to blame us for the attack on the Shifa Hospital. We checked our systems and again we found that it was a misfired rocket belonging to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is firing and killing Gazans. Hamas is commiting a war crime by its use of hospitals.

During the past hours, false information is being spread, that we are encircling Shifa Hospital and striking it. These are false reports. We are engaging in combat with murderous Hamas terrorists who purposely choose to engage in combat next to the Shifa Hospital. We are targeting them precisely and eliminating them. There is a set passage for exit and entry on the eastern side of the hospital.

We eliminated the terrorist who held some one thousand Gazans as hostages in the Rantisi Hospital and prevented them from leaving the hospital. The hospital has been evacuated. We spoke with the staff of the Shifa Hospital today and told them clearly: the IDF is not attacking the hospital. We will continue to allow the patients and medical staff, and all residents of Northern Gaza, to move south safely. I want the world to know this, so I’ll say it in English:

(In English):

There has been a lot of misinformation from Gaza today. So I want to clarify the facts. There is no siege, I repeat there is no siege on the Shifa Hospital. The east side of the hospital is open on Al-Wehda street, for the safe passage of Gazans who wish to leave the hospital. We’re speaking directly and regularly with the hospital staff. The staff of the Shifa Hospital has requested that tomorrow we will help the babies in the pediatric department get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed.

And, there’s something that the world must not forget and we will not let the world forget it: Hamas has been holding hostages, 239 men, women, children, elderly and babies. Don’t forget - babies. For 36 days. This is a crime against humanity and we will not let the world forget it.

(In Hebrew:)

In the north, we struck today and this evening, using fighter jets and artillery, a wide range of military targets in Lebanon of the Hezbollah terror organization, in response to fire on Israeli communities in the north over the past day. Hezbollah, with the guidance of Iran, are trying to challenge Israel with the aim of distracting the IDF’s attention from Gaza. We are focused on Gaza and will continue to operate and respond to Lebanon, and Hezbollah specifically against every firing, every terror cell, that will try to attack Israel. During the past hour, we targeted Syria using artillery fire in response to two rockets that were fired into the Golan Heights and fell in an open area. Nasrallah and other terror organizations in the north continue to endanger residents of Lebanon and Syria in order to advance the interests of Iran and Hamas-ISIS. In parallel, we are also following the Houthi terror, supported by Iran and Hezbollah, with our American partners and other partners in the world; we are monitoring Iran and Hezbollah’s support of Houthi terror.

On the homefront, Homefront Command instructions save lives. They are updated on our websites. Continue to follow the instructions fully. They save lives.

Today marks 6 weeks from the beginning of the war. It's important to emphasize: we are working constantly, around the clock, on a variety of options to bring the hostages home. These are complicated processes, and they take time. We need to wait for them to come to fruition, and for us to update the families. The IDF, together with the other security organizations, are working around the clock, making a supreme effort – through intelligence, operational, and civilian avenues – to bring them back. We will miss no opportunity to bring them home.

To date, we have notified the families of 239 hostages. We will continue to update the families with every piece of information that we have and afterwards, the public.
We have also notified the families of 361 families of IDF fallen soldiers who died in battles defending Israel. Among them, today we announced that 5 reservists fell in battle in Gaza. They fought bravely and courageously for the security of the State of Israel. The IDF is the people’s army, and reservists are the source of its strength. They left everything to enlist, to fight for their homes, to fight for the State of Israel. They fought bravely and left behind families and children and did not hesitate for a moment before they reported for duty to fight for their home, for the State of Israel.