Ethar Shalaby
BBC Arabic

Image source, Reuters

"There are 36 surviving premature babies. There were 39, but we lost three,” Dr Marwan Abu Saada, the head of Al-Shifa’s general surgery department, tells me down a faint phone line.

Those who remain have no surviving parents or guardians, and in the chaos of war, their relatives cannot be found, he said.

Two of the babies were found alone in the aftermath of Israel Defense Force shelling, and brought to the hospital. Four others were born by Caesarean section after their mothers had died.

Due to lack of fuel, the babies have been moved from their incubators in the neo-natal unit to the cardiac surgery operating theatre, Abu Saada tells me.

There they lie, eight or 10 to a bed, on top of heated blankets and covered in foil to keep them warm.

Labels are attached to each baby, saying "the son of" or "the daughter of" alongside their mother's names - if its known.

With limited access to water, doctors are struggling to maintain sterile conditions, and Dr Abu Saada worries the babies could develop sepsis due unclean oxygen tubes.

“That's why we're calling for these babies to be evacuated,” he says.

He tells me that since the IDF stormed the complex, a connecting bridge between the general surgery and specialised surgery buildings have been hit – cutting off his contact with the neonatal unit.

Image source, Reuters

It's approaching 10 past midnight in Israel and Gaza and 22:10 here in our London newsroom. For those of you just joining us, here's a look at today's key developments:

• The Israeli military has carried out an operation at the Al-Shifa Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, where it accused Hamas of operating a command and control centre
• A journalist inside the facility told the BBC the troops have now withdrawn, but this has not been independently verified
• Earlier in the day, he said IDF soldiers had entered the main emergency department and were interrogating patients
• The IDF has since released images and footage which it says shows Hamas weapons and equipment found inside Shifa
• In the south, heavy rain is continuing to fall on Khan Younis - while Rafah has seen the first delivery of fuel with 25,000 litres allowed to cross into Gaza
• Elsewhere, the UN Security Council has voted in favour of a resolution calling for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors" throughout Gaza
• And in the UK, the House of Commons has voted against calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, by 293 votes to 125. Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer faced a major rebellion after he ordered his MPs to abstain

Tom Bateman
Middle East correspondent

Dr Marwan Abu Saada, head of surgery at Al-Shifa hospital, has described “major destruction” in the radiology unit following today’s raid.

“The Israeli army invaded the radiology department in the subspeciality surgical building,” he said in messages sent to the BBC.

“They isolated male people in one room in tied hands and made major destruction of the CT [scanner], and also to the MRI machine and to multiple [ultrasound] and to furniture.

“Two people from the maintenance team have been arrested.”

As we've reported, the Israeli military says it's continuing to operate in Al-Shifa hospital and it shared images and a video of what is says are weapons found during its search operation at the hospital.

The seven-minute video shows IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus at part of Al-Shifa hospital. He begins outside - with sounds of firing heard in the background - and then moves through different rooms in the MRI department.

He says what troops found there shows that "Hamas systematically uses hospitals in their military operations".

Image source, IDF

He points to security cameras that appear to have been covered.

Conricus also shows weapons that he says are AK47 rifles which were found behind MRI scanners.

He shows three bags he says were military "grab bags", and equipment he says was found in them including "a live grenade, ammunition, a fighting vest with insignia" and also a military vest with a green banner on it, from which he reads out the name of Hamas's military wing.

Conricus also shows a laptop, which he says was found in the MRI room.

He shows a photo which he says was found on the laptop and is of Israeli soldier Pte Ori Megidish who was taken hostage in Gaza but later freed by Israeli forces.

The BBC has not verified the claims made in the video - though we are working to bring you more detail.

Image source, IDF

Image source, IDF

Earlier we showed you photos released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) which it said showed Hamas weapons it found during its operation on the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza - although neither the BBC nor other media were present at the site.

Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the Israeli military's update is "ridiculous and worthless" adding that Hamas could not rule out that Israel's army "brought weapons and put them in the Al-Shifa complex".

He said Israel's goal is to "pressure" hospitals and medical centres and to displace Gaza's population - adding that 25 hospitals in the territory are now out of service through "bombing, siege and destruction".

Hamas has denied claims it operates from within the hospital. The BBC can't independently verify the claims made by either side.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York

The UN Security Council has voted in favour of the resolution put forward by Malta which calls for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors" throughout the Gaza Strip "for a sufficient number of days".

Twelve members voted for the resolution with three abstentions from permanent members the US, UK and Russia.

The resolution also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups. It demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international law and it calls on the UN secretary-general to monitor and report back on its implementation.

In October, the Security Council failed four times to pass resolutions calling for either a ceasefire or humanitarian pauses.

Israel appears not to have much to show for its Al-Shifa operationpublished at 20:33 Greenwich Mean Time 15 November 2023

20:33 GMT 15 November 2023

Orla Guerin
Reporting from Jerusalem

After besieging and then storming the largest hospital in Gaza, Israel doesn’t have too much to show for its efforts. This controversial operation – which provoked international criticism – did not net a major arsenal of weapons. Unless Israel has more to reveal.

The video material released by Israel so far tonight shows about a dozen old assault rifles – neatly laid out on a carpet.

There are a few bullet proof vests, three hand grenades, some CDs, a handgun, a laptop, a rucksack, and a few knives.

It didn’t look sufficient for a "command centre" but Israel claims Hamas was running one in a labyrinth beneath Al-Shifa hospital.

Image source, Israel Defense Forces

That said there was no element of surprise. Hamas knew Israel was coming. If it was operating beneath the hospital it had weeks to clear out through Gaza’s extensive tunnel network.

Did Israeli troops find more than they are showing us at this stage? Perhaps. And an Israel Defense Forces spokesman says what has been found so far is "only the tip of the ice-berg".

But it seems likely that the army would want to show the maximum at this point, to justify its assault on the hospital.

No international media have had access to the hospital today - or since 7 October - so we cannot confirm Israel’s claims.

Hamas has said Israel’s allegation that weapons have been found was "lies and cheap propaganda".

Image source, Reuters

More now on tonight's vote by the UK House of Commons which voted against calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, by 293 votes to 125.

Neither Prime Minister Rishi Sunak nor Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer back a ceasefire - and have called for humanitarian pauses to let aid through. Pressure has been building on Starmer for days to change his position, but he refused to.

Tonight, 56 Labour MPs disobeyed Starmer's instruction not to vote for the ceasefire motion, which was put forward by the Scottish National Party.

And several of Starmer's top team quit their roles in order to vote for the SNP motion (they wouldn't have been able to vote for it otherwise).

Among them, Jess Phillips is probably the most high-profile. Others include Yasmin Qureshi, Naz Shah, Afzal Khan and Paula Barker.

Asad Ahmad
Reporting from London

In the UK, MPs have rejected an opposition party's call for a ceasefire in the Middle East by 293 votes to 125.

Ahead of the vote a ceasefire rally was held in Parliament Square, Westminster.

It was a fraction of the size of recent weekend protests, but it is mid-week and a working day for many who might otherwise like to be here.

Nevertheless, thousands of people of all ages came to central London close to the Houses of Parliament to voice their support for a ceasefire.

The crowd was made up of Christians, Muslims, Jews, people of other faiths and no faith.

“Our shared future is based on the belief that all human beings are equal, and deserving of respect and safety," one attendee, Magnen Inon, whose parents were killed by Hamas on 7 October, told me.

"This is how I was raised and how I am raising my own children.”

A minutes' silence was held for victims on both sides of the war and I saw imams and rabbis hug each other in the name of humanity.

We've been reporting on the tense situation at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City but BBC News has received a voice message via the group Medical Aid for Palestinians from Dr Ahmed Muhanna, director of the Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, which is in the north of Gaza.

Dr Muhanna describes the conditions at the hospital as “extremely, extremely critical”. According to him, Israeli bombardment within the vicinity of the hospital has been ongoing.

In the voice message, he explains that all hospitals in northern Gaza and Gaza City are now unable to provide medical services.

Dr Muhanna adds that the Al-Awda hospital is receiving “about 40 to 50 patients per day approximately” from “all northern areas".

He says staff at the hospital have not been able to leave for 39 days and the facility has not had fuel for a week.

Image source, Israel Defense Forces

An update from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) now on the operation it launched at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

In a statement, the IDF says it discovered "an operational command centre, weapons, and technological assets" belonging to Hamas inside the MRI building at the facility.

It says it found "technological assets, along with military and combat equipment" in one department and "an operational command center and technological assets" in another.

It says the "technological assets and extensive intelligence information" have been "transferred for full review by the relevant authorities".

It adds that as the soldiers entered the hospital complex, they engaged with a number Hamas members and killed them, without elaborating.

The IDF says it is "continuing to operate in the hospital complex, while extracting intelligence information and preventing harm to the medical teams and civilians sheltering there."

It has also shared several images and some video footage - which the BBC has not independently verified - showing what it says are weapons found during the operation.

Hamas denies operating from the hospital, The BBC can't independently verify claims made by either side about what has been taking place there.

Image source, Israel Defense Forces

What does IDF video from Al-Shifa hospital show?published at 18:44 Greenwich Mean Time 15 November 2023

18:44 GMT 15 November 2023

One of the only pieces of footage to emerge from Al-Shifa hospital since last night's raid has come from the IDF itself.

The edited video begins with a military vehicle and a number of soldiers carrying boxes and equipment, including what looks like an incubator.

It is not clear what is in the boxes. Most are marked “medical supplies” (in English). Another box is labelled “baby food”.

The soldiers walk between what BBC Verify has confirmed as the hospital's Specialist Surgery Building and Emergency Ward. We know this because the buildings and distinctive walkway in the video match satellite imagery. The IDF has previously said that part of Hamas's "underground complex" is underneath the ward.

We don’t know exactly when the video was filmed, but given the footage was shot in daylight suggests it happened several hours after the raid first began.

Remnants of tents and other temporary structures can also been seen in the hospital grounds. But no civilians or medical staff are in the video.

While one soldier raises his weapon briefly at one point, they otherwise appear calm.

A final aerial shot shows them leaving towards the north-western part of the hospital complex. At least three military vehicles are also seen on the road outside the hospital

Image source, IDF

An Israeli woman taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October has given birth in captivity in Gaza, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in a public letter addressed to US First Lady Jill Biden.

In the letter, released by the president's office, Sara Netanyahu writes: "You can only imagine, as I do, what must be going through that young mother's mind."

Netanyahu also notes the 32 children who have been held in the territory now for over a month. "These children are surely suffering untold trauma," she adds.

She identifies among them a 10-month-old baby "kidnapped before he learned how to walk or talk".

"The children need our help," Netanyahu says in her plea to Biden, saying they "must call for the immediate release of them and all being held".

Here's her letter in full:

Image source, Israeli Prime Minister's Office

Good evening.

It's coming up to 20:00 in Israel and Gaza, and 18:00 in our London newsroom. Here are the headlines:

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have launched a "precise and targeted" operation at Gaza's biggest hospital, Al-Shifa
• Multiple news agencies have reported in the last few minutes that its troops have now withdrawn - and we are working to verify this
• Earlier on, a journalist inside the hospital told the BBC that commandos had entered the main emergency department
• He said the soldiers were going room to room and questioning people, and that younger men were told to leave the hospital buildings and strip down to their underwear for interrogation
• Israel has accused Hamas of operating a command and control centre underneath the facility - a claim the US says its intelligence supports. Hamas denies this

• In Gaza's south, torrential rain is making life harder for the tens of thousands of displaced people living in tents, the UN says
• For the first time since the start of the war, Israel allowed the delivery of 25,000 litres of fuel into southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing
• Away from the territory, Reuters cites an official as saying that Qatari mediators have been trying to broker a deal between Hamas and Israel over the release of some hostages
• And in other news, the UN Security Council is due to vote later today on a draft resolution that calls for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors"

Image source, Reuters

A journalist who is trapped inside Al-Shifa hospital says troops have now left the building and have moved outside its walls.

The Israel Defense Forces have not officially commented on the claim or said when the operation is due to end.

The BBC has not been able to independently confirm whether the troops have left Al-Shifa.

Separately, BBC Arabic's Ethar Shalaby spoke to Dr Mohamed Abu Salamiya, director-general of Al-Shifa hospital, who said soldiers had left the hospital's speciality surgery building.

However, he couldn't confirm whether they had also vacated other buildings in the complex.

He said: “I can still see lots of tanks at the gates of the hospital”.

Dr Salamiya also accused the Israeli troops of damaging specialist medical equipment during the raid.

Image source, Getty Images

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths has urged both sides in the conflict to "silence their guns" in a fresh appeal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

"Silence the guns. Stop the fighting to allow the people to move safely," he said at a news conference.

"Do it for as long as possible. Allow them to move safely on their own, not hindered, and not pushed.

"And silence those guns long enough to give the people of Gaza a breather from the terrible, terrible things that have been put upon them these last few weeks."

Griffiths also urged Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel - currently aid can only be transported into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt.

Image source, EVN

Speaking on a visit to an army base near Gaza earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is "no hiding" place for the Hamas militants behind the 7 October attacks and "no place in Gaza" Israel's army wouldn't reach.

Netanyahu said: "Do you remember when we were told that we would not break into Gaza? We've broken through.

"They said that we would not reach the outskirts of Gaza City - we've arrived. They told us that we would not enter Al-Shifa - we've entered.

"There is no place in Gaza that we will not reach. There is no hiding, no shelter, no refuge for the murderers of Hamas.

"We will arrive and eliminate Hamas and return our hostages - these are two sacred missions."

Image source, EPA

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US did not give the green light for Israel to conduct its military operation around the Al-Shifa hospital.

"We did not give an OK to their military operations around the hospital," Kirby told reporters after Hamas said President Joe Biden was "wholly responsible" for the raid.

He added that this was in the same way the US does not give OKs to Israel's other military operations.

Kirby said these were Israeli plans executed in accordance with its own established procedures, and that the US does not expect to be informed by Israel prior to specific military operations.

He refused to go into great detail about a conversation held between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but said the operation at Al-Shifa had not been a focus.

He added the timing of the US declassifying its intelligence on the hospital had nothing to do with that of the IDF's operation.

Image source, EPA

The UN Security Council is due to vote later today on a draft resolution that calls for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors" throughout the Gaza Strip, for a sufficient number of days to enable aid access, diplomats told Reuters news agency

So far, Israel has conducted short pauses, hours long, in concentrated areas of northern Gaza, often along the Salah al-Din road that leads south.

For the resolution to pass, it needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the US, Russia, China, France or the UK.

Rushdi Abualouf
Reporting from Khan Younis

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli operation inside Al-Shifa hospital is still going on some 15 hours after tanks and soldiers were sent in.

I spoke to a contact inside in the hospital who said Israeli troops were investigating and talking to hundreds of people at the facility.

He told me the soldiers made an order over a loudspeaker in Arabic for any men aged between 16 and 40 to leave all hospital buildings and go into the courtyard.

Medical teams, patients and women were not told to leave.

Soldiers asked some of those who left the buildings were to strip down to their underwear, before being interrogated, he told me.

Then about 200 people were taken away from the hospital. Others are now back inside the facility.

Some of the soldiers were giving water to old people inside the hospital, he told me.

The situation remains very tense.

The BBC can't independently verify the details of what's been happening. The IDF says it's been searching the facility for Hamas infrastructure and weapons.