Israel Declares Hamas Has ‘Lost Control Of Gaza’ As Biden Urges ‘Less Intrusive’ Action At Hospital

On Monday Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued a formal announcement declaring that Hamas has lost control of the Gaza Strip, at a moment the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are still fighting to fully capture Gaza City, involving continued fierce fighting in the vicinity of the besieged al-Shifa Hospital. 

“There is no force of Hamas capable of stopping the IDF. The IDF is advancing to every point. The Hamas organization has lost control of Gaza. Terrorists are fleeing south,” Gallant said.

“Civilians are looting Hamas bases. They have no confidence in the government,” continued Gallant, based on his current assessment of the fighting. He further described that the IDF is advancing “according to plans and carry out the tasks accurately, lethally.”

“We work according to tasks. We don’t have a stopwatch. We have goals. We will achieve our goals,” he emphasized. Israeli media has said Gallant’s remark on achieving “goals” is a reference to Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s prior suggestions that international pressure could force Israel to alter its actions in Gaza. Gallant said that “intensified” operations against Hamas’ sprawling networks of tunnels have ratcheted in recent days.

This new declaration appears to be backed by a now widely circulating photo issued by the Israeli military, showing IDF troops posing with flags inside the small parliament building run by Hamas. According to a description by the Times of Israel: 

An image circulating on social media shows troops of the IDF’s Golani Brigade inside Gaza’s parliament building in Gaza City, after capturing the site.

The Palestinian Legislative Council building in Gaza has only served Hamas’s lawmakers since the terror group’s takeover of the Strip in 2007.

The military further says it is ready to bring a security action plan to the north, as masses of Palestinian civilians continue to flee toward safety in the south. 

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has simultaneously announced, “We are preparing strongly with action plans for the north. Our mission is to bring security. The security situation will not remain such that the residents of the north do not feel safe to return to their homes.”

Hamas missiles launched deep into central Israel have struck Tel Aviv on Monday:

⚡️Damage in Tel Aviv as a result of a rocket from Gaza pic.twitter.com/zSDZdbfB0J

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) November 13, 2023

Lately, Washington has clashed with the Netanyahu government after the Israeli prime minister said that the IDF will assume control of Gaza security for an indefinite time period. The White House has appeared to reject plans for a permanent Israeli occupation, instead floating the possibility of a multi-national peacekeeping force for the ‘day after’ Hamas. It remains that a lengthy period of fighting the Hamas insurgency will likely ensue.

Thousands of civilians and patients are still trapped inside al-Shifa hospital, while the other largest, al-Quds, has also closed. Both have run out of fuel with Palestinian doctors reporting mass deaths and intensive care patients dying.

The death toll in Gaza has as of Monday surpassed 11,200 – a horrifying figure based on Palestinian and regional sources. The United Nations and World Health Organization (WHO) have issued a statement decrying the deaths of children at the besieged hospital.

The IDF on Monday released video purporting to show armed Hamas members on al-Quds Hospital grounds…

IDF releases a video showing a militant with an RPG near the al-Quds hospital in #Gaza – video can indeed be geolocated. pic.twitter.com/XBlZv5Oxsg

— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) November 13, 2023

Palestinian health authorities promptly rejected the IDF claims and video as a “false assertion” with the aim of justifying that the civilian hospitals can be deemed military targets.

🚨The @PalestineRCS strongly condemns the false claims by the occupying forces about armed individuals launching projectiles from inside Al-Quds Hospital. The PRCS sees these claims as a blatant attempt to incite further targeting and besieging of the hospital, constituting a… pic.twitter.com/uyILwaM7jq

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 13, 2023

“The UN’s health agency WHO said on Sunday night that according to the Gaza health authorities, 37 premature babies at the hospital were relocated over the weekend to an operating room without their incubators, with health workers trying to heat the room,” the statement said. “According to the latest media reports on Monday, six babies at Al-Shifa have died.”

And the info war from the heart of Gaza continues…

BREAKING:

The Israeli Army has captured the Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza & found Hamas tunnels below the hospital

They found areas down there in which there were baby cups, ropes, improved toilets and other evidence of hostages having been held pic.twitter.com/8p3mgXO74G

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 13, 2023

Meanwhile, President Biden has issued a very lukewarm and ambiguous statement in response to the crisis. Per the Associated Press, Biden stated that the Gaza hospital encircled by Israeli forces “must be protected,” and is calling for “less intrusive action” against Hamas.