Fuel enters Gaza; telecommunications partially restored

Relatives, friends and supporters of Israelis held in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack march through the city of Modiin toward Jerusalem, demanding that the hostages be released, Nov 16, 2023. [AFP]

Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, told CBS News Thursday that his government had "strong indications" that some of the roughly 240 hostages Hamas abducted from Israel were being held at the hospital and that was one of the reasons troops entered it.

No hostages were found, but the Israeli Defense Forces said it recovered the bodies of a female Israeli soldier and a 65-year-old female hostage near Shifa Hospital after the raid.

Hamas says about 650 patients and 5,000 to 7,000 civilians have taken shelter on the Shifa Hospital grounds. Humanitarians have voiced concerns that such raids could breach international law.

Netanyahu acknowledged in the interview with CBS News that Israel has not been successful in minimizing civilian casualties. He said Israel is doing "everything we can to get civilians out of harm's way," but Hamas is doing "everything to keep them in harm's way."

Palestinian authorities in Gaza now say more than 12,000 people - about 5,000 of them children - have been killed since Israel launched a major air and ground offensive in response to the October 7 Hamas attack. The U.N. deems those figures credible, though they have not been updated since November 10 because of the collapse of services and communications at hospitals in northern Gaza.

Appeal for hostages' release

Meanwhile, negotiations are reportedly ongoing to win the release of some of the 240 hostages Hamas holds.

"We are closer than we were before we began the ground action, because the ground action has put pressure on Hamas to achieve a cease-fire," Netanyahu said of efforts to free the hostages in the CBS interview.

Families of the hostages and thousands of their supporters have been marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for three days carrying signs and photographs of their loved ones in a bid to secure their release. They expect to end their 70-kilometer (43-mile) march Saturday in front of Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem.

Hamas has offered to release all the hostages in exchange for some 6,000 Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails, but Israel's War Cabinet has rejected the proposal.