Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight and into yesterday as ground forces battled Hamas militants near the territory’s largest hospital, where health officials say thousands of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped with no electricity and dwindling supplies.
In a televised address on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected growing international calls for a ceasefire unless it includes the release of all the nearly 240 hostages captured by Hamas in the Oct. 7 rampage that triggered the war, saying Israel was bringing its “full force” to the battle.
In Gaza City, residents reported heavy airstrikes and shelling overnight, including in the area around al-Shifa Hospital. Israel, without providing evidence, has accused Hamas of concealing a command post inside and under the hospital compound, allegations denied by Hamas and hospital staff.
Photo: AFP
“We spent the night in panic waiting for their arrival,” said Ahmed al-Boursh, a resident taking shelter in the hospital. “They are outside, not far from the gates.”
Munir al-Boursh, the undersecretary of Gazas’ health ministry, said Israeli snipers have deployed around al-Shifa, firing at any movement inside the compound.
He said airstrikes had destroyed homes next to the hospital, killing three people, including a doctor.
“There are wounded in the house, and we can’t reach them,” he told al-Jazeera television in an interview from the hospital. “We can’t stick our heads out of the window.”
Israel’s military said there was a safe corridor for civilians to evacuate from al-Shifa to southern Gaza, but people sheltering in the hospital said they were afraid to go outside.
The military said troops would assist in moving babies yesterday.
It was not possible to independently ascertain the situation.
Thousands have fled al-Shifa and other hospitals, but physicians have said it is impossible for everyone to get out.
The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service said another Gaza City hospital, al-Quds, is “no longer operational” because it has run out of fuel.
Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Red Crecent, said 6,000 people, including displaced families, patients, and medical staff, remained trapped in the hospital.
On Saturday, Netanyahu began to outline Israel’s postwar plans for Gaza.
Netanyahu said Gaza would be demilitarized and that Israel would retain the ability to enter Gaza freely to hunt down militants.
He also rejected the idea that the Palestinian Authority, which currently administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would at some stage control Gaza.
Meanwhile, Arab and Muslim leaders on Saturday condemned Israeli forces’ “barbaric” actions in Gaza, but declined to approve punitive economic and political steps against the country over its war against Hamas.
The outcome of a joint summit of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Riyadh highlighted regional divisions over how to respond to the war even as fears mount that it could draw in other countries.
The final declaration on Saturday rejected Israeli claims that it is acting in “self-defence” and demanded that the UN Security Council adopt “a decisive and binding resolution” to halt Israel’s “aggression.”
It also called for an end to weapons sales to Israel and dismissed any future political resolution to the conflict that would keep Gaza separate from the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Additional reporting by AFP
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