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Another 200,000 people flee northern Gaza as fighting continues Palestinians digging mass graves inside al-Shifa hospital, health official says
(about 2 hours later)
Only one hospital in north of territory accepting patients as IDF accuses Hamas of using medical facilities as ‘instrument of war’ Another 200,000 people flee northern Gaza as fighting rages around territory’s biggest health facility
Another 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza in the past 10 days, the UN has said, as fierce fighting between Hamas militants and the Israeli army encroaches on hospitals where patients are dying due to energy shortages and dwindling supplies. Palestinians trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital are digging mass graves, an official there says, with no means of keeping corpses from decomposing due to Israel’s siege.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said on Tuesday that only one hospital in the northern half of the blockaded Gaza Strip – al-Awda – still had electricity and was able to receive patients, with other medical facilities in sprawling Gaza City now mostly functioning as shelters for those fleeing the violence. “We are planning to bury them today in a mass grave inside al-Shifa medical complex,” said health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra. “The men are digging right now as we speak.”
At least 32 patients, including three premature babies, died over the weekend, the health ministry in Gaza said on Monday, with another 36 babies and other patients at al-Shifa, the area’s largest hospital, at risk. Life-saving equipment, such as incubators, cannot function without fuel to run generators. And with no means of keeping dozens of corpses from decomposing, mass graves were being dug on the hospital grounds, said a health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qidra. With Israeli forces at the gates of the complex, and fighting raging with Hamas militants in the streets of Gaza City, patients have been dying due to energy shortages and dwindling supplies. Some of the hospital’s buildings have been bombed.
Those who have left in the last week join the estimated 1.5 million people – three-quarters of the blockaded territory’s population – who have already fled their homes via Israeli military “safe routes” in the six-week-old war that has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians and 1,200 people in Israel, according to officials. At least 32 patients, including three premature babies, died at the weekend, the health ministry in Gaza has said, with another 36 babies and other patients at al-Shifa at risk. Life-saving equipment, such as incubators, cannot function without fuel to run generators.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said on Tuesday that more than 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza in the past 10 days.
It said only one hospital in the northern half of the blockaded Gaza Strip – al-Awda – still had electricity and was able to receive patients, with other medical facilities in sprawling Gaza City now mostly functioning as shelters for people fleeing the violence.
Those who have left in the last week join the estimated 1.5 million people – three-quarters of the blockaded territory’s population – who have already fled their homes through the Israeli military “safe routes” in the six weeks of war that has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians and 1,200 people in Israel, according to officials.
Ocha said, however, that “hundreds of thousands of people, who are either unwilling or unable to move to the south remain in the north, amid intensified hostilities. They are struggling to secure the minimum amount of water and food for survival.”Ocha said, however, that “hundreds of thousands of people, who are either unwilling or unable to move to the south remain in the north, amid intensified hostilities. They are struggling to secure the minimum amount of water and food for survival.”
Hebrew-language media reported on Tuesday that both Israeli and Palestinian officials were trying to make arrangements for unconscious patients and those requiring dialysis and cancer treatment to be evacuated from al-Shifa to appropriate facilities in the southern half of the strip, but the reports were not immediately confirmed by medics on the ground. The Israeli military said it started an effort to send incubators to the hospital but it was not clear how they would be transferred. Hebrew-language media reported on Tuesday that both Israeli and Palestinian officials were trying to make arrangements for unconscious patients and those requiring dialysis and cancer treatment to be evacuated from al-Shifa to appropriate facilities in the southern half of the strip The reports were not immediately confirmed by medics on the ground. The Israeli military said it started an effort to send incubators to the hospital, but it was not clear how they would be transferred.
Civilians in the area said heavy gunfire could still be heard around the hospital compound. Staff at al-Shifa have said snipers were shooting at people outside, making it dangerous to move around the complex. Civilians in the area said heavy gunfire could be heard around the hospital compound. Staff at al-Shifa have said snipers were shooting at people outside, making it dangerous to move around the complex.
World Health Organization spokesperson Margaret Harris said on Tuesday that the world needed to focus on “saving lives, not taking lives”. A World Health Organization spokesperson, Margaret Harris, said on Tuesday that the world needed to focus on “saving lives, not taking lives”.
“Somehow the understanding that a hospital must be a safe haven, a place where people come to be cured, to be treated when they are in trouble, when they are in need, it has been forgotten,” Harris said. “There seems to be a trend to want to turn them into places of death, despair and danger, which should never happen.”“Somehow the understanding that a hospital must be a safe haven, a place where people come to be cured, to be treated when they are in trouble, when they are in need, it has been forgotten,” Harris said. “There seems to be a trend to want to turn them into places of death, despair and danger, which should never happen.”
The US president, Joe Biden, said on Monday he hoped the Israeli military would proceed with a “less intrusive” operation at al-Shifa, adding that Palestinian civilians must be protected.The US president, Joe Biden, said on Monday he hoped the Israeli military would proceed with a “less intrusive” operation at al-Shifa, adding that Palestinian civilians must be protected.
Israel says that al-Shifa, where fighting has reached the gates and trapped those inside, sits above the “nerve centre” of the Palestinian militant group’s operations. Israel has not provided conclusive evidence, but the group often fires rockets from densely crowded residential areas, and maintains a vast tunnel network. Israel says that al-Shifa sits above the “nerve centre” of the Palestinian militant group’s operations. Israel has not provided conclusive evidence, but the group often fires rockets from densely crowded residential areas, and maintains a vast tunnel network.
UN officials have warned that Israel’s claims of militant activity in hospitals, whether true or false, does not absolve its military from obligations to spare civilian life. UN officials have said that Israel’s claims of militant activity in hospitals, whether true or false, does not absolve it from an obligation to spare civilian life.
The fifth war in Gaza since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, already the bloodiest chapter in the 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was sparked by an unprecedented assault by Hamas on Israeli communities and military bases on the strip’s periphery. The war, the fifth in Gaza since Hamas seized control of the strip in 2007 and already the bloodiest in the 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was sparked by an unprecedented assault by Hamas in which militants massacred hundreds of Israeli civilians and took 240 hostage. Three weeks of Israeli airstrikes, one of the most intense such campaigns anywhere in the world this century, were followed by a ground invasion.
Militants massacred hundreds of civilians and took 240 hostages back to Gaza on 7 October, leading Israel to declare war: three weeks of airstrikes, one of the most intense such campaigns anywhere in the world this century, were followed by a ground invasion. Israeli troops and tanks have slowly but steadilycut off Gaza City as talks mediated by Qatar and the US on releasing hostages and brokering a humanitarian pause or ceasefire have stalled. The IDF has ordered Palestinian civilians to move south of the Gaza river to “safe zones” but there has also been intense bombing in the southern half of the strip.
Israeli troops and tanks have slowly but steadily since cut off Gaza City from the rest of the strip as talks mediated by Qatar and the US on releasing hostages and brokering a humanitarian pause or ceasefire have stalled. The IDF has ordered Palestinian civilians to move south of the Gaza river to “safe zones” since the early days of the war, but there has also been intense bombing in the southern half of the strip. In southern Gaza on Tuesday, young men carrying a man wounded from an Israeli strike rushed into Nasser hospital, one of the few medical centres still open.
A French hospital ship is expected to arrive in the region in the next few days, and the UAE is setting up a field hospital in Gaza’s south, but the measures are unlikely to alleviate the humanitarian crisis engulfing the 2.3 million-strong population. At the same hospital, in the city of Khan Younis, relatives of those killed in Israeli attacks wept as their bodies were transferred from the morgue to be buried.
The coastal territory, already impoverished by the 16-year-old Israeli-Egyptian siege imposed after Hamas took over, has been left in ruins by the Israeli bombing campaign: about 45% of Gaza’s housing stock has been damaged or destroyed, along with 279 educational facilities, according to UN figures released on Monday. A French hospital ship is expected to arrive in the region in the next few days, and the UAE is setting up a field hospital in Gaza’s south, but the measures are unlikely to alleviate the humanitarian crisis for the 2.3 million Gaza population. The coastal territory, already impoverished by the 16-year-old Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after the Hamas takeover, has been left in ruins by the Israeli bombing campaign: about 45% of houses have been damaged or destroyed, along with 279 educational facilities, the UN said.
Clean water, food and medical supplies are in scarce supply. A tiny fraction of the aid that used to reach Gaza on a daily basis has entered from Egypt. Rubbish is piling up in the streets, elevating the risk of further deaths and waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Clean water, food and medical supplies are in scarce supply. A tiny fraction of the aid that used to reach Gaza every day has entered from Egypt. Rubbish is piling up in the streets, increasing the risk of diseases such as cholera and dysentery.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, said on Tuesday that he believed that the international community would press Israel to wind down its operations in Gaza in the next two to three weeks. “From a political standpoint, we are starting to see that pressure on Israel has begun. That pressure isn’t very high, but it is in an upward trend … we will continue in any event according to plan,” he told reporters. Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, said on Monday that he believed that the international community would press Israel to wind down its operations in Gaza in the next two to three weeks. “From a political standpoint, we are starting to see that pressure on Israel has begun. That pressure isn’t very high, but it is in an upward trend … we will continue in any event according to plan,” he told reporters.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas as a military and governing power in Gaza, but it remains unclear what the country plans to do with the territory after the fighting subsides. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas as a military and governing power in Gaza, but it is not clear what it plans to do with the territory after the fighting subsides.
A senior far-right member of the Israeli government said on Tuesday that Palestinians should leave Gaza for other countries. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he supported a call by two members of the Israeli parliament who wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that western countries should accept Gazan families who expressed a desire to relocate. A senior far-right member of the Israeli government, the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Tuesday that Palestinians should “voluntarily” leave Gaza for other countries.
Palestinians have accused Israel of seeking a new “Nakba”, or catastrophe, the mass displacement of 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in wars that surrounded the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. Very few who left were allowed back to their homes. Palestinians have accused Israel of seeking a new Nakba, or catastrophe, the mass displacement of 700,000 Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
An unverified video published online showed what appeared to be IDF soldiers in front of bombed-out buildings, with one saying they were “conquering, expelling and settling”.On Tuesday, rocket fire by Palestinian militants in Gaza hit the areas around the strip, including the city of Ashkelon, where medics said two Israelis were lightly wounded.An unverified video published online showed what appeared to be IDF soldiers in front of bombed-out buildings, with one saying they were “conquering, expelling and settling”.On Tuesday, rocket fire by Palestinian militants in Gaza hit the areas around the strip, including the city of Ashkelon, where medics said two Israelis were lightly wounded.
In the north, anti-tank missiles and mortars were fired from Lebanon at Israeli military positions and forces returned fire, the IDF said. Israel’s fighting with the powerful Iran-backed militia Hezbollah has killed about 70 Lebanese militants and 16 civilians, as well as seven Israeli soldiers and three civilians. In the north, anti-tank missiles and mortars were fired from Lebanon at Israeli military positions, and forces returned fire, the IDF said. Israel’s fighting with the powerful Iran-backed militia Hezbollah has killed about 70 Lebanese militants and 16 civilians, as well as seven Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
Fighting also continues to escalate in the occupied West Bank, where 182 Palestinians have been killed, mostly in clashes with the IDF and Israeli settlers living in the Palestinian territory. Israeli forces killed at least eight Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian medics and local media said. In the occupied West Bank, the worst violence for 20 years continues to escalate, with 182 Palestinians killed, mostly in clashes with the IDF and Israeli settlers living in the Palestinian territory. Israeli forces killed at least eight Palestinians in the West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian medics and local media said.
Reuters contributed to this report