KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza Metropolis in a single day and into Sunday as floor forces battled Hamas militants close to the territory’s largest hospital, the place well being officers say hundreds of medics, sufferers and displaced individuals are trapped with no electrical energy and dwindling provides.
In a televised deal with on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected rising worldwide requires a cease-fire until it consists of the discharge of all 239 hostages captured by Hamas within the Oct. 7 rampage that triggered the warfare, saying Israel was bringing its “full power” to the battle.
Israel has vowed to finish Hamas’ 16-year rule in Gaza and crush its navy capabilities, whereas blaming the militants for the warfare’s heavy toll on the two.3 million Palestinians trapped within the besieged territory.
Israel has come below mounting worldwide strain, even from its closest ally, the US, because the warfare enters a sixth week. A 57-nation gathering of Muslim and Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia on Saturday known as for the warfare to finish, and an estimated 300,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully by means of London — the largest demonstration within the metropolis because the warfare started.
In Gaza Metropolis, residents reported heavy airstrikes and shelling in a single day, together with within the space round Shifa Hospital. Israel, with out offering proof, has accused Hamas of concealing a command put up inside and below the hospital compound, allegations denied by Hamas and hospital workers.
“We spent the evening in panic ready for his or her arrival,” stated Ahmed al-Boursh, a resident taking shelter within the hospital. “They’re exterior, not removed from the gates.”
The hospital’s final generator ran out of gas on Saturday, inflicting the dying of a untimely child, one other little one in an incubator and 4 different sufferers, based on the Well being Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
“Medical gadgets stopped. Sufferers, particularly these in intensive care, began to die,” hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia stated by telephone over the sound of gunfire and explosions. He stated Israeli troops have been “taking pictures at anybody exterior or contained in the hospital” and prevented motion between buildings.
The World Well being Group stated it misplaced communication with its contacts at Shifa.
Israel’s navy confirmed clashes exterior the hospital, however Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesman, denied Shifa was below siege. He stated troops will help Sunday in transferring infants handled there and stated “we’re talking instantly and recurrently” with hospital workers.
The Well being Ministry says there are nonetheless 1,500 sufferers at Shifa, together with 1,500 medical personnel and between 15,000 and 20,000 folks looking for shelter. 1000’s have fled Shifa and different hospitals which have come below assault, however physicians stated it’s not possible for everybody to get out.
The “unbearably determined scenario” at Shifa should cease now, the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross director basic, Robert Mardini, stated on social media.
Elsewhere, the Palestinian Pink Crescent stated Israeli tanks have been 20 meters (65 ft) from al-Quds hospital in Gaza Metropolis, inflicting “excessive panic and worry” among the many 14,000 displaced folks sheltering there.
Netanyahu has stated the accountability for any hurt to civilians lies with Hamas. Israel has lengthy accused the group, which operates in dense residential neighborhoods, of utilizing civilians as human shields.
On Saturday, Netanyahu started to stipulate Israel’s postwar plans for Gaza, which distinction sharply with the imaginative and prescient put forth by the US.
Netanyahu stated Gaza can be demilitarized and that Israel would retain safety management, with the power to enter Gaza freely to search out militants. He additionally rejected the concept that the Palestinian Authority, which at the moment administers elements of the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, would at some stage management Gaza. Hamas drove the PA’s forces out of Gaza in every week of road battles in 2007.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated the U.S. opposes an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and envisions a unified Palestinian authorities in each Gaza and the West Financial institution as a step towards Palestinian statehood. Even earlier than the warfare, Netanyahu’s authorities was staunchly against Palestinian statehood.
In one other signal of worldwide frustration with Israel, Saudi Arabia welcomed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday within the first such go to because the two international locations mended ties this 12 months. Israel views Iran as its primary enemy and had sought to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia earlier than the outbreak of the warfare.
Israel’s allies have defended the nation’s proper to guard itself after the Hamas assault, which killed a minimum of 1,200 folks, largely civilians. However now into the second month of warfare, there are rising variations over how Israel ought to conduct its struggle.
The U.S. has pushed for momentary pauses that may permit for wider distribution of badly wanted help to civilians within the besieged territory the place situations are more and more dire. Nevertheless, Israel has solely agreed to transient every day durations throughout which civilians can flee the realm of floor fight in northern Gaza and head south on foot alongside two primary north-south roads.
Since these evacuation home windows have been first introduced every week in the past, tens of hundreds of civilians have fled the north. However Israel is placing what it says are militant targets throughout central and southern Gaza as nicely, usually killing girls and kids.
The warfare has displaced over two-thirds of Gaza’s inhabitants, with most fleeing south. Egypt has allowed a whole bunch of international passport holders and medical sufferers to exit by means of its Rafah crossing. It has additionally allowed a whole bunch of vehicles loaded with meals and medication — however no gas — to enter, however help staff say it is nowhere close to sufficient to fulfill the mounting wants.
Greater than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them girls and minors, have been killed because the warfare started, based on the Well being Ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 folks have been reported lacking and are considered trapped or {dead} below the rubble.
Forty-six Israeli troopers have been killed in Gaza because the floor offensive started, and Palestinians have continued firing rockets into Israel. Hamas continues to be holding scores of captives — males, girls and kids — after releasing 4 girls final month. A fifth captive was rescued by Israeli forces.
Late Saturday, hundreds of Israelis participated in a rally in Tel Aviv, calling for the return of hostages. In Caesarea, a whole bunch of protesters gathered close to Netanyahu’s residence, calling for his elimination.
About 250,000 Israelis have been pressured to evacuate from communities close to Gaza and alongside the northern border with Lebanon, the place Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have traded hearth repeatedly.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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Full AP protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.