No way to evacuate babies to a safer hospital: Gaza health ministry
Hamas-Israel war
Summary:
- The WHO says it has lost communication with its contacts inside al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza.
- Several hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza have been "directly hit" as Israel intensifies attacks around hospitals, the UN says. There are fears for hundreds of patients, including 37 premature babies in al-Shifa Hospital, as electricity fails in multiple hospitals.
- Large marches calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza were held in cities around the world, including New York, London, Paris, Baghdad, Karachi, Berlin and Edinburgh. In Tel Aviv, Israelis gathered to call for the release of captives held by Hamas.
- At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 1 October. These figures may not be the latest as several hospitals lost contact on Saturday, delaying updates from the Gaza Ministry of Health, according to the UN.
- In Israel, after a downward revision, the death toll now stands at more than 1,200.
10:00pm
Erdogan calls for US to stop Israel's attack
The United States must use its influence to halt Israel's offensive in Gaza, said Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports Al Jazeera.
"The US should increase its pressure on Israel. The West should increase pressure on Israel… It's vital for us to secure a ceasefire," said Erdogan. "The most important country that needs to be involved is the United States, which has influence on Israel."
Erdogan said the US must accept Gaza as Palestinian land. "We cannot agree with Biden if he approaches [the war] by seeing Gaza as the land of occupying settlers or Israel, rather than the land of the Palestinian people."
9:45pm
Occupied West Bank under Israeli military lockdown: PLO
Palestinian cities, towns, and villages remain under blockade while Jerusalem is completely cut off and turned into a military barracks, the Palestine Liberation Organization said, reports Al Jazeera.
Severe restrictions on movement have been imposed to and from Jordan via the Al-Karamah/King Hussein Bridge (border crossing), the only connection to the outside world from the occupied West Bank, the PLO said.
8:20pm
Gaza's biggest hospital is completely out of service: Ministry
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, has told Al Jazeera that al-Shifa Hospital is completely out of service, and cannot provide any treatment even to the patients inside the facility, due to constant Israeli attacks.
Israeli bombing has been targeting the vicinity's external surroundings as well as anyone walking inside the courtyard and between its various buildings, and those wanting to reach the gate of the complex.
"We have deaths in the nursery after the life support machines stopped working inside the section that includes 37 other children who may be on the verge of death," al-Qudra said.
7:40pm
Communication services to be cut in Gaza by Thursday, minister warns
Palestinian Communications Minister Yitzhak Sidr says all communications and internet services will stop in the Gaza Strip by Thursday due to depleting fuel, reports Al Jazeera.
During a press conference, the minister said that the lack of communications services will "deepen the humanitarian disaster," according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.
This will affect communications among the Civil Defense, the Red Crescent, and other humanitarian organisations, he said, noting that "this means the loss of many lives".
7:00pm
'Enough', says Pope Francis, calling for the war to end
Pope Francis has called for the fighting between Israel and Hamas to end, reports Al Jazeera.
"May the weapons fall silent, they will never bring peace, and let the conflict not spread. Enough, enough brothers, enough!" he said while offering prayers at the Vatican.
The Pope also said that the injured in Gaza should be helped and more humanitarian aid should be sent to the besieged enclave.
He added that the people taken as captives by Hamas on 7 October should also be released.
6:30pm
Israel says Palestinian Authority in current form should not run Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thrown up more doubts about the future of the Gaza Strip, suggesting that the Palestinian Authority in its current form should not take charge of the coastal enclave, reports Reuters.
Israel has vowed to destroy Palestinian group Hamas, which governs Gaza, following its shock Oct. 7 cross-border assault, and has launched a full-scale invasion of the territory.
However, it has not spelt out who should rule the enclave once the conflict is over, saying only that Israel would maintain overall security.
Washington has said Israel cannot occupy the enclave after the war, with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken saying last week that the Gaza administration had to be re-unified with the nearby West Bank, parts of which are run by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday that the PA could play a future role in governing the Gaza Strip, but Netanyahu indicated late Saturday he did not want the current PA rulers to be given free rein in Gaza.
At a news conference, Netanyahu aired his long-standing grievances over the PA's school syllabus, which he says fuels hatred of Israel, and its policy of giving salaries to families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
5:40pm
No way to evacuate babies to a safer hospital: Health Ministry
The Israeli military will help evacuate babies from the hospital at the request of the staff at al-Shifa Hospital, its spokesperson Daniel Hagari says. Asked about the evacuations, Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra told Reuters: "We have not been informed about any mechanism to get the babies out to a safer hospital. So far we are praying for their safety and not to lose more of them." He said there were 45 babies in total, reports Al Jazeera.
Al-Shifa staff told Reuters there had been continuous bombardment for more than 24 hours. Most hospital staff and people sheltering there had left, but 500 patients remained.
5:31pm
'No place safe for children in Gaza': UNICEF
The situation inside hospitals across the Gaza Strip is a tragedy, UNICEF spokesperson Toby Fricker has said. Speaking to Al Jazeera from Jordan, he noted how premature babies inside al-Shifa Hospital are struggling to stay alive due to the lack of electricity and water. "Imagine being a father or mother of those children and sort of watching helplessly. So it's really catastrophic right now," he said.
"There is no safe place for children anywhere across the strip right now," he added, highlighting the need for international actors to ensure children in Gaza are protected as the ferocious bombardment continues.
5:13pm
Five Israeli soldiers killed: Times of Israel
The Israel Defense Forces announces the death of five soldiers during fighting yesterday in the northern Gaza Strip. They are: Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidyah Leiter, 39, a company commander in the 551st Brigade's 697th Battalion, from Ein Tzurim.
The four soldiers of the 697th Battalion were killed by a blast from a booby-trapped tunnel shaft next to a mosque in the Beit Hanoun area. The troops were not inside the tunnel, reports Times of Israel. Their deaths bring the toll of slain soldiers in Israel's ground operation in the Gaza Strip to 42, says the Israeli media.
4:35pm
Anyone who supports Hamas should be eliminated: Israeli minister
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that anyone who supports Hamas should be "eliminated." During an interview with the Israeli Channel 12, Ben-Gvir said "To be clear, when they say that Hamas needs to be eliminated, it also means those who sing, those who support and those who distribute candy, all of these are terrorists", reports Anadolu.
Ben-Gvir, who has recently come to the fore with his distribution of weapons to civilians throughout Israel and to Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, is known for his Jewish supremacist views. Ben-Gvir was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Ministry of National Security, responsible for law enforcement in the country.
4:14pm
Israeli minister says Gaza should be occupied: Report
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says that Gaza should be occupied, according to Israeli media. "What's needed here is an occupation," the minister told the Israeli Broadcasting Authority. Israel withdrew illegal settlements from the strip in 2005, reports Al Jazeera.
"When you have presence out on the ground, you have intelligence and control; you're the landlord," he was quoted as saying by Israeli media.
His comments come amid discording voices on what Israel intends to do in terms of security arrangements and governance in Gaza once the conflict is over.
Late on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of the Palestinian Authority governing the enclave – an option floated by the US.
3:00pm
Wounded Palestinians receive treatment on the floor at Indonesian Hospital
Palestinian photographer Ahmed Al-Arini has documented scenes that have become, according to him, frequent at Indonesian Hospital, due to the continuous Israeli bombardment in the northern Gaza Strip.
2:00pm
'We are in the middle of the warzone': al-Shifa hospital surgeon
The situation inside the al-Shifa hospital is horrible and getting tougher, Dr. Ahmad Mokhallalati, a surgeon at the hospital, has told Al Jazeera.
"We can hardly treat the patients within the hospital and are in the middle of the warzone. There are continuous airstrikes and the drones are hovering within the hospital area," he said.
He noted that anyone including doctors moving between the hospital complex's buildings also feel unsafe.
"Day before yesterday at about 2 in the morning, the electricity stopped because of some issues. The engineer who went to try to fix that was shot by a drone and injured in his neck. Four of his limbs are paralysed," he said.
Dr.Mokhallalati highlighted that due to the hospital running out of electricity and with around 63 patients in the ICU and babies on incubators, they moved all the ventilators and incubators to the main surgical theatre and shut other operation theatres, to ensure that they can get all electricity needed to treat patients in one place.
He also added that the Israeli army's announcement that people can use the exit on the eastern side of the hospital complex to leave, "is one big lie."
"I saw a family of five in front of my eyes who tried to move from the east yesterday and they were shot. So they came back injured," he said.
"The Israelis also called the hospital director day before yesterday ordering us to evacuate. But he asked them to help arrange a way to evacuate the patients. They didn't have a plan and the next day they called and said they're not targeting the hospital. So they Israelis are communicating in a very bad way and keep manipulating us," Dr.Mokhallalati added.
"We need a plan for evacuation protected by international organisation."
1:00pm
Jordan armed forces drop medical aid in Gaza: Al Jazeera
An official of the Jordanian armed forces says a Royal Air Force plane on Saturday dropped urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza for the second time using parachutes, Jordan News Agency has reported.
The operation was conducted in cooperation with the UAE and Qatar to help the hospital's capabilities, the report said.
The armed forces said the hospital continues to operate under difficult conditions due to relentless Israeli bombing for the past one month.
12:00pm
Australia's foreign minister urges Israel to halt attacks on hospitals: Al Jazeera
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called on Israel to cease its attacks on hospitals, expressing concern about the "harrowing" number of civilian deaths from its assault on Gaza.
"I would make this point in relation to hospitals and medical facilities: that international humanitarian law does require the protection of hospitals, of patients and of medical staff," Wong told ABC's Insiders programme on Sunday.
"And we do call on Israel to cease the attacking of hospitals. We understand the argument that Hamas is burrowed into civilian infrastructure. But, you know, I think the international community, looking at what is occurring in hospitals, would say to Israel: these are facilities protected under international law and we want you to do so."
Wong, however, stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
"We need steps towards a ceasefire. It cannot be one-sided," Wong said.
"We know that Hamas is still holding hostages, and we know that a ceasefire must be agreed between the parties."
11:59am
Hospitals protected under humanitarian law: UN
As the Israeli army surrounds multiple hospitals in northern Gaza, the UN has issued a reminder that "hospitals are explicitly entitled to specific protection under international humanitarian law",reports Al Jazeera.
The latest humanitarian update from the UN relief agency in the occupied Palestinian Territories added the following details:
- Hospitals must not be used to shield military objectives from attack.
- Any military operation around or within hospitals must take steps to spare the patients, medical staff and other civilians who must be protected under international humanitarian law.
- All feasible precautions must be taken to avoid incidental civilian harm, including effective warnings, which take into account the ability of patients, medical staff and other civilians to evacuate safely.
11:58am
Several hospitals 'directly hit': UN
The UN has said that several hospitals have been "directly hit" as Israel intensified its shelling and ground attacks around hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza.
The report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian Territories also notes:
- Power at the Al-Shifa and the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza was reportedly cut off after fuel for generators ran out. Generators at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City failed and could not be repaired due to the bombardment and fighting.
- Tens of thousands of people evacuated towards southern Gaza on Saturday, while hundreds of thousands of people who remain in the north are struggling to get the essentials they need to survive.
- People are drinking water from "unsafe sources" which "raises serious concerns about dehydration and waterborne diseases".
Disclaimer: The information and infographics provided in this thread have been gathered from sources, including BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, and other news platforms.
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