Heavy preventing rages close to principal Gaza hospital as Netanyahu dismisses requires a cease-fire

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 persons 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 except it consists of the discharge of all of the almost 240 hostages captured by Hamas within the Oct. 7 rampage that triggered the conflict, 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 conflict’s heavy toll on the two.3 million Palestinians trapped within the besieged territory. However it has come beneath mounting worldwide stress over the plight of civilians.

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 publish inside and beneath the hospital compound, allegations denied by Hamas and hospital employees.

“We spent the evening in panic ready for his or her arrival,” mentioned 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 gasoline on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of three untimely infants and 4 different sufferers, in accordance with the Well being Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. It says one other 36 infants are susceptible to dying as a result of there isn’t any electrical energy.

Well being Ministry Undersecretary Munir al-Boursh mentioned Israeli snipers have deployed round Shifa, firing at any motion contained in the compound. He mentioned airstrikes had destroyed a number of houses subsequent to the hospital, killing three individuals, together with a physician.

“There are wounded in the home, and we are able to’t attain them,” he instructed Al Jazeera tv in an interview from the hospital. “We will’t stick our heads out of the window.” It was not clear if he was associated to the opposite man with the identical surname.

Israel’s navy mentioned there was a secure hall for civilians to evacuate from Shifa to southern Gaza, however individuals sheltering within the hospital mentioned they had been afraid to go exterior. The navy mentioned troops would help in shifting infants on Sunday, and that it was in touch with hospital employees.

It was not potential to independently verify the state of affairs in and across the hospital.

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 individuals looking for shelter. Hundreds have fled Shifa and different hospitals, however physicians mentioned it’s not possible for everybody to get out.

The Palestinian Pink Crescent rescue service mentioned one other Gaza Metropolis hospital, Al-Quds, is “not operational” as a result of it has run out of gasoline. Gaza’s sole energy plant was compelled to close down a month in the past, and Israel has barred any gasoline imports, saying Hamas would use them for navy functions.

Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Pink Crescent, mentioned 6,000 individuals, together with displaced households, sufferers, and medical employees, remained trapped within the hospital.

With Shifa and different hospitals now inaccessible, individuals sheltering in Gaza Metropolis mentioned they had been lower off from emergency care. Heba Mashlah, who was sheltering at a U.N. compound together with hundreds of households, mentioned a strike late Saturday killed 4 individuals and wounded 15.

“The wounded are bleeding, and nobody is ready to come and assist them,” she mentioned, including that the lifeless had been buried contained in the compound. The U.N. Improvement Program confirmed one in all its compounds was hit. U.N. businesses haven’t been in a position to present providers within the north for weeks.

Netanyahu has mentioned 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 america.

Netanyahu mentioned Gaza could be demilitarized and that Israel would retain the flexibility to enter Gaza freely to search out militants. He additionally rejected the concept that the Palestinian Authority, which presently administers components of the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, would at some stage management Gaza. Hamas drove the PA’s forces out of Gaza in per week of road battles in 2007.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has mentioned 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 a Palestinian state. Even earlier than the conflict, Netanyahu’s authorities was staunchly against Palestinian statehood.

The conflict threatens to set off a wider battle, with Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon steadily buying and selling hearth alongside the border. Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles into Israel on Sunday, and Israel responded with artillery. Israel’s energy firm mentioned employees repairing traces broken in earlier assaults had been wounded, and video footage confirmed two autos on hearth.

The U.S. has additionally pushed for short-term pauses that will enable for wider distribution of badly wanted help to civilians within the besieged territory, the place situations are more and more dire.

However Israel has solely agreed to transient day by day intervals throughout which civilians can flee the world of floor fight in northern Gaza and head south on foot alongside two principal north-south roads. Israel is in the meantime placing what it says are militant targets throughout southern Gaza as effectively, usually killing ladies and youngsters.

Dozens of wounded individuals, together with youngsters, had been dropped at a hospital in Khan Younis after an Israeli airstrike demolished a constructing within the southern city. Hospital officers mentioned at the least 13 individuals had been killed.

The conflict has displaced over two-thirds of Gaza’s inhabitants, with most fleeing south. Egypt has allowed a whole lot of international passport holders and medical sufferers to exit by way of its Rafah crossing, in addition to the entry of some humanitarian help.

Greater than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them ladies and minors, have been killed because the conflict started, in accordance with the Well being Ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 individuals have been reported lacking and are regarded as trapped or lifeless beneath the rubble.

At the very least 1,200 individuals have been killed on the Israeli aspect, largely civilians killed within the preliminary Hamas assault. Forty-six Israeli troopers have been killed in Gaza because the floor offensive started.

About 250,000 Israelis have been compelled to evacuate from communities close to Gaza, the place Palestinian militants are nonetheless firing barrages of rockets, and alongside the northern border with Lebanon.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Related Press writers Amy Teibel in Jerusalem and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

___

Full AP protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.