The situation in the hospitals located in its northern part remains dramatic Gaza Stripwhere two premature babies in an intensive care unit died prematurely on Saturday due to a lack of electricity, according to Doctors Without Borders, amid heavy fighting between the Israeli army and its fighters Hamas.
Arab and Muslim leaders have called for a ceasefire, a demand also echoed by hundreds of thousands of protesters in Europewith the background of concerns that the war will spread and the verbal escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, who exchange fire on the border daily.
Today, the 37th day of the war triggered by the unprecedented attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 20 of 36 hospitals in Gaza Strip ‘out of order’according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed intense concern in the early morning hours as its services “lost contact” with the staff of Shifa Hospital in Gaza Citythe largest of the entire Palestinian enclave, which has been the target of “repeated attacks”.
Explosions and exchanges of heavy fire in Gaza Cityin the northern part of the roughly 360 square kilometer area where Hamas has ruled since 2007, continued overnight.
Incessant shelling
The Israel declared war on Hamas after the attack by its fighters, he declared that he would “annihilate” the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Since then, Israeli shelling has killed at least 11,078 people, the vast majority of them civilians, including 4,506 children, according to Hamas’ health ministry, the latest tally of which was released last Friday.
On the Israeli side, at least 1,200 people, also mostly civilians, were killed, most of them on the day of the attack by Hamas, which Israel, the US and the European Union designate as a “terrorist” organization. Some 240 hostages were taken into Gaza, according to the Israeli military, which says it has lost 42 soldiers in the Palestinian enclave since a ground operation began on October 27.
Fighting is taking place in the heart of Gaza City, where according to Chahal, the Israeli military, is the “center” of the Palestinian movement’s structure, which uses a labyrinthine system of underground tunnels.
International humanitarian organizations are increasingly expressing concern about the fate of the hospitals. Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) spoke of “relentless shelling” against hospitals in Gaza City, especially Ash Shifa, which was “repeatedly hit, including its maternity ward”.
Two newborns who were born prematurely “died because their incubators were no longer working, as the electricity has been cut”, said Dr. Mohammed Ubaid, an MSF surgeon, in a message uploaded by the NGO to X (formerly Twitter).
There were about 40 premature babies in his ward, including 17 in intensive care, he added.
Evacuation of infants
“Another patient died because his ventilator stopped” due to the lack of electricity, he added, underlining that the situation in the hospital is increasingly precarious: “We have no electricity, no water, no food” in Sifa, where some 600 patients are located.he said.
“The firing does not stop at all, the airstrikes are unrelenting, as are the artillery shells”an eyewitness inside the institution told AFP by phone.
The armed wing of the Hamas-allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization confirmed that “its fighters engaged in violent clashes, mainly around the compound” of the Shifa hospital, with Israeli soldiers.
The situation at the hospital is ‘truly catastrophic’summarized Ann Taylor, MSF’s head of mission in the Palestinian territories.
For his part, the director of the hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, claimed that “the international community should put pressure on the Israeli government to stop targeting hospitals and ambulances.”
The Israeli military denied on Saturday that it had targeted the hospital and called reports that its forces had “surrounded and hit” the health facility “lies” by Hamas.
He also said that he intends today to “urgently remove the infants” and transfer them to a “safer hospital”.
In a new announcement, in the middle of the night, Mohammed Abu Salmiya repeated that “the hospital is completely surrounded and the shelling continues around it”.
The staff “cannot work” and “the bodies, which are dozens”, cannot even be “buried”, he added.
Sentence in Riyadh
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, “Israeli tanks are 20 meters from Al Quds hospital”another facility in Gaza City, where 14,000 displaced people have taken refuge.
“The hospital is blocked for the sixth day in a row due to the incessant shelling”which target the health structure “directly,” according to the same care and aid organization.
Israeli authorities reiterate that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, to launch attacks or hide underground tunnels. The Palestinian Islamist movement denies this.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “responsibility for every harm suffered by civilians lies with Hamas”, which, according to him, uses them as “human shields”.
Multiple calls for a halt to the fighting since the start of ground operations have been rejected by Israel’s political leadership and its key ally, the US, who argue that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas.
In London, some 300,000 people demonstrated on Saturday demanding a “cease fire now”. Likewise 20,000 people in Brussels, 16,000 in Paris, about 500 in Tunis.
Last night, thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv to demand the return of the hostages and they set up a long dinner table with over 200 empty chairs.
In Riyadh, dozens of Arab and Muslim leaders who took part in an emergency meeting condemned the “double standard” in international reactions to the warrejecting Israel’s argument of “legitimate defense” after the Hamas attack.
The head of Saudi Arabia’s diplomacy, Faisal bin Farhan, denounced “countries which (…) turn a blind eye to Israel’s non-compliance with fundamental principles of international law.”
Warning
The international community he fears the spread of war, especially in Lebanon, as on the borders of this country the exchanges of fire have been daily since October 8 between the Israeli army and Hezbollah and the blows are now being done at an ever greater depth. Israeli strikes have also targeted positions in Syria from where, according to Chahal, Hezbollah members fire rockets.
The leader of the Shiite movement, Hassan Nasrallah, referred to an increase in operations against Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad, for his part, warned Hezbollah not to “play with fire,” declaring that Beirut may suffer the same fate as Gaza if Hezbollah drags Lebanon into war.
Over 90 people have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border, according to an AFP tally, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also civilians and at least one journalist. On the Israeli side, there are eight dead, six military and two civilians.
The Israeli army also announced earlier today that it struck “terrorist infrastructure” in Syria with fighter jets, in retaliation for fire from that country’s territory on the part of the Golan Heights that has been annexed by the State of Israel since 1981.
in Gaza, nearly 200,000 Palestinians have fled in the past three days from the northern part of the region through the “corridors” that are opened daily during humanitarian “pauses”, to reach the south, where the shelling and fighting are not so intense. The Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing is expected to reopen today to allow injured people, foreigners and dual nationals to pass through, according to Palestinian and Egyptian officials.
In the small enclave, which has been hammered relentlessly for more than a month, 1.6 million of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced, according to the UN, and the humanitarian situation is increasingly described as catastrophic.
The total siege imposed by Israel on October 9 deprives the population of the Palestinian enclave of water, electricity, food and medicine.
Source: News Beast

With 6 years of experience, I bring to the table captivating and informative writing in the world news category. My expertise covers a range of industries, including tourism, technology, forex and stocks. From brief social media posts to in-depth articles, I am dedicated to creating compelling content for various platforms.