Israel faces pressure over Gaza deaths as fighting rages near hospitals

France calls on Israel to stop bombing Gaza, killing civilians as US also urges it to do more to protect them

GAZA:

Israel faced mounting international pressure, including from its main ally the United States, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza as the death toll rose and fighting intensified near and around hospitals.

The number of Palestinians killed during the bombardment of the coastal enclave in the past five weeks rose above 11,000, as Israeli forces waged war on Hamas resistance fighters who carried out the October 7 rampage in southern Israel.

In his strongest comments to date on the plight of civilians caught in the crossfire, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on a visit to India on Friday: "Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks."

But Blinken reaffirmed the US’ support for Israel's campaign to ensure that Gaza can no longer be used "as a platform for launching terrorism".

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a BBC interview published late on Friday, said Israel must stop bombing Gaza and killing civilians. France, he said, "clearly condemns" the "terrorist" actions of Hamas, but that while recognising Israel's right to protect itself, "we do urge them to stop this bombing" in Gaza.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said world leaders should be condemning Hamas, and not Israel. "These crimes that Hamas (is) committing today in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York and anywhere in the world," Netanyahu said.

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Israel has said that Hamas, who are holding as many as 240 hostages of different nationalities taken in last month's attack, would exploit a truce to regroup if there were a ceasefire.

Saudi Arabia will host an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh on Saturday, the Saudi foreign ministry said. The joint meeting "will be held in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in the Palestinian Gaza Strip as countries feel the need to unify efforts and come out with a unified collective position," it said.

Gaza official says two patients, including baby, died at hospital besieged by Israel

A baby died in an incubator at Gaza's largest hospital after the facility lost power, and another person was killed by an Israeli shell in intensive care, a spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday.

Israel's military, which residents said had been fighting Hamas gunmen all night in and around Gaza City where the hospital is located, did not immediately respond to questions on the comments from health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra.

"The situation is worse than anyone can imagine. We are besieged inside the Al Shifa Medical Complex, and the occupation has targeted most of the buildings inside," said Qidra, who represents the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The Israeli military has said that Hamas fighters who have placed command centres under Shifa hospital and others in Gaza, making them vulnerable to being considered military targets.

"The hospitals need to be evacuated in order to deal with Hamas. We intend on dealing with Hamas who have turned hospitals into fortified positions," it said in response to the question of whether it planned to enter Gaza hospitals at some point.

Hamas has denied using civilians as human shields and health officials say growing numbers of Israeli strikes on or near hospitals put at risk patients, medical staff and thousands of evacuees who have taken shelter in and near their buildings.

Qidra said Israeli army snipers commandeering rooftops of buildings near the hospital fired into the medical complex from time to time, limiting the ability of medics and people to move.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hospital suspended operations after fuel ran out, Qidra said, adding: "As a result, one newborn baby died inside the incubator, where there are 45 babies."

People inspect the area of Al-Ahli hospital where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in a blast, in Gaza City, October 18. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

Hamas denies using the hospital for its military purposes and has asked the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send missions to come to Shifa to investigate the Israeli allegations.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank - separated from Gaza by Israel and run by a rival administration to Hamas - said separately that 39 babies were at risk at the hospital.

Minister Mai Alkaila had initially said they had died because they could not get oxygen or medicine to them and electricty was cut off, but the ministry later corrected the information to say that one had died and 39 were at risk.

"39 premature babies in Al-Shifa Medical Complex are threatened with death at any moment, and one of them died this morning. Failure to bring fuel into the hospitals will be a death sentence for the rest. The incubators will only be able to work until this evening, after which the fuel will run out."

Contacted again about the ministry's statement, Qidra reiterated that there was no electricity at the hospital and no internet.

"We are working hard to keep them alive, but we are afraid we may lose them in the coming hours," he said. "There is no electricity in the hospital completely."

On Friday, Gaza officials had said missiles landed in a courtyard of Al Shifa, killing one person and wounding others. Israel's military said later that a misfired projectile launched by Palestinian fighters in Gaza had hit Shifa.

World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health workers the group was in contact with at Shifa had been forced to leave the hospital in search of safety.

"Many of the thousands sheltering at the hospital are forced to evacuate due to security risks, while many still remain there," Tedros wrote on social media on Friday.

'No one is safe'

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said Israel had bombed Shifa hospital buildings five times.

"One Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in the early morning attack," he said by phone. Videos verified by Reuters showed scenes of panic and people covered in blood.

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Israeli tanks have taken up positions around the Nasser Rantissi hospital as well as the Al-Quds hospital, medical staff said earlier.

The Palestinian Red Cross said Israeli forces were shooting at Al-Quds hospital, and there were violent clashes, with one person killed and 28 wounded, most of them children.

Israeli army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said at a briefing the army "does not fire on hospitals. If we see Hamas terrorists firing from hospitals, we'll do what we need to do. We're aware of the sensitivity (of hospitals), but again, if we see Hamas terrorists, we'll kill them."

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said Israel had created a taskforce to establish hospitals in southern Gaza. On October 12, Israel ordered some 1.1 million people in Gaza to move south ahead of its ground invasion.

Palestinian officials said on Friday that 11,078 Gaza residents had been killed in air and artillery strikes since October 7.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said around 1,200 people had been killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, a revision of the earlier death toll, although it added that might change again once all the bodies are identified.

Israel has also said 39 soldiers have been killed in combat since October 7.