Key Points
- Two of Gaza's largest hospitals have suspended operations, with staff citing Israeli bombardment and lack of fuel.
- Medical staff say hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave are blockaded by Israeli forces.
- Israel's military said it has offered to evacuate babies and left fuel at al-Shifa's entrance.
The largest hospital in Gaza has ceased to function and fatalities among patients are rising, the head of the World Health Organization says, as a fierce Israeli assault continues in the Hamas-controlled strip.
Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave, including the al-Shifa complex, are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside.
Three newborns are dead and more are at risk from power outages amid intense fighting nearby, according to medical staff.
The WHO managed to speak to health professionals at al-Shifa, who described a "dire and perilous" situation with constant gunfire and bombing exacerbating the already critical situation, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
"Tragically, the number of patient fatalities has increased significantly," he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that al-Shifa was "not functioning as a hospital anymore".
Tedros joined other top United Nations officials in calling for an immediate ceasefire.
"The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair," he said.
Israel says it is homing in on Hamas militants who launched deadly attacks in southern Israel on 7 October, and says the group has command centres under and near the hospitals.
Hamas is a , which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says Al-Quds hospital has been "cut off from the world". Source: Getty / Anadolu
More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, around 40 per cent of them children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Israel's military said it had offered to evacuate newborn babies and had placed 300 litres of fuel at al-Shifa's entrance on Saturday night, but both gestures had been blocked by Hamas
Hamas denied that it refused the fuel and said the hospital was under the authority of Gaza's Health Ministry, adding that the amount of fuel Israel said it offered was "not enough to operate the (hospital's) generators for more than half an hour".
Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Health Ministry, said that of 45 babies in incubators at al-Shifa, three had already died.
A plastic surgeon in al-Shifa said bombing of the building housing incubators had forced staff to line up premature babies on ordinary beds, using the little power available to run the air conditioning to warm.
"We are expecting to lose more of them day by day," said Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the strip's second largest hospital, al-Quds, was also out of service, with staff struggling to care for those already there with little medicine, food and water.
"Al-Quds hospital has been cut off from the world in the last six to seven days. No way in, no way out," said Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Palestinian cameraman Mohammed Alaloul (left) hugs his father in front of Al-Quds hospital after two of his children and his brother were killed in an Israeli strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Deir Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Source: Getty / Mahmud Hams/AFP
International calls for ceasefire grow
The president of Indonesia, home to the world's biggest Muslim population, called for a ceasefire ahead of meeting US President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday.
"A ceasefire must be implemented soon, we also must accelerate and increase the amount of humanitarian aid, and we must begin peace negotiations," President Joko Widodo said in a video recorded after he took part in an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh.
He said the world seemed "helpless" in the face of the suffering of the Palestinians. The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit also urged the International Criminal Court to investigate "war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing" in the Palestinian territories.
Biden, who spoke on Sunday with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani about developments in Gaza, agreed that all hostages held by Hamas must be released "without further delay", the White House said in a statement.
The United States carried out two air strikes in Syria against Iran-aligned groups on Sunday, a US defence official told Reuters, in what appeared to be the latest response to the attacks.
French President Emmanuel Macron told the BBC in an interview published late on Friday that Israel must stop bombing Gaza and killing civilians.
Macron said there was "no justification" for the bombing and saying a ceasefire would benefit Israel.
He said that France "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.
Israel has faced growing calls for restraint in its month-long war with Hamas but .
Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries called for an immediate end to military operations in Gaza during a summit in Riyadh over the weekend.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were among those who called for a ceasefire.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says "steps towards a ceasefire" in Gaza must be taken. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Penny Wong: 'Steps towards a ceasefire' needed
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said while appearing on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.
"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. But we can also say that Israel should do everything it can to observe international humanitarian law."
"We should be seeking to minimise civilian casualties, particularly in hospitals and those vulnerable facilities even Gaza," Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek told Seven's Sunrise program on Monday.
"Working towards a ceasefire, calling for humanitarian force - that is a recognition that the civilian casualties in Gaza at the moment are very high, unacceptably high."
