Palestine

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces raided Gaza’s largest hospital early Wednesday, where hundreds of patients, including newborns, have been stranded with dwindling supplies and no electricity, as the army extended its control across Gaza City and the north.

Shifa Hospital has become a symbol of the widespread suffering of Palestinian civilians during the war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted after the militant group killed some 1,200 people and seized around 240 captives in a surprise Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday said it had its own intelligence that Hamas was using Gaza's largest hospital Al Shifa to run its military operations, and probably to store weapons, saying those actions constituted a war crime.

"We have information that confirms that Hamas is using that particular hospital for a command and control mode" and probably to store weapons, national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One. "That is a war crime."

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian authorities on Tuesday called for a cease-fire to evacuate three dozen newborns and other patients trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israeli forces battle Hamas in the streets just outside and seize more ground across northern Gaza.

For days, the Israeli army has encircled Shifa Hospital, determined to seize the facility it says Hamas hides in, and beneath, to use civilians as shields for its main command base.

RAMALLAH, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye stressed on Monday the rejection of any plans to displace Gaza residents "under the guise of humanitarian aid."

At a cabinet meeting, Ishtaye rejected "a proposal to create a maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza by some countries," affirming that "while we seek the arrival of aid, we do not accept the displacement of our people on ships for deportation under the guise of aid."

12 November 2023; MEMO: A doctor at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said on Saturday that the Israeli army opens fire on those who want to flee the hospital, Anadolu reports.

The Israeli army has surrounded the hospital area and they are “not even a meter away, they are at the door,” Fadia Malhis, a gynecologist at the hospital, told an Anadolu correspondent in frequently interrupted phone conversations.

12 November 2023; MEMO: The director general of hospitals in the Gaza Strip warned on Sunday that lives of about 650 patients are at risk due to the catastrophic situation in the Al-Shifa Hospital, reports Anadolu Agency.

About 650 patients, including 36 children, have their lives in danger, Muhammad Zaqout said at a press conference, calling on Egypt to save their lives.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Health officials and people trapped inside Gaza’s largest hospital rejected Israel’s claims that it was helping babies and others evacuate Sunday, saying fighting continued just outside the facility where incubators lay idle with no electricity and critical supplies were running out.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed urgent calls for a cease-fire unless it includes the release of all the nearly 240 hostages captured by Hamas in the Oct. 7 rampage that triggered the war.

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Two major hospitals in northern Gaza closed to new patients on Sunday, with staff saying that Israeli bombardment plus lack of fuel and medicine meant babies and others could die.

Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside, medical staff said. Israel says it is homing in on Hamas militants in the area and the hospitals should be evacuated.

GAZA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Development Programme has reported that its headquarters in Gaza was subjected to Israeli airstrikes last night, which led to casualties among Palestinian refugees taking shelter there.

In a statement published Saturday on its website, the UN agency expressed deep concern over deaths and injuries among those who were seeking refuge in its premises.

The statement highlighted the imperative to protect civilians and civil infrastructure and always uphold the sanctity of the UN facilities.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight and into Sunday as ground forces battled Hamas militants near the territory’s largest hospital, where health officials say thousands of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped with no electricity and dwindling supplies.