According to Gaza authorities, at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. The death toll released by the Gaza government media office on Monday includes 5,600 children and 3,550 women.
Israeli forces continued their offensive against Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip, closing in on the Indonesian hospital where thousands of patients and displaced people have been seeking refuge for weeks. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “appalled” by reports that 12 people, including patients, were killed in an overnight shelling of the last operating hospital in northern Gaza. About 200 patients were evacuated from the Indonesian hospital on Monday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that health services in Gaza have suffered “catastrophic” damage. Most hospitals are no longer functioning. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, warned that the thousands of injuries suffered by civilians across Gaza, combined with the growing public health crisis in the besieged enclave, were a “recipe for epidemics.” He also described Israel’s cooperation on humanitarian assistance in Gaza as “below average.”
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said a clinic it runs in Gaza City was attacked on Monday morning. Part of the building burst into flames, it said, and four cars marked “MSF” were burned, while a fifth was found crushed by a heavy vehicle or a tank. The charity said it did not immediately know the status of a staff member and 20 family members.
Twenty-eight premature babies were rescued from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Monday and taken to Egypt. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said 31 “very sick” babies were taken from al-Shifa hospital in a joint operation with the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, with 12 flown to Cairo. Three babies remain in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas appear to be moving toward an agreement that would include the release of a significant number of hostages. possibly in return for a limited ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. Joe Biden said on Monday he believed a deal was close, and the White House later said the US was doing “everything we can” and believed “we are closer than ever before.”
Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas have clashed with far-right Israeli politicians who want to introduce the death penalty as a possible punishment for captured Hamas members. The families said Monday that even the mere talk of it could endanger the lives of their loved ones. The dispute underscores the deep division in Israel over how to deal with the hostage crisis.
The U.N. secretary-general said it was clear that the war in Gaza had “resulted in a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict.” since he took up his role in 2017. At a press conference on Monday, António Guterres also said he did not believe a UN protectorate in Gaza would be a solution to the conflict and that the war must “lead to a decisive and irreversible end-state solution”.
Aid trucks originally from Jordan entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Monday with the intention of setting up a new field hospital in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Jordanian state media said they hoped the facility would help alleviate some of the humanitarian crisis as Israeli forces seized medical facilities in the north.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they had hijacked what they called an Israeli cargo ship in the Red Sea. and warned that any ships linked to Israel “will become a legitimate target for the armed forces.” They have since reportedly released video footage showing gunmen seizing a ship. Israel said the ship was a British and Japanese-operated cargo ship.