KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza City was hit by Israeli attacks overnight and into Sunday as ground troops battled Hamas militants near the territory’s largest hospital, where health officials said thousands of medics, Patients and displaced people are stranded without power and with dwindling supplies.
In a televised address on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected growing international calls for a ceasefire unless it included the release of all nearly 240 hostages taken by Hamas in the Oct. 7 rampage that sparked the war , and said Israel would bring its ceasefire “full force” into battle.
Israel has vowed to end Hamas’ 16-year rule in Gaza and weaken its military capabilities, while blaming the militants for the war’s heavy toll on the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in the besieged territory .
Israel is coming under increasing international pressure, even from its closest ally, the United States, as the war enters its sixth week. A 57-strong gathering of Muslim and Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia called for an end to the war on Saturday, and an estimated 300,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully through London – the largest demonstration in the city since the war began.
Fierce fighting near Shifa Hospital
In Gaza City, residents reported heavy airstrikes and shelling overnight, including in the area around Shifa Hospital. Without providing evidence, Israel has accused Hamas of hiding a command post inside and under the hospital grounds. Hamas and hospital staff denied these claims.
“We spent the night in panic, waiting for them to arrive,” said Ahmed al-Boursh, a resident who sought refuge in the hospital. “They’re outside, not far from the gates.”
The hospital’s last generator ran out of fuel on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of a premature baby, another child in an incubator and four other patients, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. It is said another 37 babies are at risk of death because there is no electricity.
Health Ministry undersecretary Munir al-Boursh said Israeli snipers were stationed around Shifa and fired on any movement within the compound. He said airstrikes destroyed several houses next to the hospital and killed a doctor and his son and son-in-law.
“There are wounded people in the house and we can’t reach them,” he told Al Jazeera television in an interview from the hospital. “We can’t stick our heads out the window.” It wasn’t clear whether he was related to the other man with the same last name.
The Israeli military said there was a safe corridor for the evacuation of civilians from Shifa to the southern Gaza Strip. It said troops would help transport the babies on Sunday and that it was in contact with hospital staff. It was not possible to independently determine the situation in and around the hospital.
According to the Health Ministry, 1,500 patients are still in Shifa, along with 1,500 medical staff and between 15,000 and 20,000 people seeking shelter. Thousands have fled Shifa and other hospitals, but doctors said it was impossible for everyone to get out.
Elsewhere, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli tanks were stationed 20 meters (65 feet) from Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, causing “extreme panic and fear” among the 14,000 displaced people seeking refuge there.
NETANYAHU REJECTS US POST-WAR VISION
Netanyahu said responsibility for any damage to civilians lay with Hamas. Israel has long accused the group, which operates in densely populated neighborhoods, of using civilians as human shields.
The Israeli military said its forces helped clear a corridor during a battle in Gaza City so civilians could escape a building before they came under fire. The troops returned fire and killed the militants, it said.
On Saturday, Netanyahu began outlining Israel’s postwar plans for Gaza, which contrast sharply with the United States’ vision.
Netanyahu said Gaza would be demilitarized and Israel would retain security control and be able to freely enter the Gaza Strip to hunt militants there. He also rejected the idea that the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would eventually control Gaza. In 2007, Hamas drove Palestinian Authority forces out of Gaza in a week of street battles.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States opposed an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and envisioned a unified Palestinian government in both Gaza and the West Bank as a step toward Palestinian statehood. Even before the war, Netanyahu’s government firmly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Evacuation windows but no breaks
Israel’s allies have defended the country’s right to self-protection after the Hamas attack that killed at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians. But now, in the second month of the war, there are growing disagreements over how Israel should fight its battle.
The U.S. has pushed for temporary pauses that would allow for more widespread distribution of urgently needed aid to civilians in the besieged area, where conditions are becoming increasingly dire.
But Israel has agreed to only short daily periods during which civilians can flee the ground combat zone in northern Gaza and head south on foot along two main north-south roads. Israel is now also attacking allegedly militant targets in the southern Gaza Strip, often killing women and children.
The war has displaced over two-thirds of Gaza’s population, with most fleeing south. Egypt has allowed hundreds of foreign passport holders and medical patients to leave the country through the Rafah border crossing. Hundreds of trucks carrying food and medicine – but no fuel – have been able to enter, but aid workers say this is far from enough to meet rising needs.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, two-thirds of them women and minors. About 2,700 people were reported missing and believed to be trapped or dead under the rubble.
Since the ground offensive began, 46 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza and Palestinians continue to fire rockets into Israel. Hamas is still holding 239 prisoners – men, women and children – after releasing four women last month. A fifth prisoner was rescued by Israeli forces.
Late Saturday, thousands of Israelis took part in a rally in Tel Aviv demanding the return of the hostages. In Caesarea, hundreds of protesters gathered near Netanyahu’s home and called for his impeachment.
About 250,000 Israelis were forced to evacuate from communities near Gaza and along the northern border with Lebanon, where there have been repeated gun battles between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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Complete AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.