Extract from ABC News
The World Health Organization has said that Israel's ongoing raid of Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital is "totally unacceptable", as the first fuel since October 7 begins to trickle into the enclave after Israel granted approval.
Palestinian health authorities estimate at least 11,320 people, including 4,650 children and 202 medical personnel, have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.
It says that at least 3,600 civilians, including 1,750 children, are missing, but said that the ministry is facing severe challenges in systematic data collection to update these tolls.
"For the fourth consecutive day, the ministry faces challenges in updating the number of casualties because of services and communications collapsing in hospitals in the north," the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.
Israel has pushed further into the Strip and into Gaza City in its ground invasion.
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas, rejecting calls for a ceasefire unless all hostages were released.
"There's no place in Gaza we won't reach," he said on Wednesday.
Here are the latest developments:
- 'Totally unacceptable' for Israel to raid Al-Shifa hospital: WHO
- 'Not enough for anything': Fuel to enter Gaza for first time since October 7 attack
- Possible three-day ceasefire for 50 hostages deal being mediated by Qatar
'Totally unacceptable' for Israel to raid Al-Shifa hospital: WHO
The head of the World Health Organization says that the Israeli military's raid of Gaza's biggest hospital was "totally unacceptable".
Israeli troops entered Al-Shifa early Wednesday as part of their assault on the Palestinian territory.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference that patients and staff must be protected even if hospitals were used for military purposes.
"Hospitals are not battlegrounds."
The WHO was "urgently exploring the possibility for evacuating patients and medical staff" from the hospital, a representative said.
The UN and Red Cross have also voiced alarm over the raid, demanding that the thousands of patients be protected.
The Israeli military claims that Hamas has a secret command centre in and under the hospital and it had found weapons during the raid.
It has not provided any visual evidence for either claim.
The White House on Tuesday said it had intelligence of a command centre at the Al-Shifa hospital, but also did not provide specifics.
Hamas has long denied that it uses Al-Shifa as a cover for operations, and has invited international organisations to investigate the facility.
Dr Tedros said earlier on Wednesday that the WHO had lost touch with health personnel at Al-Shifa and the organisation was unable to assess the state of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip as it had no reports for casualties numbers in the last three days.
"No water, no electricity, only bombing, bombing, bombing," he said one WHO staff member described it.
Other hospital staff described similar scenes.
Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalti, a surgeon, told Reuters by telephone that explosions and gunfire suddenly stepped up early Tuesday evening, and there was "continuous shooting from the tanks" that had surrounded the hospital.
"All kinds of weapons were used around the hospital. They targeted the hospital directly."
Israel has claimed that Hamas uses the area underneath the hospital as a command centre, which has been denied by Hamas and hospital staff.
Dr Mohammad Zaqout, Director-General of hospitals at the Palestinian Health Ministry, said the hospital was "still besieged".
"[Israeli forces] are searching employees, civilians even the injured and patients," he told Reuters.
"Tanks are moving inside the hospital walls and they destroyed the wall in the northern area of the hospital."
He said that more than 40 patients died during the last three days, with the rest "on their way to death if no immediate intervention takes place".
The UN estimates at least 2,300 people, including patients, staff and displaced civilians, were still inside Shifa and may be unable to escape.
Fuel to enter Gaza for first time since October 7 attack
The first fuel truck to enter the Gaza Strip since the start of the war has crossed through Egypt's Rafah crossing, according to Egyptian state media.
The truck reportedly headed to Kerem Shalom crossing, a junction for trucks carrying goods into the enclave, for screening.
UN aid chief Martin Griffith on Wednesday implored Israel to open up the Kerem Shalom crossing for aid, as aid is currently only being allowed in Gaza through Rafah, which was designed for pedestrian crossings and not trucks.
Israeli defense officials said on Wednesday they will allow fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip for humanitarian operations.
It barred fuel shipments after Hamas's October 7 terror attack, claiming the militant group would divert supplies for military use.
But fuel is key to operations at Gaza hospitals, which run on generators, and shortages hindered the United Nations from distributing humanitarian aid including food, medicine, bottled water, blankets and tents.
Many of the hospitals in the besieged strip have also had to cease operations after running out of fuel.
But the delivery, approved by Israel for 24,000 litres of diesel, is not for use at hospitals, according to a humanitarian source.
"This is only 9 per cent of what we need daily to sustain lifesaving activities, " Tom White, director of the UN relief agency for Palestinians UNRWA, said on social media platform X.
He said that desalination plants and water wells have stopped working because they were out of fuel.
"Humanitarian aid must be delivered based upon need – not based upon conditions set by parties to a conflict," Mr White wrote.
UNWRA head Philippe Lazzarini said that the UN operation was on "the verge of collapse" and that the fuel shortages have prompted critical shortages of drinking water.
"By the end of today, 70 per cent of the population in Gaza won't have access to clean water," Mr Lazzarini said.
"This is not enough for anything — not for hospitals, not even for aid deliveries," one international source with knowledge of the operation said.
The UN warned in recent days that it would soon have to halt humanitarian operations as its fuel stocks became fully depleted.
It said fuel shortages had already caused or contributed to the closure of hospitals, bakeries, sewage pumping stations, water desalination plants and water wells, and were threatening to shut down telecoms data centres and connection points within 48 hours.
Telecoms firm Paltel confirmed on Wednesday that its services across the Gaza Strip were expected to be suspended within hours as its generators had stopped working due to lack of fuel.
Qatar still trying to mediate hostage release
Qatar is mediating a hostage exchange deal between Hamas and Israel that involves the release of around 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.
The deal would also see Israel release some Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails, something Hamas has sought since October, and increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, the official said.
The deal is also being coordinated with the US.
It would mark the biggest release of hostages held by Hamas since it committed a terrorist attack on October 7.
According to the official, Hamas has agreed to the general outlines of this deal, but Israel has not and it is still negotiating the details.
It is not yet known how many Palestinians would be released from Israeli jails as part of this agreement under discussion.
The deal would also require Hamas handing over a complete list of remaining living civilian hostages held in Gaza, and a more comprehensive release of all hostages is not currently under discussion, according to the official.
It is unclear whether Hamas is able to compile an accurate list of hostages it holds, since the war has caused communications and organisational problems in the Strip, a Western diplomat in the region said.
Israeli officials have not responded, and have previously declined to comment on hostage negotiations due to a reluctance to undermine the diplomacy or fuel what they called "psychological warfare" by Hamas.
Israeli Minister and member of the war cabinet Benny Gantz said on Wednesday, "Even if we are required to pause fighting in order to return our hostages, there will be no stopping the combat and the war until we achieve our goals".
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously repeatedly refused calls for a ceasefire unless all civilian hostages held in Gaza were released.
ABC/Wires
No comments:
Post a Comment