Heavy fighting rages near main Gaza hospital as Netanyahu dismisses calls for a cease-fire

KHAN YUNIS – Israeli moves pounded Gaza City in a single day and into Sunday as floor forces battled Hamas militants near the territory’s greatest hospital, the place well being officers say 1000’s of medics, sufferers and displaced individuals are trapped without a electrical energy and dwindling provides.

In a televised deal with on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected rising world calls for a cease-fire except it contains the discharge of the entire just about 240 hostages captured by means of Hamas in the Oct. 7 rampage that precipitated the warfare, pronouncing Israel used to be bringing its “full force” to the combat.

Israel has vowed to finish Hamas’ 16-year rule in Gaza and overwhelm its army functions, whilst blaming the militants for the warfare’s heavy toll at the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped within the besieged territory.

Israel has come below mounting world drive, even from its closest best friend, the United States, as the warfare enters a 6th week. A 57-nation collecting of Muslim and Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia on Saturday known as for the warfare to finish, and an estimated 300,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully via London — the most important demonstration within the town because the warfare started.

HEAVY FIGHTING NEAR SHIFA HOSPITAL

In Gaza City, citizens reported heavy airstrikes and shelling in a single day, together with in the area around Shifa Hospital. Israel, with out offering proof, has accused Hamas of concealing a command post inside of and below the hospital compound, allegations denied by means of Hamas and hospital body of workers.

“We spent the night in panic waiting for their arrival,” mentioned Ahmed al-Boursh, a resident taking safe haven within the hospital. “They are outside, not far from the gates.”

The hospital’s closing generator ran out of gas on Saturday, inflicting the demise of a untimely child, some other kid in an incubator and 4 different sufferers, in keeping with the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. It says some other 37 young children are prone to demise as a result of there is not any electrical energy.

Health Ministry under-secretary Munir al-Boursh mentioned Israeli snipers have deployed round Shifa, firing at any motion within the compound. He mentioned airstrikes had destroyed a number of houses subsequent to the hospital, killing a physician, his son and son-in-law.

“There are wounded in the home, and we will be able to’t achieve them,” he told Al Jazeera television in an interview from the hospital. “We can’t stick our heads out of the window.” It was not clear if he was related to the other man with the same surname.

Israel’s military had earlier confirmed clashes outside the hospital and said that on Sunday, troops will assist in moving babies to a safer location. The military says it is in contact with hospital staff.

The Health Ministry says there are still 1,500 patients at Shifa, along with 1,500 medical personnel and between 15,000 and 20,000 people seeking shelter. Thousands have fled Shifa and other hospitals that have come under attack, but physicians said it’s impossible for everyone to get out.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli tanks were 20 meters (65 feet) from al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, causing “extreme panic and fear” among the 14,000 displaced people sheltering there.

NETANYAHU REJECTS US POSTWAR VISION

Netanyahu has said the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas. Israel has long accused the group, which operates in dense residential neighborhoods, of using civilians as human shields.

The Israeli military said that during a battle in Gaza City, its forces helped clear a corridor for civilians to exit a building before coming under fire. The troops returned fire, killing the militants, it said.

On Saturday, Netanyahu started to stipulate Israel’s postwar plans for Gaza, which distinction sharply with the imaginative and prescient put forth by means of the United States.

Netanyahu said Gaza would be demilitarized and that Israel would retain security control, with the ability to enter Gaza freely to hunt down militants. He also rejected the idea that the Palestinian Authority, which currently administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would at some stage control Gaza. Hamas drove the PA’s forces out of Gaza in a week of street battles in 2007.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the U.S. opposes an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and envisions a unified Palestinian government in both Gaza and the West Bank as a step toward Palestinian statehood. Even before the war, Netanyahu’s government was staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood.

In another sign of international frustration with Israel, Saudi Arabia welcomed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday in the first such visit since the two countries mended ties this year. Israel views Iran as its main enemy and had sought to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia before the outbreak of the war.

EVACUATION WINDOWS, BUT NO PAUSES

Israel’s allies have defended the country’s right to protect itself after the Hamas attack, which killed at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians. But now into the second month of war, there are growing differences over how Israel should conduct its fight.

The U.S. has driven for transient pauses that will permit for wider distribution of badly wanted help to civilians within the besieged territory the place stipulations are increasingly dire. However, Israel has simplest agreed to brief daily periods all the way through which civilians can flee the world of floor struggle in northern Gaza and head south on foot alongside two main north-south roads.

Since these evacuation windows were first announced a week ago, tens of thousands of civilians have fled the north. But Israel is striking what it says are militant targets across central and southern Gaza as well, 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 exit through its Rafah crossing. It has also allowed hundreds of trucks loaded with food and medicine — but no fuel — to enter, but aid workers say it’s nowhere near enough to meet the mounting needs.

More than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them girls and minors, had been killed because the warfare started, in keeping with the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 other people had been reported lacking and are regarded as trapped or lifeless below the rubble.

Forty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began, and Palestinians have continued firing rockets into Israel. Hamas is still holding 239 captives — men, women and children — after releasing four women last month. A fifth captive was rescued by Israeli forces.

Late Saturday, thousands of Israelis participated in a rally in Tel Aviv, calling for the return of hostages. In Caesarea, hundreds of protesters gathered near Netanyahu’s home, calling for his removal from office.

About 250,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate from communities near Gaza and alongside the northern border with Lebanon, the place Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have traded hearth time and again.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

___

Full AP protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.