Jerusalem – Israel faced mounting international pressure Monday over the rising civilian death toll and destruction of hospitals in Gaza, as it pressed on with its war against Hamas fighters in the besieged Palestinian territory.
The deadliest ever Gaza invasion began with unprecedented attacks by Hamas on October 7, when the group killed 1,139 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250, according to updated Israeli figures.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, have died in Israel’s campaign in Gaza. It said dozens were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday.
Following months of fierce bombardment and fighting, most of Gaza’s population have also been displaced and people are grappling with shortages of fuel, food, water and medicine.
Fewer than one-third of Gaza’s hospitals are partly functioning, according to the UN, with the World Health Organization denouncing on Sunday the impact of Israeli operations on two hospitals in the north of the territory.
The WHO also said Israeli bombing had reduced the emergency department at the Al-Shifa hospital to “a bloodbath”.
The Hamas-run health ministry said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit Nasser hospital in southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Yunis, killing one person and injuring seven others.
And the ministry said Israeli forces had stormed Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza on Sunday and detained medical staff following several days of siege and bombing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed to “fight until the end” on Sunday, promising to achieve the aims of eliminating Hamas, freeing all hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again become “a centre for terrorism.”
Calls for truce
The Israeli government has come under growing pressure from the international community to pause the fighting and do more to protect civilians.
The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million Gazans — around 80 percent — have been displaced by the war.
“I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Gazans have also faced repeated communications outages but on Sunday Gaza’s main telecoms firm said mobile and internet service had been gradually restored.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was in Israel on Sunday, where she called for an “immediate and durable” truce.
France separately condemned an Israel bombardment that killed one of its foreign ministry officials in Gaza.
Qatar, which helped mediate a truce last month that saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 jailed Palestinians, said there were “ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause”.
But Hamas said on Telegram it was “against any negotiations for the exchange of captives until the aggression against our people ceases completely”.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Kuwait on Monday as part of a regional trip that will include stops in Israel and Qatar, which brokered a previous ceasefire deal.
‘Daily humiliation’
Israel is also facing calls from the families of hostages, to either slow, suspend or end the military campaign.
There are 129 hostages still in Gaza, Israel says, and relatives again rallied in Tel Aviv to call for a deal to bring them home after the army admitted to mistakenly killing three of the captives in Gaza.
One hostage already freed, German-Israeli Raz Ben-Ami, 57, spoke of the “daily humiliation, mental, physical”, she endured, including one meal a day and no proper toilets.
The conflict in Gaza has also seen violence spiral in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces killed five Palestinians on Sunday morning at a West Bank refugee camp.
Israel’s army said air strikes had targeted fighters who had endangered soldiers.
Health officials say more than 290 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the war erupted.