Jerusalem — Relentless Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has killed more than 11,100 people, most of them women and children, has also rendered several hospitals out of service, according to the besieged enclave’s health ministry.
Here are five key developments from the past 24 hours:
Hospitals ‘out of service’
The deputy health minister of Gaza Strip, Youssef Abu Rish, told AFP on Monday that all hospitals in the north of the territory are “out of service”, amid fuel shortages and intense combat.
Abu Rish said seven premature babies and 27 patients had died in recent days in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, the Palestinian territory’s largest.
The hospital has been at the center of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The European Union’s humanitarian aid chief, Janez Lenarcic, called Monday for “meaningful” humanitarian pauses in the fighting and urgent fuel deliveries to keep hospitals running.
UN aid work risks ‘halt’
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned Monday its Gaza operations might shut down due to fuel shortages.
“The humanitarian operation in Gaza will grind to a halt in the next 48 hours as no fuel is allowed to enter,” UNRWA’s Gaza chief Thomas White wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“This morning two of our main water distribution contractors ceased working — they simply ran out of fuel,” White said.
Gaza has been under near-total Israeli siege and is short of food, fuel and other basic supplies.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday called on the European Union and the United Nations to “parachute aid” into Gaza.
Netanyahu evokes hostage deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US media a deal could be afoot to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, but declined to provide details for fear of scuttling the potential plan.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether there was a potential deal, Netanyahu replied: “There could be.”
A Palestinian official in Gaza, however, blamed Netanyahu “for the delay and obstacles in reaching a preliminary agreement on the release of several prisoners”.
Violence across region
Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah traded fire again on Monday, following near-daily border skirmishes since October 8 that have heightened fears of a regional conflagration.
The Israel Electric Corporation said a worker was killed Sunday by an anti-tank missile strike across the Lebanese border “during his work in the Dovev area” — just half a mile (800 metres) from the frontier.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where deadly violence has surged in tandem with the Israel-Hamas war, the Palestinian health ministry said Issa al-Qadi, a 66-year-old taxi driver, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Hebron. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
And in eastern Syria, at least eight pro-Iran fighters have been killed in US strikes, a war monitor said Monday.
Israeli ally Washington said it carried out raids Sunday in response to attacks on American forces, which have increased across the region since the war in Gaza erupted.
Jordan warns against ‘reoccupying Gaza’
Jordan’s King Abdullah II said on Monday that “any scenario or idea of (Israel) reoccupying parts of Gaza or establishing buffer zones there will exacerbate the crisis” and infringe on Palestinians’ “legitimate rights”.
The narrow territory was under Israeli occupation for 38 years until Israel unilaterally withdrew troops and settlers in 2005, but later imposed a crippling blockade after Hamas seized power in 2007.
International pressure mounting
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the human cost of its war with Gaza’s Hamas rulers but is working to expand its “window of legitimacy”, its top diplomat said Monday.
“We have two or three weeks until international pressure really steps up but the foreign ministry is working to broaden the window of legitimacy, and the fighting will carry on for as long as necessary,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said, as quoted by his spokesman.