By The Associated Press
Two and a half weeks after sending tanks and floor troops into northern Gaza, Israeli forces entered a hospital early Wednesday that they declare Hamas operates out of. Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, mentioned Israeli tanks have been contained in the medical compound and that troopers had entered buildings, together with the emergency and surgical procedure departments, which home intensive care models.
Shifa Hospital has develop into a logo of the widespread struggling of Palestinian civilians in the course of the struggle between Israel and Hamas, which erupted after the militant group killed some 1,200 folks and seized round 240 captives in a shock Oct. 7 assault into southern Israel.
The Israeli military claims the militant group makes use of hospitals as cowl for its fighters, and has arrange its primary command heart in and beneath Shifa Hospital, the biggest within the besieged territory. Both Hamas and Shifa Hospital employees deny the Israeli allegations.
More than 11,200 Palestinians — two-thirds of them girls and minors — have been killed because the struggle started, in line with the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 folks have been reported lacking.
Currently:
— The U.N. Security Council is making an attempt for a fifth time to undertake a decision on the Israel-Hamas struggle.
— ASEAN protection chiefs name for the preventing in Gaza to stop, however they wrestle to handle Myanmar.
— Thousands flee Gaza’s primary hospital however tons of, together with infants, are nonetheless trapped by preventing.
— Israel supporters rally in Washington, crying ‘never again.’
— Find extra of AP’s protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s what’s taking place within the newest Israel-Hamas struggle:
CAIRO — The head of UNRWA, the U.N. aid company for Palestinian refugees, confirmed Wednesday that it has obtained 23,000 liters (6,000 gallons) of gas that crossed into Gaza by way of the Rafah crossing, however referred to as for extra to be allowed to enter the besieged territory.
The assist group says Israeli authorities allowed the gas to enter underneath the restriction that it could actually solely be used to move assist into besieged Gaza.
“This fuel cannot be used for the overall humanitarian response, including for medical and water facilities or the work of UNRWA,” Philippe Lazzarini mentioned in an internet assertion.
UNRWA wants 160,000 liters (42,200 gallons) of gas every day to finish “basic humanitarian operations,” he added.
Israel declared struggle on Hamas and barred gas shipments after its assault on Israel on Oct. 7, saying the group would divert the provides for navy use.
Coordination of Government Activities within the Territories, the Israeli protection physique accountable for Palestinian affairs, introduced early Wednesday that it could permit United Nations vans to refill on the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. It mentioned the choice was in response to a request from the United States,
CAIRO — A senior official with Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says Israeli forces are nonetheless working inside Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, hours after launching a raid early Wednesday.
Speaking by cellphone from the hospital, Munir al-Boursh mentioned Israeli troopers ransacked the basement and different buildings, together with these housing the emergency and surgical procedure departments.
“They are still here … patients, women and children are terrified,” he mentioned. He mentioned medical doctors vowed to stick with their sufferers “till the end.”
Israel says Hamas has a secret command heart in and underneath the hospital however has supplied no visible proof. Hamas and the hospital employees deny the allegations.
The navy mentioned it was finishing up a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in a particular a part of the hospital away from sufferers and medical employees. It mentioned it additionally delivered medical provides.
Al-Boursh referred to as for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to safe a secure hall for sufferers, medical employees and displaced households trapped within the facility to go away.
Al-Boursh mentioned an Israeli official spoke with him by cellphone early Wednesday and requested him to hitch the forces looking out the ability, however he refused.
JERUSALEM — The primary Palestinian communications firm warned Wednesday that Gaza will plunge right into a communications blackout in a matter of hours following a number of short-term outages in latest weeks.
In a submit on X, previously generally known as Twitter, Paltel mentioned dwindling gas provides have compelled all of its mills in Gaza to close down and that communications within the territory at the moment are depending on batteries.
The firm warned of a “cessation of all communications services during the next few hours.”
Israel allowed the primary cargo of gas to enter the besieged territory on Wednesday, however the U.N. says the quantity allowed in will not be sufficient to assist the quickly deteriorating humanitarian state of affairs.
GENEVA — The U.N.’s prime emergency aid official on Wednesday condemned reported Israeli navy raids on Gaza’s embattled Shifa Hospital and insisted Hamas militants should not use it as a “shield” for his or her actions.
Martin Griffiths underscored rising worldwide concern for the plight of sufferers within the Gaza City hospital who’re too sick or frail to be moved.
“Look, Hamas must not, should not, use a place like a hospital as a shield for their presence,” he mentioned in a video assertion. He added, “hospitals should not become a place of — a war zone — of danger.”
Griffiths mentioned earlier on X, beforehand referred to as Twitter, that he was “appalled” by in a single day studies of Israeli raids on Shifa.
The U.N. World Health Organization says Shifa sufferers have wants which can be “well beyond basic care.” Images reportedly from the ability confirmed medics making an attempt to maintain newborns heat in blankets as a result of energy for incubators had failed.
“The babies have no incubators,” Griffiths mentioned. “Some are dead already. We can’t move them out. It’s too dangerous.”
“I understand the Israelis’ concern for trying to find the leadership of Hamas, that’s not our problem,” he added. “Our problem is protecting the people of Gaza from what’s being visited upon them.”
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre mentioned Wednesday he was very glad that the primary Norwegian residents have arrived on the Egyptian aspect of the border with Gaza.
Norway had been knowledgeable that 51 Norwegians may depart Gaza by way of the border crossing at Rafah.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide mentioned, “there are no safe places in Gaza, and everyone who is there is exposed to traumatic experiences.”
Barth Eide mentioned the state of affairs in Gaza was “a humanitarian disaster, which also affects Norwegian citizens. The acts of war must stop and humanitarian aid must be allowed in.”
According to Norwegian information company NTB, there are about 270 folks with ties to Norway in Gaza with roughly half of them kids.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan elevated his criticism of Israel on Wednesday, calling it a “terrorist state” intent on destroying Gaza together with all of its residents.
In a fiery speech to members of his social gathering, Erdogan additionally mentioned his nation would take steps to make sure that Israel’s political and navy leaders are dropped at trial in worldwide courts.
“Israel is implementing a strategy of total destruction of a city and its people,” Erdogan mentioned. “I say openly that Israel is a terrorist state.”
The Turkish chief described Hamas militants as “resistance fighters” making an attempt to guard their lands and folks.
Turkey not too long ago normalized relations with Israel however its struggle with Hamas in Gaza has once more strained their ties. Israel recalled its diplomats from Turkey final month after Erdogan accused Israel of committing struggle crimes. Turkey later additionally recalled its ambassador from Israel.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s navy insisted Wednesday its forces in and across the largest hospital in Gaza are particularly concentrating on Hamas, which it claims arrange a command heart there. Both Hamas and Shifa Hospital employees deny the Israeli allegations.
“Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the civilians in Gaza,” mentioned Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces. “The IDF has publicly warned time and again that Hamas’s continued military use of Shifa Hospital jeopardizes its protected status under international law.”
Hagari mentioned Israeli forces in Gaza included medics and Arabic audio system to attempt to present help within the “complex and sensitive environment.”
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — A rainbow appeared within the sky over southern Gaza on Wednesday as residents, a lot of them refugees from the northern a part of the strip, struggled for survival amid round the clock airstrikes. Residents in vehicles and on bicycles and makeshift carts pulled by donkeys weaved their approach by means of the town’s roads, suffering from rubble from the bombardment.
Egyptian Mohammad al-Abdallah has been making an attempt to go away Gaza because the bombing began. “They asked us to come from the north. And when we arrived, we stayed in an apartment here, and we were bombed. Do they want us to die? This is enough,” he mentioned.
JERUSALEM — Requests for gun permits in Israel have skyrocketed since Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 incursion, in line with a press launch from the Ministry of National Security.
More than 236,000 new requests for permits have been filed because the assault — a determine equal to the quantity filed over 20 years, the assertion mentioned.
A way of insecurity gripped Israel following the assault and the military’s hourslong delay in responding, resulting in a rush to purchase weapons. At least 1,200 folks have been killed and greater than 240 taken hostage after Hamas militants breached Israel’s border fence and fanned out throughout the nation’s south.
Armed civilian safety squads entered the breach within the military’s absence to struggle off a number of the attackers. Shortly after, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir mentioned he would broaden and arm such squads with 10,000 assault rifles that will be distributed notably in border cities, combined Jewish-Arab cities and West Bank settlements. Ben-Gvir has an extended document of anti-Arab rhetoric, and Palestinians feared these weapons could be used towards them.
Some 1,700 permits are being issued every day after the Ministry of National Security eased restrictions, the report mentioned. By comparability, a median of 94 have been issued every day in November 2022, and a median of 42 a 12 months earlier.
JERUSALEM — The United Nations kids’s company says its prime official visited the Gaza Strip early Wednesday and met with kids and their households within the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, within the south of the territory.
“What I saw and heard was devastating. They have endured repeated bombardment, loss and displacement,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell mentioned in a press release despatched to The Associated Press. “Inside the Strip, there is nowhere safe for Gaza’s one million children to turn.”
Russell is among the many few worldwide officers to have visited the Gaza Strip because the struggle started following a shock assault by Hamas on Oct. 7.
In the assertion she referred to as for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and for assist to be allowed unrestricted, saying that “in the hospital’s neonatal ward, tiny babies were clinging to life in incubators, as doctors worried how they could keep the machines running without fuel,” Russell mentioned within the assertion.
She additionally met UNICEF employees and their households. Over 100 U.N. employees have been killed within the Gaza Strip since Israel launched a struggle geared toward destroying Hamas.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli navy says its forces have entered Gaza’s Shifa hospital, the positioning of a prolonged standoff.
The military had surrounded the ability as a part of its floor offensive towards Hamas, claiming the militant group conceals navy operations within the hospital advanced. But with tons of of sufferers and medical personnel inside, it had avoided getting into.
Early Wednesday, the military mentioned its forces have been finishing up “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area” within the hospital. It gave no additional particulars however mentioned it was taking steps to keep away from hurt to civilians.
In a press release, the Israeli navy mentioned it had warned “the relevant authorities in Gaza once again that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours. Unfortunately, it did not.”
Hamas has denied the Israeli accusations that it makes use of the hospital for canopy.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”