Israel faces mounting outrage over Gaza war

Palestinian Territories – AFP

Israel faced mounting international pressure Monday over the rising civilian death toll and destruction of hospitals in Gaza.

The health ministry in Gaza says Israel has killed more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children since October 7 when Hamas attacked its military check posts. It said dozens were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday.

Hamas attack had resulted in the deaths of 1,139 people, according to updated Israeli figures.

Months of fierce bombardment by Israel has displaced most of Gaza’s population and people are grappling with devastating shortages of fuel, food, water and medicine.

Fewer than one-third of Gaza’s hospitals are functioning — those too only partially, 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.

– Kamal Adwan hospital –

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was “appalled by the effective destruction” of the Kamal Adwan hospital, where Israeli forces carried out a multi-day operation.

Outside the hospital courtyard, which showed tank and bulldozer tracks, Abu Mohammed, who came to look for his son, stood crying.

“I don’t know how I will find him,” he said, pointing to the debris.

The Israeli army pulled out of the hospital on Sunday after an operation lasting several days, claiming it had been used as a command and control centre by Hamas.

Israel said that before entering the hospital it had negotiated safe passage for the evacuation of most of the people inside.

– ‘Bloodbath’ at Al-Shifa hospital –

The WHO also said Israeli bombing had reduced the emergency department at the Al-Shifa hospital to “a bloodbath”.

The 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.

The Israeli army said five soldiers were killed on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 126 in the Gaza Strip since ground operations began in late October.

– 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.

People of Gaza 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 prisoners 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.

Israel is also facing calls from the families of people taken prisoners by Hamas, to either slow, suspend or end the military campaign.

There are 129 prisoners 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.