HEAVY FIGHTING BREAKS OUT AROUND GAZA HOSPITAL, 31 BABIES EVACUATED

Intense clashes broke out on Monday near a hospital in northern Gaza, where thousands of patients and displaced individuals have sought refuge for weeks. Israeli forces are concentrating efforts on clearing medical facilities, alleging that Hamas militants use them as cover.

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The advance on the Indonesian Hospital came a day after the World Health Organisation evacuated 31 premature babies from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the territory’s largest, where they were among more than 250 critically ill or wounded patients stranded there days after Israeli forces entered the compound.

The plight of Gaza’s hospitals is at the focus of a battle of narratives over the war’s brutal toll on Palestinian civilians, thousands of whom have been killed or buried in rubble since the six-week-old war was sparked by Hamas’ 7 Oct rampage into southern Israel.

Israel says Hamas uses civilians as human shields, while critics say Israel’s siege and relentless aerial bombardment amount to collective punishment of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.

Marwan Abdallah, a medical worker at the Indonesian Hospital, said Israeli tanks were visible from the windows. “You can see them moving around and firing,” he said. “Women and children are terrified. There are constant sounds of explosions and gunfire.”