Ground battles rage in Gaza as concern grows for hospitals
Published: 05:10 PM,Oct 30,2023 | EDITED : 09:10 PM,Oct 30,2023
A picture shows smoke rising during Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. — AFP
GAZA: Ground battles raged inside the northern Gaza Strip on Monday and Israeli tanks were seen on the outskirts of its largest city.
Israel's intensifying land and air campaign has heightened fears for the 2.4 million civilians trapped inside besieged Gaza, where the ministry says more than 8,300 have been killed.
Dozens of Israeli tanks rolled into the fringes of Gaza City, eyewitnesses said, after a night of heavy clashes in nearby areas.
The Israeli land forces are supported by heavy fire from fighter jets, drones and artillery that the army said had struck more than 600 targets within 24 hours.
Concern has surged about the widening humanitarian disaster, with fears centred on Gaza hospitals where medics warn that many patients cannot be moved.
Israeli tanks were spotted on the edges of Gaza City, usually the most densely populated urban area but now emptied of many residents.
A witness said that the Israeli tanks blocked the strip's major north-south road and had been 'firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it'.
Israel has for weeks warned Palestinians civilians to flee the northern half of the Gaza Strip, while also cutting off normal supplies of water, food, fuel and other essentials to the long-blockaded territory.
According to the UN, all 10 hospitals in northern Gaza have received evacuation orders -- despite sheltering thousands of patients and about 117,000 of the displaced.
Among those being treated are intensive care patients, infants and elderly people on life support systems.
The head of the World Health Organization said calls to evacuate Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City were 'deeply concerning'.
'We reiterate — it's impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives,' Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Mohamed al-Talmas, who has taken shelter in Gaza's biggest hospital Al-Shifa, said 'the ground shook' there with intense Israeli raids.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has warned the situation was getting 'more desperate by the hour' and warned against the 'collective punishment' of Palestinians.
US President Joe Biden stressed in a call with Netanyahu that it must do so 'in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritises the protection of civilians'.
And the International Criminal Court lead prosecutor Karim Khan warned Israel on Sunday that preventing access to humanitarian aid could be a 'crime'.
Limited aid has entered Gaza from Egypt, but its volume has fallen far short of the hundreds of trucks a day aid agencies say are needed. — AFP
Israel's intensifying land and air campaign has heightened fears for the 2.4 million civilians trapped inside besieged Gaza, where the ministry says more than 8,300 have been killed.
Dozens of Israeli tanks rolled into the fringes of Gaza City, eyewitnesses said, after a night of heavy clashes in nearby areas.
The Israeli land forces are supported by heavy fire from fighter jets, drones and artillery that the army said had struck more than 600 targets within 24 hours.
Concern has surged about the widening humanitarian disaster, with fears centred on Gaza hospitals where medics warn that many patients cannot be moved.
Israeli tanks were spotted on the edges of Gaza City, usually the most densely populated urban area but now emptied of many residents.
A witness said that the Israeli tanks blocked the strip's major north-south road and had been 'firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it'.
Israel has for weeks warned Palestinians civilians to flee the northern half of the Gaza Strip, while also cutting off normal supplies of water, food, fuel and other essentials to the long-blockaded territory.
According to the UN, all 10 hospitals in northern Gaza have received evacuation orders -- despite sheltering thousands of patients and about 117,000 of the displaced.
Among those being treated are intensive care patients, infants and elderly people on life support systems.
The head of the World Health Organization said calls to evacuate Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City were 'deeply concerning'.
'We reiterate — it's impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives,' Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Mohamed al-Talmas, who has taken shelter in Gaza's biggest hospital Al-Shifa, said 'the ground shook' there with intense Israeli raids.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has warned the situation was getting 'more desperate by the hour' and warned against the 'collective punishment' of Palestinians.
US President Joe Biden stressed in a call with Netanyahu that it must do so 'in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritises the protection of civilians'.
And the International Criminal Court lead prosecutor Karim Khan warned Israel on Sunday that preventing access to humanitarian aid could be a 'crime'.
Limited aid has entered Gaza from Egypt, but its volume has fallen far short of the hundreds of trucks a day aid agencies say are needed. — AFP