GAZA: Israel said it had taken 100 people into custody at one of Gaza's main hospitals on Saturday after troops raided the facility, with fears mounting for patients and staff trapped inside.
The deadly bombardment of Gaza continued overnight with another 100 people killed in Israeli strikes, according to the health ministry.
At least 120 patients and five medical teams are stuck without water, food and electricity in the Nasser hospital in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis, according to the health ministry.
Israel has for weeks concentrated its military operations in Khan Yunis.
Intense fighting has raged around the Nasser hospital —one of the Palestinian territory's last major medical facilities that remains even partly operational.
The power was cut and the generators stopped after the raid, leading to the deaths of six patients due to a lack of oxygen, according to Gaza's health ministry.
"New-born children are at a risk of dying in the next few hours," the ministry warned on Saturday.
Israel's army said troops entered the hospital on Thursday, acting on what it said was "credible intelligence" that hostages seized in the October 7 attack had been held there and that the bodies of some may still be inside.
The raid has been criticised by medics and the United Nations. The army has insisted it made every effort to keep the hospital supplied with power, including bringing in an alternative generator.
A witness, who declined to be named for safety reasons, said that the Israeli forces had shot "at anyone who moved inside the hospital".
World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic slammed the operation, saying "more degradation to the hospital means more lives being lost".
"Patients, health workers, and civilians who are seeking refuge in hospitals deserve safety and not a burial in those places of healing," he said.
Doctors Without Borders said its medics had been forced to flee and leave patients behind, with one employee unaccounted for and another detained by Israeli forces.
Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed at least 28,858 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.
The UN Human Rights Office said the Nasser hospital raid appeared to be "part of a pattern of attacks by Israeli forces striking essential life-saving civilian infrastructure".
A day after US President Joe Biden called for a "temporary truce" to secure the release of captives, Palestinians reiterated their demands, including a complete pause in fighting, the release of prisoners, and withdrawal of Israeli troops. — AFP
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