Israel targets hospitals as Gaza death toll crosses 11000 mark

GAZA: Israeli air strikes hit three Gaza hospitals and a school on Friday, killing at least 22 people, and a ground battle was underway at another hospital, Palestinian officials said, as Israel's forces took on Hamas in the heart of the enclave.

The health ministry in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s attack since October 7 has risen to at least 11,078, Al Jazeera reported. The death toll includes at least 4,506 children, the ministry said.

Officials said missiles landed in the courtyard of Gaza's biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, in the early hours, damaged the Indonesian Hospital and reportedly set fire to the Nasser Rantissi pediatric cancer hospital.

The hospitals are in northern Gaza and are full of displaced people as well as patients and doctors.

Israeli tanks, which have been advancing through northern Gaza for almost two weeks, have taken up positions around the Nasser Rantissi, Children's and Eye hospitals as well as the Al-Quds hospital, medical staff said ealier, raising the alarm.

"Israel is now launching a war on Gaza City hospitals," Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, director of Shifa Hospital, which was struck by missiles early on Friday, told Reuters.

With the Palestinian death toll surpassing the grim 11,000 mark, Israeli forces — as part of their ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip — stooped to a new low as their snipers targeted the Al Quds hospital, Al Arabiya reported on Friday.

According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), the attack martyred one Palestinian and injured 28 others — the majority of whom were children.

"Two of them [wounded children are] in critical condition due to the occupation snipers targeting the hospital. Additionally, there are injuries from shrapnel of artillery shells west of the hospital," the statement from the PRCS reads.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has refused to comment on the incident when approached by the AFP.

The situation has been further exacerbated as the staff at the Al Quds hospital are facing difficulty due to power outages.

"The hospital remains isolated for the fifth day, as all roads leading to it are closed due to bombardment in the surrounding areas," the PRCS said warning that the facility might have to shut down its operation in the next few hours due to fuel shortage.

Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, a surgeon in Gaza, has said that the strip's largest medical facility — Al-Shifa Hospital — which is providing services to thousands amid the ongoing war has "collapsed"

"Shifa hospital has collapsed. Wounded and staff leaving in droves. Missile attacks this morning on outpatient dept. which housed internally displaced," he said.

Al-Shifa Hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya said the number of people killed by the Israeli strike at al-Buraq school has increased to 50.

"About 50 martyrs were recovered from inside al-Buraq school … after missile and artillery strikes that targeted the school this morning," Salmiya was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

The victims, many of whom were internally displaced Palestinians who had been sheltering at the school, were transported to Al-Shifa Hospital.

The previous number of victims reported by Salmiya was 20.

More than 1,000 officials in the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have signed an open letter urging the Biden administration to call for an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.

The letter is latest sign of unease within the US government over President Joe Biden's unwavering support for Israel in its response to the October 7 attacks by Palestinian Hamas that killed 1,400 Israelis.

"As development, public health, and humanitarian assistance professionals, we are alarmed and disheartened at the numerous violations of international law; laws which aim to protect civilians, medical and media personnel, as well as schools, hospitals, and places of worship," the letter reads.

The UN humanitarian office said on Friday that they cannot deliver aid trucks to the north of Gaza as the war in the besieged enclave rages.

"If there is a hell on earth, it is the north of Gaza," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the weekly press briefing in Geneva.