Heavy fighting continues across the Gaza Strip, with battles between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants centred in Jabaliya around Al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza and Rafah in the south, Arab media reported.
Israeli airstrikes have injured and killed dozens of civilians over the past 24 hours. Nine people died in strikes on homes in Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
Fears are growing for the fate of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, which the Israeli tanks have surrounded earlier. Staff and patients are inside the hospital and supplies are running low. Moreover, the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings in Gaza has exacerbated the problem.
Meanwhile, senior US official Jake Sullivan is in Israel for meetings with officials after travelling to Saudi Arabia. Washington hopes to broker a Saudi-Israeli normalisation agreement.
After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said on Sunday that Sullivan briefed the Israeli premier on “potential” plans that may be available.
The hospital’s under total siege
The international non-governmental organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday that the Al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya in northern Gaza was in critical condition, with drinking water running out and staff overwhelmed by injured patients.
MSF officials said “tanks have surrounded” the hospital and medics and patients are taking shelter inside amid ongoing fighting around the hospital.
“All warring parties must ensure their protection and that of health infrastructure including hospitals,” the organisation said in a post on X. It also added:
“After a strike on Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza on 18 May, 34 patients were admitted to nearby Al Awda hospital, and amid nearby fighting, the hospital has now run out of drinking water…”
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Some 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes due to constant bombing.
