The latest updates from the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
ADVERTISEMENTFighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants outside Gaza's largest hospital has forced thousands of people to flee from the sprawling medical facility, but hundreds of patients and others displaced by the war remained inside, officials from the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Monday.
Patients inside the hospital include dozens of babies at risk of dying because of a lack of electricity, health officials at the facility said.
The Hamas government's deputy health minister announced Monday the deaths of "seven premature babies" and "27 patients in intensive care" since Saturday due to the lack of electricity at al-Shifa hospital, the largest of Gaza, which has been shelled and besieged by Israel.
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since the war began.
Gaza City, the largest urban area in the territory, is the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas following the militant group's deadly 7 October incursion into southern Israel that set off the war.
More than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing.
More than 1,200 people in Israel died, most of them in the Hamas attack, and about 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by Palestinian militants.
WHO says Gaza's largest hospital 'not functioning'
The head of the World Health Organization says that Gaza's largest hospital is "not functioning as a hospital any more."
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Doctor Tedros Ghebreyesus said the Shifa hospital had been without electricity for the last three days, "without water and with very poor internet which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential care."
"The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair," he wrote.
Meanwhile the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that Israeli bombardments and armed clashes around Shifa hospital have "intensified" since Saturday afternoon.
"Critical infrastructure, including the oxygen station, water tanks and a well, the cardiovascular facility, and the maternity ward, was damaged, and three nurses killed," the agency said.
It added that some staff and patients have managed to flee while others are trapped inside.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed urgent calls for a cease-fire unless it includes the release of all the nearly 240 hostages captured by Hamas in the 7 October rampage that triggered the war.
Calls for aid to be dropped on Gaza
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Monday called on the UN and EU to "drop aid" on the Gaza Strip to support civilians trapped in the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas.
“I call on the United Nations and the European Union to drop aid on the Gaza Strip , particularly in the north, as has been done many times around the world,” Shtayyeh said during the council of ministers of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
He also called for more delivery of humanitarian aid by road, with “the opening of aid corridors, which are not limited to the Rafah crossing point”.
The Rafah terminal, on the border with Egypt, is the only one currently through which trucks carrying food, medicines, medical supplies, bottled water, blankets, tents and hygiene products enter.
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Israel loses to Kosovo in Euro 2024 qualifying game
Israel’s chances of reaching the European Championship finals went down Sunday after its 1-0 loss to Kosovo in their delayed qualifying game.
It was the first soccer match for Israel since the 7 October attack by Hamas and the ongoing war in Gaza. It had originally been scheduled for 15 October but was postponed.
Kosovo fans whistled Israeli players when they had the ball but the game passed off peacefully in Pristina.
Kosovo's Milot Rashica scored the only goal in the 41st minute. He controlled the ball in the area and under pressure managed a strong shot which Israel goalkeeper Omri Glazer couldn't stop.