Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) said on Sunday it has received warnings from Israeli authorities to immediately evacuate al-Quds hospital in the Gaza Strip. “Since this morning, there had been raids 50 meters away from the hospital,” it added in a statement on Facebook.
The statement comes amid continued bombardment by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) killing at over 8,000 Palestinians, including at least 3,595 children, and injuring thousands in the narrow Gaza strip.
Israel is expanding ground operations in Gaza and its fighter jets have struck hundreds more Hamas targets, the Israeli military said on Sunday, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the second phase of a three-week-old war.
Israeli Defence Force (IDF) fighter jets struck over 450 military targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including operational command centres, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts, the military said.
“We are gradually expanding the ground activity and the scope of our forces in the Gaza Strip,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a briefing. “We will do everything we can from the air, sea and land to ensure the safety of our forces and achieve the goals of the war.”
Panic and fear have surged inside Gaza, where over one million people are displaced, and where communications went dark for days after Israel cut internet lines, although connectivity had reportedly gradually returned early Sunday.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are also grappling with shortages of food, water and medicine due to Israel’s blockade of the enclave. Only a few aid trucks have crossed into Gaza since the opening of the Rafah crossing point last weekend.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Saturday that Gaza’s “still functioning hospitals are on the verge of collapse” amid a lack of electricity and medical supplies.
“The immediate imperative must be to save lives and preserve humanity, including by ensuring hospitals can operate in safety,” ICRC said in a statement.
It said its medical team that arrived Friday in Gaza is not enough to address the “tragedy unfolding.”
“It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza amid the massive bombardments, and with a military siege in place there is also no adequate humanitarian response currently possible,” said ICRC president. “This is a catastrophic failing that the world must not tolerate.”
ICRC reiterated that it continues dialogue with relevant parties “to find solutions to the most pressing humanitarian issues, such as protecting civilians and helping the wounded.”
The Palestinian health ministry had earlier said 12 hospitals and 32 health care centers were forced out of service due to Israeli bombing or lack of fuel and medical supplies.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Sunday that the situation in Gaza is declining rapidly as he repeated desperate appeals for a ceasefire to end the “nightmare” of bloodshed.