37,115 views since Nov 15, 2023

(ASSOCIATED PRESS) Palestinian authorities on Tuesday called for a cease-fire to evacuate three dozen newborns and other patients trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israeli forces battled Hamas in the streets just outside and seized more ground across northern Gaza.

For days, the Israeli army has encircled Shifa Hospital, the facility it says Hamas hides in, and beneath, to use civilians as shields for its main command base.

Hospital staff and Hamas deny the claim. Meanwhile, hundreds of patients, staff and displaced people were trapped inside, with supplies dwindling and no electricity to run incubators and other life-saving equipment. With refrigeration out for days, morgue staff on Tuesday dug a mass grave in the yard for more than 120 bodies, officials said.

The standoff at Shifa and other hospitals comes as Israeli forces control larger swaths of Gaza City and the surrounding northern part of the Gaza Strip, saying they are driving out and killing Hamas fighters.

Israel's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said in a nationally televised press conference Tuesday night that Hamas has “lost control” of northern Gaza and that Israel has made significant gains in Gaza City. But asked about the timeframe for the war, Gallant said: “We're talking about long months, not a day or two.”

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas rule in Gaza after the militants' Oct. 7 attack into Israel in which they killed some 1,200 people and took roughly 240 hostages. But even as its troops control more of a devastated north Gaza, the Israeli government has acknowledged it doesn’t know what it will do with the territory after Hamas’ defeat.

The onslaught – one of the most intense bombardments so far this century -- has been disastrous for Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians.

READ MORE: https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/n...