Israel is crippling Gaza’s healthcare system: More hospitals in the besieged Gaza City went dark yesterday as fuel supplies ran out and the Israeli military intensified its assault. The city’s two largest hospitals, Al Shifa and Al Quds, as well as Kamal Adwan Hospital, have all ceased to function, forcing doctors to try to treat patients without electricity and water while Israeli forces attack the facilities. The hospitals are sheltering tens of thousands of displaced Gazans, as well as thousands of patients and medical workers.

The toll so far: At least two cardiology patients died on Sunday; three premature babies have also died from a lack of oxygen and some 39-45 more are reportedly at risk unless power is restored.

Israel’s main focus appears to be on taking control of Al Shifa, under which it claims Hamas has its headquarters. The hospital has been under continuous bombardment for the past three days, which the UN said yesterday has damaged critical infrastructure, including the cardiovascular facility, the ICU, and the maternity ward, and killed three of its nurses. The Israeli military has issued a call for civilians to evacuate the hospital, but reports cited by the World Health Organization suggest that Israeli snipers have targeted people trying to flee. Al Shifa’s management have strongly denied that Hamas is active in the hospital and have called for an independent investigation.

“The situation [at Al Shifa] is dire and perilous … the number of patient fatalities has increased significantly, the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore,” World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. “The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair. Ceasefire. NOW.”

The Gaza Health Ministry is now unable to update its death toll due to the assault: The ministry’s death toll hasn’t been updated since Friday as medical workers are now unable to reach areas hit by Israeli airstrikes, said Mohamed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza. More than 11k Gazans, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed since the war began less than six weeks ago, according to the latest figures.

It’s a humanitarian siege, says IDF PR team: Israel is trying to put a humanitarian angle on its assault, claiming yesterday that it had attempted to deliver fuel to Al Shifa (only to be thwarted by Hamas) and that it would help to evacuate the premature babies, a suggestion that has been criticized by a medical NGO as almost impossible to do safely.

Other developments you need to know about this morning:

  • HOSTAGE TALKS- Hamas yesterday suspended hostage negotiations in response to Israel’s bombardment of Al Shifa Hospital. (Reuters)
  • AID- At least 80trucks crossed into Gaza from Egypt by Sunday afternoon, sources told Reuters. Jordan said yesterday it had air-dropped a second batch of aid into a field hospital in Gaza on Saturday.
  • EVACUATIONS- Five hundred foreigners and dual nationals, as well as several injured Palestinians, left Gaza through the Rafah crossing yesterday, an Egyptian security official told AFP.
  • DIPLOMACY- President Abdel Fattah El Sisi received a phone call from Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre | Erdogan urged Egypt and Gulf countries to increase pressure on the US | Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim talked to President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Al Thani spoke to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
  • REGIONAL ESCALATION- Skirmishes on the Lebanon-Israel border intensified yesterday when 18 Israeli soldiers were injured in a Hezbollah attack. Meanwhile, US forces bombed sites in easternSyria in retaliation for attacks against its bases by Iran-affiliated militia.

POST-WAR GAZA- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doubling down on his previous statements about Gaza’s post-war governance, saying in a televised address yesterday that Israel will assume security control of the territory. The US has publicly rejected the idea and called for the Palestinian Authority to be put in charge of the strip, a proposal rejected by Netanyahu.

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