Civilians flee Al-Shifa’ Hospital carrying people in wheelchairs and gurneys as Israeli forces order an immediate evacuation on Saturday morning. Only 120 patients in a critical state reportedly left, with five doctors to care for them.
Israel’s purported proof of Hamas command center under al-Shifa hospital is seen as ‘anticlimactic’ as bombardment continues across the Gaza Strip, leaving only 4 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants with access to safe drinking water.
Thousands of lives are at risk as Al-Shifa Hospital becomes non-operational, with ICUs and incubators shutting down due to lack of fuel, and medical staff and patients trapped waiting to die. Israeli forces continue to shell hospitals in north Gaza.
Fighting rages around Gaza’s largest hospital as more Palestinians flee their homes in scenes reminiscent of the Nakba. Lebanon’s role in the conflict hangs in the balance ahead of another speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Palestinians seeking refuge in Gaza hospitals fear the worst as Israel drops all pretenses of not targeting medical facilities, while Netanyahu makes the unbelievable claim that Israel doesn’t “seek to displace anyone.”
Israel ignores calls for a ceasefire as the civilian death toll rises in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, where an Israeli airstrike killed three children. Former child prisoner Ahed Tamimi was among 70 Palestinians arrested in the West Bank.
Israel targeted an ambulance convoy at al-Shifa hospital, while other schools and hospitals were targeted as Israel doubles down on lifesaving civilian infrastructure. Meanwhile, Palestinian workers from Gaza return, recounting torture.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says “all options on the table” in terms of military escalation in southern Lebanon; meanwhile, the U.S. makes a weak and much-belated call for humanitarian “pauses” as death toll in Gaza surpasses 9,200.
Israel has imposed a total communications blackout on Gaza, hitting cell towers and telecommunications infrastructure as it continues to pummel the strip at unprecedented levels amid widespread international condemnation.
Following comments by President Biden that he does not trust the death toll reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the ministry released a report with the names, ages and ID numbers of close to 7,000 victims of Israel’s war on Gaza.