Fighting raged in Gaza on Sunday, over five weeks after Hamas’s shock attack on October 7 triggered a furious response from Israel which has vowed to destroy the Islamist militant group.
About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel and almost 240 hostages were taken, according to Israeli officials.
In Gaza, 11,180 people, also mostly civilians, have been killed in the war, as reported by the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
Here are five key developments from the past 24 hours:
Gaza City’s Flashpoint Hospital
Intense fighting raged around Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, where thousands of sick, wounded and displaced Palestinians are trapped.
The compound has been repeatedly hit by gunfire and strikes in recent days, one of which destroyed the cardiac ward on Sunday, according to Hamas health officials.
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Witnesses confirmed a strike on the hospital, which AFP was unable to independently verify. Israel’s military denied deliberately targeting the hospital.
Youssef Abu Rish, Deputy Health Minister in Hamas-run Gaza, said that Al-Shifa has “650 patients, around 40 children in incubators, all threatened with death, and 15,000 displaced.”
Israel’s military has pledged to aid the evacuation of babies.
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500 Evacuated to Egypt
Around 500 foreigners and dual nationals, as well as several wounded Palestinians, were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt on Sunday, reports from both sides of the border said.
Some “500 foreign nationals from 15 different countries entered Egypt,” an Egyptian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
AlQahera News, an outlet close to the Egyptian intelligence services, reported the crossing of an additional “seven wounded Palestinians” through the border terminal.
Rafah, which was closed on Friday and Saturday, is the only crossing out of Gaza not controlled by Israel.
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Fire Exchange in Golan Sector
Israeli fighter jets targeted “terror infrastructure” in Syria in response to cross-border fire directed at the Golan Heights, a territory occupied by Israel in 1967. Similar incidents were reported on Saturday and Friday, including a drone crash in Eilat.
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Erdogan Calls for Pressure on Washington
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for pressure on the United States to halt Israel’s offensive in Gaza, while stressing that there will be no agreement until Washington considers the territory to be Palestinian land.
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Malo Pinatel, with AFP
