The World Health Organization said on Saturday it has lost communication with its contacts in Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, and expressed “grave concerns” for the safety of everyone trapped there by the fighting while calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry said that operations in Al Shifa hospital complex, the largest in the Palestinian enclave, were suspended on Saturday after it ran out of fuel.
WHO said it has “grave concerns for the safety of the health workers, hundreds of sick and injured patients, including babies on life support and displaced people who remain inside the hospital”, and reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Palestinian officials said two babies had died and dozens more were at risk after fuel ran out at Gaza’s largest hospital on Saturday, while Israel said it was ready to evacuate babies from the facility.
As the humanitarian situation worsened, the Gaza’s border authority announced that the Rafah land crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders after being closed on Friday.
Amid continued fighting, Hamas said it had completely or partially destroyed more than 160 Israeli military targets in Gaza, including more than 25 vehicles in the past 48 hours.
Israel said rockets were still being fired from Gaza into southern Israel, where it has said about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage by Hamas last month.
Palestinian officials said on Friday that 11,078 Gaza residents had been killed in air and artillery strikes since Oct. 7, around 40% of them children.
Israel said it had increased the number of places in which it said it would stop firing for several hours at a time so Gazans could move south and that many had done so.
(SOURCE: REUTERS)