The Israeli army claimed on Monday that it had killed in an airstrike a senior Hamas commander responsible for taking about a thousand people and patients hostage at a hospital in Gaza, according to media reports. In a tweet on
“IDF planes have just struck Ahmed Siam, who is responsible for taking approximately 1,000 Gaza residents and patients hostage at Rantisi Hospital and preventing their evacuation to the south. Siam was commander of Hamas’ Naser Radwan Company and is another example of Hamas using civilians in Gaza as human shields for terrorist purposes,” the tweet said.
‘Out of service’ hospitals in Gaza
Hospitals at the center of the fiercest fighting in northern Gaza have been taken out of service due to shortages and fighting, the Hamas-led Health Ministry said on Monday, adding that the number of dying patients in the largest medical center had risen.
The hospital ceased operations “due to the depletion of available fuel and power outages,” the medical organization said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
Hostage deal likely: Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers in Tel Aviv on Sunday, according to a statement from his office. Lawmakers presented two resolutions – one from the House of Representatives and one from the Senate – in support of Israel and its right to defend itself, the statement said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the US network that “a deal” could be in the offing. “The less I say about it, the more I increase the chances of it becoming a reality,” he said on Meet the Press.
The world cannot be silent: WHO
Gaza’s largest hospital is no longer functioning, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, while hundreds of patients remain trapped in the latest flashpoint in the ground battle between Israel and Hamas in the blockaded Palestinian territory.
“WHO has managed to contact health workers at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza…the hospital is no longer functioning as a hospital,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The world cannot stand still while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, destruction and despair.” The situation remains grim in northern Gaza, where hospitals are blockaded by Israeli forces and unable to provide care to those inside. At least six babies and nine other patients have died at Al-Shifa hospital, which suffered from fuel shortages, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
The US attacks Iranian-backed groups
The US military carried out airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria involving Iranian-backed groups, hitting a training site and a weapons facility, the Pentagon and US officials said.
It is the third time in just over two weeks that the US has retaliated against militants for a growing number of attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria.
Medics plead for fuel to save babies
Fighting around hospitals has forced thousands of Palestinians to flee some of the last shelters in northern Gaza, while seriously injured patients, including newborns, and their caregivers are stranded with dwindling supplies and without electricity, health officials said Monday. The Israeli army has urged Palestinians to flee south on foot through what they call safe corridors.