Israeli forces besieged a hospital in northern Gaza while continuing an offensive to seize the territory of the Strip, said the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas.
The medical staff and patients at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia were the subject of “heavy fire … preventing the arrival of patients, medical staff and supplies,” the ministry announced on Sunday.
The Israeli army announced on Saturday the launch of “Operation Gideon’s Chariot”, in the middle of the deadliest wave of Gaza strikes for months.
Hamas proposed on Saturday to release nine hostages in exchange for a 60 -day truce, a Palestinian official at the BBC told new negotiations in Qatar.
The Ministry of Health said that three public hospitals were now “without action” in the governorate of North Gaza.
At least 300 people have been killed since Thursday, especially in hospitals and refugee camps in the north and south of the strip, the authorities managed by Hamas said.
The strikes struck cities on Saturday in the north of Gaza, notably Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as in the southern city of Khan Younis, said the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas and the Civil Defense forces.
Thousands of people died since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, after the collapse of a fragile ceasefire that lasted two months.
The Israeli army said that the expansion of its campaign aims to “achieve all the objectives of war”, including the release of hostages and “Hamas defeat”.
Aid agencies claim that Gaza’s humanitarian situation has also worsened because Israel is blocking food supplies and other aids by entering the territory for 10 weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, earlier this month, promised a major military escalation in the war to occupy and control the expanses of Gaza, force the Palestinian population in the south of the territory and “destroy” Hamas.
Netanyahu declared on May 5 that Israel was preparing an “intense entry to Gaza” to capture and hold a territory, but that it would not start before Trump ended his visit to the Middle East. He left the region on Friday.
The war was triggered by the attacks led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which saw around 1,200 people killed and more than 250 hostages taken.
Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, of which up to 23 are supposed to be alive.
More than 53,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
