Highlights:
- Gaza is ‘hell on Earth,’ UNRWA chief says in visit
- WHO official says only 11 hospitals are partially functioning in Gaza
- More than 18,412 Palestinians killed and 50,000 wounded in Gaza
- Raid ongoing in Jenin refugee camp after drone strikes
- Norwegian tanker hit earlier by Houthis proceeding to safe port
- Six children among 12 killed in overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah
- Egypt postpones removing wounded Palestinians through southern crossing.
Gaza death toll rises to 18,412, says Health Ministry
The death toll in Gaza from the war with Israel has risen to at least 18,412, the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Tuesday.
More than 50,000 people have been injured, the ministry said.
WHO official pleads for Gaza’s southern hospitals to be spared
A World Health Organisation official has said that only 11, or less than a third, of Gaza’s hospitals remain partially functional.
“In just 66 days, the health system has gone from 36 functional hospitals to 11 partially functional hospitals – one in the north and 10 in the south,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told a UN press briefing by video link from Gaza.
“We cannot afford to lose any healthcare facilities or hospitals,” Reuters reported Mr Peeperkorn as saying. “We hope, we plea that this will not happen.”
It comes as several hospitals continue to be attacked by Israeli forces.
Soldiers are surrounding both the Kamal Adwan and Al Awda hospitals in northern Gaza.
Gazans are tired of the war and fearful after Israel said onslaught will continue for weeks
Gazans shattered by war have condemned Israel for vowing to continue the war instead of pursuing a ceasefire.
Hopes for peace in the enclave were dealt a blow when Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the ground offensive and air strikes in Gaza could continue for weeks or even months.
The stance was met with anger and fear among those displaced by the war.
Majed Mattar said he was angry at what he described as the “arrogant” comments.
“What is happening in Gaza is intolerable” Mr Mattar told The National. “Every day, Israel is killing children and women and innocent people. They are destroying everything.
“Our children don’t have drinkable water or suitable food.”
Israel and US differ on post-war Gaza rule, says Netanyahu
Israel has US support for its goals of destroying Hamas and recovering hostages held by the Palestinian militants but the allies differ over what might follow the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
“Yes, there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’ and I hope that we will reach an agreement here as well,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.
“I would like to clarify my position: I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” he added, referring to the Oslo Accords, signed in the early 1990s, which he said strengthened the power of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Reiterating his past refusal to countenance a return to Gaza rule of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Netanyahu said in a statement that Gaza “will be neither Hamas-stan nor Fatah-stan”. Fatah is Mr Abbas’s faction.
Rafah unsafe
Claims that Rafah is safe are ‘lies’, Ministry of Health says
Claims that Gaza’s southern border area of Rafah is safe are “lies”, the enclave’s Health Ministry spokesman Dr Ashraf Al Qudra said on Tuesday.
Dr Al Qudra said more than 207 people had been killed, while 450 injured have been taken to hospital after Israel carried out more than 17 attacks in the past few hours.
“A large number of people remain under rubble,” he said.
Israeli forces are preventing ambulances from reaching people, he said, causing the wounded to “bleed to death”.
NATIONAL AE/ News Agencies
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