Israel-Palestine live: Thousands in state of panic as Israel continues to strike hospitals
Mises à jour du direct
Israel has knocked out telecommunications in Gaza, creating a near information blackout and making it difficult to receive news, photos, and updates from our correspondents there.
Mohammed Hussein, a photographer based in northern Gaza, is unable to upload any new photos due to the lack of internet connectivity.
These are some of the latest photos he was able to share. They are of the aftermath of Israel's bombing, and the recovery efforts by local residents, in the al-Taj area in northern Gaza on Thursday.
Diplomats have told Reuters that the UN Security Council plans to meet on Monday after Israel expanded ground operations in Gaza.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which lost connection with its operations teams on Friday due to Israel's cutting of telecommunications in Gaza, was able to release an audio recording of one of its crews working in al-Arish, near the border with Egypt.
The crew said that three ambulances are no longer operational because of the lack of fuel, reducing their total capacity of working ambulances to 27.
"Due to the shortage of fuel, three ambulances running on this fuel have been stopped. Consequently, the operational capacity has been reduced to 27 ambulances," the crew said.
A UN peacekeeper was injured on Saturday as a result of shelling in south Lebanon, the mission's spokesman said, adding that it was working to verify who fired the shells.
The reported injury comes hours after a hit at the UN peacekeeping mission's headquarters, as skirmishes along the Israel-Lebanon border intensify.
"One peacekeeper was lightly injured" near the border village of Hula, Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), told AFP.
Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that a Nepalese peacekeeper was "moderately injured in the stomach and arm after two Israeli shells" fell in Hula, a village in southern Lebanon.
Earlier on Saturday, Tenenti told AFP that "a shell hit inside the base" in Naqura, where Unifil headquarters are located. Tenenti said Unifil was seeking to verify who fired the shells.
Good evening Middle East Eye readers.
Today marks the 22nd day since the war started on 7 October.
Gaza is in an almost total media blackout, with only a few journalists and civilians sharing what is happening due to having international e-Sims. Israel's communications minister said he would fight any attempt to restore communications.
The death toll for Palestinians in Gaza, provided by the Ministry of Health on Saturday morning, stood at 7,700, and is expected to be much higher now.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency commissioner described the situation in Gaza as "hell on earth".
Israel has continued to heavily bomb Gaza, causing severe damage to hospitals and levelling entire neighbourhoods. Drones have been dropping leaflets on residents saying that Gaza is a "battlefield" and they must leave.
Here are some of the key developments from today.
- An Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man, Bilal Muhammad Saleh, 40, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
- Gaza's Christian community is carrying out mass baptisms for children who have not yet been baptised in case they are killed in Israel's bombing of the besieged enclave.
- Hamas reiterated that the cost of freeing hostages is the release of all Palestinian prisoners.
- Netanyahu held a meeting with the families of hostages following growing discontent with his handling of the situation. Many called for him to agree to Hamas' terms of "everyone for everyone".
- Israeli mobs harassed and attacked Palestinian citizens of Israel who attend Netanya College, while shouting "death to Arabs".
- Hundreds of thousands gathered in a pro-Palestine rally in London, while protests were also held in New York and Washington.
For updates around the clock, follow MEE's live blog and our social media platforms on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
Hundreds of people gathered in Washington DC's Lafayette Square on Saturday, demanding a ceasefire and calling for an end to Israel's aggression on Gaza.
The demonstration, taking place in front of the White House, was organised by the Palestinian Youth Movement and other pro-Palestine groups.
Many of the protesters denounced the Biden administration's stalwart support for and arming of Israel, chanting "Biden, Biden, you can't hide. We charge you with genocide".
"We're outside the White House to show that we don't want to be complicit in the genocide that's happening. Because Biden is funding this genocide that is happening in Gaza with our taxpayer dollars," Shireen, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, told Middle East Eye.
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader in Gaza, said on Saturday that the group is ready for an "immediate" prisoner swap with Israel.
"We are ready to conduct an immediate prisoner exchange deal that includes the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for all prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance," Sinwar said.
The statement comes after Abu Ubaida, the Qassam Brigades spokesperson, said that Israel "knows the cost of freeing the captives", which is to release all Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli mobs are harassing and attacking Palestinian citizens of Israel who attend Netanya College, while shouting "death to Arabs".
In videos shared online, hundreds of Israelis can be seen blocking the entrance to the college while waving the Israeli flag.
The students hid inside the college, while the mobs tried to break into the dorms, guarded by Israeli police.
Dr Mohammed Obeid, a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) surgeon in Gaza, says that morgues in Gaza are now "flooded with dead bodies", and that without proper burials and retreaving bodies from the rubble, "outbreaks of disease would pose an additional threat".
MSF has renewed their calls today for an immediate ceasefire, in a statement which states that "helpless people are being subjected to horrific bombing. Families have nowhere to run or to hide, as hell is unleashed on them. We need a ceasefire now".
The statement said that hospitals such as Shifa in Gaza City, where MSF Palestinian colleagues continued to work, were overwhelmed with patients and that Israeli military orders to evacuate the hospital were impossible and dangerous.
"We are ready to increase our aid capacity in Gaza. We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza to support the emergency medical response, as soon as the situation allows it," said Dr Christos Christou, MSF international president.
"But as long as the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short."
Oxford Central Mosque has issued a statement condemning a "despicable Islamophobic" attack where red petrol cans were thrown at the mosque, with the words "IDF RULE" and "IDF" on them.
According to the statement, security cameras picked up the attack, which took place at 10.30am.
"We believe this attack was due to our unwavering support for the innocent people of Palestine by displaying Palestinian flags around our mosque," the statement read.
"This attempt to scare us will not work. We will continue to exercise our democratic right and show solidarity with the innocent Palestinians being massacred indiscriminately and illegally," it added.
Israel is heavily bombing various areas in Gaza, Middle East Eye's contributor on the ground, Hind Khoudary reports.
"I have never heard such explosions in my life, I swear," she posted on social media platform X. "This is obviously another deadly night in the Gaza Strip," she added.
According to Khoudary, ambulances have not been able to reach areas targeted by Israeli warplanes, while the Beit Hanoun and Jabalia neighbourhoods are being heavily bombed.
She, along with several other photojournalists, confirmed that northern Gaza was also being bombed.
The bombing is taking place amid a near-full media and communications blackout imposed by Israel since Friday.
Gaza's Indonesian Hospital has been damaged as a result of sustained heavy Israeli shelling, causing parts of the ceiling to collapse.
In photos shared online by photojournalist Abdulrahman Nawajha, equipment in the hospital has also been damaged.
The bombing comes as Israel has cut off all forms of communication in the besieged enclave since Friday.
At least 311 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the war on 7 October, according to Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
Hagari also said that 230 people, civilians and soldiers, are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Patients in Gaza's Shifa Hospital have been transferred to other hospitals as the hospital has been overwhelmed with patients due to Israeli bombing.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Health said they can no longer cope with the high volume of patients.
"We are overloaded, we are at 500 percent overload, we have 30 beds in one department but have 120 cases, so we will transfer them to the European Hospital in Rafah, to reduce the overload in the hospital, but we expect more and more cases," he said.
