Gaza: Israeli tanks surround several hospitals in Gaza as attacks have damaged more than 50 percent of housing units across Gaza.
The Palestinian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates says Israel “kidnaps hospitals as hostages for extortion” in Gaza.
In a statement, the ministry said Israel was continuing its siege of hospitals to “blackmail” the international community for “political gains” and to force Palestinians to move to the south in a “new episode of genocide”.
The ministry also called on the international community to respect its position on protecting civilians and to apply pressure on the “occupying state” to commit to this.
Palestinian officials said 10,812 Gaza residents had been martyred, about 40% of them children, in air and artillery strikes. A humanitarian catastrophe has unfolded as basic supplies like food and water run out and shelling displaces civilians from their homes.
The month-old Israeli military campaign has left Gaza's hospitals struggling to cope, as medical supplies, clean water and fuel to power generators have been running out.
Meanwhile, Iran warned the scale of civilian suffering caused by Israel’s war on Hamas would inevitably lead to an expansion of the conflict, as Israeli air strikes on or near several hospitals in the Palestinian enclave.
US President Joe Biden said in a post on X on Thursday that Israel has "an obligation to distinguish between terrorists and civilians and fully comply with international law."
The White House said on Thursday that Israel agreed to pause military operations in parts of north Gaza for four hours a day, but there was no sign of a let-up in the fighting.