Gaza's main hospital goes dark in intense fighting, IDF kills Hamas commander holding Gazans hostage

The Israel Defense Forces has killed a Hamas commander who “held hostage approximately 1,000 Gazan residents at Rantisi Hospital.

In a statement, the IDF says that following intelligence gathered by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate, troops of the Givati Brigade directed a fighter jet to strike Ahmed Siam, the commander of Hamas’s Nasser-Radwan company.

Israel’s prime minister on Saturday Benjamin Netanyahu resisted pressure from Western allies to increase efforts in safeguarding Palestinian civilians. Troops surrounded Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa Hospital, where doctors reported the death of five patients, including a premature baby, due to the depletion of fuel for the last generator.

Israel has labelled Shifa Hospital as Hamas’ primary command post, asserting that militants are using civilians as human shields and set up elaborate bunkers underneath it. In recent days, fighting near Shifa and other hospitals in the combat zone of northern Gaza has intensified and supplies have run out.

Israel has been permitting daily openings of the main southbound road for a few hours to facilitate civilian evacuations. On Saturday, the military, for the first time, announced a brief halt in combat, designating it as an evacuation window and specifically mentioning the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya next to Gaza City.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas, repeating long-standing allegations that the militant group uses civilians in Gaza as human shields. He said that while Israel has urged civilians to leave combat zones, “Hamas is doing everything it can to prevent them from leaving.”

His statement came after French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for a cease-fire and urged other leaders to join his call, telling the BBC there was “no justification” for Israel’s ongoing bombing.

Following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed, Israel’s allies have defended the country’s right to protect itself. But now into the second month of war, there are growing differences in how many feel Israel should conduct its fight.

The U.S. has been pushing for temporary pauses that would allow for wider distribution of badly needed aid to civilians in the besieged territory where conditions are increasingly dire. However, Israel has so far only agreed to the brief daily periods during which civilians are able to flee the area of ground combat in northern Gaza and head south on foot along the territory’s main north-south artery.

Since these evacuation windows were first announced a week ago, more than 150,000 civilians have fled the north, according to U.N. monitors. On Saturday, the military announced a new evacuation window, saying civilians could use the central road and a coastal road. Tens of thousands more remain in northern Gaza, many sheltering at hospitals and overcrowded U.N. facilities.

Palestinian civilians and rights advocates have pushed back against Israel’s portrayal of the southern evacuation zones as “relatively safe,” noting that Israeli bombardment has continued across Gaza, including airstrikes in the south that Israel says target Hamas leaders, but that have also killed women and children.

The U.S. and Israel also have diverging views on what a post-war Gaza should look like. Netanyahu and military leaders have said this needs to be dictated solely by Israel’s security needs, such as ensuring no threats emerge from the territory. Israel has said a key goal of the war is to crush Hamas, a militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to reporters Friday during a tour of Asia, laid out what he said were fundamental principles for a post-war Gaza, some of which seemed to run counter to Israel’s narrow approach.

Blinken said these principles include “no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no use of Gaza as a platform for launching terrorism or other attacks against Israel, no diminution in the territory of Gaza, and a commitment to Palestinian-led governance for Gaza and for the West Bank, and in a unified way.”

FIGHTING AROUND HOSPITALS

Concern has grown in recent days as fighting through the dense neighbourhoods of Gaza City has come closer to hospitals, which Israel claims are being used by Hamas fighters.

On Saturday, Palestinians said Israeli troops were within view of Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest. Israel has said Hamas’ main command center is located underneath the hospital, claims Hamas and Shifa staff deny.

Thousands of civilians had been sheltering in the Shifa compound in recent weeks, but many fled Friday after several nearby strikes in which one person was killed and several were wounded.

Abbas, the Health Ministry spokesman, told the satellite television channel Al Jazeera that there are still 1,500 patients at Shifa, along with 1,500 medical personnel and between 15,000 and 20,000 people seeking shelter.

“The complex now lacks food, water and electricity,” he said. “Intensive care units have stopped working.”

Abdallah Nasser, who lives near Shifa, said by phone that the Israeli military was advancing deep into the city from its southern and northern flanks.

“They are facing stiff resistance, but they are advancing,” he said.

Mohammed al-Masri, one of thousands still sheltering at the hospital, said that from a higher floor he could see Israeli troops approaching from the west. “They are here,” he said. “They are visible.”

Thousands have fled Shifa and other hospitals that have come under attack, but physicians said it’s impossible for everyone to get out.

“We cannot evacuate ourselves and (leave) these people inside,” a Doctors Without Borders surgeon at Shifa, Mohammed Obeid, was quoted as saying by the organization.

“As a doctor, I swear to help the people who need help.”

The organization said other doctors reported that some staff had fled to to save themselves and their families, and urged all hospitals be protected.

CASUALTIES RISE

More than 11,070 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing and are thought to be possibly trapped or dead under the rubble.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said six people were killed early Saturday in a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp that hit a house. The camp is located in the southern evacuation zone.

At least 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mainly in the initial Hamas attack, and 41 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began, Israeli officials say.

Nearly 240 people abducted by Hamas from Israel remain captive.

About 250,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate from communities near Gaza and along the northern border with Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have traded fire repeatedly.

With inputs from AP.