Gaza’s hospitals have become unsafe shelters for tens of thousands, Red Crescent says

Palestinian humanitarian organisation warns its logo has become 'meaningless' to Israel amid strikes on enclave

A girl is rescued from the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip. AP Photo

An Apache helicopter fires flares, seen from Sderot in southern Israel, close to the border with Gaza. Reuters

Palestinians plug their phones into portable charging stations on a street in Khan Younis, Gaza. Bloomberg

Residents search survivors among the rubble following Israeli strikes on Jabalia, northern Gaza. EPA

Palestinians search for survivors and bodies following Israeli airstrikes at the Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in Gaza. AP

Palestinians look for survivors among the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. AP

Palestinians look for survivors among the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. AP

A fire burns in western Gaza after an Israeli air strike. Reuters

Missiles are fired from Israel towards the Gaza Strip. Getty Images

Smoke rises from an explosion in Gaza. Getty Images

A group of men survey the destruction following air strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city, as Israeli forces entered the northern area of the Gaza Strip. AFP

A man drives a damaged car following air strikes on Gaza city. AFP

A man pushes a bicycle past the remains of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP

A woman and children walk past a house destroyed in Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP

People dig through the rubble of a destroyed building following Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP

A man drives a damaged car past a building destroyed in Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP

People gather amid the destruction following Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP

Wrecked vehicles and rubble on the streets following Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP

Smoke rises from the northern Gaza Strip as Israeli air and ground forces amplified their military activities against Hamas. EPA

An Israeli Apache attack helicopter flies close to the border with the Gaza Strip, near Israel's southern city of Ashkelon. AFP

Israeli soldiers in an armoured personnel carrier on patrol near Israel's border with Gaza. EPA

The crew of an Israeli tank prepare for ground operations near the border with Gaza. EPA

Israeli soldiers prepare for ground manoeuvres at an undisclosed location in Israel near the border with Gaza. EPA

The ruins of northern Gaza seen from Sderot in southern Israel. EPA

Smoke and explosions caused by Israeli bombardment over northern Gaza. AP Photo

An explosion on the Israel-Gaza border. Reuters

A video grab shows fireballs and smoke rising above Gaza city following an Israeli attack. AFP

An explosion in Gaza seen from Sderot in southern Israel. Reuters

A video grab shows rockets fired from Gaza city. AFP

Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip. AP Photo

A video grab shows a salvo of rockets fired from Gaza city. AFP

A flare trail fired by the Israeli army east of Khan Younis on the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

Smoke from the bombing of the Gaza Strip over the Israeli border city of Ashkelon. AFP

Flares over Gaza as seen from Sderot in southern Israel. Reuters

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Gaza’s hospitals have turned into unsafe, ill-equipped shelters housing thousands of people, mostly women and children, as Israeli air strikes close in on the surrounding roads.

More than 8,300 people have been killed and tens of thousands wounded in the enclave in the three weeks since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said. Two thirds of the dead are women and children.

The enclave was hit with non-stop overnight shelling, witnesses told The National.

At night, thousands gather inside hospitals as air strikes reduce surrounding buildings and roads to rubble.

About 14,000 civilians have sought shelter at Al Aqsa Hospital, which is run by the Palestinian Red Crescent, in recent days as doctors treat dozens of injured and recovering patients, with 10 in intensive care units and at least seven babies in incubators.

Some Gazans have sheltered at Al Quds and Al Shifa hospitals, despite warnings from Israel to evacuate.

“The Red Crescent’s logo has become a meaningless symbol [to Israel],” the PRC's spokesman in Gaza, Mohammad Abu Sabbah, told The National from the hospital, which has received evacuation warnings from the Israeli army.

Paramedics have been unable to carry out their work as ambulances are being struck, most recently at dawn on Monday.

To remove the babies from incubators would mean “certain death”, Mr Abu Sabbah said.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told a UN emergency meeting on Monday that “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions”.

UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini accused Israel of being responsible for the “collective punishment” of Palestinians and the forced displacement of civilians.

He said a further breakdown of civil order after the looting of the agency’s warehouses by Palestinians searching for food and other aid would “make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating”.

With no ceasefire in sight, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Palestinians need aid more than a halt in hostilities, calling for “realism” in dealing with the continuing war on Gaza.

He was speaking during a visit to the UAE, where he met Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Monday.

'1948 will not happen again'

Meanwhile, the Israeli government has drafted a wartime proposal to transfer the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, drawing condemnation from Palestinians and stoking tension with Cairo.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office played down the report compiled by his Intelligence Ministry and called it a “concept paper”.

However, that only deepened Egyptian fears that Israel wants to push Gazans into Egypt.

For Palestinians, the proposal has revived memories of the Nakba – the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of people who fled or were forced from their homes during the fighting surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

“We are against transfer to any place, in any form, and we consider it a red line that we will not allow to be crossed,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman, said of the report.

“What happened in 1948 will not be allowed to happen again.”

He said a mass displacement would be “tantamount to declaring a new war”.