Israel and Hamas dispute claims of Gaza hospital fuel offer – as ‘babies among 12 dead’
Hamas has denied refusing an offer of fuel from Israel for Gaza’s biggest hospital, which the World Health Organisation says is “not functioning” due to bombing and gunfire.
The al Shifa hospital’s last generator ran out of fuel at the weekend, leading to the deaths of three premature babies and nine other patients, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
Israel’s military said it had coordinated the delivery of 300 litres (79 gallons) of fuel with hospital officials, but claimed Hamas prevented the hospital from receiving it.
Hamas denied the claim, saying in a statement: “The offer belittles the pain and suffering of the patients who are trapped inside without water, food, or electricity. This quantity is not enough to operate hospital generators for more than 30 minutes.”
Follow updates: Deaths ‘increase significantly’ at Gaza’s largest hospital
Israel has claimed that a Hamas control centre is situated under the hospital, which both medical staff at the hospital and Hamas have repeatedly denied.
A second hospital in Gaza, al Quds, closed to new patients on Sunday.
Three UN agencies have expressed horror at the situation facing Gaza’s hospitals, saying they had recorded at least 137 attacks on healthcare facilities in 36 days resulting in 521 deaths and 686 injuries.
The director-general of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the situation in al Shifa hospital was “dire and perilous” with constant gunfire and bombing exacerbating the already critical circumstances.
“Tragically, the number of patient fatalities has increased significantly,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Regrettably, the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore.”
Injured Palestinians wait to receive medical attention at al Shifa hospital. Pic: DPA/AP
Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a plastic surgeon in al Shifa hospital, said the bombing of the building that houses incubators had forced medics to line up premature babies on ordinary beds, using the little power available to turn the air conditioning to warm.
A spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza said the three premature babies who had died were among a total of 45 being kept in incubators at al Shifa.
“We are expecting to lose more of them day by day,” said Dr El Mokhallalati.
Inside the al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, where fuel and supplies are beginning to run out, Palestinian officials say
Hamas said earlier on Sunday that it had suspended hostage negotiations with Israel over the country’s handling of the worsening situation at al Shifa hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that Israel will not agree to a ceasefire unless all 239 Israeli hostages believed to be trapped in Gaza are released.
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‘There could be a deal’ to release hostages
“We have set a specific target and that is to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and its governance capabilities,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“That is something we are achieving step by step.”
He also said a “great deal” is known about the location of the hostages – but he would not reveal any further details.
Mr Netanyahu continued to outline Israel’s post-war plans for Gaza – which are starkly at odds with its closest ally, the US.
Israeli soldiers take part in ground operations in Gaza
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis Pic: AP
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US opposes an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and envisions a unified Palestinian government in Gaza and the West Bank as a step toward a Palestinian state – long opposed by Netanyahu’s government.
In France and the UK, protests relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict have sparked controversy over the weekend.
More than 180,000 people across France, including 100,000 in Paris, protested against rising antisemitism in the country.
Family members of some of the 40 French citizens killed in the initial Hamas attack, and of those missing or held hostage, also took part in the march.
Authorities in France, which has the largest Jewish population in Europe, have counted 1,247 antisemitic acts since 7 October – nearly three times as many as in the whole of 2022, according to the interior ministry.
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The country has banned several pro-Palestinian demonstrations, although supporters have marched in several French cities in recent weeks.
The fallout from the Armistice Day protests in London on Saturday also continued with Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy saying: “I don’t think London has ever seen such a large demonstration of rape apologists before.”
More than 300,000 people marched in the pro-Palestinian demonstration.
People during a pro-Palestinian protest on Park Lane in London on Saturday
The main protest was largely peaceful but violent skirmishes broke out between the Metropolitan Police and counter-protesters from various right-wing groups.
Far-right counter protesters in central London
Seven people were charged with various offences on Sunday following the protests.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has said seven IDF soldiers were “lightly injured” following mortar shell launches by Hezbollah in northern Israel on Sunday.
Ten other people were also wounded by rocket blasts and shrapnel, with two in critical condition, Israeli rescue services said.
Read more on Sky News:
Red Cross surgeon in Gaza gives harrowing account of child amputation
How does Hamas count those who have been killed?
Hezbollah’s leader threatens escalation
The Israeli Defence Forces said it had identified 15 launches in an hour from Lebanon – where the powerful militant group Hezbollah is based – and had intercepted four.
The rest fell into open areas, it said.
Israeli officials earlier said Hezbollah had fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli community just over the border, badly wounding utility workers.
The Israeli military said it was responding by striking the origin of the launch with artillery fire.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon also said one of its members near the town of al Qawzah in southern Lebanon had been wounded in a shooting.
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
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Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
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‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
Read more:
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
British surgeons on life in Gaza
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
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