Gaza hospitals are under constant fire and running out of power as one baby dies and dozens more are at risk while fighting rages between Israel and Hamas terrorists 

• One baby on an incubator died and ‘dozens more’ were at risk at Al Shifa hospital

Hospitals in Gaza today said they were under constant fire and running out of power as fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists raged around them.

One baby in an incubator died and ‘dozens more’ were at risk according to the Palestinian-run health ministry after fuel for generators ran out at the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital the Al Shifa.

‘We received calls about dozens of dead and hundreds wounded in air and artillery strikes, but our ambulances weren’t able to go out because of gunfire,’ said Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya.

Israel has denied targeting hospitals but its army has accused Hamas of using the medical facilities as command centres and hideouts, a charge the Palestinian militant group denies.

The suffering in Gaza has prompted growing calls for a halt in five weeks of fighting in order to protect civilian lives and allow humanitarian aid into the densely populated territory.

Hospitals in Gaza today said they were under constant fire and running out of power as fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists raged around them. Pictured: Patients at Al-Shifa hospital

Israel has denied targeting hospitals but its army has accused Hamas of using the medical facilities as command centres and hideouts. Pictured: Patients rest at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

French President Emmanuel Macron said Israel had the right to defend itself but urged it to stop strikes on civilians in Gaza: ‘These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas.

‘Israel does everything in its power to avoid harming civilians and urges them to leave the battle areas,’ he said.

As the fighting continued, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi – whose regime backs the terrorists of Hamas — said the time had come for ‘action not words’ over Gaza.

Heading to Saudi Arabia for a crisis summit between Arab and Islamic nations on the war, Raisi said: ‘Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action.’

Hamas terrorists smashed through the border with Israel on October 7, murdering around 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 people hostage.

The Gaza health ministry says Israeli fighting has killed more than 11,000 people, also mostly civilians and thousands of them children.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has said that Hamas have placed command centres under Shifa hospital and others in Gaza, making them military targets.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Israel had the right to defend itself but urged it to stop strikes on civilians in Gaza. Pictured: Patients receive treatment at Al-Shifa hospital

‘The hospitals need to be evacuated in order to deal with Hamas. We intend on dealing with Hamas who have turned hospitals into fortified positions,’ it said when asked whether troops would enter Gaza hospitals.

Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian armed group present in Gaza, said on Saturday its ‘fighters are engaged in fierce clashes in the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital complex’ and other areas of Gaza City, claiming to have caused ‘casualties in the ranks of the (Israeli) enemy forces’.

Concern over the civilian toll has also come from Washington, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying Friday: ‘Far too many Palestinians have been killed.’

Israel’s military were fighting Hamas gunmen all night in and around Gaza City, according to local residents.

A Palestinian family sits near destroyed houses following a strike in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip

Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, on Saturday

This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip on November 11, 2023, shows smoke rising over buildings during an Israeli strike on the Palestinian enclave

‘The situation is worse than anyone can imagine. We are besieged inside the Al Shifa Medical Complex, and the occupation has targeted most of the buildings inside,’ said Qidra, who represents the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank – separated from Gaza by Israel and run by the rival administration to Hamas – said separately 39 babies were at risk at the hospital.

Minister Mai Alkaila said: ’39 premature babies in Al-Shifa Medical Complex are threatened with death at any moment, and one of them died this morning.

Failure to bring fuel into the hospitals will be a death sentence for the rest. The incubators will only be able to work until this evening, after which the fuel will run out.’

Contacted again about the ministry’s statement, Qidra reiterated that there was no electricity at the hospital and no internet.

‘We are working hard to keep them alive, but we are afraid we may lose them in the coming hours,’ he said. ‘There is no electricity in the hospita

Qidra claimed Israeli army snipers commandeering rooftops of buildings near the hospital had fired into the medical complex from time to time, limiting the ability of medics and people to move.

The Israeli military denied they were attacking the hospital and also said a missile strike on Friday which killed one person and wounding others in a courtyard of the hospital and blamed on the IDF was in fact a terrorist rocket which fell short.

The hospital suspended operations after fuel ran out, Qidra said, adding: ‘As a result, one newborn baby died inside the incubator, where there are 45 babies.’

Hamas denies using the hospital for its military purposes and has asked the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send missions to come to Shifa to investigate the Israeli claims.

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