JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces fought Hamas militants among ruined buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, taking the Gaza death toll to 10,812.
Thousands more Palestinians were fleeing from the embattled north to the south along a perilous frontline path after Israel told them to evacuate, residents say.
But many are staying in the north, packed into the Al Shifa Hospital and al-Quds Hospital as ground battles rage around them and more Israeli air strikes rain down from above.
Israel says its Hamas foes have command centres embedded in the hospitals.
In Paris, officials from about 80 countries and organisations were meeting to coordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza and find ways to help wounded civilians escape the siege, now in its second month.
Aid agencies called for an immediate ceasefire.
“We cannot wait a minute more,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, calling Israel’s actions “collective punishment”.
“Without a ceasefire, lifting of siege and indiscriminate bombarding and warfare, the haemorrhage of human lives will continue.”
His calls were echoed by the United Nations and the International Red Cross, although Isarel and its main backer the United States reject a full ceasefire.
Israel unleashed its assault on Gaza in response to a cross-border Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
It was the single worst day of bloodshed in Israel’s 75-year history and drew international condemnation of Hamas and sympathy and support for Israel.
But Israel’s retaliation in the Hamas-ruled enclave has caused great concern as a humanitarian catastrophe has unfolded.
