GAZA STRIP - Israeli forces bombarded southern Gaza on Tuesday after tanks advanced to the gates of the enclave’s biggest hospital in the north.

At least 13 people were killed when Israeli forces targeted homes in the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza health ministry officials said.

The military has also positioned tanks outside Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza City’s main medical centre.

Israel says the hospital sits atop tunnels housing a headquarters for Hamas fighters who are using patients as shields.

Hamas denies the Israeli claim.

The Israeli military said it was coordinating the transfer of incubators into Gaza, in a possible measure to enable the evacuation of newborn babies from the hospital.

Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra, who was inside Al Shifa hospital, said on Monday 32 patients had died in the previous three days, including three newborns.

At least 650 patients remain inside, he added.

In his first comments since the patient deaths reported at Al Shifa, US President Joe Biden said hospitals must be protected.

“My hope and expectation is that there will be less intrusive action relative to hospitals and we remain in contact with the Israelis,” Mr Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday.

“Also there is an effort to get this pause to deal with the release of prisoners and that’s being negotiated, as well, with the Qataris ... being engaged,” he added. “So I remain somewhat hopeful but hospitals must be protected.”

Israel’s military on Monday released video and photos of what it said were weapons the group stored in the basement of Rantissi hospital, a paediatric hospital specialising in cancer treatment.

In a statement on its Telegram channel, Hamas said the video showed “fabricated scenes that misled public opinion”.

It added that it was a “failed attempt” by Israel to justify the targeting of hospitals.

Hostages for ceasefire?

Israel launched its war against Hamas after the Palestinian group’s Oct 7 rampage in southern Israel.

Around 1,200 people died in that attack and 240 were taken hostage, according to Israel’s tally.

Gaza medical authorities say more than 11,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israeli bombardment, about 40 per cent of them children.

Roughly two-thirds of the people in the densely populated Mediterranean strip have been made homeless by Israel’s military campaign.

Israel has ordered the northern half of Gaza to be evacuated.

The armed wing of Hamas said it was ready to free up to 70 women and children held in Gaza in exchange for a five-day truce in the war.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, made the announcement in an audio recording on its Telegram channel.

“We told the (Qatari) mediators that in a five-day truce, we can release 50 of them and the number could reach 70 due to the difficulty that the captives are held by different factions,” said al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida said. He added that Israel had asked for 100 to be freed.

Israel, which effectively blockades Gaza, has rejected a ceasefire. It argues that Hamas would simply use it to regroup.

But Israel has permitted brief humanitarian “pauses” to allow food and other supplies to flow in and foreigners to flee.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Washington would “like to see considerably longer pauses - days, not hours - in the context of a hostage release”.

A Washington Post opinion writer on Tuesday quoted an unnamed high-ranking Israeli official as saying Israel and Hamas are close to a deal to free most of the kidnapped Israeli women and children with Israel simultaneously releasing Palestinian women and youths held in its prisons.

An agreement could be announced within days if the details are worked out.

Israel is facing intense international calls to minimise civilian suffering during its massive air and ground operations in Gaza.

Israel’s top diplomat, as quoted by his spokesman, said the nation has “two or three weeks until international pressure really steps up”.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen added that Israel is working to “broaden the window of legitimacy, and the fighting will carry on for as long as necessary”.

West Bank violence

In the occupied West Bank, at least six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, the Palestinian health ministry and Palestinian media said.

At least three of those were killed in an Israeli drone strike, the Palestinians’ official news agency WAFA reported, citing a hospital in the western city of Tulkarm.

The Israeli army and police said their forces, sent into Tulkarm to detain suspected militants, came under fire and killed several Palestinian gunmen in the ensuing skirmish.

Israeli troops also shot dead at least two Palestinians during earlier clashes in a refugee camp in the city, WAFA reported.

The worsening violence in the West Bank comes after more than 18 months of bloodshed that has fuelled fears the West Bank could erupt into a bigger conflict and become a new front.

The war in Gaza has also spurred concerns of a wider regional conflict.

At least eight pro-Iran fighters were killed in US strikes on eastern Syria, a war monitor said, in response to attacks on American forces.

It was the third time in less than three weeks that the US military has targeted locations in Syria. Attacks on American forces in the Middle East have spiked since the Israel-Hamas war began.

International concern

International attention has focused on the plight of the Palestinians, and protests have been held worldwide in solidarity with the 2.4 million people under bombardment and near-total siege for more than five weeks.

About 980 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have been let into Gaza since Oct 21, according to the UN humanitarian agency.

Before the war, 500 trucks entered every day, it said.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on the European Union and the United Nations to “parachute aid” into Gaza.

Fuel is in critical need, especially for hospital generators, but Israel has been concerned that any fuel deliveries could be diverted to Hamas militants.

Almost 1.6 million people – about two-thirds of Gaza’s population – have been internally displaced since Oct 7, according to UNRWA.

Some people were being allowed to leave the besieged territory via the Egypt-controlled Rafah crossing and on Monday more than 550 foreigners passport holders and nine wounded Palestinians wounded and companions crossed. REUTERS, AFP