Gaza hospital encircled by Israeli troops 'must be protected,' Biden says

WARNING: This story contains disturbing images.

Battles between Israel and Hamas militants around hospitals forced thousands of Palestinians to flee from some of the last perceived safe places in northern Gaza, stranding critically wounded patients, newborns and their caregivers with dwindling supplies and no electricity, health officials said Monday.

The Israeli military has urged Palestinians to flee south on foot through what it calls safe corridors. But its stated goal of separating civilians from Hamas has come at a heavy cost: More than two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes.

Thousands fled Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital over the weekend as Israeli troops encircled it, and doctors said gunfire and explosions raged all around it on Monday. Israeli troops appear to be only a few blocks away from the facility.

Hundreds of patients and displaced people remain in the hospital, officials say. Al-Shifa "is not functioning as a hospital anymore," World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday that Al-Shifa "must be protected."

"It is my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action," Biden said in the Oval Office.

Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiah, the hospital's director, on Monday calledIsrael, the United States and Egypt to extricatenewborns from the facility.

Abu Salmiah said there are three dozen babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) whoneed to be evacuated from the hospital, which is without fuel.

"If we cannot evacuate them immediately ... all 36 babies will die," he told CBC News on Monday. A third died Sunday, he said.

Both sides have seized on the plight of hospitals, particularly Al-Shifa's, as a symbol of the larger war, now in its sixth week. The fighting was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented Oct. 7 surprise attack into Israel, andIsrael's response has led to thousands of deaths and much destruction across Gaza.

For Palestinians, Al-Shifa evokes the suffering of civilians. For weeks, staff running low on supplies have performed surgery there on war-wounded patients, including children, without anesthesia. Up until days ago, tens of thousands of people driven from their homes by airstrikes lived in and around the complex, hoping it would be safe.

WATCH |Dr. Marwan Abusadadescribesdire situation at Gaza hospital:

Doctor at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital fears for patients, including premature babies

11 months ago

Duration 11:50

Dr. Marwan Abusada, a leading surgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, describes a dire situation where patients, including premature babies, face serious and growing risks.

After the exodus of people from Al-Shifa over the weekend, about 650 patients and 500 staff remain in the hospital, along with about2,500 displaced Palestinians sheltering inside the complex, said Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza.

Goudat Samy al-Madhoun, a health-care worker, said he was among about 50 patients, staff and displaced people who made it out ofAl-Shifa and to the south on Monday, including a woman who had been receiving kidney dialysis. He said those remaining in the hospital were mainly eating dates.

Al-Madhoun said Israeli forces fired on the group several times, wounding one man who had to be left behind. The dialysis pateint's son was detained at an Israeli checkpoint on the road south, he said.

The military said it placed 300 litresof fuel several blocks from Al-Shifa, but Hamas militants prevented staff from reaching it. The Health Ministry disputed that, saying Israel refused its request that the Red Crescent bring them the fuel rather than having staff ventureout for it. The fuel would have provided less than an hour of electricity, it said.

WATCH |Gaza's largest hospital no longer operational:

Gaza's largest hospital no longer operational

11 months ago

Duration 2:39

Palestinian and UN officials say Gaza's largest hospital is no longer in operation. The director of Al-Shifa Hospital says the facility is out of fuel, leading to the deaths of patients including babies, as Israel and Hamas blame each other for the situation.

Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals

Israel says Hamas shields itself among civilians and the hospital is a prime example of that, claiming the militants have a command centrein and beneath the medical compound.

Israel has not provided photos or videos to back up the claims about Al-Shifa, though it has shared footage of militants operating in residential neighbourhoods and positioning rockets and weapons near schools and mosques.

Both Hamas and thestaff at Al-Shifa deny the Israeli allegations.

The Palestinians accuse Israel of firing recklessly toward hospitals, while Israel accuses Hamas of using the hospitals for cover. On Monday, Israel released a video showing what it said was a militant with an RPG launcher entering Al-Quds hospital. An Israeli tank was stationed nearby.

Israeli officials recently released photos and footage showing what they described as gunmen firing from inside another hospital and the opening of a tunnel next to it, though staff said it was the entrance to the facility's underground fuel tank.

International law gives hospitals special protections during war, but theycan lose those protections if combatants use them to hide fighters or store weapons, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

'We want to leave, but we can't'

The U.S. has pushed for temporary pauses to allow wider distribution of badly needed aid. Israel has agreed only to daily windows during which civilians can flee northern Gaza along two main roads. It continues to strike what it says are militant targets across the territory, often killing women and children.

Tens of thousands of people remain in the north.

Saib Abu Hashish said he has been trapped in his family home along with 27 others in Gaza City. They haven't left the house in three days, he said, and are running out of food and water. He said their neighbours attempted to flee, but Israeli forces fired on them.

"We want to leave, but we can't because of the bombing," he said by phone. "If we survive the bombing, we will die from hunger."

Those who make it south face a host of other difficulties. United Nations-run shelters are overflowing, and the lack of fuel has paralyzed water treatment systems, leaving taps dry and sending sewage into the streets. Israel has barred the import of fuel for generators.

Those looking to flee Gaza altogether must make the journey to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Global Affairs Canada said on Monday that 10 more people with ties to Canada were able to cross.

WATCH | More people with Canadianties allowed to leave Gaza:

More people with ties to Canada exit Gaza

11 months ago

Duration 2:11

Approximately 350 Canadians, permanent residents and their relatives have now left Gaza. That's from about 600 people who have requested help from Global Affairs Canada. Embassy officials in Cairo are providing assistance to them once they cross into Egypt.

As of late Friday, more than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing.

Health officials, many of whom work out of Al-Shifa, have not updated that toll since Friday because of the difficulty of collecting information.

At least 1,200 people have died on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in the initial Hamas attack. Palestinian militants are holding nearly 240 hostages seized in the raid, including men, women, children and older adults. The military says 44 soldiers have been killed in ground operations in Gaza.

About 250,000 Israelis have left communities near Gaza, where Palestinian militants are still firing barrages of rockets, and along the northern border with Lebanon, where Israel and the Hezbollah militant group have repeatedly traded fire, including on Monday.