Israeli strikes and shootings have killed at least 57 people in Gaza, according to health officials in the territory, with most of the killings in Gaza City.
The Israeli military continues to press ahead with an attack on the strip’s largest city, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are trapped and starving, despite international pressure for a ceasefire.
Among the dead were victims of two strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp – nine members of one family in a house and, later, 13 others including women and children, according to staff at al-Awda hospital, which received the bodies.
Five more people were killed when a strike hit a tent sheltering the displaced, Nasser hospital said.
Israel’s army said they were not aware of any deaths by gunfire on Saturday in southern Gaza, and did not immediately comment on the airstrikes.
In Gaza City, the director of Shifa hospital told the Associated Press that medical teams were alarmed by Israeli “tanks approaching the vicinity of the hospital,” restricting access to the facility where 159 patients were being treated.
“The bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,” said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya.
He added that 14 premature babies were treated in incubators in Helou hospital, though its head of neonatal intensive care, Dr. Nasser Bulbul, said the facility’s main gate had been closed because of drones flying over the building.
On Friday the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the UN general assembly in New York that his country “must finish the job” in Gaza.
Dozens of delegates staged a walkout as he took to the podium, while protesters against Israel’s war gathered outside.
International pressure has been increasing on Israel after a UN commission inquiry found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and a growing number of countries announced their decision to recognise Palestinian statehood, including the UK, France, Canada and Australia.
Nearly two weeks into Israel’s offensive, the health sector in Gaza City is collapsing, with two clinics destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others barely functioning. Medicine, equipment, food and fuel are in short supply, while many doctors and nurses have been forced to flee.
On Friday, Médecins Sans Frontières said it had been forced to suspend activities in Gaza City because of the deteriorating security situation.
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” said Jacob Granger, the charity’s emergency coordinator in Gaza. “This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most at-risk people – infants in neonatal care, people with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses – unable to move and in grave danger.”
