Israel-Gaza war: Hamas fighters seek to block Israeli army’s advance on Gaza City, hospitals are beyond ‘catastrophic’
- The war is closing in on the Gaza Strip’s main population centre in the north where Israel has vowed to annihilate the Islamist group’s command structure
- The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza warned of an ‘imminent health catastrophe’ after the main generator in a hospital in northern Gaza failed
An Israeli strike hit a residential building in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday, killing at least 15 people, Gaza’s Civil Defense spokesperson said.
Speaking to Qatar’s Al Jazeera television, Mahmoud Bassal said it has been difficult for civil defence vehicles and first responders to arrive to clear the rubble.
Residents said dozens of people were trapped under the rubble. The strike created a large crater and severely damaged the surrounding buildings. A survivor speaking to the television network compared it to an earthquake.
Bassal said Gaza Civil Defense paramedics and first-responders are struggling because of crippled infrastructure and fuel shortages. He said they have relied on donations of fuel by individual Palestinians from their personal supplies to run ambulances and other vehicles. Israel has banned the transport of fuel into Gaza.
Israeli tanks and troops pressed towards Gaza City on Thursday but met fierce resistance from Hamas militants using mortars and hit-and-run attacks from tunnels as the Palestinian death toll from nearly four weeks of bombardments mounted.
The war is closing in on the Gaza Strip’s main population centre in the north, where Israel has been telling people to evacuate as it vows to annihilate the Islamist group.