Amid heavy fighting in northern Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that all of the group's aid operations in Gaza will be suspended in the next 48 hours unless fuel is allowed into the war-torn territory.
"The humanitarian operation in Gaza will grind to a halt in the next 48 hours as no fuel is allowed to enter Gaza," said Thomas White, UNRWA's Gaza chief.
It has been three days since Gaza’s biggest hospital, al-Shifa, has gone out of service. As many as 36 patients including three premature babied died so far, according to health officials.
With the Israeli troops encircling the al-Shifa hospital, evacuation process has become extremely difficult as well.
Meanwhile, Palestine Red Crescent Society said that an attempt to reach al-Quds hospital from Khan Younis in order to evacuate patients has been abandoned due to “continuous shelling”.
"The Red Crescent evacuation convoy, accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross, returned after setting off today from Khan Younis towards al-Quds hospital. The convoy was forced to return due to the dangerous conditions in the Tal al-Hawa area, where the hospital is located, in light of the continuing shelling and shooting, and the medical staff, patients and their companions are still trapped inside the hospital without food, water or electricity," it posted on social media.
The UN has warned that the situation is dire at al-Shifa with constant bombings near the area.
Meanwhile, Israel's military has said that Hamas militants opened fire at the troops from the direction of the al-Quds hospital. "The shooting was carried out by a terrorist squad that had embedded itself within a group of civilians at the entrance of the hospital. The soldiers identified a terrorist squad with two RPG launchers amongst the civilians. As a result of the shooting carried out by the terrorists, a tank was damaged," said IDF.
Israel has again repeated the claim that Hamas operate from the bunkers under al-Shifa hospitals.
In the wake of rising crisis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to install former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair as "humanitarian coordinator".
Turkey to set up field hospitals near Rafah crossing
A turkish ship carrying materials for field hospitals has arrived in an Egyptian port near the Rafah border crossing.
The vessel brought generators, ambulances and other medical supplies to the port of Al Arish, with the aim of establishing eight field hospitals, according to AFP.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, it is the first such aid vessel to arrive in Egypt.
Also, eight Iran-affiliated fighters were killed in US strikes on Syria.
US and international forces based in northeastern Syria were targeted at least four times in less than 24 hours with drones and rockets, said a US military official, adding there had been no casualties.
European Union's humanitarian aid chief called for "meaningful pauses" in the fighting in Gaza.
"It is urgent to define and respect humanitarian pauses," said Janez Lenarčič, European commissioner for crisis management.
“Fuel needs to get in. As you could see, more than half of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip stopped working, primarily because of lack of fuel, and fuel is desperately needed," he added.