Israeli airstrike destroys Gaza’s only cancer hospital, ceasefire ‘bridges’ on the table

Jerusalem: Israeli forces have advanced deeper into the Gaza Strip and blown up the only specialised cancer hospital in the war-torn territory as Israel intensifies a military onslaught to press the Palestinian militant group to free remaining Israeli hostages.

The hospital was located in the Netzarim Corridor, which splits Gaza in two and was controlled by Israeli troops for most of the 17-month-long war. Israel moved to retake the corridor this week shortly after breaking the ceasefire with Hamas.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive sit in a makeshift tent camp inside a landfill in central Gaza Strip on Friday.Credit: AP

The Israeli military said it struck the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was inaccessible to doctors and patients during the war because Hamas militants were operating at the site. Turkey, which helped build and fund the hospital, said Israeli troops at one point used it as a base.

Meanwhile, Hamas said it was reviewing a US proposal to restore the Gaza ceasefire as Israel intensifies a military onslaught to press the Palestinian militant group to free remaining Israeli hostages.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s “bridge” plan, presented last week, aims to extend the previous ceasefire into April, beyond the holidays of Ramadan and Passover, to allow time for negotiations on a permanent cessation of hostilities.

But Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military was intensifying its air, land and sea strikes and would move civilians to the southern part of Gaza.

Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings, wood and other items, move between southern and northern Gaza along a beach road on Friday.Credit: AP

Katz said Israel would continue its campaign until Hamas released more hostages and was totally defeated. Israeli airstrikes inflicted serious damage on Hamas this week, killing its Gaza government chief and other top officials.

But Palestinian and Israeli sources say Hamas has shown it can absorb major losses and still fight and govern.

Hamas said it was still debating Witkoff’s proposal and other ideas, with the goal of reaching a deal on prisoner releases, ending the war and securing a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the Strip.

A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Egypt also put forward a bridging proposal, but Hamas had yet to respond.

A first phase of the truce ended at the start of this month, but Israel and Hamas could not agree on terms for launching the second phase. Hamas delayed further hostage releases and Israeli military action then resumed.

Katz said the longer Hamas refused to free remaining hostages, the more territory it would lose. Of the more than 250 people originally seized in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, 59 remain in Gaza, 24 of whom are thought to be alive.

Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the deadliest days of the 17-month-old war, and there has been scant let-up since. Some 48,000 Palestinians have died since Israel declared war on Hamas after its attack.

On Friday, 13 people died. This included 11 people, among them six children, killed in Israeli airstrikes on houses in the Tuffah district of Gaza City in the enclave’s north, local health authorities said.

Mourners carry the bodies of Palestinians including children who were killed by an Israeli airstrike, on Friday.Credit: AP

Two people were killed by tank fire in Abassan, near Khan Yunis in the south, according to Palestinian medics.

Hours later, the Israeli military said it had intercepted two projectiles from northern Gaza after alerts were activated in the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Hamas’ armed wing claimed the attack, saying it was responding to Israeli “massacres against civilians” in Gaza.

Israel’s military reported it also intercepted a missile fired from Yemen after warning sirens sounded in numerous areas of Israel.

People seen from southern Israel on Thursday walk surrounded by buildings destroyed during the Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.Credit: AP

The Israeli military said it had killed the head of Hamas military intelligence in southern Gaza on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

On Saturday, the governments of Germany, France and Britain called for an immediate return to a ceasefire in a joint statement that also called on Israel to restore humanitarian access.

“We call on Israel to restore humanitarian access, including water and electricity, and ensure access to medical care and temporary medical evacuations in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the foreign ministers of the three countries, still known as the European 3 diplomatic alliance despite Brexit, said in a statement.

“The resumption of Israeli strikes in Gaza marks a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza, the hostages, their families and the entire region. We are appalled by the civilian casualties and urgently call for an immediate return to a ceasefire.”

They also called on Palestinian Hamas militants to release Israeli hostages and called “on all those with influence over Hamas to use that influence to ensure no further attacks against Israel”.

“More bloodshed is in no one’s interest. Israel should fully respect international law and allow the flow of aid immediately.”

Reuters, AP