Key Points
- The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has accused Israel of launching a drone attack on a southern Gaza hospital.
- It comes as US President Joe Biden discussed his 'vision' for a two-state solution with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.
- Medical aid workers say they're only able to help with a tiny fraction of Gaza's needs as conditions deteriorate.
The Palestinian Red Crescent has accused Israel of firing at a hospital in Khan Younis, as US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time in nearly a month.
The Red Crescent said displaced people were injured "due to intense gunfire from the Israeli drones targeting citizens at Al-Amal Hospital" on Friday as well as the rescue agency's base.
The military said it was checking the report.
Nearby in the same city, Israeli tanks were also approaching Gaza's biggest remaining functioning hospital, Nasser, where people reported hearing shellfire from the west.
Residents also reported fierce gun battles to the south. Israel has launched a major new advance in Khan Younis this week to capture the city, which it says is now the primary base of the Hamas fighters who attacked Israeli towns on October 7, precipitating a war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
Joe Biden discusses two-state solution with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu
White House spokesman John Kirby said Biden and Netanyahu had discussed efforts to secure remaining hostages held by Hamas, and Israel's shift to more "targeted" operations in Gaza to allow more humanitarian assistance to come through.
"The president also discussed his vision for a more durable peace and security for Israel fully integrated within the region and a two state-solution with Israel's security guaranteed," the White House said in a statement on Friday about the phone call.
The call came after Netanyahu appeared to rule out an independent Palestinian state, rejecting a long-standing pillar of US strategy in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Source: AAP / Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
"It clashes with the principle of sovereignty, but what can you do?"
Kirby denied the leaders' phone conversation came in response to Netanyahu's comment.
The Gaza health ministry said 142 Palestinians had been killed and 278 injured in Gaza in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll from more than three months of war there to 24,762.
The current conflict was triggered by Hamas militants' 7 October attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed according to Israeli tallies, and 240 taken hostage.
The war between Hamas and Israel is the latest escalation in a long-standing conflict.
Hamas is a Palestinian political and military group, which has governed the Gaza Strip since the most recent elections in 2006.
Hamas' stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state and stop the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, illegal under international law.
Hamas in its entirety is listed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and seven other countries, including Australia. But the UN Assembly rejected classifying Hamas as a terrorist group in a 2018 vote.
In 2021 the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories dating back to 2014, including the recent attacks of both Israel and Hamas.
The World Health Organization says most of the enclave's 36 hospitals have stopped working.
Only 15 are partially functioning and those are operating at up to three times their capacity, without adequate fuel or medical supplies, it says.
Israeli officials have accused Hamas fighters of operating from hospitals, including Nasser, which staff deny.
Medical aid workers struggling against 'ocean' of need
Medical aid workers are only able to help with a tiny fraction of Gaza's humanitarian needs as conditions there deteriorate following nearly 15 weeks of war, staff from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) say.
Shortages of medical personnel and supplies, denials of access by Israel, damage and risks from military activity all made it hugely challenging to treat injuries, provide routine care, prevent the spread of disease and tackle increasing malnutrition, they said.
"Our impact is very, very low because there are almost two million of people in need of health care," said Enrico Vallaperta, an intensive care nurse who returned from an MSF mission in Gaza on Thursday.
"If you compare with the needs that there are, what we are doing is really a drop in the ocean," he told a press conference in Cairo.
More than one million people are crammed into the Rafah area near the border with Egypt, where many have just plastic sheeting for shelter in the rain and cold.
Food, medicine, power and fuel have been in short supply, with deliveries of aid from outside Gaza delayed by onerous inspection regimes and complications distributing relief within the enclave.
MSF had not been able to make deliveries of aid to the north of Gaza since November, and requests to access areas throughout the strip were often denied or left unanswered by Israel, said Helen Ottens-Patterson, an MSF emergency coordinator.
A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) vehicle outside the gate of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip in early November 2023. Source: Getty / Mohammed Abed/AFP
The United Nations has also complained about Israel's "systematic" refusal to grant access to north Gaza, a problem it says became more acute this month.
Israel has denied blocking the entry of aid.
A lack of access to healthcare throughout Gaza has resulted in amputations being done with little or no anaesthesia, women giving birth without medical care, and outbreaks of diarrhoeal and respiratory disease spreading without treatment, MSF staff said.
"The global situation is extremely, extremely worrying in terms of the public health situation in the Gaza Strip and the worsening of the conditions on the ground," said Ottens-Patterson.
