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Palestinians who fled an ongoing Israeli raid of Gaza鈥檚 main hospital described mass arrests and forced marches past bodies in interviews on Sunday, while the United Nations said Israel is now blocking its main agency helping Palestinians from sending food aid to the enclave鈥檚 devastated north.听
Israel鈥檚 military says it has killed more than 170 militants and detained about 480 suspects in the raid on Shifa Hospital that began Monday, calling it a blow to Hamas and other armed groups it says had regrouped there as听the war听nears the six-month mark.听
The fighting highlights the resilience of Palestinian armed groups in a heavily destroyed part of Gaza where Israeli troops have been forced to return after a听similar raid in the war鈥檚 earliest weeks.听
Kareem Ayman Hathat, who lived in a five-story building about 100 meters from the hospital, said he huddled in the kitchen for days while explosions sometimes caused the building to shake.听
Early Saturday, Israeli troops stormed the building and forced dozens of residents to leave. He said men were forced to strip to their underwear and four were detained. The rest were blindfolded and ordered to follow a tank south as blasts thundered around them.听
鈥淔rom time to time, the tank would fire a shell,鈥� he told The Associated Press. 鈥淚t was to terrorize us.鈥�听
Israeli jets on Sunday launched several strikes near Shifa Hospital, which largely stopped functioning following the November raid. After claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command center there, Israeli forces months ago听exposed a single tunnel听leading to a few underground rooms.听
Hardly any aid has been delivered in recent weeks to northern Gaza and Gaza City, where Shifa is located. The isolated area suffered widespread devastation in the early days of Israel鈥檚 offensive launched after听the Oct. 7 Hamas attack听that triggered the war.听
As of Sunday, Israel has told the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees it will no longer approve agency food convoys to northern Gaza, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on social media.听
鈥淭his is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine,鈥� he said. The agency,听Gaza鈥檚 biggest humanitarian provider, is repeatedly accused by Israel of having links to Hamas. Israel鈥檚 government didn鈥檛 immediately respond.听
Palestinians inspect the damage of residential buildings after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Experts have said听famine is imminent in northern Gaza, where more than 210,000 people suffer from catastrophic hunger.听
A day after standing near some of the estimated 7,000 aid trucks waiting to enter Gaza and calling the starvation a 鈥渕oral outrage,鈥� U.N. Secretary-General听Ant贸nio Guterres听urged an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the release of hostages held in Gaza and Israel鈥檚 removal of 鈥渙bstacles鈥� to allow a flood of aid delivery.听
鈥淟ooking at Gaza, it almost appears that the four horsemen of war, famine, conquest and death are galloping across it,鈥� Guterres said in Egypt, adding that nothing justifies the collective punishment of Palestinians.听
Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry said that five wounded Palestinians trapped at Shifa Hospital died without food, water or medical services. The World Health Organization鈥檚 director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described conditions as 鈥渦tterly inhumane.鈥�听
Jameel al-Ayoubi, among thousands sheltering at Shifa when the current raid began, said tanks and armored bulldozers plowed into the hospital courtyard, crushing ambulances and civilian vehicles. He saw tanks drive over at least four bodies of people killed in the raid.听
Israel鈥檚 military said Saturday it had evacuated patients and medical staff from Shifa鈥檚 emergency department because militants 鈥渆ntrenched鈥� themselves there, and set up an alternative site for seriously wounded patients.听
Abed Radwan, who lived about 200 meters (yards) from the hospital, said Israeli forces stormed all area buildings, detaining several people and forcing the rest to march south. He saw bodies in the streets and several flattened homes.听
鈥淭hey left nothing intact,鈥� he said.听
Israel鈥檚 military early Sunday also stormed al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis amid 鈥渧ery intense shelling,鈥� the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. Israel鈥檚 military announced operations in Khan Younis targeting Hamas infrastructure but said troops weren鈥檛 currently operating in the hospitals. It accused Hamas of using hospitals as shields.听
The war has killed at least 32,226 Palestinians, according to听Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry. It doesn鈥檛 distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll, but says women and children make up around two-thirds of the dead.听
Palestinians inspect the damage of residential buildings after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Among the latest killed were at least seven people, including three children, when an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Rafah overnight, according to health authorities. And an airstrike near Deir al-Balah late Sunday killed at least 10 members of a family including two children, according to an AP journalist who saw the bodies at a hospital.听
Israel says it has killed more than 13,000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames civilian casualties on Hamas, accusing it of embedding in residential areas.听
More than 80% of Gaza鈥檚 population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, with most seeking refuge听in the southernmost city of Rafah, which Israel calls the next target of its ground offensive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu听rejects pleas from the United States听and others to avoid a major ground operation there, calling it essential for defeating Hamas.听
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that he was traveling to the U.S. on Sunday at Washington鈥檚 invitation, with a goal of preserving 鈥渙ur ability to obtain air systems and munitions鈥� for the war and maintaining critical ties with Israel鈥檚 top ally.听
The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack across southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took scores hostage. Hamas still holds an estimated 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others. Most of the rest were freed in exchange for the release of some Palestinian prisoners in November.听
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are trying to broker another cease-fire and release.听
Over the border from Gaza on Sunday, Jews celebrated their听most joyful of holidays, Purim, the biblical story of how a plot to exterminate Jews in Persia was thwarted as an affirmation of Jewish survival.听
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