Key Points
- Doctors and aid groups say Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza is under siege from Israeli forces.
- Many Palestinians are taking shelter in northern Gaza's hospitals after their homes were destroyed by airstrikes.
- The Israeli military has denied it's targeting Al-Shifa hospital.
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said steps should be taken towards a ceasefire in , amid attacks on hospitals in Gaza.
Palestinian officials have said three newborn babies have died and dozens more patients are at risk following Israeli strikes at Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa.
The Israeli military, which has said Hamas has placed command centres under and , has denied there is a siege taking place.
Wong said while she understood that Hamas was "burrowed into civilian infrastructure", international humanitarian law required the protection of hospitals.
"We need steps towards a ceasefire," she told the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.
"It . We know that Hamas is still holding hostages, and we know that a ceasefire must be agreed between the parties. But we can also say that Israel should do everything it can to observe international humanitarian law."
Senate Nationals Leader Bridget McKenzie claimed Senator Wong's comments were an "equivocation" while speaking on Seven's Sunrise program on Monday.
"Calling for a ceasefire as if there was some equivalence between the actions of Hamas and the actual reality of war is absolutely appalling and it needs to be highly condemned," she said.
But Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek clarified that Senator Wong said "we should be working towards the ceasefire" rather than outright pushing for an end to violence, and reiterated Israel's "right to defend itself".
"We should be seeking to minimise civilian casualties, particularly in hospitals and those vulnerable facilities even Gaza," she told Sunrise on Monday.
"Working towards a ceasefire, calling for humanitarian force - that is a recognition that the civilian casualties in Gaza at the moment are very high, unacceptably high."
Greens Leader Adam Bandt said by not calling openly for a ceasefire, the government is supporting the invasion of Gaza.
"The foreign minister says the government's concerned about attacks on hospitals and rising numbers of civilian deaths, the foreign minister says the government has concerns, yet Labor will not call for a ceasefire," Bandt said.
Israel says ready to evacuate babies from Al-Shifa hospital
Israel's military says it is ready to evacuate babies from Gaza's largest hospital, as the humanitarian situation worsened and Gaza's border authority said the Rafah crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders after closing on Friday.
Hamas said it had completely or partially destroyed more than 160 Israeli military targets in Gaza, including more than 25 vehicles in the past 48 hours.
An Israeli military spokesperson said Hamas had lost control of northern Gaza.
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has declined to comment on reports of a possible hostage deal.
At a news conference late on Saturday, Netanyahu announced the deaths of five more Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
Gaza's largest hospital under 'continuous bombardment'
"It's totally a war zone, it's a totally scary atmosphere here in the hospital," Ahmed al-Mokhallalati, a senior plastic surgeon at Al-Shifa hospital, told Reuters on Saturday.
"It's continuous bombardment for more than 24 hours now, nothing stopped, you know, it's all from the tanks, from the street, from the air strike."
The World Health Organization said on Saturday it had lost communication with its contacts in Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, and expressed "grave concerns" for the safety of everyone trapped there by the fighting while calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Ashraf Al-Qidra, who represents the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, said Israeli army snipers commandeering rooftops of buildings near the hospital fired into the medical complex from time to time, limiting the ability of medics and people to move.
"We are besieged inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, and the (Israeli) occupation has targeted most of the buildings inside," he said.
Residents said Israeli troops, who began a war to eliminate Hamas after it staged a bloody cross-border assault on 7 October, had been clashing with Hamas gunmen all night in and around Gaza City where the hospital is located.
"The hospitals need to be evacuated in order to deal with Hamas. We intend on dealing with Hamas who have turned hospitals into fortified positions," the Israeli military said when asked if it planned to enter Gaza hospitals at some point.
Many Palestinians have been taking shelter at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Source: Getty / Khader Al Zanoun/AFP
Israel said on Saturday that rockets were still being fired from Gaza into southern Israel, where it has said about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage by Hamas militants last month. It reduced the death toll by 200 on Friday.
More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Arab, Muslim leaders demand an immediate end to war
Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries have called for an immediate end to military operations in Gaza, rejecting Israel's justification of its actions against Palestinians as self-defence.
The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh urged the International Criminal Court to investigate "war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing" in the Palestinian territories, according to a final communique.
Saudi Arabia has sought to press the United States and Israel for an end to hostilities in Gaza, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, gathered Arab and Muslim leaders to reinforce that message.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
