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Israel has launched another offensive on Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, that local authorities say has caused multiple deaths and casualties.
It's at least the fourth raid on the medical facility in the six-month conflict.
Thousands of medical staff, patients and displaced people have been sheltering at the hospital, which is the largest medical facility in Gaza but has been reduced to partial operations.
In a statement on X, the head of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said hospitals should never be battlegrounds.
But Israel's military has defended the operation, saying it has killed 20 Hamas militants who were using Al-Shifa as a base.
Israeli Defence Force spokesman Daniel Hagari says 200 terrorism suspects were also arrested.
"The Hamas terror organisation continues to systematically operate from within hospitals and civilian infrastructures. It abuses civilians and patients and uses them as human shields. Hamas tried to re-establish its base in the hospital and use it as a shelter for terrorists on the run. We will not allow this and will attack and continue to attack any place Hamas tries to re-establish its grip."
There were reports at least one journalist was detained by the IDF at Al-Shifa.
Al Jazeera reported its Arabic correspondent, Ismail al-Ghoul, was severely beaten and stripped before being dragged into a truck by Israeli soldiers.
He has since been released after 12 hours in detention, and says Israeli forces destroyed media equipment and arrested other journalists in a hospital room used by the media.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-profit organisation promoting press freedom, says it's an unacceptable attack on the press.
Committee President Jodie Ginsberg spoke to Al Jazeera while Mr al-Ghoul was still missing.
"It looks like a deliberate attempt to prevent the assault on the hospital being documented. Journalists play an essential role in a war - they are the eyes and the ears that we need to document what's happening. And with every journalist killed, with every journalist arrested, our ability to understand what's happening in Gaza diminishes significantly."
In Washington, United States Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel was asked about Mr al-Ghoul before he was released.
"We're aware of those reports and we've asked the government of Israel for more information. But in general, we have been very clear that journalists play a vital role and that no journalist should be targeted in order to silence their voices in this conflict or any other. And the circumstances are as such in Gaza, where we believe the journalism and the voices of journalists is more important than ever. But again, as it relates to this specific situation, we've asked for more information, but I don't have any other specific comment on that."
The Committee to Protect Journalists says nearly 75 per cent of all journalists killed worldwide last year were in Gaza.
It says at least 90 Palestinian reporters or media workers have been killed.
But Reporters Without Borders - another not-for-profit organisation - says the number is at least 103, and that journalism is being "eradicated" in Gaza.
Ms Ginsberg says the issue is escalating.
"This is the worst conflict for journalists that the Committee to Protect Journalists has ever documented, and the situation is simply getting worse."
Meanwhile U-S president Joe Biden has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that invading Rafah would be "a mistake".
The two leaders spoke for the first time in a month, amid growing tensions over the civilian death toll in Gaza.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says during the phone call, Mr Biden explained his concerns about Israel's planned ground offensive in southern Gaza.
"First, more than a million people have taken refuge in Rafah. They went from Gaza City to Khan Younis and then to Rafah. They have nowhere else to go. Gaza's other major cities have largely been destroyed and Israel has not presented us or the world with a plan for how or where they would safely move those civilians, let alone feed and house them and ensure access to basic things like sanitation. But a major ground operation there (in Rafah) would be a mistake. It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally."
Despite the stark warning, Mr Sullivan reaffirmed US support for Israel.
He says Hamas could end the conflict "tomorrow" if it wanted to, and that not enough pressure has been applied to the group.
The European Union has agreed to add further sanctions to Hamas militants while also imposing - for the first time - sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu has agreed to send a delegation to Washington in the coming days to to discuss U-S concerns about a ground invasion of Rafah.
The US government says negotiating a ceasefire deal continues to be an "urgent priority".
For the United Nations, so is averting an impending famine.
The head of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees ((UNWRA)), Philippe Lazzarini, has said hunger in the Gaza Strip is "completely man-made".
A new report by the UN's World Food Program has found virtually everyone in Gaza is struggling to get enough food.
Nearly a third of the population is experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger.
World Food Program chief economist Arif Husai says a ceasefire and humanitarian access are crucial.
“(We) still have a small window, if we can act now. If fighting stops, (we have) vehicle access. If there are huge commodities of essential things like food, water and medicine going in, we can still avert this famine."
