More than 45,000 Palestinians have died in the Israeli invasion of Gaza. (Reuters: Ramadan Abed)
In short:
At least 28 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza targeting a school building and a family home.
The director of a hospital in northern Gaza said the Israeli military had ordered the evacuation of the medical centre, which he called "next to impossible" without ambulances.
What's next?
Ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel are continuing, with the former saying an agreement is "closer than ever" after more than a year of war.
Israel ordered the closure and evacuation of one of the last hospitals still partly functioning in a besieged area on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, forcing medics to search for a way to bring hundreds of patients and staff to safety.
The head of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Husam Abu Safiya, told Reuters via text message that obeying the order to shut down was "next to impossible" because there were not enough ambulances to get patients out.
"We currently have nearly 400 civilians inside the hospital, including babies in the neonatal unit, whose lives depend on oxygen and incubators.
"We cannot evacuate these patients safely without assistance, equipment, and time," said Mr Abu Safiya.
Nightmare in northern Gaza
Photo shows A group of half naked men sit on the ground beneath a ruined building.
"We are sending this message under heavy bombardment and direct targeting of the fuel tanks, which if hit will cause a large explosion and mass casualties of the civilians inside," he said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on Mr Abu Safiya's remarks.
On Friday the IDF said it had sent fuel and food supplies to the hospital and helped evacuate more than 100 patients and caregivers to other Gaza hospitals, some in coordination with the Red Cross, for their own safety.
The hospital is one of the only ones still partially functioning in the once crowded northern edge of Gaza, an area under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months in one of the most punishing operations of the 14-month-old war.
Mr Abu Safiya said the military had ordered patients and staff to be evacuated to another hospital where conditions are even worse.
Photos from inside the hospital showed patients on beds crammed into corridors to keep them away from windows. Reuters could not immediately verify those images.
Israel has faced growing criticism of its actions during the war, triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, including from rights groups accusing it of "acts of genocide" which the Israeli government strongly denies.
The Israeli army has operated in the two towns of north Gaza, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, as well as the nearby Jabalia camp for nearly three months.
Palestinians have accused Israel of carrying out acts of "ethnic cleansing" to depopulate those areas and create a buffer zone.
Israel denies this and says the campaign in the area is aimed to fight Hamas militants and prevent them from regrouping.
It said its forces have killed hundreds of militants and dismantled military infrastructure since that operation began.
Ceasefire 'closer than ever'
In a rare joint statement, Hamas and two other Palestinian armed groups said on Saturday that an agreement to end the bloodshed was "closer than ever".
The groups, which include Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said that a truce in Gaza and a hostage release deal may be within reach, provided Israel does not impose new conditions in negotiations.
Medics, journalists and rescuers are being killed at work in Gaza
Photo shows A hijabi woman in green medical scrubs looks up while standing in front of a ruined house
Negotiations have faced multiple challenges since a one-week truce in November 2023, with the primary point of contention being the establishment of a lasting ceasefire.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly stated they oppose a full military withdrawal from Gaza. Another unresolved issue is the territory's post-war governance.
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, were held last week in Doha, rekindling hope of a potential breakthrough after months of stalling.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was "hopeful" for a deal, but avoided making any predictions as to when it would materialise.
Israeli air strikes kill dozens
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 28 Palestinians, including a family home and at a school building the Israeli military said was used by Hamas.
Civil agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that at least 13 people were killed in an air strike on a house in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah belonging to the Abu Samra family.
Lawsuit claims US failed to evacuate Palestinian Americans from Gaza
Photo shows A woman wearing black robes and a grey headdress standing at a brown lectern and media microphones alongside a picture of a man
Hours after the strike, an AFP photographer saw residents searching through the debris for survivors, while others looked for belongings they could salvage.
In a nearby compound, bodies covered in blankets were laid on the floor.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has confirmed a separate strike further north, on a school in Gaza City.
Mr Bassal said that eight people including four children were killed in the attack on the school, which had been repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a "precise strike" overnight targeting Hamas militants operating there.
A military statement said that a Hamas "command and control centre … was embedded inside" the school compound in the city's east, adding that it was used "to plan and execute terrorist attacks" against Israeli forces.
Damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza. (Reuters: Ramadan Abed)
AFP images showed the damaged school building where mangled concrete slabs and iron beams lay strewn amid patches of blood.
Contacted by AFP, an Israeli military spokesperson said they were unable to comment on other reported strikes elsewhere in Gaza.
Mr Bassal said in a statement that an overnight strike killed three people in Rafah, in the south.
A drone strike early on Sunday hit a car in Gaza City, killing four people, the spokesman added.
The unprecedented Hamas attack last year that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 96 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,227 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Pope Francis has condemned the Israeli strikes in Gaza which killed children. (Reuters: Guglielmo Mangiapane)
Pope condemns children's deaths
Pope Francis on Saturday condemned deadly bombardment a day earlier that killed several children as "cruelty", prompting a sharp response from Israel which accused the pontiff of double standards.
The dead include seven children from one family, killed in a bombing on Friday that sparked a strong reaction from Pope Francis.
He said "children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war."
The pope added that he felt compelled to speak out "because it touches my heart".
The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out the attack on northern Gaza, but said it targeted a Hamas "military structure" and questioned the death toll provided by civil defence rescuers.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman hit back at the pontiff's comments, saying they were "particularly disappointing" and showed "double standards", singling out Israel for criticism.
AFP/Reuters
