Fears of a regional escalation are increasing along with international calls for a cease-fire.
Israel continued its assault on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, as the World Health Organization warned Gaza’s largest remaining hospital is out of action.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 18 people overnight and into Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
The Nasser Hospital, the main health facility in southern Gaza, “is not functional anymore” after the Israel Defense Forces raided it last week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media Sunday.
“Both yesterday and the day before, the WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners,” he said.
He estimated that there are still “about 200 patients” in the hospital with 20 in urgent need of referral to other hospitals to receive health care.
The Israeli strikes come amid growing fears of a regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas war and growing international calls for a cease-fire.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday likened the war to the Holocaust, telling reporters during an African Union summit in Addis Ababa: “What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the remarks as “disgraceful and grave.” The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said it would summon the Brazilian ambassador for a reprimand.
Israel on Sunday also formalized its opposition to what it called the “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood, adding that a settlement, “if it is to be reached, will come about solely through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions.”
The International Court of Justice will open hearings on Monday into the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories.
