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UN aid agency chief visits Gaza amid Israel war: Situation 'hell on earth'
Israel-Hamas War: UNRWA chief said, “Back in #Gaza, endless deepening tragedy. People are everywhere, live in the street, need everything.”
Israeli forces battled Hamas militants and bombed more targets in the devastated Gaza Strip on Tuesday as the UN General Assembly was due to vote on a new demand for a ceasefire.
More than two months into the war sparked by the October 7 attack, the visiting chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, likened Gaza to "hell on earth".
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry charged Tuesday that Israeli forces were raiding a hospital in Gaza City, the biggest urban centre, in the north of the coastal territory.
"Israeli occupation forces are storming Kamal Adwan hospital after besieging and bombing it for days," ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, accusing troops of rounding up men in the hospital courtyard, including medical staff.
The army did not immediately comment, but Israel has repeatedly accused the Islamist militant group of using hospitals, schools, mosques and tunnels beneath them as military bases -- claims Hamas has denied.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said earlier that "the hospital remains surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks, and fighting with armed groups has been reported in its vicinity for three consecutive days".
It said two mothers were killed in a strike on the maternity ward and that about 3,000 internally displaced people were trapped in the facility amid reports of "extreme shortages of water, food and power".
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The war began with Hamas's October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and saw around 240 hostages taken back to Gaza.
Israel has responded to the unprecedented attacks with an offensive that has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed at least 18,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
UN agencies and aid groups fear the Palestinian territory will soon be overwhelmed by starvation and disease and are pleading with Israel to boost efforts to protect civilians.
Air and artillery strikes again rained down on multiple targets in Gaza, a day after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claimed significant progress in the over two-months-old war.
"Hamas is on the verge of dissolution -- the IDF is taking over its last strongholds," said Gallant, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
