Biden says al-Shifa hospital "must be protected" Joe Biden has said that Gaza’s largest hospital “must be protected” and called for “less intrusive action” by Israeli forces. Hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies, remain trapped inside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, in the north of Gaza, as Israeli troops and Hamas militants take part in heavy fighting outside it. At least 32 patients, including three premature babies, had died over the past three days, Gaza’s health ministry said. The US president, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, said: It is my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action. The Israeli military has said it was providing safe corridors for people to escape intense fighting in the north and move south, but Palestinian officials inside Shifa have said the compound was surrounded by constant heavy gunfire. A New York civil liberties group is suing Joe Biden for allegedly failing in his duty under international and US laws to prevent Israel committing genocide in Gaza. The Center for Constitutional Rights’ (CCR) complaint on behalf of several Palestinian groups and individuals alleges that Israel’s actions, including “mass killings”, the targeting of civilian infrastructure and forced expulsions, amount to genocide. The CCR said that the 1948 international convention against genocide requires the US and other countries to use their power and influence to stop the killing. The complaint argued: As Israel’s closest ally and strongest supporter, being its biggest provider of military assistance by a large margin and with Israel being the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II, the United States has the means available to have a deterrent effect on Israeli officials now pursuing genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, asks the court to bar the US from providing weapons, money and diplomatic support to Israel. It also seeks a declaration that the president, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, are required “to take all measures within their power to prevent Israel’s commission of genocidal acts against the Palestinian people of Gaza”. These include pressing Israel to end the bombing of Gaza, to lift its siege of the territory and to prevent the forcible expulsion of Palestinians. UN says school and staff building "directly hit" by strikes The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said that one of its schools in northern Gaza and a building designated as a residence for UN international staff in the Rafah area were directly hit by strikes. In its daily update on Monday, the agency said UN international staff present in Rafah had left the building 90 minutes before the strike, and that no casualties were reported. The strike “is yet another indication that nowhere is safe in Gaza”, it said. It did not say who was responsible for the strikes. The UN agency said the coordinates of the building were shared twice, including just days ago, adding: UNRWA shares coordinates of all its facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict. UNRWA also said it had received “extremely concerning” reports that Israeli Security Forces (ISF) had entered one UNRWA school and two UNRWA health centres in the Gaza Strip with tanks and used them for military operations. It cited reports that the ISF “conducted interrogations and arrests” of internally displaced people in the installations, adding: According to the reports, IDPs were subsequently forced to leave the UNRWA installations and move south towards Wadi Gaza. Witnesses reported that Israeli Forces then struck the two health centres with artillery fire. UNRWA is further verifying these reports. If confirmed, the military use of UNRWA facilities raises serious concerns, as such use puts civilians at serious risk of harm. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said that the only power generator at Al-Amal hospital in southern Gaza has stopped working. In a statement posted to social media, the PRCS said the lives of 90 patients at the hospital are at risk, including 25 in the medical rehabilitation section “who now face the risk of death at any moment”. It said the hospital is relying on a “very small” generator and that the remaining fuel is expected to run out within the 24 hours. Journalists in southern Lebanon said they were targeted in Israeli strikes, which Al Jazeera said lightly wounded its photographer. About a dozen journalists from several media outlets were on a tour around the town of Yaroun when the incident took place on Monday, AFP reported. Al Jazeera said its photographer, Issam Mawasi, was “lightly wounded as a result of Israeli bombing”. Al Jazeera’s Lebanon bureau chief, Mazen Ibrahim, accused Israel of “directly targeting” the group, adding that the journalists were in an open area. The mayor of Yaroun, Ali Qassem Tahfah, said two successive Israeli strikes on Monday “targeted the group of journalists”, hitting several metres from the teams’ vehicles and causing damage. The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the incident. The director of Gaza’s largest hospital has said Israel has not made any contact regarding the evacuation of patients or premature babies. Dr Mohamed Abu Selmia of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City told the BBC: [The Israeli army] haven’t reached out, instead we reached out to them ... but until now we have received no response. There are negotiations regarding evacuating premature babies but until now nothing has happened. He said that 32 patients, including three premature babies, have died at the hospital over the past few days. Several other patients who need dialysis risk dying in “the next couple of days” as the treatment is no longer available, he said. He repeated the call for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Red Cross to help evacuate patients, adding: We don’t want any of the patients ... to die, we want them alive, we want them to receive the medical care they need in a place that can provide them. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has posted to X, formerly Twitter, video of what it says is a “walkthrough” of a “subterranean terrorist tunnel” used by Hamas, emerging at the Rantisi children’s hospital in Gaza city. The footage could not immediately be independently verified. The IDF says it discovered a Hamas operations center beneath the hospital, where it believes it has evidence hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October were held. The armed wing of Hamas says it discussed with Qatari mediators the release up to 70 women and children hostages in Gaza in exchange for a five-day Israeli ceasefire, Reuters reports. Israel has rejected any possibility of a ceasefire until the release of all 240 of the hostages. Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for al-Qassam brigades, said Hamas also wanted the release of 200 Palestinian children and 75 women it says have been “detained by the enemy”. “The truce should include a complete ceasefire and allow aid and humanitarian relief everywhere in the Gaza Strip,” he said in an audio recording posted to the group’s Telegram channel. He said Israel was “procrastinating and evading” over the proposed deal. IDF: Hamas operations center discovered beneath hospital Israel claims it has uncovered a Hamas operations center beneath the Rantisi children’s hospital in Gaza City, and evidence suggesting that hostages taken on 7 October were held there. Also found inside the hospital, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, was a motorcycle it believes Hamas used during its assault, and a tunnel from the hospital linking it with a house used by Hamas leaders. Lt Col Peter Lerner of the IDF has just been on CNN explaining what he says the military found: The hospital has most definitely been used for terrorist activities. This is a hospital that we’ve been evacuating over the last few days. The civilians and the terrorists escaped from the hospital … and hostages taken with the terrorists out of the hospital premises. We found a motorcycle in the hospital itself. The motorcycle has a bullet hole in its fuel tank, that looks like one of those motorcycles we’ve seen in all of those videos coming out of the 7th of October. We also found a tunnel that appears to connect a senior terrorist house [of] a commander … to the hospital, so this is a merciless network putting the people of Gaza at risk. This is what we’ve been saying throughout the last 38 days. He said hairbands, diapers and baby bottles found under the hospital suggest that children and babies were among the hostages who may have been held there. The claims could not immediately be independently verified. Separately, CNN reports that “a US official with knowledge of American intelligence” said that Hamas had “a command node” under the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. According to the network, the official claims fuel intended for the hospital is used by Hamas, and that Hamas fighters “regularly cluster in and around Gaza’s largest hospital”. Earlier Monday, Joe Biden said the hospital, Gaza’s largest, where hundreds of patients are trapped, “must be protected” and called for “less intrusive action” by Israeli forces. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Hamas has “lost control” of Gaza and that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “is advancing to every point” to capture Gaza City. The Times of Israel reported Gallant saying on Monday: There is no force of Hamas capable of stopping the IDF. The IDF is advancing to every point. The Hamas organisation has lost control of Gaza. Terrorists are fleeing south. Civilians are looting Hamas bases. They have no confidence in the government. Israeli forces are advancing “according to plans and carry out the tasks accurately, lethally”, he said, adding: We work according to tasks. We don’t have a stopwatch. We have goals. We will achieve our goals. Biden says al-Shifa hospital "must be protected" Joe Biden has said that Gaza’s largest hospital “must be protected” and called for “less intrusive action” by Israeli forces. Hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies, remain trapped inside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, in the north of Gaza, as Israeli troops and Hamas militants take part in heavy fighting outside it. At least 32 patients, including three premature babies, had died over the past three days, Gaza’s health ministry said. The US president, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, said: It is my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action. The Israeli military has said it was providing safe corridors for people to escape intense fighting in the north and move south, but Palestinian officials inside Shifa have said the compound was surrounded by constant heavy gunfire. Dozens of corpses lay in the courtyard outside Gaza’s largest hospital, covering the ground next to a blue refrigerated truck that had long ceased to be able to keep the bodies cool. Most of the bodies were shrouded in blankets originally meant for the living, after the hospital ran out of white bodybags. A severely burnt arm protruded from one of the blankets. Elsewhere, according to video footage seen by the Guardian, the charred body of a child was visible among the soft folds of the material. “We are under siege,” said Munir al-Boursh, a doctor who is also a Palestinian health ministry undersecretary, speaking from inside Dar al-Shifa hospital. The hospital had intended to dig a mass grave, until Israeli tanks and snipers encircled the the complex on Friday, making movement around it impossible. There are 110 dead bodies in front of the hospital, some in the refrigerator which isn’t functioning, and some just in the open space in front of the emergency unit. This could become a source of disease. Six hundred patients as well as 200 to 500 health workers, and about 1,500 displaced people are seeking shelter at the hospital, according to information shared with the World Health Organization. Six bombardments struck the hospital complex in recent days, including the intensive care unit, doctors have said. Boursh said: No one can get out or come inside, it’s too risky. Israeli forces said there was a safety corridor through the eastern gate so people could exit and some people did try to get out that way. But there was shooting right in front of them, and they were so scared that they turned back. Summary of the day so far It’s nearly 9.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments: At least 11,240 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,630 children and 3,130 women, within the Gaza Strip by Israeli military actions since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Monday. Israeli military has reached the gates of Gaza’s largest hospital as hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies, remained trapped inside. Thousands of people have fled al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, but health officials said the remaining patients were dying due to energy shortages. At least 32 patients, including three premature babies, had died over the past three days, Gaza’s health ministry said. All of the hospitals in northern Gaza are “out of service” amid fuel shortages and intense combat, the health ministry in the besieged territory said on Monday. Two major hospitals in northern Gaza – al-Shifa and al-Quds – closed to new patients due to Israeli airstrikes and heavy fighting around both facilities as medical staff were left without oxygen, medical supplies or fuel to power incubators. The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA has warned that all of the group’s aid operations in Gaza will be shut down in the next 48 hours unless fuel is allowed into the besieged territory. UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said the agency’s fuel depot in Gaza has run dry and will no longer be able to resupply hospitals, remove sewage and provide drinking water. UNRWA said one of its buildings in Rafah has been struck by Israel’s navy. Rafah is in the south of the Gaza Strip, within the area Israel has insisted Palestinians move to. In a statement, UNRWA said there had been no casualties. It added that UN buildings and facilities in Gaza were hosting nearly 780,000 displaced people and said “they should be protected at all times”. At least three Palestinians have been killed and 20 others injured after an Israeli airstrike hit Bani Suheila, a town east of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, health officials said on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had conducted 4,300 strikes on Gaza to date. In an update on Monday, it claimed to have struck “approximately 300 tunnel shafts” and “approximately 3,000 terrorist infrastructure sites”. UN workers observed a minute’s silence on Monday for the more than 100 colleagues killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began last month, marking the deadliest conflict ever for UN workers. At least 101 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have been killed since 7 October. A vessel from Turkey carrying materials for field hospitals arrived on Monday in Egypt’s port of El Arish, near the Rafah border crossing. A Turkish health official told AFP that the vessel was carrying “materials, generators, ambulances to establish eight field hospitals”. Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has acknowledged the growing international pressure for a ceasefire. He also estimated that Israel has a “diplomatic window” of between two and three weeks before pressure on the country seriously begins to increase, local media reported. The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has set out proposals for how Gaza should be run after the war between Israel and Hamas. EU foreign ministers are also looking at a Cypriot proposal to open up a maritime corridor for urgent humanitarian aid for Gaza. The EU’s humanitarian aid chief called on Monday for “meaningful” pauses in the fighting in Gaza and urgent deliveries of fuel to keep hospitals working in the territory. The EU’s 27 countries issued a statement on Sunday saying hospitals “must be protected” and condemning Hamas for using the medical facilities and civilians as “human shields”. The archbishop of Canterbury has called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, saying the scale of civilian deaths and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza cannot not be “morally justified”. “The killing must stop,” Justin Welby said, adding that the call for a ceasefire was a “moral cry”. Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, has let it be known that he is available if needed to help in an effort to end the growing crisis in Israel and Palestine. His office, however, denied a report in the Israeli press that he had already been offered a specific job. British Palestinians with relatives in Gaza have demanded a meeting with the prime minister to press the UK government into backing a ceasefire, saying its current position is “putting our loved ones in danger”. 100 US government officials from the state department and international development agency have signed an internal memo criticizing the White House for “disregarding the lives of Palestinians” and for showing an “unwillingness to de-escalate” in the Israel-Hamas war. Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington with all the latest from the war between Israel and Hamas. You can reach me at leonie.chao-fong@theguardian.com. About 40 Spanish citizens were evacuated from Gaza on Monday through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, the acting foreign minister José Manuel Albares said, according to Reuters. Albares said in a press briefing: I confirm that 33 Spanish-Palestinians to be precise and seven family members have already crossed the Egyptian checkpoint at the border between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah. He added that Spain had received authorisation from Israel for a second group of about 80 people to leave Gaza on Tuesday.