Israeli army artillery howitzers are stationed at a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel. Photograph: Jack Gues/Getty Images
A Hamas statement said there were 400 dead and injured in Jabalia, which houses families of refugees from wars with Israel dating back to 1948. Reuters could not independently verify the reported casualty figures. Mr Coveney said the targeting by Israeli forces of a building in a refugee camp in southern Gaza should raise serious concern in the light of international humanitarian law.
Power generators in Al Shifa Medical complex and the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza will run out of fuel in a few hours, Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza said. He called on petrol stations owners in the enclave to urgently feed the two hospitals with fuel if possible. “We take it an hour at a time because we don’t know when we will be receiving patients. Several times we’ve had to set up surgical spaces in the corridors and even sometimes in the hospital waiting areas,” Dr Mohammed al-Run said.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the government and then make other stops in the region, the department said.