Palestinians dig mass grave inside Israeli-encircled Gaza hospital, no plan to rescue babies

Palestinians trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital were digging a mass grave on Tuesday to bury patients who died under Israeli encirclement, and said no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators.

Israeli forces have surrounded Gaza City’s Al Shifa hospital which they say sits atop an underground headquarters of Hamas militants.Hamas, Gaza’s ruling Islamist group, denies fighters are present and says 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from snipers and drones. It says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies whose incubators were knocked out.A Hamas official in Beirut said 25 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals were out of use because of Israel’s assault. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the “dramatic loss of life” in the hospitals, his spokesman said.”In the name of humanity, the secretary-general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the spokesman told reporters.

via Reuters