Israeli strikes continue in Gaza as neighbours close borders with Syria

At least 29 people have been killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli strikes pummelled the area around one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

The situation in and around the Kamal Adwan hospital is “catastrophic”, according to Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the facility.

The dead included five children and five women, according to the hospital casualty list.

Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya is one of the few hospitals still partially operating in Gaza’s northernmost province, where Israeli forces are pressing an offensive that has almost completely sealed off the area from humanitarian aid for two months.

Israel’s military denied that its forces had struck the hospital or operated inside it.

The army said that in the past few weeks, “coordinated efforts with international organisations have been under way in order to transfer patients, companions, and medical staff to other hospitals”.

An Indonesian medical team which had been assisting in Kamal Adwan for the past week said it was forced to evacuate on foot after the area was surrounded by Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the medical team’s expulsion.

Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation representative in the Palestinian territories, said an Israeli tank approached the hospital at around 4am on Friday (2am GMT). Although no official Israeli evacuation order was issued, “people started to climb the wall to escape, and this panic attracted IDF (Israeli) fire”, he said.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation in northern Gaza against Hamas militants.

In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Qatar says he has seen new momentum in Gaza ceasefire efforts since the US presidential election, with the incoming Trump administration seeking an end to the conflict before it takes office.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a key mediator in the efforts towards a truce, declined to give specifics of the negotiations but told an international conference in Doha that the gaps between the sides are not large.

Qatar, which has served as a mediator throughout the 14-month war, suspended its efforts last month in frustration over the lack of progress.

But Sheikh Mohammed said his government has re-engaged in recent days after determining a new willingness by both parties to reach a deal.

“We have sensed after the election that the momentum is coming back,” he told the Doha Forum on Saturday.

He said has been in touch with both the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration and found that while there are some differences in approach, both are committed to the same goal of ending the war.

“We have seen a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration in order to achieve a deal, even before the president comes to the office,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

He declined to discuss details, saying he wanted to “protect the process,” but expressed hope for a deal “as soon as possible”.

“If you look at the gaps and the disagreements, they are not something substantial that really affects the agreement,” he said.

Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon said it is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Jordan also closed a border crossing with Syria because of the security situation on the Syrian side.

Syrian insurgents have entered the central towns of Rastan and Talbiseh, just north of the central city of Homs, bringing them closer to Syria’s third largest city.

A day earlier, jihadi-led opposition fighters captured the central city of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest.

On Saturday, Syrian opposition and rebel commanders said insurgents had reached the suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

Israel’s war against Hamas has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,600 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants.

Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.