We’ll shut this blog now – it’s nearly 2.15 am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Our live coverage will continue later in the day.
Summary
Here is where things stand:
A shortage in fuel, power, medical supplies and health specialists as a result of Israel’s attacks across Gaza has left al-Ahli hospital’s emergency care and surgical services “paralyzed”, the World Health Organization said. “Al Ahli is a shell of a hospital … There are no operating theaters any more due to the lack of fuel, power, medical supplies and health workers,” Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO’s Palestine representative, said.
Water and sanitation services in Gaza are at the point of collapse, Unicef said on Saturday. Amid Israel’s deadly attacks across the strip, which have killed more than 20,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 2 million survivors, Unicef said that the deteriorating humanitarian situation is raising the risk of large-scale disease outbreaks.
The US president Joe Biden spoke with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, the White House said. According to Netanyahu’s office, Netanyahu voiced appreciation towards the US for its stance at the UN security council. Netanyahu’s office also added that he “made clear that Israel will pursue the war until all of its objectives are fully met”.
Two Qatari Armed Forces aircraft carrying aid for Palestinians displaced by Israeli strikes in Gaza has headed to El Arish, Egypt. In an announcement on Saturday, Qatar’s foreign ministry said that the two aircraft carrying 33 tons of aid consisting of food and medical supplies are en route to Gaza.
“We are not getting the humanitarian supplies that we need to cater and respond to a humanitarian crisis this size and this scale,” UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma has said. Speaking to CGTN, Touma added: “The more that we have these evacuation orders that the Israeli authorities continue to issue … we will see an exodus of people continue to search for safety, search for shelter.”
The director of UNRWA affairs, Thomas White, reiterated the absence of safety across the Gaza Strip as more than 1.9 million Palestinians remain displaced as a result of Israel’s attacks. In a tweet on Saturday, White wrote: “People in Gaza are people. They are not pieces on a checkerboard - many have already been displaced several times. The Israeli Army just orders people to move into areas where there are ongoing airstrikes. No place is safe, nowhere to go.”
In response to the UN security council’s passage of a resolution on Gaza aid delivery, Médecins Sans Frontières said that it “falls painfully short of what is required to address the crisis in Gaza”. In a series of tweets on Saturday, MSF said: “The watered-down resolution on #Gaza will not ensure the massive scale-up and rapid flow of humanitarian aid needed, as bombs continue to rain down on Palestinian civilians, force mass displacement, and deny access to vital medical care and humanitarian assistance.”
Updated
