Health officials in the sector said that patients, staff, and displaced people left Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical center in Gaza, today Saturday, leaving behind only a small crew to care for patients who cannot move and the Israeli forces controlling the facility.

The mass exit from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City came on the same day that internet and phone service was restored to the Gaza Strip, ending the wired and wireless communication outage that forced the United Nations to halt the delivery of vital humanitarian aid because it could not coordinate its convoys.

The Israeli army, according to the "Times of Israel" newspaper, said the hospital director asked it to assist those wishing to leave via a safe route.

The army denied a report by AFP, saying it did not order any evacuation and allowed medical staff to remain at the hospital to support patients who cannot be moved.

The Israeli army also said that soldiers delivered more than 6,000 liters of water and more than 2,300 kilograms of food to Al-Shifa Hospital.

The Israeli army said, “This activity was conducted in parallel with the Israeli army’s activities to locate and thwart terrorism at the hospital.”

The army conducted operations around the hospital over the past week, revealing what it said was evidence of Hamas’s use of the site for terrorist activities.

It said, “We see the presence of Hamas in all hospitals; it’s a clear presence. They cynically exploit hospitals, as is the case here in the heart of Al-Shifa,” said General Yaron Finkelman, commander of the Israeli army’s Southern Command, on Friday. Israeli forces discovered at the hospital an entrance to a tunnel belonging to Hamas and a weapons cache, along with other findings in recent days.
The army also retrieved the bodies of the two Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 massacre from the Al-Shifa Hospital area.

Israeli army intensifies its operations in the sector

Hamas confirmed on Saturday the death of official Ahmed Bahr following an Israeli raid in Gaza, while the army continued targeting senior officials, command centers, rocket launch sites, and weapons production labs in the sector.

Bahr (76 years old) was a member of the Hamas political bureau and previously served as deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

The Israeli army said it expanded its operations in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, carrying out attacks against terrorist infrastructure and Hamas brigades by the 36th Division in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, and the 162nd Division in Jabalia.

The Israeli army said Southern Command “continues to expand its operational activities in additional neighborhoods” and works on “targeting terrorists and striking Hamas infrastructure,” posting footage of these activities.

The Israeli army said: “During the confrontations, many terrorists were killed, and the forces bombed numerous terrorist infrastructures, including underground infrastructure and important targets of the terrorist organization.” A video clip posted by the army showed a raid on two Hamas activists the Israeli army said were trying to booby-trap a building in the Gaza Strip.

As the army secures control of Gaza City, it began warning residents of Khan Younis City in the southern Gaza Strip to evacuate, indicating that the ground operation is likely to expand to southern areas of the sector in the coming days and weeks.

Medical officials in Gaza said that Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings in the southern sector killed at least 32 Palestinians on Saturday – including 26 in Khan Younis, according to a local doctor.

Witnesses in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza told the Associated Press that dozens were killed there when an Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations shelter.

The Israeli army, which warned residents of Jabalia and others in a social media post in Arabic to leave, had no immediate comment. It rarely comments on individual attacks, only saying it targets Hamas while trying to minimize harm to civilians.

The army also continued efforts to counter rocket fire, which has significantly decreased in recent weeks. Hamas is believed to be storing rockets for a prolonged war but also faces increasing difficulty carrying out attacks amid the Israeli army’s ground operation. Rocket fire continued on parts of southern and central Israel, including late Saturday afternoon.

UN official calls for ceasefire: “We are not asking for the moon”

The army announced a humanitarian pause in northern Gaza on Saturday to allow Palestinians to evacuate south.

The Israeli army spokesperson in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, said upon arriving at the “humanitarian area” in the Al-Mawasi area south of Gaza, “We urge you to evacuate urgently because staying there poses a danger to you.”

Additionally, Adraee said the Israeli army will implement a “tactical pause of military activity” in the Shaboura camp near Rafah in southern Gaza, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., “for humanitarian purposes.”

Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian affairs coordinator Martin Griffiths called for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza to ensure aid reaches civilians in the sector, during a speech before the General Assembly on Friday.

“Call it whatever you want, but the demand, from a humanitarian perspective, is simple. Stop the fighting to allow civilians to move safely.”

Griffiths continued: “We are not asking for the moon.” “We call for the basic necessary measures to meet the basic needs of civilian populations and stop the course of this crisis.”

Israel resisted calls for a ceasefire unless a large number of hostages abducted on October 7, about 240 hostages including women and children, are released. There were concerns that a long ceasefire period would allow Hamas and other Palestinian factions to regroup and prepare for the next phase of fighting, hindering the Israeli army’s ability to operate.

On the other hand, Juliette Touma, head of the Palestinian refugee agency, said 120,000 liters (31,700 gallons) of fuel arrived on Saturday and is supposed to last two days after Israel agreed Friday to allow this amount for UN use. It also allowed an additional 10,000 liters (2,642 gallons) to keep communications systems running.

The Palestinian telecommunications company said it was able to restart its generators after the UN donated fuel.

The United Nations warned that Gaza’s 2.3 million residents suffer from a severe shortage of food and water and said that the amount of fuel provided does not exceed half of the minimum daily needs.

The Israeli ground operation in Gaza came after three weeks of intensive air campaigns across the sector in response to Hamas’s shocking invasion on October 7 of towns in southern Israel under cover of thousands of rockets, when about 1200 people, most of them civilians from all over the world, were killed in their homes and people at an outdoor music festival near Kibbutz Reim.