Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital ‘ceases to function’ as Israel and Hizbollah exchange fire

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Gaza’s largest hospital has “ceased to function” after running out of fuel and being surrounded by Israeli troops, with air strikes and gunfire making it impossible for civilians to escape.

Al-Shifa hospital, in the heart of Gaza City, ran out of fuel over the weekend, local officials and the World Health Organization said, risking the lives of patients as fighting raged just outside its doors.

Efforts by the Israel Defense Forces to take control of the site have become a diplomatic flashpoint between Israel and its allies. The US and EU have asked Israel to show restraint as the scenes at the hospital — including newborn babies being kept warm outside non-functioning incubators — spur support in Arab and some western capitals for a ceasefire to protect Palestinian civilians.

The fighting around al-Shifa came as Israel and Hizbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, traded cross-border fire amid fears the conflict could spill over into the region, an outcome the US has sought to avoid with a flurry of Middle East diplomacy.

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, warned on Monday that Israel’s “unparalleled” and “disproportionate” attacks on civilians threaten to fuel radicalisation in the Middle East.

The campaign to expel Hamas militants from the coastal enclave was triggered by the armed group’s devastating rampage through southern Israel on October 7. Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

More than 11,000 Gaza residents have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground incursion into the strip, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…