TELAVIV : The World Health Organization announced that its personnel visited Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, and are preparing to evacuate patients and staff members who remain within 24 to 72 hours.

According to the WHO statement, there are still 25 staff members and 291 patients at the site – and actions are being to coordinate their transfer to Nasser hospital and the European hospital, also in the Gaza Strip. 

It was noted, however, that “These facilities are already operating beyond their maximum capacity, and transferring more patients will only worsen the burden on them.” 

As the IDF expands its ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, patients evacuated Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital by foot, and UNRWA said twice as much fuel is required for humanitarian operations. As a march by families of hostages reaches Jerusalem demanding a deal, amid continuing rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon, Jordan condemned what Palestinian sources claim to be an Israeli strike on schools in Gaza.

Here’s what you need to know 44 days into the war.

■ Palestinian reports say one man killed and others wounded in clashes with IDF in Jenin and Nablus in the West Bank. 

■ The IDF said it has expanded its ground offensive in northern Gaza over Saturday and targeted additional neighborhoods in Gaza City.

■ WHO announced that its personnel visited Al-Shifa Hospital and are preparing to evacuate patients and staff members within 72 hours. The Israeli army rejected reports that it had ordered the hospital to evacuate, stressing that the IDF acceded to the hospital director’s plea to ensure safe evacuation of civilians. 

■ U.S. President Biden wrote in the Washington Post that he seeks to discourage settler violence in the West Bank, including via “via bans for extremists.” He also reiterated that “Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under” the Palestinian Authority. 

■ Palestinian reports claim that 26 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

■ Palestinian sources claim that dozens were killed in an attack near areas populated by refugees, including the al-Fakhoora UNRWA school in the north of Gaza. Jordan condemned the alleged attack, calling it “a continuation of heinous war crimes.” The head of URWA said he received “horrifying” images of killed and injured civilians at the school and said that “a humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer.”

■ UNRWA’s commissioner said that the daily amount of fuel Israel allows into Gaza is “only half of the daily minimum” necessary for humanitarian operations, urging “unconditional delivery of fuel.” 

■ The march by families of hostages held by Hamas reached Jerusalem after a four-day march, joined by thousands of Israelis. They are demanding a deal to ensure the release of the hostages. 

■ Hamas’ military wing claimed that contact with some of its squads guarding the hostages “was severed.”

■ Rocket sirens sounded in both northern and southern Israel throughout Saturday. 

■ Jordan’s foreign minister has said he does not understand how Israel’s goal of obliterating Hamas could be achieved, and warned Jordan would do “whatever it takes” to stop the displacement of Palestinians.

■ Hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv for a Jewish-Arab demonstration led by Israel’s Hadash party to call for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the war and an “all-for-all” hostage deal, meaning all Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel.

■ At a state-sponsored march against Israel in Tehran, Iran aired live on state TV on Saturday, Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami said that “Israel will face a definitive defeat and end up in the dustbin of history,” adding “The battle is not over, the Islamic world will do whatever it has to do. There are still great [unused] capacities left.”

COURTESY : HAARETZ.COM