Four Gaza patients dead as oxygen cut off during Israel raid on Nasser hospital, doctors say - latest

Rafah in southern Gaza was also hit by Israeli airstrikes ahead of a planned ground invasion into the city

Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters rally outside Downing Street

At least four patients in intensive care died because their oxygen supply was cut off when Israeli troops stormed Gaza’s main hospital, according to the doctors.

Israeli special forces have stormed the last major hospital in southern Gaza, with the military saying it is a limited operation to seeking the remains of hostages taken by Hamas.

The raid came a day after the army sought to evacuate thousands of displaced people who had taken shelter at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

The southern city has been the main target of Israel's offensive against Hamas in recent weeks. The military said it had "credible intelligence" that Hamas had held hostages at the hospital and that the remains of hostages might still be inside.

This comes after the UN warned that an Israeli ground invasion into Rafah could lead to slaughter as more tha one million Palestinians shelter there.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned offensive could leave an “already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.”

Key points

• Four patients dead as Israeli troops storm hospital in Gaza, doctors say
• Israeli special forces inside Khan Younis hospital
• Israel launches 'extensive' strikes in Lebanon
• Rafah invasion could ‘lead to slaughter’, UN warns

[15 February 2024 17:00 · Tom Watling]

Brazil's Lula slams Israel on Gaza war, says UN failed

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused the United Nations of failing to resolve international conflicts and harshly criticized Israeli actions in Gaza.

“Israel’s behavior has no explanation: with the pretext of fighting Hamas, it is killing women and children,” he said after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Speaking later to the Arab League, Lula said Brazil had condemned the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on 7 October, but he added that the Israel’s response was “disproportional and indiscriminate” and unacceptable.

Lula said there would not be peace without the establishment of a Palestinian state and called for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“The killing must be stopped,” he said.

The Brazilian leader said Palestine should be recognized as a sovereign state and admitted to the United Nations as a full member, and he called for reform of the U.N. Security Council.

“The multilateral institutions that were created to help solve these problems do not work, which is why Brazil is committed to making the necessary changes in global governance bodies, and we hope to count on Egypt’s support,” he said to reporters alongside Sisi.

Lula said the permanent Security Council should be expanded and its veto powers abolished. “It is the permanent members of the Security Council that foment wars,” he said.

Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva gives a speech at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo (AP)

[15 February 2024 17:45 · Tom Watling]

Bulk carrier targeted by explosive projectile east of Yemen's Aden: Ambrey

A bulk carrier has suffered minor damage after being targeted by an explosive projectile some 100 nautical miles east of Yemen’s port city of Aden, British maritime security firm Ambrey said.

The damage was caused by shrapnel that caused a diesel leak, Ambrey said in its advisory note, making clear the explosion occurred some 100 miles away and did not directly impact the carrier. The crew members were unharmed, it added.

Separately the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Thursday it had received a report of an explosion near a vessel some 85 nautical miles east of Aden.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile attacks against international commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Their targets have been vessels with commercial ties to the United States, Britain or Israel, shipping and insurance sources say.

[15 February 2024 18:30 · Tom Watling]

Israel orders evacuation of last major hospital in southern Gaza – as doctors say it is under siege

The Israeli military has ordered an evacuation of the last major hospital in southern Gaza after a deadly siege, the World Health Organisation has warned. It came as ceasefire talks in Egypt ended with no breakthrough and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that only a change in the “ludicrous” position from Hamas will see negotiations move forward.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed alarm at the situation in Nasser hospital, which he described as “the backbone of the health system in southern Gaza”. He said civilians had been killed in the complex which is located in the town of Khan Younis, people had been ordered to evacuate and that it had been under a week-long siege.

[15 February 2024 19:15 · Tom Watling]

Israeli special forces raid last major hospital in southern Gaza

Israeli special forces have raided the last major hospital in southern Gaza, with doctors saying gunshots were ringing out around the complex.

Israel‘s military described its raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as “precise and limited” and said it was based on credible information that Hamas was hiding in the facility, had kept hostages there and that bodies of hostages may still be there. Israel has consistently accused Hamas of using hospitals to hide, which medical staff have denied.

[15 February 2024 20:00 · Tom Watling]

Rishi Sunak slates ‘aggressive mob’ of pro-Gaza protesters at Tory MP’s home

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has condemned an “aggressive mob” of pro-Palestinian protesters who targeted a Conservative MP’s family home.

Police were called as about 80 activists gathered outside Tobias Ellwood’s home in Dorset on Monday, brandishing flags, placards and a megaphone.

One sign had the words “complicit in genocide” written across the face of the MP, who chaired the defence select committee from 2020 until last year.

[15 February 2024 20:45 · Tom Watling]

Has David Cameron stolen a march on Keir Starmer with a progressive Palestine policy?

If the British public were surprised to see David Cameron in frontline politics again, no doubt they will be shocked by the former PM pushing a nation state solution for Palestine that sees him outflanking the Labour Party. Sean O’Grady explains what we are witnessing

[15 February 2024 21:30 · Tom Watling]

Families of hostages visit international court to urge the arrest of Hamas leaders

Former captives and relatives of hostages held since the 7 October attack by Hamas in southern Israel are visiting the International Criminal Court to urge prosecutors to charge and seek the arrest of leaders of the militant group.

[15 February 2024 21:34 · Alexander Butler]

Hezbollah fires rockets at northern Israel

Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets at a northern Israeli town in a “preliminary response” to the killing of 10 civilians in southern Lebanon, the deadliest day for Lebanese civilians in four months of cross-border hostilities.

The United Nations urged a halt to what it called a “dangerous escalation” of the conflict, which has played out in parallel to the Gaza war and fuelled concerns of a wider confrontation between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

The Israeli military said it had killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, his commander and another operative in a “precise airstrike” in Nabatieh in Lebannon on Wednesday, without mentioning the civilian deaths.

[15 February 2024 22:15 · Tom Watling]

Increasingly isolated Netanyahu is set on an assault of Gaza’s Rafah – whatever the cost

Countries are lining up to tell the Israeli prime minister of the dire humanitarian consequences of going into the border city where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, writes Bel Trew. And the political price will be heavy too

[15 February 2024 23:00 · Tom Watling]

Israeli special forces raid last major hospital in southern Gaza

A surgeon inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis tells The Independent the situation is getting ‘worse every minute’ and the facility is in ‘chaos’ – with about 40 to 50 staff and around 100 patients left inside.