Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill at least 29 people at Gaza hospital

JERUSALEM: Palestinian officials say at least 29 people were killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli strikes pummelled the area around one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza.

The situation in and around the Kamal Adwan hospital is “catastrophic,” according to Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the hospital.

Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon said it is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital, Damascus. Friday's decision came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged a border crossing in northern Lebanon just days after it was reopened. Jordan also closed a border crossing with Syria because of the security situation on the Syrian side.

Syrian insurgents have entered the central towns of Rastan and Talbiseh, just north of the central city of Homs, bringing them closer to Syria's third largest city. A day earlier, jihadi-led opposition fighters captured the central city of Hama, Syria's fourth largest.

Israel's war against Hamas has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Israel's blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,600 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has reignited multiple other conflicts across the wider Middle East.

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Israeli strikes kill at least 29 at hard-hit Gaza hospital

At least 29 people were killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli strikes pummelled the area around one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

The situation in and around the Kamal Adwan hospital is “catastrophic,” according to Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the hospital. The dead included five children and five women, according to the hospital casualty list, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya is one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the Gaza's northernmost province, where Israeli forces are pressing an offensive that has almost completely sealed off the area from humanitarian aid for two months.

Israel's military denied that its forces had struck the hospital or operated inside it. The army said that in the past few weeks, “coordinated efforts with international organizations have been underway in order to transfer patients, companions, and medical staff to other hospitals.”

An Indonesian medical team which had been assisting in Kamal Adwan for the past week was forced to evacuate on foot after the area was surrounded by Israeli soldiers, according to a statement from the team. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the medical team's expulsion.

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation representative in the Palestinian territories, said an Israeli tank approached the hospital at around 4 a.m. Friday. Although no official Israeli evacuation order was issued, “people started to climb the wall to escape, and this panic attracted IDF (Israeli) fire,” he said. He spoke by video from Gaza to journalists in Geneva.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation in northern Gaza against Hamas militants. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim.

Saudi Arabia calls for and end to Gaza war and attacks Israel's actions

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has reiterated the kingdom's call for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan described Israel as acting with “impunity and is getting away without punishment” in its war on Hamas there.

The prince said that any permanent solution requires a two-state solution, with the Palestinians having east Jerusalem as their capital.

After the speech, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a prominent royal in the kingdom who led Saudi intelligence for more than two decades and served as ambassador to the US and Britain, took the stage. He harshly criticized Israel's conduct in the wars.

“Israel has become an apartheid, colonial and genocidal state,” Prince Turki said. “It is about time for the world to address that issue and take the necessary steps to bring those who are thus charged by the International Criminal Court to justice.”

Israeli officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Prince Turki's remarks.

The Saudis spoke at the International Institute for Security Studies' Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.