Palestinian doctors have evacuated 31 premature babies from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and took them to a hospital in southern Gaza for assessment and treatment, the World Health Organization has said. Doctors found that “all babies are fighting serious infections due to lack of medical supplies and inability to continue infection control measures at al-Shifa hospital”, it said. Preparations were underway for the babies to enter Egypt, said the director general of hospitals in Gaza, Mohammed Zaqut.
Israel and Hamas appear to be heading towards a deal that would involve the release of a significant number of hostages, possibly in exchange for a limited ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. Senior US and Israeli officials, as well as Qatar’s prime minister, all hinted that a deal was close on Sunday, although observers have warned that public statements during such talks are often misleading and any potential deal could easily collapse.
A senior Israeli source and a senior member of Hamas denied a report citing an unnamed Hamas source as saying a deal had been reached on Sunday to start a ceasefire on Monday and release a number of hostages, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
Japan’s top government spokesman says the country is appealing to Yemen’s Houthis who have captured a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea and is seeking the help of Saudi, Omani and Iranian authorities to work towards the speedy release of the vessel and its crew. Twenty-two crew were on board, including Bulgarians and Filipinos, reports the Japanese newspaper Nikkei.
The Israeli military has released video footage it says shows the first solid evidence of a sophisticated Hamas tunnel network under al-Shifa hospital complex. It said on Sunday that its troops “revealed a 55-meter-long terror tunnel 10 meters deep” under the hospital complex. Hamas rejected Israel’s claim, while the director of Gaza’s health ministry, Mounir el-Boursh, reportedly called it a “pure lie”.
At least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed and 30,000 injured of Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday. Nearly 884,000 internally displaced people were sheltering in 154 installations in Gaza run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, the agency said.