Gaza cease-fire demands grow amid ‘reprehensible’ attacks near hospital

As Israel pummels the area around Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, global organizations are rallying behind calls for an immediate cease-fire in the war against Hamas.

The World Health Organization said in the early hours of Sunday morning that it had lost contact with the 700-bed Al-Shifa health care facility, one of the largest in Gaza, pointing to reports of those leaving the scene being shot.

“As horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks continue to emerge, we assume our contacts joined tens of thousands of displaced people and are fleeing the area,” the WHO posted on X.

Israel claims Hamas has installed armed command centers inside hospitals and other civilian facilities, but Doctors Without Borders said that Al-Shifa, which includes maternity and outpatient areas providing emergency and surgical care, had been targeted with power cuts while access for ambulances or evacuation had been cut too.

“This is unconscionable, reprehensible and must stop,” said Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s lead on humanitarian affairs and emergency relief. “Hospitals must be places of greater safety and those who need them must trust that they are places of shelter and not of war.”

Leaders from across the Arab region met in Saudi Arabia to discuss the situation on Saturday, while some European leaders ramped up calls for an end to Israel’s bombardment as tens of thousands of people took part in pro-Palestinian rallies in cities such as London, Brussels and Paris.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said in a BBC interview on Saturday that “we do urge them [Israel] to stop this bombing” in Gaza. Spanish leader Pedro Sánchez has demanded a “humanitarian cease-fire.”

Greece has also questioned Israel’s continued assault. “While we recognize that Israel has the right to defend itself, how it does so actually matters, and it matters considerably,” Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast.

However, many leaders — including U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — have not called for a halt to the bombing.

On Saturday, Europe’s center-left parties failed to reach agreement on whether to press for a cease-fire during a meeting aimed at preparing the ground for next summer’s EU elections.