JERUSALEM
\nThe Israeli army claimed on Tuesday it had captured Gaza\u2019s parliament building and other government institutions run by Hamas in Gaza City, as its forces deepened their offensive in the besieged Pales\u00adtinian enclave.
\nMilitary units \u201ctook over the Hamas parliam\u00adent, the government buil\u00adding, the Hamas police headquarters and an engineering faculty that served as an institute for the production and development of weapons\u201d, the army claimed in a statement.
\nHamas dismissed the Isr\u00adaeli army\u2019s claim that it had taken over institutions.
\nThe move was a \u201cpathetic attempt to manufacture victory and imaginary control of empty places or those previously targeted and destroyed\u201d, Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said in a statement.
\nMeanwhile, the director of Gaza\u2019s main hospital said the facility had been forced to bury scores of dead patients in a mass grave, while thousands of Palestinians were trapped inside.
\nWhile Israeli forces were at the gates of the sprawling Al Shifa Hospi\u00adtal, patients and people see\u00adking shelter were str\u00adanded in horrific conditions.
\n\u201cThere are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,\u201d said Al Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya, adding 179 bodies had been interred so far.
\n\u201cWe were forced to bury them in a mass grave,\u201d he said, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those who had died after fuel for the hospital\u2019s generator ran out.
\nThe United Nations estimates that 2,300 people \u2014 patients, staff and displaced civilians \u2014 are inside and may be unable to escape from the facility.
\nThe health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza put the death toll from Israel\u2019s relentless assault at 11,240 people, mostly civilians, including thousands of children.
\nIsrael\u2019s military says 47 of its troops have been killed in Gaza.
\nAl Shifa\u2019s fate has become a major focus of the more than five-week crisis, which has stirred international criticism of the suffering and death inflicted on civilians in the besieged territory.
\nPower supply
\nThe power supply to hospitals is dire, with the UN saying 22 of 36 are not functional due to lack of generator fuel, damage and combat.
\n\u201cThe 14 hospitals remaining open have barely enough supplies to sustain critical and life-saving surgeries and provide in-patient care, including intensive care,\u201d said the World Health Organisation in the Palestinian Territories.
\nBut the humanitarian crisis includes the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled south at Israel\u2019s urging to get away from the most intense fighting.
\nEscape is dangerous
\nBut even escaping the fighting is dangerous and wounded Palestinians told reporters how they were hit by a strike on their way south.
\n\u201cI walked around three to four kilometres while I was bleeding,\u201d said Hasan Baker, whose head and left hand were bandaged. \u201cThere was no possibility for any ambulance to enter the area.
\nPrisoner release
\nIn Washington, US President Joe Biden said he believed that a deal with Hamas to free the prisoners the group is holding will happen, but did not offer specifics.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been talking with people involved every single day. I believe it\u2019s going to happen but I don\u2019t want to get into detail,\u201d Biden told reporters at the White House when asked about an eventual agreement.
\nIsraeli leaders have so far insisted there will be no \u201cbroader ceasefire\u201d until prisoners are relea\u00adsed. Qatar is mediating talks on a possible deal to secure the release of prisoners.<\/p>\n
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas, said on Monday Israel had asked for the release of 100 prisoners while the organisation wants 200 Palesti\u00adnian children and 75 women freed from Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Qatar\u2019s foreign affairs ministry told a news conference in Doha that the \u201cdeteriorating\u201d situation in Gaza was hampering mediation efforts.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe believe that there is no other chance for both sides other than for this mediation to take place.\u201d<\/p>\n
As security officials and diplomats continued negotiations, Hamas issued a video of Israeli soldier Noa Marciano.<\/p>\n
The Israeli army confirmed she was dead.<\/p>\n
Abu Obeida said Mar\u00adciano was killed in an Israeli strike.<\/p>\n
The Israeli army did not say how she died.<\/p>\n
The Gaza crisis has also affected other fronts.<\/p>\n
In Israeli-occupied West Bank, eight Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops, seven of them during an army attack on the northern city of Tulkarem, the Palestinian health ministry said. The other death was in the southern city of Hebron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM The Israeli army claimed on Tuesday it had captured Gaza\u2019s parliament building and other government institutions run by Hamas in Gaza City, as its forces deepened their offensive in the besieged Pales\u00adtinian enclave. Military units \u201ctook over the Hamas parliam\u00adent, the government buil\u00adding, the Hamas police headquarters and an engineering faculty that served as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-368231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n