Israel strikes near Gaza's largest hospital after accusing Hamas of using it as a base
Deir Al-Balah (Gaza Strip) (AP): Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes early Sunday near Gaza's largest hospital, which is packed with patients and tens of thousands of Palestinians seeking shelter, residents said.
Israel has said Hamas rulers have a command post under the hospital, without providing much evidence.
The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a "second stage" in Israel's war on Hamas, three weeks after Hamas launched incursion into Israel October 7.
Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend in what officials described as a widening ground offensive as Israel pounded the territory from air, land and sea.
The bombardment described by Gaza residents as the most intense of the war knocked out most communications in the territory late Friday, largely cutting off the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people from the world.
Communications were restored to many people in Gaza early Sunday, according to local telecoms companies, Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org and confirmation on the ground.
In a sign of growing chaos in Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said thousands of people broke into its Gaza aid warehouses to take food and other "basic survival items" like hygiene products. Thomas White, the agency's director in Gaza, said the break-in was "a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down."
The agency, known as UNRWA, provides basic services to hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza. Its schools across the territory have been transformed into packed shelters housing Palestinians displaced by the conflict.
Residents said the latest airstrikes destroyed most of the roads leading to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in the northern part of the besieged territory.
Israel says most residents have heeded its orders to flee to the south, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north, in part because Israel has also bombarded targets in so-called safe zones.
Tens of thousands are sheltering in Shifa, which is also packed with patients wounded in the strikes.
"Reaching the hospital has become increasingly difficult," Mahmoud al-Sawah, who is sheltering in the hospital, said over the phone. "It seems they want to cut off the area."
Another Gaza City resident, Abdallah Sayed, said the Israeli bombing over the past two days was "the most violent and intense" since the war started.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment when asked about reports of strikes near Shifa.
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Kerala Assembly polls: Trends after 9 am show UDF continues to lead
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): As counting of EVM votes polled in the April 9 Kerala Assembly elections commenced, trends after 9 am show the Congress-led UDF leading in the state.
The UDF was ahead in close to 90 seats, while the CPI(M)-led LDF was leading in over 40 seats with the BJP-headed NDA in the front in around 5 assembly constituencies as EVM votes began to be counted, according to news reports.
As per Election Commission figures, Congress is ahead in 10 seats, CPI(M) in 5, CPI in 2, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) 2 and IUML, RJD and Kerala Congress (KEC) with one each, among others.
The trends appear to support the UDF claim that it would get a huge majority. PTI
If the situation continues, the UDF stand to claim power in the state.
