Israel battles Hamas near Gaza’s largest hospital as hostage deal looms, Netanyahu says

Israeli ground forces were battling Hamas near Gaza City’s largest hospital on Sunday – as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the all-out assault was bearing fruit for the possible release of the nearly 240 people taken hostage by the terrorist group.

The Israel Defense Forces began exchanging gunfire with Hamas fighters over the weekend around the Al-Shifa Hospital, where Israel has accused the terror organization of harboring a command post through its massive underground tunnel system.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said the fighting had left the hospital without of fuel, resulting in the deaths of three premature babies and four other patients. The lack of power has also left 36 other infants at risk of dying, it said.

Netanyahu told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Israel has offered to give fuel to the hospital, but “they refused it.”

The prime minister also doubled-down on his nation’s strategy to use military might to pressure Hamas to release the hostages taken during the group’s surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel – saying those efforts are now being realized as the IDF continues its ground incursion.

“We heard that there was an impending deal of this kind or of that kind and then we learned that it was all hokum. But the minute we started the ground operation that began to change,” Netanyahu said of the negotiations.

“That’s the one thing that might create a deal and if a deal is available, well, we will talk about it when it’s there,” he added, noting that “a great deal” was currently on the table.

“We’ll announce it if it’s achievable,” he said.

The Biden administration confirmed that a “possible deal” for the release of the hostages was being discussed.

With the deal remaining in the air, the IDF and Hamas continued to face off in Gaza, with a humanitarian crisis unfolding at the Shifa hospital and the two sides blaming each other for the Palestinian civilians caught in the middle of the fighting.

The IDF said Sunday it would help to evacuate babies from the hospital after the death of the three newborns, as well as create routes for patients and refugees to flee the Shifa, as well as the Rantisi and Nasser hospitals.

“We’re obviously treading carefully when it comes to hospitals. But we’re also not going to give immunity to the terrorists,” Netanyahu said in an interview on CNN Sunday.

“I think any sort of loss [of life] is a tragedy. And the blame should be placed squarely on Hamas because it prevents them from leaving the warzone, sometimes at gunpoint,” he added.

Despite the evacuation routes, Gaza officials claimed airstrikes have carried on near the hospitals, with a recent bombardment killing three people, including a doctor.

Health Ministry Undersecretary Munir al-Boursh told Al Jazeera that the airstrike also took out several homes adjacent to the hospital complex.

“There are wounded in the house, and we can’t reach them,” he said on TV, claiming Israeli snipers were firing at any movement from inside the hospital. “We can’t stick our heads out of the window.”

Muhammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza, noted that the death toll there had not been updated since Friday as officials were unable to reach the hospitals surrounded by Israeli soldiers and bombardments.

“The situation is extremely dire,” he said. “Ambulances are unable to reach people under the rubble.”

As of the previous count, the Gaza Health Ministry estimated that more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, a majority of them women and minors.

Israel has vowed to keep the assault in Gaza going after Hamas killed 1,200 people in the Jewish state in its Oct. 7 rampage.

With Post wires