LIVE Day 22: Israel-Hamas war: Gaza death toll crosses 7,700 as Israel expands ground operation

Premature babies wiggle and squirm, some with oxygen tubes under their noses, in rows of clear plastic incubators inside the neonatal unit of Gaza's largest hospital, which, like the rest of the besieged Palestinian territory, is running out of fuel, food, water, and electricity.

Doctors in Gaza say conditions have reached catastrophic levels. They say a lack of basic supplies has left them struggling to maintain hygiene and sanitation, and hospital grounds are overcrowded with displaced civilians seeking refuge from Israeli air strikes.

“We have noticed an increase in premature birth cases,” said Dr. Nasser Bulbul, head of the NICU at al-Shifa Hospital.

“We had to perform a premature delivery of the fetus from the mother's womb while she's dying,” he said. “Many of these infants are orphaned, and we don't know the fate of their relatives or have information about their identities.”

Around 50,000 pregnant women are caught up in the conflict, with around 5,500 due to give birth within the next 30 days, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

If fuel supplies run out, neonatal intensive care units will be impacted and planned or emergency caesarean sections will be impossible, the UN agency said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says the past three weeks have been the deadliest on record for journalists covering conflict since the organisation started tracking in 1992.

The organisation said in a statement on Friday (October 27) that at least 29 journalists have died covering the Israel-Hamas war since it ignited on October 7, including 24 Palestinians, four Israelis and 1 Lebanese. Additionally, 8 other journalists were reported injured and 9 were reported missing or detained.

CPJ also criticized the cutting of communications services in the Gaza Strip, warning that the blackout is also a “news blackout” that has compromised the public's ability to “know and understand what is happening in this conflict.”

“This can lead to serious consequences with an independent, factual information vacuum that can be filled with deadly propaganda, dis- and misinformation,” it said.

The organisation stressed that journalists are civilians that must be respected and protected in accordance with international humanitarian law, adding that “deliberately targeting journalists or media infrastructure constitutes possible war crimes.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan appealed to Israel on Friday (October 27) to “heed Turkey's call for peace,” warning that the country could find itself in a growing spiral of violence.

Speaking during a joint news conference with Denmark's foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Fidan said: “Humanity is at a crossroads. Either there will be a great war that will spread all over the world, or a great peace will emerge.”

Fidan continued: “Ignoring the existence of the Palestinians, ignoring the rights of the Palestinians, and applying pressure and cruelty to the Palestinians have not — and will not — bring peace to Israel. If Israel wants to be in peace and security, it must respect the right of the Palestinians to live in their own state on their own land.”

Rasmussen defined Hamas as a terrorist organisation in an apparent rebuke of Turkish President Recep Tayyip who earlier this week described the militant group as “liberation fighters.”

Fidan said Turkey regards Hamas as a political party “that is part of the Palestinian state system,” but added that this did not mean that Ankara “accepts the killing of civilians.”

One of the youngest hostages being held captive in Gaza by Hamas is a 9-month-old Argentine baby, according to the head of Argentina's embassy in Israel.

“The youngest hostage, a baby of only nine months, is Argentine. It's very difficult to talk about such painful topics,” Francisco Tropepi told Vis á Vis, a news outlet focused on reporting related to Israel and the Jewish community in Argentina, in an interview. Tropepi did not reveal the baby's identity.

There are 21 Argentine citizens who remain missing and are presumed to be held hostage by Hamas, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said in a radio interview on Friday morning (October 27). An estimated nine Argentines have been killed in the conflict.

“In some cases, we have precise information that they've been captured, and in others, we've been actively searching for them,” Cafiero said, adding that he had spoken with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to request his intervention for the release of the Argentine hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says the communications blackout in the Gaza Strip has not only left them unable to contact their staff, but has also impeded their operations in the region.

“It doesn't only mean that Gaza is isolated from the world but also it means people can't connect to each other. Our emergency line is down so people are literally not able to call an ambulance,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the organisation.

“We are extremely worried because we are completely cut off from our teams.” She added: “That means that our emergency rescue workers are having to just follow the sound of bombardment to search for wounded people instead of arriving at a location that needs help in the fastest way possible.”

Israel knocked out internet and communication in the Gaza Strip in stepped-up bombardment on Friday night (October 27), largely cutting off its 2.3 million people from contact with each other and the outside world and creating a near-blackout of information, as the military said it was “expanding” ground operations in the territory.

The military's announcement signalled it was moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, where it has vowed to crush the ruling Hamas militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.