LIVE | Israel military shows ‘Hamas weapons’ at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital; no sign of tunnels

The UN Security Council approved a resolution Wednesday calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors" in Gaza after four failed attempts to respond to the Israel-Hamas war.

The vote was 12-0 with the United States, United Kingdom and Russia abstaining.

The final draft watered down its language from a “demand” to a “call” for humanitarian pauses. It also watered down a demand for “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.” And the resolution makes no mention of a cease-fire or Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

U.N. Security Council resolutions are legally binding — including calls — but in practice many parties choose to ignore the council's requests for actions.

Russia proposed an amendment to the resolution before the vote that would have called for durable humanitarian pauses leading to a cease-fire. But it was rejected by a vote of 5-1 with nine abstentions because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes. (AP)

A total of 644 people travelled through the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt on Wednesday, said Wael Abou Omar, the Hamas spokesperson for the border crossing.

Those included 587 dual nationals, 37 people either injured or sick, and 20 of their companions. No more information was immediately available.

Earlier at the Rafah border, dozens of evacuees were waiting patiently with their documentation ready for inspection. Among them was Toqa al-Zaian, a Palestinian with Norwegian nationality, struggling to say goodbye.

“I feel like my body is leaving without my soul, now I am leaving everything behind, my mother, family and everyone I know,” she said. (AP)

Only a quarter of Gaza's hospitals are still functioning, with about 26 out of 36 institutions now closed — either because they have been damaged or because they ran out of fuel, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The U.N. health agency has lost contact with health workers at Shifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Sutrip, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva. He said the Israeli military raid of the institution is “totally unacceptable.” Approximately 82 bodies from Shifa were buried in a mass grave Wednesday, with another 80 bodies left unburied, said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative in the West Bank and Gaza. He said about 45 patients were receiving dialysis and that there were no central supplies of oxygen, water or fuel.

Peeperkorn said several organizations, including the WHO, were “urgently exploring the possibility of an evacuation of patients and medical staff.” He called for a plan to evacuate about 2,000 critically ill patients out of Gaza over the next three months, possibly to Egypt. (AP)

Around 40 patients a day are coming in to Awda Hospital in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, said Dr Ahmed Mhanna, the hospital’s manager.

Awda Hospital is still operating but the facility's main generator is no longer functioning, he said, and the hospital is also delivering around 20 babies each day, he said.

“The situation is critical,” he said in a recorded message. Jabaliya has been heavily bombed since Oct. 7.

Mhanna said that Israel strikes were still pounding the areas immediately around the hospital, with shrapnel striking the building. Eight staff members have been injured from the bombing, he added. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops at the Zikim military base near north Gaza: “There is no place in Gaza that Israel will not reach.” Standing next to soldiers at the base, Netanyahu said: “Do you remember when we were told that we would not break into Gaza? We broke through. We were told that we would not reach the outskirts of Gaza City – we arrived. We were told that we won't enter Shifa – we entered.

“There is no hiding, no shelter, no refuge for the murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We will arrive and eliminate Hamas and return our abductees – these are two sacred missions.” (AP)

Turkey's health minister says 26 patients from Gaza and 13 people accompanying them have passed through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in Egypt, Fahrettin Koca said Turkish officials hope to evacuate the patients and the people escorting them to Turkey by air later on Wednesday for treatment in Turkish hospitals.

Koca also said Turkey plans to set up a field hospital close to the Rafah crossing.

Turkey has long offered to treat cancer patients in the country. Koca described the patients evacuated Wednesday as “Gazans” and did not specify if any have Turkish nationality. (AP)

Iran’s foreign minister has travelled to Geneva for a previously undisclosed meeting hosted by a leading humanitarian group that works to strike peace agreements.

Hossein Amirabdollahian spoke with the U.N.'s top humanitarian aid official, Martin Griffiths, in a meeting at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which made headlines five years ago for its role in an accord in which the Basque separatist group ETA agreed to dissolve after a decades-long campaign in Spain, officials said.

The centre said in a message sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday that it “routinely convenes closed-door consultations to support conflict mediation and resolution in various parts of the world." “In the latest of these consultations, HD hosted a senior Iranian delegation and other invited guests for a discussion about Gaza focused on ways to alleviate human suffering, increase humanitarian assistance and reduce risks of escalation in the region,” the statement said.

The Israeli ambassador in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, said, “Israel expresses its indignation that the foreign minister of Iran is in Geneva and meeting with U.N. officials and NGOs to talk about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.'" “Iran has no place in the future of Gaza. It is part of the problem, not the solution,” she posted on X, formerly called Twitter.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that “As part of his consultations in Geneva, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has met with a number of officials of the U.N., humanitarian organizations and religious institutions as well as university professors and some ambassadors there regarding the ongoing developments in Palestine and the Zionist regime's aggression against #Gaza.” (AP)

The head of UNRWA, the U.N. relief agency for Palestinian refugees, confirmed Wednesday that it has received 23,000 litres (6,000 gallons) of fuel that crossed into Gaza via the Rafah crossing, but called for more to be allowed to enter the besieged territory.

The aid group says Israeli authorities allowed the fuel to enter under the restriction that it can only be used to transport aid into besieged Gaza.

“This fuel cannot be used for the overall humanitarian response, including for medical and water facilities or the work of UNRWA,” Philippe Lazzarini said in an online statement.

UNRWA needs 160,000 litres (42,200 gallons) of fuel each day to complete “basic humanitarian operations,” he added.

Israel declared war on Hamas and barred fuel shipments after its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, saying the group would divert the supplies for military use.

Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian affairs, announced early Wednesday that it would allow United Nations trucks to refill at the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. It said the decision was in response to a request from the United States. (AP)

A senior official with Gaza's Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says Israeli forces are still operating inside Shifa Hospital, the territory's largest, hours after launching a raid early Wednesday.

Speaking by phone from the hospital, Munir al-Boursh said Israeli soldiers ransacked the basement and other buildings, including those housing the emergency and surgery departments.

“They are still here ... patients, women and children are terrified,” he said. He said doctors vowed to stay with their patients “till the end.” Israel says Hamas has a secret command center in and under the hospital but has provided no visual evidence. Hamas and the hospital staff deny the allegations.

The military said it was carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in a specific part of the hospital away from patients and medical staff. It said it also delivered medical supplies.

Al-Boursh called for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to secure a safe corridor for patients, medical staff and displaced families trapped in the facility to leave.

Al-Boursh said an Israeli official spoke with him by phone early Wednesday and asked him to join the forces searching the facility, but he refused. (AP)

The main Palestinian communications company warned Wednesday that Gaza will plunge into a communications blackout in a matter of hours following several short-term outages in recent weeks.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Paltel said dwindling fuel supplies have forced all of its generators in Gaza to shut down and that communications in the territory are now dependent on batteries.

The company warned of a “cessation of all communications services during the next few hours.” Israel allowed the first shipment of fuel to enter the besieged territory on Wednesday, but the U.N. says the amount is not enough to aid the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation. (AP)