The biggest hospital in the Gaza Strip came under bombardment on Friday, the World Health Organization said, adding that 20 hospitals in Gaza were now out of action entirely. 

Asked about the Gaza health ministry's allegation of an Israeli strike on the courtyard of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said: "I haven't got the detail on Al Shifa but we do know they are coming under bombardment." Asked to elaborate, she said there was "intense violence" at the site, quoting colleagues on the ground. 

Gaza families have been sheltering at the hospital, the territory's largest, which is inside Gaza City encircled by Israeli troops. Israel says Palestinian fighters have headquarters in the area and has told residents to leave and go south. 

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At the same briefing, the UN humanitarian office said that there had been some "issues" getting aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which it said had been designed for pedestrians, not trucks. Only 65 trucks carrying food, medicine, hygiene supplies and water, and seven ambulances, crossed from Egypt into Gaza on Wednesday, it said.

None of that aid can reach northern Gaza, he added. "We cannot drive to the north at the current point which is of course deeply frustrating because we know there are several hundred thousand people who remain in the north," said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.

"If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza," he said. "It is a life of fear by day and darkness at night and what do you tell your children in such a situation, it's almost unimaginable – that the fire they see in the sky is out to kill them?" he said.

UN human rights group urges Israel weapons probe

The UN human rights chief on Friday urged an investigation into what he called Israel's use of "high-impact explosive weapons" in Gaza, which he said was causing indiscriminate destruction in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Israel must end its use of such weapons in the densely populated area, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have been displaced by fighting in the last month.

Turk was not specific about what weapons he was referring to. Asked for comment, the Israeli military said it was making checks and would respond later.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency also revealed on social media platform X on Friday that over 100 United Nations workers had been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"Devastated. Over 100 UNRWA colleagues confirmed killed in 1 month. Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, support staff. UNRWA is mourning, Palestinians mourning, Israelis mourning," Philippe Lazzarini said, reiterating a call for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Iran says conflict spread "inevitable"

Iran warned the scale of civilian suffering caused by Israel's war on Hamas would inevitably lead to an expansion of the conflict, as officials in Gaza reported Israeli air strikes on or near several hospitals in the Palestinian enclave.

The comments from Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian could ramp up concerns over whether Washington's diplomatic efforts and deployment of U.S. naval forces to the eastern Mediterranean will be able to keep the conflict from further destabilizing the Middle East.

"Due to the expansion of the intensity of the war against Gaza's civilian residents, expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable," Amir-Abdollahian told his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Thursday night.

Iran's state-run Press TV reported the comments, made during a telephone conversation, on Friday.

Palestinian economy devastated by conflict

A report released by the UN Development Programme paints a bleak picture of the devastating impact the war is having on the Palestinian economy. 

On the conflict's one-month mark, Palestinian gross domestic product (GDP) was expected to have declined by about 4.2 percent compared with pre-war estimates for 2023, a loss of about $857m. 

If the war continues for a full second month, the estimated economic loss would rise to 8.4 percent of GDP, or $1.7bn. On third month, the loss would rise to 12.2 per cent of GDP, or $2.5bn. 

About 390,000 jobs have been lost since the start of the war across the Palestinian territories. Of these, 182,000 jobs were lost in Gaza and 208,000 in the occupied West Bank. 

Poverty is also expected to rise sharply by 20 to 45 percent depending on the duration of the conflict.

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