At least 32 hospital patients from Gaza's Al Shifa hospital have died over the past three days, the spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry, Ashraf Al Qidra, said on Monday. The dead include three premature babies, Al Qidra added, as the facility suffers continued fuel shortages.

The hospital, Gaza's largest, has suffered energy shortages for days as it has been caught amid intense fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.

Youssef Abu Rish, deputy health minister in the Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas, said all the hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are "out of service." Conditions are worsening for hundreds of patients and thousands of others sheltering in Al-Shifa, which has become a flashpoint in the war that has raged for more than five weeks.

Israel pledged to help evacuate babies from the facility, but that has not happened as the hospital remains caught in Israel's ground offensive. The Israeli army also said its ground soldiers had hand-delivered 300 liters of fuel to the hospital "for urgent medical purposes."

But that was not collected by authorities in the facility as fierce fighting rages, with Israel claiming that Hamas prevented the hospital from taking it. Al-Shifa director Mohammad Abu Salmiya contested the Israeli claims.

He said the Israeli army called him and stated the fuel would be dropped off 500 meters from Al-Shifa. "I told them 'if you want to help, I need at least 8,000 litres to run the main generators and save hundreds of patients and injured'," he said.

"They refused and we no longer have any idea" of the status of the fuel that was dropped off, he added. Israel is facing intense international pressure to minimize civilian suffering amid a massive air and ground operation that Hamas authorities say has already killed more than 11,000 people, including thousands of children.

The military campaign came after Hamas fighters broke through the militarized border with Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 people hostage, according to the most recent Israeli figures.

Israel sharpens warning to Lebanon

Israel said it was poised to impose quiet on the Lebanese front as hostilities spiked on Sunday, with Hezbollah wounding civilians in a cross-border missile attack and the Israeli air force bombing sites linked to the Iranian-backed group.

The chief Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, described Hezbollah as "the defender of Hamas-ISIS."

Hezbollah, whose rocket arsenal is widely believed to dwarf that of Hamas, has been carrying out relatively limited attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday described the Israel front as "active."

But with at least 70 of the group's fighters, along with several Lebanese civilians, having been killed in Israeli counterstrikes, Hezbollah's tactics have expanded to include rockets with 300kg-500kg warheads and kamikaze drones.

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Gaza's biggest hospital attacked

On Sunday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a guided missile attack that Israel said wounded at least two electrical company workers sent to carry out repairs at a border community.

A mortar attack wounded seven Israeli soldiers, the military said. A rocket set off sirens near the Israeli port city of Haifa, 27 km (17 miles) from the Lebanese border, but caused no casualties. A Lebanese wing of Hamas took credit for the launch.

Israel said its air force and artillery struck Hezbollah and other targets in Lebanon in response, saying it was holding the group and the Beirut government responsible for all hostilities.

"The IDF (military) is focused on Gaza but we are at a very high state of readiness in the north," Hagari said. "Lebanon's citizens will bear the cost of this recklessness, and of Hezbollah's decision to be the defender of Hamas-ISIS."

"The IDF has operational plans for changing the security situation in the north. The security situation will not remain one in which northern residents do not feel secure in returning to their homes," he said in a televised briefing.

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