Gaza on verge of public health disaster as Israel faces growing isolation

Israel came under pressure from its allies over its war in Gaza, with key backer the United States criticizing its bombing in response to the October 7 attacks as "indiscriminate."

The United Nations General Assembly also overwhelmingly backed a non-binding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the devastated territory.

In the north, heavy fighting took place in the Jabaliya district, where Gaza health officials say Israeli forces have besieged and stormed a hospital and detained and abused medical staff.

The army did not immediately comment, but Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals, schools, mosques and tunnels beneath them as military bases - claims that the group has denied.

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The World Health Organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X he was "extremely worried" by reports of the raid, adding that his agency "urgently calls for the protection of all persons inside the hospital."

Earlier the UN humanitarian agency OCHA had said fighting had been reported near the hospital for three consecutive days.

It also said two mothers were killed in a strike on the maternity ward, and that about 3,000 displaced people were trapped in the facility.

Hospitals in the north have largely ceased functioning altogether. In the south, they have been overrun by dead and wounded, carried in by the dozen throughout the day and night.

"Doctors including myself are stepping over the bodies of children to treat children who will die," Dr Chris Hook, a British physician deployed with medical charity MSF at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, told reporters.

The UN humanitarian office said on Wednesday that Gaza faced a "public health disaster" due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease caused by overcrowding.

The Gaza health ministry said it had exhausted its supply of children's vaccines, warning of "catastrophic health repercussions."

Bodies piled up

Exclusive video and images obtained by Al Jazeera this morning showed bodies piled up inside the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in the al-Faluja area, west of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Witnesses said a number of people including women, children and babies were killed execution-style by Israeli forces while sheltering inside the school.

The war began after Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities.

Vowing to destroy Hamas and to bring the hostages home, Israel launched a withering offensive on Gaza, which is ruled by the group.

According to the Gaza health ministry, the war has killed more than 18,400 people, including at least 7,000 children, and many thousands more feared lost in the rubble or beyond the reach of ambulances.

The ministry reported that at least another 50 people were killed in the latest wave of Israeli air strikes across the territory.

The Israeli army said that 115 soldiers have been killed so far in its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

It said 10 soldiers died in fighting in the north of the territory on Tuesday, the deadliest day for the military since the ground assault began on October 27.

U.S.-Israel 'disagreement'

President Biden told a campaign event in Washington that Israel had "most of the world supporting it" after the Hamas attack. "But they're starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place.”

Washington has been calling for weeks for Israel to take more care to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, saying that too many Palestinians have been killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said there was "disagreement" with Biden over how a post-conflict Gaza would be governed, reflecting a rare rift between the allies. The leaders of Australia, Canada and New Zealand - other Israel allies - called for a ceasefire, issuing a rare joint statement to say they were "alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza."

Their statement came after the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding a ceasefire, with an overwhelming 153 member nations of 193 voting in favor.

While the United States and Israel voted against the resolution, Australia, Canada, New Zealand all voted in favor.

'Hell on earth'

The vote came as the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini described the situation in Gaza as "hell on earth."

Israel's air and ground campaign has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

The United Nations said its satellite analysis agency UNOSAT had determined, based on a November 26 image, that 18 percent of Gaza's infrastructure had been destroyed.

On the ground, fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters raged and rocket fire from Gaza into Israel continued.

Israel's military announced that eight soldiers had died in Gaza, adding to an overall toll of more than 100 troops killed since the start of the offensive.

International agencies say the limited aid reaching Gaza is being distributed only in parts of Rafah near the Egyptian border. Even there, the situation has become far more extreme this week, with hundreds of thousands of people sheltering under tarps.

Gemma Connell, based in Rafah as Gaza team leader for the UN humanitarian office OCHA, told journalists in a message: "Heavy rains and winds overnight. So awful for all of these people in makeshift shelters."

The United Nations refugee chief also warned that the Gaza conflict could spur more displacement in the wider region as UN officials, politicians and aid groups gathered in Geneva on Wednesday to seek solutions to a global displacement crisis.

The UN estimates 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.4 million people, 85 percent of the population, have been displaced by the conflict, half of them children.

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