As the Israeli aggression against Gaza continues with intensity and violence, Palestinian fears have increased that the Strip’s hospitals will turn into mass graves. The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced today (Monday) that all hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are out of service, amid increasing calls to accept a humanitarian truce that has not received a response from Tel Aviv. The Palestinian Red Crescent called on the international community to support the steadfastness of hospitals operating in Gaza.

Sources from the Hamas movement said that Israel “completely destroyed the heart department building in Al-Shifa Hospital,” the largest in Gaza, and tens of thousands of displaced, wounded, and sick people are still stranded, while battles have been concentrated in its vicinity for days.

She added that five infants and seven patients in intensive care died due to a power outage in Al-Shifa Hospital, which is subject to continuous Israeli bombing.

The catastrophic conditions in Gaza's hospitals, especially Al-Shifa, prompted Hamas to suspend indirect negotiations with Israel, regarding the fate of about 240 prisoners. Israel prevents water, electricity, and fuel supplies, and its forces separate the south of the Strip from the north, where the hospital is located.

Calls for a humanitarian truce increased, as Pope Francis, the Pope of the Vatican, called for immediate care for the wounded in Gaza and to ensure the protection of civilians, in addition to delivering more humanitarian aid to the Strip and releasing hostages held by Hamas.

The Pope said after his weekly sermon: “If the weapons stop... the scope of the conflict will not expand.”

On the northern front, the Lebanese front witnessed further escalation during the past 24 hours. 91 people were killed on the Lebanese side, including 68 Hezbollah fighters and at least 11 civilians, including a photographer and a woman with her three granddaughters, according to a tally compiled by Agence France-Presse