An Israeli airstrike on Al-Aqsa hospital in Gaza killed four people and wounded another 17, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Tedros called for an end of Israel’s attacks on hospitals in the enclave and for the “protection of patients, health personnel and humanitarian missions."
The strike on a tent camp inside the hospital compound was witnessed by a WHO team that was on a humanitarian mission there assessing the needs and collecting incubators for the north of Gaza, the WHO chief wrote, adding: "WHO staff are all accounted for."
Thousands of people have been sheltering in the area after the fighting forced them to flee their homes. The Israeli military has not commented on the incident.
Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Sunday as negotiations for a cease-fire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas were resuming in Cairo.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Hamas was hardening its positions in the talks for a Gaza truce and hostage exchange.
"While Israel has shown flexibility on its positions in the negotiations, Hamas is hardening its positions," Netanyahu told a news conference.
The 74-year-old Israeli prime minister was scheduled to undergo hernia surgery Sunday evening.
"On Saturday night, during a routine checkup for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a hernia was found," his office said in a statement, adding that he will be under general anesthetic during his surgery.
Signaling his condition was not serious, Netanyahu said he will be back on duty soon.
"I assure you that I will get through this treatment successfully and return to action very quickly," Netanyahu told reporters at the conference.
His office announced he would hold a news conference before the procedure.
His surgery comes at a time while Israel is waging a war against Hamas in Gaza, and less than a year after he was fitted with a pacemaker.
Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters launched a three-day protest, from Sunday till Tuesday, in front of the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem calling for -- Israel to reach a deal with Hamas to free dozens of hostages, for Netanyahu's resignation and for a general election -- in the largest anti-government demonstration since Israel went to war in Gaza last October.
From inside the building, Netanyahu addressed his critics in a prime-time address.
“The pain of the families of the hostages breaks my heart, I think it breaks all of our hearts,” he said. “Anyone who says that I’m not doing everything to bring back our hostages is wrong and is misleading others."
“The calls for elections right now, at the height of the war, a moment before victory, will paralyze Israel for at least half a year,” he added. “And the first person to celebrate this will be Hamas,” The Washington Post cited Netanyahu as saying.
Netanyahu's popularity, already dented over a domestic judicial crisis in Israel, has plummeted further since October 7, with successive opinion polls showing little faith in his leadership and a defeat by more centrist rivals if an election were to be held.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin will be standing in for Netanyahu during the operation on Sunday, his office said.
Fighting in Gaza has continued despite a U.N. Security Council resolution last week, calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages held by the militant group.
With the war nearing the six-month mark, the United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to mediate another cease-fire and hostage release since the first one in Novembe
Netanyahu approved a return to cease-fire talks with Hamas on Friday.
Hamas, however, would not be present at the talks in Cairo, an official told the Reuters news agency Sunday, as it waited to hear from mediators on whether a new Israeli offer was on the table.
Hamas has previously proposed a gradual cease-fire process during which it would release all the remaining hostages in exchange for an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the opening of its borders for aid and reconstruction, and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including top militants serving life sentence.
Netanyahu has called Hamas’s terms delusional and pledged to resume Israel’s offensive after any hostage release and keep fighting until the militant group is destroyed.
The current conflict started on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 others hostage. Hamas, designated a terror group by the U.S., the U.K. and the EU, is believed to still be holding roughly 100 hostages, as well as the remains of about 30 others.
So far, Israel's retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas has killed more than 32,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured upward of 70,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. Israel claims one-third of those killed are militants.
Large parts of the enclave have been reduced to rubble, and most of Gaza's population is sheltering in Gaza’s southern border city of Rafah.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
