All hospitals in northern Gaza out of service as Netanyahu hints at end to fighting

All hospitals in northern Gaza are now "out of service" as Israel says it is open to ending the violence in the besieged enclave.

On Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry accused Israel of laying siege to the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, where it said "a state of panic and confusion is prevailing".

The ministry later said Israel had cut off the arrival of patients and staff, "effectively forcing the hospital out of service".

"[With] the shutdown of the Indonesian Hospital, all public hospitals in the North Gaza Governorate are now out of service," it said.

Israeli strikes have killed 125 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn.

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The health ministry says the number of people killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023 has reached 53,339, with 121,034 others wounded.

In the past 24 hours alone, hospitals have admitted 361 injured people as Israeli attacks persist.

Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP on Sunday that 22 people had been killed and at least 100 others wounded in a predawn attack on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the southern enclave of al-Mawasi.

The news comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled he was open to "ending the fighting" in Gaza, as long as Hamas is ejected from the territory.

The Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement that a negotiation team in Doha was working towards a deal that would see "the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip."

Since the resumption of bombing on 18 March, Israeli forces have killed thousands of Palestinians. 

Additionally, over 10,000 people are missing and presumed dead, while nearly 120,000 others have been wounded.

Ever since the two-month ceasefire fell apart in March, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US have been unsuccessful in reaching a new deal.

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said on Saturday that the talks in Doha had kicked off "without any preconditions from either side".

A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations told AFP that "positions are being exchanged by both sides in an attempt at bridging perspectives" and said the group was approaching the talks with "great flexibility".

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