More than 30 dead in Israeli strikes across Gaza as hospital comes under renewed attack | News on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli military has bombed the Gaza Strip, killing dozens of people, especially in the north, and again attacking the last partially functioning hospital in the area.

At least 33 people were killed in airstrikes across the enclave, including 20 in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, four in Gaza City, six in central areas and three in southern Khan Younis, Al Jazeera Arabic sources and Wafa news agency reported late on Monday.

Eid Sabbah, the head of nursing at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern part of the Palestinian territory, said Israeli jets and quadcopter drones hit the facility's children's ward, injuring doctors and patients.

“The upper floors were damaged and some of the children and newborns were injured,” Sabbah told Al Jazeera by telephone.

“Journalists, nurses and other medical staff were also injured,” he said, adding that this was the second day the hospital came under Israeli fire.

A week ago, Israeli forces violently raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital and arrested dozens of people, including almost all of its medical staff. The facility therefore still had four doctors and 50 volunteers, medical staff and nurses.

The towns of Beit Lahiya, where the hospital is located, Jabalia and Beit Hanoon have witnessed waves of attacks over the past month as the Israeli military has stepped up its air and ground operations in the north.

Despite several expulsion orders enforced by Israel, tens of thousands of civilians still remain in the north.

Many of them told Al Jazeera that they are afraid to leave the area because they risk being hit by Israeli snipers, being attacked in Israeli-designated so-called “safe zones” that Israel repeatedly attacks, or because they never allowed to return to their homes again.

The Israeli military claims its goal is to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping. But in addition to the escalation of attacks, the country has besieged several areas in the north, further restricting the already scarce supply of aid.

According to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Israel allowed an average of 30 humanitarian trucks to enter the Gaza Strip every day in October, six percent of the shipments allowed into Gaza before the war.

Israel officially notified the United Nations that it was terminating its agreement with UNRWA, claiming that some of its employees were Hamas militants who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel. The agency said the Israeli decision would lead to the “collapse” of aid in Gaza. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said U.N. lawyers were reviewing the move.

In mid-October, the United States issued a rare warning calling on Israel to take concrete steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or risk cutting military aid.

On Monday, the results were not “good enough,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

“They certainly don't have a passport… They have failed to implement all the things we recommended,” Miller added, but declined to say what consequences Israel would face if it did not implement the demands.

The USA is Israel's main arms supplier. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke by telephone with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, urging him to “significantly increase and sustain humanitarian assistance – including food, medicine and other essential supplies – to civilians across the Gaza Strip.”

The Israeli war in Gaza has killed at least 43,391 Palestinians and injured 102,347 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 captured in Israel's Hamas-led attacks that day.