Hamas led the Oct. 7 assaults on southern Israel that, the Israelis say, killed around 1,200 people. The Israeli military response has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, a majority of them women and children, according to Gazan health officials.
On Monday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said it had resumed emergency and rescue services in Gaza City, in the north of the strip, more than two months after the Israeli ground offensive forced it to halt operations and shut down its hospital.
Weeks of intense airstrikes and the Israeli ground offensive had essentially cut off the north. The resumption of services is possible now because the Israeli military is withdrawing forces from the areas around some hospitals in northern Gaza as it turns its focus to the south, said Nebal Farsakh, a Red Crescent spokeswoman.
Nearly a dozen rescue crew members arrived at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, which is run by the Red Crescent and was a hub of the group’s operations before it ran out of fuel and shut down on Nov. 12. Ms. Farsakh said they were “shocked by the massive destruction” they found and determined that they could not work there.
“The hospital is completely burned from the outside, and inside all the equipment was completely destroyed,” she said.
On Monday, the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said at a news conference that the intensive phase of ground maneuvers in northern Gaza had ended and that forces there were now dealing with “pockets of resistance.”
Reporting was contributed by Eric Schmitt, Stephen Castle, Vivian Nereim, Hiba Yazbek, Isabel Kershner, Adam Rasgon, Stanley Reed and Jenny Gross.
