Israel besieges Al-Rantisi, Al-Nasr hospitals in Gaza

The Israeli army is cordoning off the Al-Rantisi and Al-Nasr hospitals in central Gaza, the Palestinian enclave's Health Ministry said on Friday.

Child patients are at fatal risk due to the Israeli military siege of the hospitals, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement.

He added that medical staff and displaced people in the two hospitals are under a complete siege with no food and water.

Earlier on Friday, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila said 18 hospitals in Gaza ceased operation since the start of the Israeli onslaught in early October.

"Israel is turning its back to the international community, and maintains its crimes against the hospitals, health centers and shelter centers across the Gaza Strip," Alkaila said in a statement cited by the official Wafa news agency.

Early on Friday, the Israeli army struck Gaza's main hospital Al-Shifa, leaving numerous casualties among many displaced Palestinians taking shelter at the hospital.

Almost all hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip came under Israeli attacks and airstrikes in the last 24 hours, including Al-Shifa, which saw at least four rounds of Israeli airstrikes in the same period.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip-including hospitals, residences, and houses of worship-since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 10,812 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,412 children and 2,918 women. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is nearly 1,600, according to official figures.