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Israeli forces showed no signs of relenting on their new ground offensive in Gaza City on Monday as world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and more countries prepared to join the surge of nations recognizing a Palestinian state.
Hundreds of thousands have remained in the city, the territory’s largest and already in ruins from nearly two years of war and struggling with famine. The Israeli military ordered the evacuation on Monday of the Jordanian Hospital, a key health clinic, a Palestinian health official said.
The latest Israeli operation, which started last Tuesday, further escalates a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach. The Israeli military, which says it wants to “destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure” hasn’t given a timeline for the offensive, but there were indications it could take months.
Many have been attempting to relocate from the city, where 1 million people once lived, to the southern Gaza Strip, following Israeli military calls for a full evacuation.
Here’s the latest:
Israeli military orders evacuation of a key Gaza City hospital
The Jordanian field hospital in the city’s southwestern neighborhood of Tal Al-Hawa received orders to evacuate on Monday morning, according to a senior health official.
The military has already ordered all Palestinians in Gaza City to head south, to central and southern Gaza Strip. It has told aid workers in private messages that all humanitarian sites — except hospitals — must evacuate.
The military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dr. Muneer Al-Boush, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that the hospital has at least 300 patients, as well as medical staff and family members of the patients.
The order came as residents reported that troops were approaching the facility, with dozens of families trapped in their homes and shelters around the hospital.
A surge in recognitions
Britain, Canada and Australia formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, joining nearly 150 countries that have already done so, and France was expected to do the same at the General Assembly.
Portugal also joined the group, announcing its recognition later Sunday from New York.
France and ������Ƶ hope to use this year’s gathering of world leaders and the increasingly horrific war in the Gaza Strip to inject new urgency into the quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But the efforts to push a two-state solution face major obstacles, beginning with vehement opposition from the United States and Israel. The US has blocked Palestinian officials from even attending the General Assembly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is opposed to Palestinian statehood, has threatened to take unilateral action in response — possibly including the annexation of parts of the West Bank.
Paris’ famed Eiffel Tower projects both Palestinian and Israeli flags
The two flags and a dove with an olive branch have been projected onto a giant screen on the Eiffel Tower on Sunday evening, ahead of France’s recognition of a Palestinian State.
The city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said on Bluesky social media that it was meant to show Paris’ support for French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative, to be formalized at a United Nations conference later on Monday.
“Paris reaffirms its commitment to peace, which more than ever requires a two-state solution” and expressed “its solidarity toward all Palestinian and Israeli civilian victims,” Hidalgo wrote.
A Paris suburb and others across France raise Palestinian flags
The mayor of Saint-Denis, in Paris’ northern suburbs, raised the Palestinian flag on the town hall on Monday morning as a “testament of solidarity” toward the people in Gaza people.
France’s Interior Ministry said at least 21 municipalities across the country have made a similar move, defying a government order not to display of Palestinian flags on town halls in line with the principle of neutrality in public services.
Saint-Denis’ mayor Mathieu Hanotin said that at “this terrible moment that we live through every day in Gaza,” the flag was a “testament to international solidarity in the face of the ongoing massacres.”
Cities such as Nantes and Rennes in western France and several suburban towns around Paris also raised the Palestinian flag, echoing a call launched by Socialist leader Olivier Faure.
Faure said France’s recognition of a Palestinian state, alongside other Western nations, was “a major step toward the possibility tomorrow of a peace with two states.”
Italy’s unions call for a 24-hour general strike in solidarity with people in Gaza
The strike, paired with demonstrations and sit-ins held across the country, will affect public transportation, trains, schools and ports.
The protest was called for Monday by grassroots unions across Italy. The unions have denounced “the inertia of the Italian and EU governments” in the face of the violence suffered by the people of Gaza.
Italy stops a shipment of ‘explosives’ to Israel
An Italian mayor says the port of Ravenna last Thursday blocked the transit of two containers carrying “explosives” to Israel, following a letter by local administrators.
Ravenna mayor and center-left politician Alessandro Barattoni told reporters that port authorities accepted a request from him and the regional governor. The explosives, which he did not elaborate on, were en route to the Israeli port of Haifa.
Barattoni also called for a clear position from the Italian government to avoid arms shipment to Israel through Italy.