Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said that the situation at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City has grown increasingly dire and that a cease-fire is necessary to preserve civilian lives.
"The hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore," he said Sunday. It comes amid reports of multiple attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza as fighting in the city intensifies.
The Israeli Defense Forces late Saturday denied that Al-Shifa was under siege and said it would help evacuate babies from the hospital.
President Joe Biden said that Gaza's largest hospital and other hospitals "must be protected," and called for "less intrusive action" by Israeli forces.
On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for "immediate pauses" in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas to assist Palestinian civilians stranded in the besieged and resource-deprived Gaza enclave.