Israel faces mounting outrage over Gaza war

Israel has faced mounting international pressure Monday over the rising civilian death toll and destruction of hospitals in Gaza as it pressed on with its strikes in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The United Nations Security Council was set to vote Monday on a new resolution calling for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities" in Gaza.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, have died in Israel's campaign in Gaza. It said dozens were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday.

Following months of fierce bombardment and fighting, most of Gaza's population have also been displaced and people are grappling with shortages of fuel, food, water and medicine.

Fewer than one-third of Gaza's hospitals are partly functioning, according to the U.N., with the World Health Organization denouncing on Sunday the impact of Israeli operations on two hospitals in the north of the territory.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was "appalled by the effective destruction" of the Kamal Adwan hospital, where Israeli forces carried out a multi-day operation against Hamas.

Outside the hospital courtyard, which showed tank and bulldozer tracks, Abu Mohammed, who came to look for his son, stood crying.

"I don't know how I will find him," he said, pointing to the debris.

The Israeli army pulled out of the hospital on Sunday after an operation lasting several days, claiming it had been used as a command and control centre by Hamas.

Israel said that before entering the hospital it had negotiated safe passage for the evacuation of most of the people inside.

The WHO also said Israeli bombing had reduced the emergency department at the Al...