Six premature babies and nine patients have died since electrical shortages began affecting al-Shifa Hospital several days ago, Gaza’s health ministry says.

Gaza’s two largest hospitals, al-Shifa and al-Quds, have both closed. Israeli snipers continue to fire at anyone near al-Shifa Hospital, trapping thousands inside.

Thousands of people appear to have fled from Gaza's largest hospital as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle outside its gates, but hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies at risk of dying because of a lack of electricity, remained inside

With only intermittent communications, it was difficult to reconcile competing claims from the Israeli military, which said it was providing a safe corridor for people to move south, and Palestinian health officials inside the hospital, who said the compound was surrounded by constant heavy gunfire.

With only intermittent communications, it was difficult to reconcile competing claims from the Israeli military, which said it was providing a safe corridor for people to move south, and Palestinian health officials inside the hospital, who said the compound was surrounded by constant heavy gunfire.

The military also said it had placed 300 litres (79 gallons) of fuel near the hospital to help power its generators, but that Hamas militants had prevented staff from reaching it. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza disputed that, and said the fuel would have provided less than an hour of electricity.

World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Shifa has been without water for three days and ¿is not functioning as a hospital anymore," in a post on social media.

Both sides have seized on the hospital's plight as a symbol of the larger war, now in its sixth week. The fighting was triggered by Hamas' unprecedented Oct 7 surprise attack into Israel, and Israel's response has brought unseen levels of death and destruction to Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinian residents, nearly two-thirds of whom have had to flee their homes with no safe refuge available in the besieged territory.

For Palestinians, Shifa evokes the suffering of civilians. Doctors running low on supplies perform surgery on war-wounded patients, including children, without anesthesia. Thousands of people displaced by airstrikes that have destroyed entire city blocks have sought shelter in its darkened corridors.