By Chris Lau, Andrew Raine, Sophie Tanno, Adrienne Vogt and Tori B. Powell, CNN
The Israeli army has told CNN it is engaged in “ongoing intense fighting” against Hamas in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City but refused to comment further on its forces’ proximity to the complex because military activity was still underway.
Medics at the hospital say the complex has been hit by artillery fire, but Israeli army spokespeople in a separate telephone briefing with journalists on Saturday did not address those reports.
From CNN’s Zeena Saifi in Jerusalem
In his opening remarks at the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit in Riyadh on Saturday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom “categorically rejects” the war to which Palestinians are being subjected.
Saudi Arabia is hosting the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Saturday in response to the "unprecedented circumstances in Gaza."
“This summit is being held under exceptional and painful circumstances…we categorically reject this brutal war that our brothers and sisters are being subjected to in Palestine…we renew our demand for an immediate cessation of military operations,” the crown prince said.
He said thousands of civilians had been killed by Israeli airstrikes, and hospitals and places of worship had been destroyed.
“What we have in front of us is a humanitarian catastrophe that is testament to the failure of the UN Security Council and the international community to put an end to the blatant Israeli violations of international laws and norms and international humanitarian law,” he said.
Bin Salman said that events in Gaza call for a “coordinated collective effort to take effective action,” and demanded the opening of humanitarian corridors to provide aid for civilians.
“The kingdom affirms its categorical rejection of the continuation of aggression, occupation, and forced displacement of the population of Gaza. It also confirms that the occupying authority is responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people,” he said.
The crown prince said the only way to find “lasting peace” is to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and to establish a Palestinian state under the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
From CNN's Tamara Qiblawi and Jo Shelley
There have been further exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon on Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces said that sirens had sounded in northern Israel “warning of a hostile aircraft intrusion. No aircraft [was] identified infiltrating Israeli territory.”
“In addition, a launch was identified toward the Margaliot area, that fell in an open area. IDF artillery is striking the source of the launch in Lebanon,” the IDF added.
The IDF said that overnight “a launch was identified toward an IDF aircraft operating in the area of the border with Lebanon, [and] an IDF UAV struck the launcher from which the launch was carried out.”
For its part, Hezbollah claimed a series of strikes on Saturday morning, "in support of the Palestinian people."
It claimed there had been four strikes in a two-hour period which had caused Israeli military casualties.
Israel has reported no casualties along the northern border Saturday.
Some context: Clashes across the border have escalated since Israel began its war in Gaza. Some communities in northern Israel fled southward earlier this week, leaving "ghost towns" behind with only Israeli troops staying to battle Hezbollah militants.
From CNN's Naimh Kennedy, Jomana Karadsheh and Abeer Salman
Gaza's healthcare system has passed the "point of no return," the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement Friday.
"Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return risking the lives of thousands of wounded, sick and displaced people," the ICRC warned.
Recent "attacks on medical facilities and personnel" have dealt a "heavy blow" to the healthcare system in Gaza, “which is severely weakened after more than one month of heavy fighting," according to the group.
The ICRC highlighted the situation at the "largest referral hospital in the Gaza Strip," the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said in a statement sent to CNN Saturday that al-Shifa was now “out of service”, with the fifth floor of the surgery building heavily shelled and medical staff unable to move within the complex.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for comment on the situation at al-Shifa. The IDF has previously accused Hamas of using civilian infrastructure such as hospitals as bases for launching attacks.
The UN children's rights organization UNICEF said Friday that the lives of the one million children in Gaza are currently "hanging by a thread" citing two other hospitals in northern Gaza.
"Over the past 24-hours, medical care at Al-Rantisi and Al-Nasr children’s hospitals has reportedly almost ceased, with only a small generator powering the intensive care and neonatal intensive care units," UNICEF said.
Hospitals on the frontline: On Friday, the director of the Al Nasr hospital and Al Rantisi Pediatric hospital, told CNN on Friday that his hospital complexes had been "completely surrounded" by Israeli tanks.
“We do not have electricity, no oxygen for the patients. We do not have medicine and water,” Mustafa al-Kahlout said.
With fighting raging in Gaza City, other hospitals reported strikes in their vicinity.
As well as providing medical services, hospitals are sheltering thousands of Palestinians .
From Kareem Khadder and Abeer Salman in Jerusalem
Three babies in the neonatal unit of Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza have now died, after the hospital went “out of service," according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health on Saturday amid persistent Israeli fire in the vicinity.
Doctors in the neonatal ward are now being forced to carry out artificial respiration by hand on the 36 babies that they are caring for, Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health told CNN Saturday. Doctors have covered the babies with soft lining and blankets as part of this effort, he said.
Bursh also said the hospital was "surrounded from all four directions," estimating that 400 people were being treated at the hospital and around 20,000 displaced people seeking shelter in the hospital complex.
The spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, Dr. Ashraf al-Qidra said he was trapped inside the Al-Shifa complex.
Dr. Qidra said in a statement to CNN Saturday the complex is currently “out of service” after repeatedly being targeted by Israeli fire.
"The intensive care unit, pediatric department, and oxygen devices have stopped working," Dr. Qidra said.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the situation in the vicinity of the hospital.
The IDF has regularly said that Hamas is using Gaza hospitals and other civilian infrastructure as cover for its military operations. It has also warned civilians in northern Gaza to move south.
Growing alarm: The Director General for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), Robert Mardini, said the organization was "shocked and appalled by the images and reports coming from Al Shifa hospital in Gaza."
"The unbearably desperate situation for patients & staff trapped inside must stop. Now," Mardini said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly before 5.30aET Saturday.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said it had lost contact with staff inside the hospital while the World Health Organization said it was “extremely disturbed” about reports of Israeli attacks nearby.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has landed in the Saudi capital Riyadh for a major summit to discuss the conflict in Gaza.
The Iranian President was greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, their first encounter since Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic relations earlier this year. It also marks the first visit by an Iranian president to the Kingdom in 11 years.
Saudi Arabia is hosting the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Saturday in response to the "unprecedented circumstances in Gaza."
The country leaders attending will be working on "uniting efforts and coming up with a unified collective position" on the developments in Gaza, according to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will also be attending.
Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League, an organization of Middle Eastern and African countries and the Palestine Liberation Organization, in May after an 11-year absence.
From CNN's Naimh Kennedy and Jennifer Hauser
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday said that a seven-hour window is currently in place for Gazans to evacuate south along the Salah al-Deen street.
"The evacuation corridor will remain open between 09:00-16:00 (2aET-9aET) for civilians through the Salah al-Din axis toward south of Wadi Gaza," the IDF said on social media.
The IDF also suggested that residents could "go to the seashore and move from there along the coastline south towards the marina in order to preserve your lives and the lives of your families."
The IDF added there would be a four-hour pause in military operations near the Jabalia camp.
It called on residents there to "join the hundreds of thousands who have moved south ... We call on you, in order to preserve your security, to take advantage of the time period available to move south, because the northern Gaza Strip area is an area of widespread combat."
An estimated 30,000 people fled the areas north of Wadi Gaza, heading southward on Friday, according to the UN.
The number of evacuating residents has dropped in recent days. The Israeli government said that 80,000 fled on Thursday, while the United Nations said that 50,000 did. Both agree that around 50,000 fled on Wednesday.
The Israeli military said it now had control of 11 Hamas military posts in the Gaza strip in an update Saturday.
A statement from the military said Israeli forces had also destroyed a vehicle packed with explosives that had been parked close to an area used by Israeli soldiers.
It also said it had destroyed a tunnel used by militants.
In addition, the military said naval forces had struck what it said were military targets inside the Al Shati refugee camp, which is located on the seafront just north of Gaza City.
There was no reference in the statement to operational activity around al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest, and the military has not responded to repeated CNN requests for comment on reports from al-Shifa medics that the hospital complex has been hit by artillery fire.
Fighting has been reported close to hospitals in northern Gaza amid an Israeli ground offensive aimed at destroying the Hamas militants who carried out the deadly October 7 attacks.
From CNN's Adam Pourahmadi
Gaza should not be be an "arena for words" but for actions, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said while on his way to a summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.
"Palestine is the most important issue in the Islamic world," Raisi said as he departed Tehran airport.
Raisi is calling on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to make a "decisive, actionable and implementable decision on Gaza.
Some context: Saudi Arabia will host a Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Saturday in response to the "unprecedented circumstances in Gaza," according to a statement released by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Raisi's trip will mark the first visit by an Iranian president to Saudi Arabia since Tehran and Riyadh agreed to normalize ties last year in an agreement brokered by China.
Iran backs the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which has been engaged in daily cross-fire with Israeli forces on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, as well as Yemen's Houthi rebels, which have been sporadically firing missiles towards Israel.
Tehran also has strong ties with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
