Telling hospitals to evacuate

In Gaza City, the IDF dropped leaflets written in Arabic that warned residents to evacuate to the south or face the possibility of being considered “a partner for the terrorist organization,” according to a CNN translation.

In a statement, the IDF confirmed it had dropped the flyers, but said there was “no intention to consider those who have not evacuated from the affected area of fighting as a member of the terrorist group.”

The IDF “treats civilians as such, and does not target them,” the statement added.

Israeli war planes have been pounding Gaza, leveling entire neighborhoods, including schools and mosques. Israel says it strikes Hamas targets and that the group has used civilians as human shields.

As of Sunday, Israeli airstrikes have killed 4,651 people in Gaza, including more than 1,900 children and 1,023 women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. More than 14,245 people have been wounded, it added.

In northern Gaza, more than 1 million residents have been told by Israel to leave their homes and move to the south.

Israel has also ordered the evacuation of more than 20 hospitals in northern Gaza where thousands of patients are being treated, according to the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent, which say the order could be tantamount to a death sentence.

“We do not have the means to evacuate them safely. Most of the patients are with critical injuries,” Red Crescent spokesperson Nebal Farsakh told CNN.

The IDF has said it does not target hospitals, though the UN and Doctors Without Borders say Israeli airstrikes have hit medical facilities, including hospitals and ambulances.

Dr. Iyad Issa Abu Zaher, director general of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Gaza described a “bloody day” for his hospital to CNN on camera Sunday, saying the hospital had received up to 166 bodies and admitted more than 300 injured people.

“It’s impossible for any hospital in the world to admit this number of injured,” he said.

“There is no room or hospital beds for these injuries, the injured are at the doors of the operating theaters and on top of each other, each waiting their turn for an operation and the situation is catastrophic,” he said.

Insufficient aid

CNN saw at least 14 relief aid trucks, sponsored by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations, entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Sunday late evening.

A Palestinian Red Crescent Society official in Gaza told CNN the trucks were admitted and their content offloaded to proceed to UN storage facilities in Gaza.

However, the trucks did not bring in fuel, which is vital for running hospitals and treating water in the isolated territory, according to UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma.

The delivery follows an initial convoy of 20 trucks carrying food, water, medicine and medical supplies on Saturday.

“God willing, I am now entering the crossing, or in a few minutes. God willing, to deliver this aid and will go in and out safely, God willing,” Ali Shousha, one of the drivers waiting to cross into Gaza, told CNN.

But aid workers and international leaders have warned that much more is needed to combat the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the enclave that is home to more than 2 million people.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stressed that “the needs are far higher” than the aid people in Gaza have received.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said the initial aid convoy constituted “only 3% of the daily health and humanitarian needs that used to enter the Gaza Strip before the aggression.”

One UN official warned on Sunday that the UN’s fuel supply in Gaza will run out in three days. “Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said. “Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need.”

Citing an acute shortage of food, water, power, and medical supplies that is pushing civilian lives in Gaza “to the edge of catastrophe,” the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said it urgently requires $74 million to sustain its emergency response in Gaza for the next 90 days.

Wider conflict

As it prepares for the next stage of war, the Israeli military has warned other regional actors against getting involved in the conflict.

Conricus, the IDF spokesperson, said Sunday the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is “playing a very dangerous game” that could drag Lebanon “into a war that it will gain nothing from.”

Conricus said Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli positions near the Lebanon border, which had led to both civilian and military casualties.

In response, the IDF has used tanks, drones, artillery, and infantry to strike various Hezbollah infrastructure, as well as Hezbollah squads manning anti-tank missiles, he added.

On Sunday, Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the IDF announced the expansion of a state-funded evacuation plan to 14 additional communities in northern areas near the border with Lebanon.

The evacuation, which is voluntary, was initially rolled out on Monday for 28 communities. Around 123,000 civilians had been evacuated from their homes in northern and southern Israel as of Friday.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated

CNN’s Amir Tal, Mostafa Salem, Matthew Chance, Tamar Michaelis, Niamh Kennedy, Chloe Liu, Asmaa Khalil, Richard Allen Greene, Sarah Dean, Manveena Suri, Nic Robertson, Kareem Khaddar, Clarissa Ward, Sahar Akbarzai, Ibrahim Dahman, Eyad Kourdi, Jennifer Hauser, Pierre Meilhan and Betsy Klein contributed reporting.