Healthcare officials in Gaza have called for support as facilities continue to register a high number of patients. / Photo: Reuters

19:02 GMT – 750 children among people killed in Gaza: Health ministry

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza has risen to 2,670, the Health Ministry in Gaza said on Sunday.

In a statement, the ministry said 750 children were among the people killed in the Israeli attacks. The number of wounded people has risen to 9,600, the ministry also said.

Last weekend, in a dramatic escalation of Middle East tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained military push against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.

18:15 GMT – Gaza healthcare officials say facilities 'overwhelmed'

As Israel continues its bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip, health officials in the besieged Palestinian enclave on Sunday issued an urgent plea to send more medical teams, saying their staffers are "overwhelmed" while trying to save lives.

The Health Ministry urged countries around the world to send healthcare teams of all specialties to Gaza. It said Israel also targeted hospitals, resulting in the deaths and injuries of numerous medics.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila told a press conference in Ramallah on Sunday that Israeli attacks have led to killing of innocent civilians including women and children, besides widespread displacement.

16:00 GMT – UN says approximately one million Gaza residents displaced

An estimated one million people have been displaced in the first seven days of the conflict in Gaza, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said on Sunday.

"An estimated one million people have been displaced in the first seven days" of the war in Gaza, UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma told AFP.

"The number is likely to be higher as people continue to leave their homes."

15:30 GMT – Thousands march in Morocco in support of Palestine

Thousands marched in Rabat on Sunday in support of Palestinians under siege in Gaza, in the biggest anti-Israeli protest since the 2020 normalisation of diplomatic relations.

At the march, organised by Islamists and leftist groups, protesters chanted: "Palestine is resisting" and "All against normalisation" as they burned an Israeli flag.

"I denounce the double standards of many Western governments regarding Palestinians," said Charki Lahrech at the protest, saying some nations were turning a blind eye to Israel's retaliatory strikes after the attack by Hamas militants.

15:10 GMT – Israel’s offensive in Gaza breaches 'self-defense' principle: President Sisi

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel's response to the Hamas offensive on October 7 "has gone far beyond the principle of right to self-defense."

Sisi says Israel's bombardment of Gaza with airstrikes, destroying civilian settlements and critical infrastructure, amounts to "collective punishment" of the Gaza people.

Blinken arrived in Egypt's capital Cairo on Sunday, and is expected to hold talks with President Sisi about the Israel-Palestine conflict. On Monday, he will travel to Israel for "further consultations" with Israeli leaders.

13:18 GMT – Gaza makes appeal for blood donation

The need for blood donations in the embattled Gaza Strip is “urgent,” health officials said on Sunday.

“The Health Ministry calls on the public to urgently donate blood to Shifa Hospital, all hospitals in the Gaza Strip and branches of the Blood Bank Association,” health officials said in a statement.

The appeal comes amid continued Israeli army bombardment of Gaza, with hospitals struggling to care for the wounded after over a week of attacks, with water and electricity supplies cut off. An Israeli ground operation is also widely expected to start soon.

11:30 GMT – Israeli troops reportedly attack Syrian airport

Israel targeted Aleppo International Airport with an air attack for the second time in 24 hours, the official Syrian news agency SANA has announced.

SANA quoted a military source as saying that Aleppo Airport was subjected to an air attack by Israel from the Mediterranean Sea side, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 23:35 local time (2035GMT). Though Damascus is the capital, Aleppo is Syria’s most populous city.

The attack caused damage to the airport and put it out of service, SANA reported.

10:30 GMT – Gaza health ministry decries deprivation of healthcare

Amid an Israeli order to evacuate the region and continued bombardment, 70% of the population in north Gaza is now deprived of healthcare, the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday.

“After the UN evacuated its centers and stopped providing healthcare, 70% of the population in North Gaza in now deprived of medical care,” a ministry statement said.

On Friday, the Israeli army ordered more than one million people to evacuate north Gaza for the southern strip, with a ground operation seen as likely soon.

9:26 GMT – US announces citizens' evacuation plan

The United States government has organised a ship to take Americans out of Israel to Cyprus on Monday, the US embassy said.

With Israel moving toward a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, the ship will leave from the Israeli port of Haifa taking "US nationals and their immediate family members with a valid travel document", the US embassy said in a security alert.

5:00 GMT - Pro-Palestinian protests in Europe as Israel continues bombardment

People in several European countries have taken to the streets to show solidarity with Palestine amid a worsening situation in Gaza.

Thousands protested in the UK, Australia and Germany on Saturday, mainly in the capitals, denouncing Israel's attacks on the seaside enclave. More demonstrations are expected on Sunday.

"Free Palestine", "Free Jerusalem" and "Freedom for Gaza" were chanted. Banners included messages to stop the bombardment of Gaza and attacks on civilians.

4:30 GMT - Israel acts 'beyond the scope of self-defence'

Israel's actions in Gaza have gone "beyond the scope of self-defence" and the Israeli government must "cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza", China's foreign minister Wang Yi said in remarks published Sunday.

Wang, who made the comments on a call to his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Saturday, said "all parties should not take any action to escalate the situation and should return to the negotiating table as soon as possible," according to a foreign ministry readout.

4:15 GMT - 300 Palestinians killed on eighth day of Israeli attacks

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says that Israeli bombing on the eighth day of attacks on the enclave has left 300 Palestinians dead.

Spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said most of those killed Saturday were children and women. He added that 800 Palestinians were wounded in Israeli attacks.

Since Oct.7, the Gaza Strip has been experiencing heavy Israeli attacks that wiped out entire neighborhoods and left more than 2,215 killed and 8,714 injured, with almost 40% of victims being children and women.

Children and women and victims of the Israeli attacks. Photo: AA

3:30 GMT — Iran warns Israel's war in Gaza 'could spiral out of control'

Iran has warned that if Israel's "war crimes and genocide" are not halted immediately, "the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences."

The responsibility of such situation ''lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end," Tehran's mission to the United Nations in New York posted on X, formerly Twitter.

2:15 GMT — Russia asks UNSC to vote Monday on Israel, Gaza

Russia has asked the United Nations Security Council to vote on Monday on a draft resolution on the Israel-Palestine conflict that calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and condemns violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism.

Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said no changes had been made to the text since it was given to the 15-member body on Friday and that he expected the vote to be scheduled for Monday.

The one-page draft resolution also calls for the release of hostages, humanitarian aid access and the safe evacuation of civilians in need. It refers to Israel and the Palestinians but does not directly name Hamas.

The resolution drafted by Russia calls for release of hostages. Photo: AFP

1:30 GMT — US sends second aircraft carrier 'to deter hostile actions against Israel'

The United States is sending a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean "to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas's attack," Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

The USS Eisenhower and its affiliated warships will join another carrier group already deployed to the region.

The deployment signals Washington's "ironclad commitment to Israel's security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war," Austin said in a statement.

1:00 GMT — Israeli attack on Syrian Aleppo airport puts it out of service

Israel has launched an air strike against Syria's Aleppo Airport that put it out of service, the Syrian Defence Ministry said.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, which led to material damage to the airport and it being out of service," the ministry added.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The airport just got to service on Saturday after simultaneous missile attacks by Israeli forces on the airports in Syria's capital, Damascus, and the northern city of Aleppo had damaged the runways and put both hubs out of service on Thursday.

Israeli attacks on Gaza continues. Photo: AP

00:08 GMT — Biden condemns Hamas, underscores Palestinian 'self-determination' in Abbas call

US President Joe Biden has underscored Palestinians' "right to dignity and self-determination" while also condemning Hamas in a phone call with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

"Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people's right to dignity and self-determination," Biden told Abbas, according to a White House statement about the conversation between the two leaders, in which Biden also pledged "full support" to the Palestinian Authority.

For our Saturday's live updates on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, click here.

TRT Afrika and agencies