By Associated Press Television News
Copyright republicworld
Israeli forces showed no signs of relenting on their new ground offensive in Gaza City on Monday as world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and more countries prepared to join the surge of nations recognising a Palestinian state.Hundreds of thousands have remained in the city, the territory’s largest and already in ruins from nearly two years of war and struggling with famine. The Israeli military ordered the evacuation on Monday of the Jordanian Hospital, a key health clinic, a Palestinian health official said.The latest Israeli operation, which started last Tuesday, further escalates a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach. The Israeli military, which says it wants to “destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure” hasn’t given a timeline for the offensive, but there were indications it could take months.Many have been attempting to relocate from the city, where 1 million people once lived, to the southern Gaza Strip, following Israeli military calls for a full evacuation.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot linked France’s gradual establishment of diplomatic relations with a Palestinian state on the release of hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza, following their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war.The comments come as French President Emmanuel Macron is to formally recognise a Palestinian state later on Monday at the United Nations.This is “a symbolic, immediate, political decision that shows France’s commitment to the two-state solution,” Barrot said, speaking on TF1 television on Monday.He added that its “implementation, the establishment of diplomatic relations, will be gradual and under condition of a number of factors on the ground, including the release of hostages.”The Jordanian field hospital in the city’s southwestern neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa received orders to evacuate on Monday morning, according to a senior health official.The military has already ordered all Palestinians in Gaza City to head south, to central and southern Gaza Strip. It has told aid workers in private messages that all humanitarian sites — except hospitals — must evacuate.The military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Dr. Muneer al-Boush, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that the hospital has at least 300 patients, as well as medical staff and family members of the patients.The order came as residents reported that troops were approaching the facility, with dozens of families trapped in their homes and shelters around the hospital.Britain, Canada and Australia formally recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday, joining nearly 150 countries that have already done so, and France is expected to do the same at the General Assembly.Portugal also joined the group, announcing its recognition later Sunday from New York.France and Saudi Arabia hope to use this year’s gathering of world leaders and the increasingly horrific war in the Gaza Strip to inject new urgency into the quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.