Thousands of civilians flee northern Gaza hospitals as Israeli troops close in

Geoff Bennett:

More than 100,000 civilians have fled south from Northern Gaza over the last two days, as Israel's week-old ground campaign intensifies. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. And the Israeli death toll from those initial attacks was revised down today from 1,400 to 1,200. Israeli officials gave no explanation for the change.

Nick Schifrin has our update on another bloody day.

And a caution:

Some images in this story are disturbing.

Nick Schifrin:

Today, the hospitals treating Gaza City's wounds of war have become the war's battlegrounds. This was the scene inside Gaza's Shifa Hospital compound. Those left living scream: "Why, God, why?"

Inside, a doctor narrates the aftermath. The injured line the hallway. Family members act as nurses. There is no dignity yet for the dead.

Man (through interpreter):

There's no treatment. My dad is lying there. Even the anesthetic has run out. May God help the doctors. There's nothing more they can do.

Nick Schifrin:

In this war, hospitals are also morgues. Hamas blamed in Israeli airstrike. Israel said tonight that these victims were killed by an errant Hamas rocket.

Shifa is Gaza's largest hospital located in Western Gaza City. Israeli troops appear to be approaching from both the north and the south and say it hides Hamas' command-and-control underground.

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant:

Yoav Gallant, Israeli Defense Minister (through interpreter):

Those terrorists who are staying in the basements underneath Shifa tonight can hear the thundering sound of tank chains, the bulldozers that pound the ground. They hear it and tremble with fear.

Nick Schifrin:

Last night, a projectile hit inside the compound. Shifa is not just a hospital. It's become a tent city, filled with thousands of families who considered it the safest place to shelter. Not anymore.

Doctors said the projectile last night hit the hospital's courtyard and obstetrics department. Israel's Defense Forces said it had no information about the explosion. But, by this afternoon, multiple Gaza hospitals appeared to be surrounded or under attack.

Hundreds of Gazans who took shelter in al-Nasser Hospital left waving white flags. They fled multiple hospitals in North Gaza by the thousands. Those who could walked the six-mile journey to what Israel calls a safe zone. Those who couldn't made the journey nonetheless. The old tried to comfort the young.

Today's six-hour evacuation corridor was the longest one yet, after a U.S.-Israeli agreement to expand military pauses.

Umm Al-Adhan, Displaced Gazan (through interpreter):

What did all these people do, the sick person, the one unable to walk, the child, the old man whose son was martyred and whose house was destroyed? What did they do?

Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: Much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that the humanitarian assistance reaches them.

Nick Schifrin:

Today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as part of a visit to New Delhi alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, made one of the most direct American criticisms of Israel yet.

Antony Blinken:

Far too many Palestinians have been killed. Far too many have suffered these past weeks.

Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: These are the gates to a living nightmare.

Nick Schifrin:

Those concerns are echoed by the international community.

Days after visiting the Rafah Border Crossing, today, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk called for Israel to be investigated.

Volker Turk:

Considering the predictable high level of civilian casualty and the wider scale of destruction of civilian objects, we have very serious concerns that these amount to disproportionate attacks, in breach of international humanitarian law.

Nick Schifrin:

But the suffering goes on. Today, the U.N. said the war has pushed 400,000 Gazans into poverty in an area that for years has already been one of the globe's most impoverished.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.