The prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu refuses the proposals for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas, setting as a condition the release of the hostages.

With fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas entering its fifth week, Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Tel Aviv yesterday.

On the meeting table was the US request for Israel to agree to a humanitarian pause in its attacks on Gaza to allow for the effective delivery of humanitarian aid and the safe movement of the population.

However, Netanyahu said that until all the hostages were released, no such deal could be made.

Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was “absolutely shocked” by the explosion outside the largest hospital in Gaza Citythe Al-Shifa.

According to the Hamas Health Ministry at least 13 people were killed and it blamed the Israeli airstrike.

In a statement, Hamas officials said Israeli forces targeted an “ambulance convoy carrying the wounded” from Al-Sifah to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

The IDF confirmed they hit an ambulance, which it said was being used by Hamas operatives. He did not say where the hit took place.

“Patients, health workers, facilities and ambulances must be protected at all times,” Ghebreyesus said, ahead of a separate warning from the UN.

Thomas White, director of affairs at the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), said the UN could do increasingly little to protect Palestinians trying to escape the fighting. “Let’s be very clear, there is no safe place in Gaza right now,” he said.