Israel-Gaza updates: IDF says it exposed Hamas tunnel under Shifa Hospital

In the Gaza Strip, at least 12,300 people have been killed and over 30,000 others have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The United Nations released a statement saying many were killed in a UNRWA school sheltering displaced people.

"Receiving horrifying images & footage of scores of people killed and injured in another UNRWA school sheltering thousands of displaced in the north of the Gaza Strip. These attacks cannot become commonplace, they must stop. A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer," said Philippe Lazzarini from UNRWA.

-ABC News' Nasser Atta

The IDF denied Saturday that it ordered an evacuation of Al-Shifa's patients, claiming the hospital's director requested to allow people in the hospital to leave and that the IDF agreed and offered to assist.

The director of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry -- who said he is leading the exodus of patients -- said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Israel issued the order and that Israel refused to allow ambulances to assist in the evacuation.

The IDF said Saturday it "acceded to the request of the director of the Shifa Hospital to enable additional Gazans who were in the hospital, and would like to evacuate, to do so via the secure route. At no point, did the IDF order the evacuation of patients or medical teams and in fact proposed that any request for medical evacuation will be facilitated by the IDF. Medical personnel will remain in the hospital to support patients who are unable to evacuate."

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an IDF spokesperson, denied the IDF had ordered medical staff and patients to evacuate, as well as the the Gaza Health Ministry’s claim that patients had been given an hour to leave, calling it "fake news."

However, another spokesman, Lt. Col Elad Goren, in his evening briefing Friday night said the IDF was urging anyone left in Al-Shifa to leave and that it hoped it would take place in the "next few hours."

Officials and doctors at Al-Shifa hospital say almost all patients and civilians there have been forced to leave the hospital this morning, after Israeli forces gave them one hour to get out.

Dr. Munir Al Barsh, director general from the Gaza Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera, he and hundreds of patients, many seriously injured, were now on the road on foot, making their way south.

He said around 450 patients and wounded had left following the Israeli order. He painted a harrowing picture, saying many patients have open wounds, are missing limbs, some are still in beds and wheelchairs.

According to Al Barsh, around 120 patients who are unable to move are still in the hospital, including the nearly three dozen premature babies. Five medical staff have remained to care for them.

He said the column of hundreds of patients are now trying to make their way to the first hospital they can find on route.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Telecommunications services have been partially restored in Gaza thanks to fuel reaching the region, the Palestinian Authority Communications Ministry said.

About 17,000 liters of diesel entered Gaza on Friday via the Egypt-Gaza Rafah border crossing, according to border crossing spokesman Wael Abu Omar.

Two fuel trucks are expected to enter Gaza daily beginning on Saturday, according to Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

The Israeli government said Friday that it will allow two fuel trucks per day to enter Gaza. But no fuel was delivered Friday due to the latest communications blackout, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said.

Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, told ABC News that fuel has been "used as a weapon of war" since the Israel-Hamas conflict began.

“Seventy percent of people do not have clean drinking water because there is no fuel. … Sewage is starting to overflow in some parts of Gaza. It's a disaster," she said. "[We] should not be forced to beg for fuel just to be able to do our work. It's unacceptable."

UNRWA's shelters are currently housing 800,000 people, which Touma said is "way over the capacity."

"We planned for less than one quarter of what we have," she said. "And with the restrictions that we have on fuel and the little aid that has been coming in that we are not able to even collect or pick up, the situation is becoming tragic by the hour."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell