Aid stuck at Gaza border as Israeli siege strains hospitals and water supplies

Palestinians wait to cross into Egypt at the Rafah border crossing (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Hospitals in the Gaza Strip face collapse as water, power and medicine near depletion, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face dwindling food supplies as Israel maintains punishing air strikes in retaliation for the deadly rampage by Hamas.

Thousands of patients’ lives are at risk, UN officials said, and mediators are struggling to reach a ceasefire deal to let in aid waiting at the Egyptian border.