2023-11-15 01:00:00
The Israeli army entered Gaza’s largest hospital early Wednesday morning (local time) in what it called a “precise and selective operation against Hamas in a specific area” of the facility, which has been the scene of a clash with the group. militant.
The army surrounded the facilities as part of its ground offensive against the Islamist group. Israeli authorities claim that militants are hiding military operations at the facilities. But with hundreds of patients and medical staff inside, Israeli authorities have refrained from entering.
In recent weeks, the Israeli defense forces have “publicly warned again and again that Hamas’ continued military use of Al-Shifa Hospital jeopardizes its status as a protected site under international law,” the military stated. .
Hamas has denied Israeli accusations that it uses the hospital as a shelter. Military officials did not provide further details but said they were taking measures to prevent harm to civilians.
Hospitals, schools and government buildings are Hamas refuges, Israel says
The operation to enter the hospital took place after the army increased its control of northern Gaza on Tuesday, including the seizure of the territory’s legislative assembly building and police headquarters, in achievements of great symbolic value in the country’s fight to crush Hamas.
An Israeli commander in Gaza, identified only as Lt. Col. Gilad, said in a video that his forces near Shifa hospital had taken government buildings, schools and residential buildings where they found weapons and eliminated fighters.
Inside some of the captured buildings, soldiers raised the Israeli flag and military flags in celebration. In a nationally televised press conference, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that Hamas had “lost control” of northern Gaza and that Israel had made significant gains in Gaza City.
But asked about the time frame of the war, Gallant said: “We’re talking about long months, not a day or two.”
Al-Shifa hospital “is turning into a cemetery”
The Al-Shifa hospital has been left in the middle of the Israeli offensive against Hamas, transformed into a “scene of death, devastation and despair,” according to the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Bombings and armed clashes have been reported in the surrounding areas since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.
In addition, the hospital has been severely affected by the lack of supplies, medications, electricity and fuel that allow it to operate optimally in the face of the crisis of injured and displaced people who use its facilities as a shelter.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which runs Hamas, said more than 2,300 people were inside Al-Shifa, including patients, medical staff and displaced people. He also reported that 32 patients had died in less than a week, including three newborns, as a result of the siege of the complex and the lack of power.
Given the shortage of resources and the danger posed by its operation, the WHO reported last Sunday that Al-Shifa “no longer functions as a hospital” and Dr. Tedros stressed in X that the lack of electricity, water and internet “has seriously affected to their ability to provide essential care.
The Gaza Health Ministry has proposed evacuating the hospital with the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross and transferring the patients to hospitals in Egypt, but has not received a response, according to ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra.
Although Israel says it is willing to allow staff and patients to evacuate, some Palestinians who have managed to leave say that Israeli forces have fired on evacuees.
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