The Hamas command center is reported to be located underneath the hospital.
Early on Wednesday, November 15, Israeli troops raided Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, where hundreds of patients, including newborns, were stranded as the army expanded its control over Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.
Al-Shifa Hospital has become a symbol of the suffering of Palestinian civilians during the war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted after militants killed about 1,200 people and captured about 240 prisoners in a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The Associated Press writes about this.
The hospital is also at the center of controversy over who is to blame for thousands of deaths and widespread destruction in the occupied territory. Israel accuses Hamas of using Palestinians as human shields, while Palestinians and human rights groups say Israel is recklessly endangering civilians in its efforts to root out the group.
“Terrible situation”
Mohammed Zakout, director of hospitals in Gaza, said Israeli tanks were inside the medical complex and that soldiers had entered buildings, including the emergency and surgery wards where intensive care units are located. It was unclear whether he spoke inside the complex.
“The occupying forces stormed the buildings,” he said angrily over the phone. According to him, patients, including children, are scared. – They are screaming. This is a very terrible situation… there is nothing we can do for the patients except pray.”
The Israeli military said it was conducting a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specific area at Al-Shifa Hospital.” The soldiers were accompanied by medical teams who brought with them medicines, baby food, incubators and other equipment.
Israel says Hamas has a powerful command center in and under al-Shifa, but has provided no visual evidence, while Hamas and hospital staff have repeatedly denied the allegations.
Hours before the raid, the United States said its own intelligence indicated militants were using Al Shifa Hospital and other hospitals and the tunnels underneath them to support military operations and hold hostages.
The Israeli military said the forces carrying out the al-Shifa raid were also looking for hostages. The plight of the hostages, who include men, women and children, has galvanized Israeli support for the war, with families and supporters of the hostages holding a protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Two and a half weeks after sending tanks and ground troops into northern Gaza, Israeli forces also took control of several key buildings and a neighborhood in central Gaza City.
Fuel for humanitarian needs
Most of the hundreds of thousands of people living in Gaza City and surrounding areas have fled after weeks of Israeli bombing. To the north, where there has been no electricity or water for several weeks, almost no help has arrived.
More than 11,200 people have died in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and minors, and two-thirds of the territory's 2.3 million residents have fled their homes, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah. About 2,700 people are missing, most of them believed to be buried under the rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.
Almost the entire population of Gaza is squeezed into the southern two-thirds of the tiny territory, where living conditions are deteriorating due to constant shelling.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees said on Tuesday, November 14, that its fuel train in Gaza was empty and that it would soon cease relief operations, including the delivery of limited supplies of food and medicine from Egypt to the more than 600,000 people holed up in overcrowding. schools and other UN-administered institutions in the south.
Israeli defense officials changed course early Wednesday, Nov. 15, to allow the import of about 24,000 liters (6,340 gallons) of fuel for humanitarian use, officials said. Previously, they have repeatedly refused to allow fuel into Gaza, saying that Hamas would redirect it for military purposes.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian affairs, said it would allow UN trucks to refuel at the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt later on Wednesday. According to him, this decision was made in response to the request of the United States.
Hospitals disabled
The al-Shifa raid drew condemnation from Jordan and the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which called it a violation of international law. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said he was “shocked” by the raid, saying the protection of civilians “must take precedence over all other concerns.”
Israeli forces shooting inside al Shifa hospital. pic.twitter.com/8KCrCzQHUp
— Edward Hulme (@hulme_edward) November 15, 2023
Hospitals may lose their protected status if militants use them for military purposes, but civilians must be given sufficient time to escape and any attack must be proportionate to the military objective.
Thousands of displaced people who had taken refuge in al-Shifa, as well as patients who were able to move, fled the Gaza medical complex through a corridor created by Israeli troops in recent days as Israeli troops sealed off the complex and fought Hamas militants to secure it. gate. Some Palestinians who were able to leave said Israeli troops opened fire on the evacuees.
Al-Shifa ceased operations over the weekend as supplies dried up and a lack of power prevented the operation of incubators and other vital equipment. After several days without refrigeration, morgue workers dug a mass grave for 120 bodies in the courtyard on Tuesday, November 14.
The Ministry of Health said 40 patients, including three infants, died after Al Shifa's emergency generator ran out of fuel on Saturday, November 11. Another 36 babies are at risk of dying due to a lack of electricity in incubators, the ministry said.
Battle of Gaza
Israeli troops extended their control into northern Gaza, seizing the parliament building and police headquarters. But collecting independent evidence about the fighting in Gaza City has been almost impossible, since communications with the north have been almost completely destroyed.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli troops had completed the capture of the Shati refugee camp, a densely built-up area, and were moving freely throughout the city as a whole.
Inside some of the newly captured buildings, soldiers displayed the Israeli flag and military flags in celebration. At a nationally televised news conference, Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Hamas had “lost control” of northern Gaza and that Israel had made significant gains in Gaza City.
But when asked about the time frame of the war, Galant replied: “We are talking about long months. We're talking about long months, not a day or two.”
The military says its forces have recovered weapons and killed militants in government buildings, schools and residential buildings.
Israel says it has killed several thousand militants, including important mid-level commanders, while 46 of its soldiers have died in Gaza.
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