The Israeli military raided Gaza’s largest hospital early Wednesday in a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas” and urged terrorists allegedly hiding beneath the facility to surrender.
The Israel Defense Forces entered Al Shifa Hospital after warning Hamas that using the hospital to hide military operations threatens its protected status under international law.
“IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have received specific training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intention that no harm is caused to civilians,” the army said in a statement.
“We call on all Hamas terrorists present at the hospital to surrender,” the IDF added.
Because of the hundreds of patients and medical staff inside, Israeli authorities had until Wednesday morning refrained from storming Shifa hospital in their search for Hamas.
Hamas has denied that it uses the hospital as cover, although US intelligence has sided with Israel’s claims that the terrorist group has extensive tunnels beneath the medical center.
Doctors are working desperately to rescue babies who are at risk of dying after the hospital lost power over the weekend.via REUTERS
Medical facilities in the area have been forced to shelter in place from sniper fire from nearby fighting.
The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said one of its three facilities located near the hospital was closed on Tuesday after three patients were shot from inside the building.
“In front of the main door there are many corpses. There are also injured patients; “We can’t get them inside,” the organization said in a statement about the shooting. “The situation is very bad, it is inhumane.”
Doctors Without Borders said that, in addition to its patients, its medical center houses 65 children displaced by the war.
Bodies line up at Al Shifa hospital.AFP via Getty Images Staff at Nasser hospital prayed for those killed by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday.AFP via Getty Images Children injured by another airstrike were being treated at Al Shifa hospital. Deir al-Balah. .AP
It was not immediately clear who was behind the shooting, but Gaza’s Health Ministry has repeatedly blamed the IDF for reported sniper fire near hospitals since the facilities were surrounded by Israeli forces over the weekend. .
The Hamas-backed Palestinian Health Ministry said three babies were among 40 people who have died since Shifa’s emergency generator ran out of fuel on Saturday and that another 36 babies were at risk of dying because there is no electricity to the homes. incubators.
“There is no more water, food, milk for children and babies… the situation in the hospital is catastrophic,” Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the center’s director, told CNN.
Israel said Hamas rejected its offer to provide 300 liters of fuel to the hospital, but Dr. Ahmed El Mokhallalati said the deal fell through because the fuel was left more than a mile from the hospital in an “active war.” area,” NBC News reported.
The Al Shati refugee camp was decimated by an airstrike on Tuesday. CNN Following the airstrike, Israel said it took full control of the camp. cnn
With more than 650 patients, around 700 staff and thousands of refugees living in al-Shifa, the hospital is experiencing its worst crisis in the war, with a mass grave now being built by hand.
Doctors said that after failing to dig graves Monday amid gunfire, staff members spent hours Tuesday burying 180 bodies that could no longer be stored at the hospital.
Footage from the medical complex on Monday showed that al-Shifa staff had run out of the traditional white blankets used to cover bodies and were now using colored sheets to wrap the dead.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Tuesday that the United States is currently discussing ways to allow an independent third party to carry out evacuations at Gaza medical facilities.
“We think an appropriate step would be to support those evacuations so that babies and other vulnerable populations are not in harm’s way,” Miller said.
A doctor at Deir al-Balah hospital runs down a hallway with an injured baby. AP IDF soldiers are stationed around Gaza hospitals as military officials accuse Hamas of having bases beneath medical facilities. IDF smoke hung over the al-Shati and Jabalia refugee camps following an Israeli airstrike. cnn
Miller questioned whether Hamas would allow evacuations, as the terrorist group has been accused of using hospitals as shields in the past. Officials said talks are underway with Qatar and other intermediaries to help with hospital conditions.
Israel has rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with its leaders saying military pressure was the key to rooting out Hamas and securing the freedom of the nearly 240 people taken hostage during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
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