Iran warned that the magnitude of civilian suffering caused by Israel’s war against Hamas would inevitably lead to an expansion of the conflict, as officials in Gaza reported Israeli airstrikes on or near several hospitals in the Palestinian enclave.
The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian could raise concerns about whether Washington’s diplomatic efforts and the deployment of US naval forces to the eastern Mediterranean will be able to prevent the conflict from further destabilizing the Middle East.
“Due to the expansion of the intensity of the war against the civilian residents of Gaza, the expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Amir-Abdollahian told his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Thursday. at night.
Iranian state television Press TV reported the comments, made during a telephone conversation, on Friday.
Israel’s bombing and siege of Gaza over the past month has created a humanitarian catastrophe as thousands of people seek medical treatment and shelter in the few hospitals still open, and those in the combat zone run serious danger.
Israeli forces fire smoke bombs amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City, November 9, 2023. REUTERS
“The Israeli occupation launched simultaneous attacks on several hospitals during the last few hours,” Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Al Jazeera television.
Qidra said an Israeli strike hit a courtyard at Al Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza City, causing casualties, but did not provide details.
Israel said Hamas has hidden command centers and tunnels beneath Al Shifa and other hospitals such as Indonesia Hospital, accusations Hamas denies.
Palestinians on the street after an Israeli raid, in the Jenin refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 9, 2023. REUTERS
Israel’s military did not directly comment on Qidra’s statement, which Reuters could not independently verify, but has said it does not target civilians.
“While the world sees neighborhoods with schools, hospitals, scout groups, playgrounds and mosques, Hamas sees an opportunity to exploit,” Israel’s military said in a statement.
Iran supports Hamas but says it played no role in the militants’ bloody attack on Israel last month that sparked the crisis.
Soldiers talk at an Israeli artillery position near the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, November 9, 2023. REUTERS
Iran also backs Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group that has deep ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian faction in Gaza that is also backed by Iran.
EXPLOSION DAMAGES HOSPITAL
The month-long Israeli military campaign to eliminate Hamas, following the militants’ October 7 incursion into southern Israel, has left Gaza hospitals struggling to cope, while medical supplies, Drinking water and fuel for power generators are running out.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has said that 18 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals and 40 other health centers were out of service due to damage from shelling or lack of fuel.
Palestinian media on Friday published video footage from Al Shifa, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, which it said showed the aftermath of an Israeli attack on a parking lot where displaced Palestinians were sheltering and journalists were watching.
A Palestinian woman reacts while standing on the floor of the al-Nasser hospital morgue in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on November 9, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
A pool of blood could be seen next to the body of a man placed on a stretcher.
“With continued attacks and fighting near (Al Shifa), we are gravely concerned about the well-being of thousands of civilians there, many of them children, who are seeking medical care and shelter,” Human Rights Watch said on the social media site .
Qidra said Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital and Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital “have witnessed a series of direct attacks and shelling” on Friday.
He said the attacks on the grounds of Al-Rantisi hospital set vehicles on fire, but they had been partially extinguished.
Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that there were explosions near the Indonesian Hospital overnight, damaging parts of the hospital, located at the northern end of the narrow coastal enclave.
He did not say who was responsible for the explosion and reported no deaths or injuries.
This photograph taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip on November 10, 2023 shows smoke billows during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. AFP via Getty Images
“Indonesia once again condemns the savage attacks against civilians and civilian objects, especially humanitarian facilities in Gaza,” the ministry said in a statement.
US SAYS ISRAEL ACCEPTS PAUSES
Israel says 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 240 taken hostage by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the Israeli attack. Israel says it has lost 35 soldiers in Gaza.
Palestinian officials said 10,812 Gaza residents had been killed as of Thursday, about 40% of them children, in air and artillery strikes.
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Israel’s military advance in central Gaza City, which brought tanks to within about 3/4 mile of Al Shifa, according to residents, has raised questions about how Israel will interpret international laws on protecting medical facilities and of the displaced people who take refuge there.
Deadly airstrikes on refugee camps, a medical convoy and nearby hospitals have already sparked fierce arguments among some of Israel’s Western allies over its military’s adherence to international law.
The Israeli military has allowed some wounded Palestinian civilians to cross into Egypt for treatment.
US President Joe Biden said in a post on X on Thursday that Israel has “an obligation to distinguish between terrorists and civilians and to fully comply with international law.”
The White House said Thursday that Israel agreed to suspend military operations in parts of northern Gaza for four hours a day, but there was no sign of a lull in the fighting.
The pauses, which would allow people to flee along two humanitarian corridors and could be used to free hostages, were important first steps, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested any pause would be dispersed and there was no official confirmation of a plan for recurring pauses.
When asked if there would be a “stop” in the fighting, Netanyahu said on Fox News: “No. Fighting continues against Hamas’ enemy, Hamas terrorists, but in specific locations for a certain period of a few hours here or a few hours there, we want to facilitate the safe passage of civilians out of the combat zone and we are doing that “
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Source: vtt.edu.vn