2023 November 11, two people, including a baby in an incubator, died that Saturday at the Al Shifa Medical Complex as the Israeli military surrounded the main hospital in Gaza. Israeli soldiers have been fighting insurgents from Hamas near the hospital as the war between the two sides continues to cause civilian casualties.
From then on, horrifying images started coming in again of how Israel attacked the Gaza population, under the pretext of bringing an end to Hamas resistance fighters.
Israel has accused Hamas of using Al Shifa as its base of operations, though Hamas and Palestinian officials have denied this. The hospital suspended its operations after food and electricity ran out, and Palestinians are being urged to evacuate the area if possible as fighting intensifies.
Seven days ago the news that got out of Gaza about the working of the Gazan hospitals was very shocking. They had no electricity and where without water and with very poor internet, which had severely impacted their ability to provide essential care. The constant gunfire and bombings in the area had exacerbated the already critical circumstances.
Tragically, the number of patient fatalities had increased significantly. Regrettably, the Al Shifa hospital was not able to function as a hospital anymore.
Six days ago at least 20 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were “no longer functioning”, according to the UN’s humanitarian agency.
Last weekend hundreds of thousands of people could be found marching peacefully through several cities all over Europe.
On Sunday, November 12, the Israeli officials said that they were ready to assist in the evacuation of babies from Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, which has gone dark amid the continued war between Israel and Hamas. But in the meantime, they made it impossible for people to flee from the hospital, as they were simply daisy-chained if they tried to escape that hellhole. Hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies, remained trapped inside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, in the north of Gaza, as Israeli troops and Hamas militants took part in heavy fighting outside it.
For the Israeli government, establishing control over al-Shifa hospital is a key Israeli objective for military and political reasons. The sprawling complex dominates the centre of Gaza City, where Hamas has much of its administrative infrastructure, and is close to the main north-south road that runs along the coast.
Since that weekend the Palestinian enclave’s two largest hospitals, Al Shifa and Al Quds, were closed to new patients. Four other hospitals were evacuated on Friday.
The Biden administration cautioned Israel against fighting near hospitals but echoed Israel’s allegation that Hamas was using civilians and hospitals as shields for its fighters. Israel accuses Hamas of operating a command centre under Al Shifa, a claim Hamas denies.Despite pictures we came to see over here in West Europe, Lt Col Richard Hecht, an IDF spokesperson, explained last week that the Israeli military did not target hospitals. He then added:
“But if we see a Hamas terrorist, we will kill him.”
Today the World Health Organization has said the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital, Dar al-Shifa has become a “death zone”. At the entrance could be found a mass grave, and only 25 staff left to care for 291 seriously ill patients after orders from the Israeli army to evacuate the complex.
The WHO managed to access the medical centre in Gaza City on Sunday after it was raided by Israeli forces earlier this week. Israel alleged the militant group Hamas used al-Shifa as a command centre, identifying it as a key target in its military operation despite international outcry.
This should be considered a war crime, as under the law of war one does not attack hospitals and ambulances. But against this, Israel raises all kinds of unwarlike cases, some of which they want to prove by showing all kinds of weapons allegedly found in hospitals and ambulances. Also evidence to back up claims of a vast tunnel complex located beneath the hospital should still be proven, certainly that there would also be exits and entrances by places in the hospital.
About 2,500 people, among them many sick and injured, including amputees, walked south from Al-Shifa on Saturday morning after being told to leave, the hospital director said, picking their way through ruined streets and rotting corpses.
Today, the WHO and Palestinian Red Crescent started evacuating those who were unable to flee on foot, including 32 babies in extremely critical condition, trauma patients with severely infected wounds due to a lack of antibiotics, and 29 patients with serious spinal injuries.
The babies were taken to the south of Gaza “in preparation for their transfer to the Emirates hospital in Rafah” in Egypt, the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement, through the Palestinian exclave’s only connection to the outside world.
Regarding the other patients, the WHO warned that facilities in Gaza’s south, which is supposedly safer than Gaza City, were already overwhelmed, and an immediate ceasefire was needed given the extreme levels of suffering.
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Preceding
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No humanitarian break to Israels siege of the Gaza Strip
Netanyahu says Israel is at war after Hamas launches multi-front assault
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Jeshuaisten / Jeshuaists 
13 gedachten over “Al Shifa Medical Complex and other hospitals in Gaza under Israeli fire”