The Israeli military entered Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital for what it described as a “precise and targeted operation” against Hamas, hours after the United States backed its claims that the group militant stored weapons in medical facilities.
Al-Shifa, which Israel says sits atop a dense network of underground tunnels housing Hamas command centers, became the focal point of the country’s ground offensive for nearly three weeks. Gaza.
International concern has grown over the fate of patients at the hospital and the thousands of people who have sought refuge there following Israeli bombing of the coastal enclave. The hospital stopped operating over the weekend due to a lack of fuel.
The Israeli military said its operation in al-Shifa was based on “intelligence and operational necessity” and “was not intended to harm patients, medical teams and civilians staying at the hospital.”
The Israeli military said it had “once again communicated to the relevant authorities in Gaza that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours.” Unfortunately, it is not the case.
International aid agencies have expressed concern over the raid on al-Shifa, with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, calling reports of an incursion “deeply concerning.”
“We have lost contact with the healthcare staff at the hospital again,” he posted on X. “We are extremely concerned for their safety and that of their patients.”
The Israeli army said its troops killed Hamas militants during a clash in front of the hospital gates and had carried out a search for “terrorist infrastructure and weapons”.
“Before entering the hospital, our forces were confronted by explosive devices and terrorist squads. Fighting ensued, during which terrorists were killed,” the Israeli army said.
It also reported that it had delivered medical equipment, incubators and baby food to al-Shifa, and said that IDF medical teams, as well as Arabic-speaking soldiers, were present to ensure that medical equipment reaches those who need it.
Doctors at al-Shifa have repeatedly rejected Israeli claims that the hospital is used for Hamas military operations. A government spokesman in Hamas-controlled Gaza called the Israeli advance into the hospital a “war crime, a moral crime and a crime against humanity.”
The spokesperson said there were around 9,000 people in hospital.
Hours before Israel announced the raid on al-Shifa, John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, told reporters that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant faction based in Gaza, “stored weapons” in the hospital and were “prepared”. to respond to an Israeli military operation against this installation.
Kirby added that Hamas was using hospitals, including al-Shifa, and the tunnels beneath them to hold hostages.
But he said Washington did not favor an airstrike on a hospital and did not want “a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, defenseless people, sick people are just trying to get treatment.” medical treatment they deserve.
The collapse of medical care in al-Shifa was mirrored in other medical facilities in northern Gaza. The UN said only one hospital in the region was still operational.
“All others have ceased operations due to lack of electricity, medical consumables, oxygen, food and water, compounded by nearby shelling and fighting,” he said in a statement. communicated.
The desperate situation in Gaza’s hospitals is a source of tension between Israel and its Western allies, with the United States, France and other Western countries growing in number. push Israel to show restraint in operations near medical facilities.
US President Joe Biden warned this week that hospitals “must be protected”, saying: “My hope and expectation is that there will be less intrusive actions in relation to hospitals. »
The Israeli military said it had “repeatedly publicly warned that Hamas’s continued military use of Shifa Hospital endangers its protected status under international law.”
Mohamed Zaqout, director general of Gaza hospitals, told Al Jazeera television that he spoke with al-Shifa staff, who said: “There was not a single shot fire fired from inside the hospital complex. »
“There was no resistance, which is normal because it is a civilian hospital,” Zaqout told Al Jazeera, adding that Israeli forces entered the emergency ward and a sub-district. floor containing x-ray equipment.
Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, is suffering a worsening humanitarian crisis since Israel launched a retaliatory offensive against Hamas following the Islamist militant group’s devastating attack on October 7.
Hamas’ assault on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people and around 240 hostages were taken, according to Israeli officials.
More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli bombardment of the strip, according to Palestinian health officials. Israeli forces launched a ground offensive in the coastal enclave last month and surrounded Gaza City, Hamas’ main political and military base in the strip.
More than 1.5 million people in Gaza have been forced from their homes and thousands have sought shelter in hospitals.
The UN’s humanitarian arm said on Tuesday that 32 patients – including three premature babies – had died in al-Shifa since Saturday due to a power outage and “dire conditions” at the hospital.
Mohamed Abu Silmeyeh, its director, warned on Saturday that doctors were resorting to wrapping babies in cellophane to keep them alive after incubators stopped working due to lack of electricity.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that 170 people were buried in a mass grave in the al-Shifa courtyard due to the “difficulty of burying them” elsewhere “due to the siege imposed on all sides.” . .
The ministry said on Monday that more than 100 bodies in al-Shifa were beginning to decompose and the “smell of corpses” was everywhere.
An IDF statement Wednesday morning said Israel was “only at war with Hamas.” “We continue to do everything in our power to mitigate the risks to civilians,” he added.