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The Israeli navy has entered al-Shifa hospital in Gaza for what it described as a “exact and focused operation” in opposition to Hamas, hours after the US backed its claims that the militant group was storing weapons in medical amenities.
Al-Shifa, which Israel says sits on high of a dense community of underground tunnels housing Hamas command centres, has grow to be a spotlight of the nation’s close to three-week floor offensive in Gaza.
Worldwide concern has mounted in regards to the destiny of the hospital’s sufferers and the 1000’s of people that have sought shelter there from Israel’s bombardment of the coastal enclave. The hospital stopped functioning on the weekend due to an absence of gasoline.
The Israel Protection Forces stated their operation at al-Shifa was based mostly on “intelligence and operational necessity” and was “not supposed to hurt sufferers, medical groups and civilians who’re staying within the hospital”.
The IDF stated it had “conveyed to the related authorities in Gaza as soon as once more that each one navy actions throughout the hospital should stop inside 12 hours. Sadly, it didn’t.”
Worldwide assist companies expressed alarm on the raid on al-Shifa, with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Well being Group, describing stories of an incursion as “deeply regarding”.
“We’ve misplaced contact once more with well being personnel on the hospital,” he posted on X. “We’re extraordinarily nervous for his or her and their sufferers’ security.”
The IDF stated its troops had killed Hamas militants in a conflict exterior the hospital gates and had proceeded to conduct searches for “terror infrastructure and weapons”.
“Earlier than getting into the hospital our forces have been confronted by explosive units and terrorist squads. Combating ensued wherein terrorists have been killed,” the IDF stated.
It additionally stated it had delivered medical tools, incubators and child meals to al-Shifa, and stated IDF medical groups, along with Arabic-speaking troopers, have been current to make sure medical tools reached those that wanted it.
Docs at al-Shifa have repeatedly dismissed Israeli claims that it’s getting used for Hamas’s navy operations. A authorities spokesperson in Gaza, which is managed by Hamas, described the Israeli advance into the hospital as a “struggle crime, an ethical crime and a criminal offense in opposition to humanity”.
The spokesperson stated there have been about 9,000 individuals within the hospital.
Hours earlier than Israel introduced the raid on al-Shifa, John Kirby, spokesperson for the US Nationwide Safety Council, instructed reporters that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant faction based mostly in Gaza, “saved weapons” within the hospital and have been “ready to answer an Israeli navy operation in opposition to that facility”.
Kirby added that Hamas was utilizing hospitals, together with al-Shifa, and the tunnels beneath them to carry hostages.
However he stated Washington didn’t assist placing a hospital from the air and didn’t need “a firefight in a hospital the place harmless individuals, helpless individuals, sick individuals are merely making an attempt to get the medical care they deserve”.
The collapse in medical care at al-Shifa has been mirrored at different medical amenities in northern Gaza. The UN stated that just one hospital within the space was nonetheless operational.
“All others have ceased operations as a result of lack of energy, medical consumables, oxygen, meals and water, compounded by bombardments and combating of their vicinities,” it stated in an replace.
The determined state of affairs in Gaza’s hospitals has been a supply of rigidity between Israel and its western allies, with the US, France and different western nations more and more pushing Israel to exercise restraint in operations close to medical amenities.
US President Joe Biden warned this week that hospitals “should be protected”, saying: “My hope and expectation is that there will probably be much less intrusive motion relative to hospitals.”
The IDF stated it had “publicly warned repeatedly that Hamas’s continued navy use of the Shifa hospital jeopardises its protected standing underneath worldwide legislation”.
Mohamed Zaqout, director-general of hospitals in Gaza, instructed the Al Jazeera tv community that he had spoken with employees at al-Shifa who stated: “There wasn’t a single shot fired from contained in the hospital complicated.”
“There was no resistance, which is regular as a result of this can be a civilian hospital,” Zaqout instructed Al Jazeera, including that Israeli forces went into the emergency division and a basement that contained radiology tools.
Gaza, dwelling to 2.3mn individuals, has been enduring a deepening humanitarian disaster since Israel unleashed a retaliatory offensive in opposition to Hamas following the Islamist militant group’s devastating assault on October 7.
Hamas’s assault on southern Israel killed about 1,200 individuals, and roughly 240 hostages have been taken, in line with Israeli officers.
Greater than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s bombardment of the strip, in line with Palestinian well being officers. Israel’s forces final month launched a land offensive within the coastal enclave and surrounded Gaza Metropolis, Hamas’s predominant political and navy base within the strip.
Greater than 1.5mn individuals in Gaza have been pressured from their houses, and 1000’s of individuals have sought sanctuary at hospitals.
The UN’s humanitarian arm stated on Tuesday that 32 sufferers — together with three untimely infants — had died at al-Shifa since Saturday on account of energy loss and “dire situations” on the hospital.
Mohamed Abu Silmeyeh, its director, warned on Saturday that medics have been resorting to wrapping infants in cellophane to maintain them alive after incubators stopped working due to the shortage of electrical energy.
The Palestinian well being ministry in Gaza stated on Tuesday that 170 individuals had been buried in a mass grave within the courtyard of al-Shifa on account of the “problem of burying them” elsewhere “due to the siege imposed on it from all sides”.
The ministry stated on Monday that greater than 100 our bodies at al-Shifa have been starting to decompose and that “the odor of corpses” was all over the place.
A press release by the IDF on Wednesday morning stated Israel was “solely at struggle with Hamas”. “We proceed to do all the things in our energy to mitigate the danger to civilians,” it stated.
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