Cries and hands raised for the patients and refugees of Al-Shifa during the Israeli army inspections
Israeli soldiers, some of whom were masked and others firing into the air, ordered Palestinians who had taken refuge in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital to surrender after storming the Strip’s largest hospital at dawn on Wednesday. , according to a journalist working with Agence France-Presse.
In broken Arabic, a soldier shouted: “All young people aged 16 and over, you must raise your hands, exit the building into the square outside and surrender.”
Immediately hundreds of young people began leaving many medical wards.
United Nations estimates indicate that at least 2,300 people were inside the complex, including patients, medical staff and displaced persons.
Before the clashes that broke out near the hospital a few days ago between the Hamas movement and the Israeli army, tens of thousands of displaced people had sought refuge in the hospital, as well as other medical and educational institutions, in the hope of protecting themselves from the intense bombing to which the Gaza Strip has been exposed since 7 October. The first is the story of Hamas launching an unprecedented attack on Israel.
The shelling intensified after the Israeli army began extensive ground operations inside the Gaza Strip on October 27. As the army advanced towards Al-Shifa hospital, it opened a “safe corridor” from which thousands of Palestinians left and fled south.
Rows of Palestinians emerged with their hands raised from the burns, maternity, surgery and dialysis departments, according to the journalist who was stuck in the hospital after going undercover a few days ago.
In the hospital courtyard, about a thousand people watched with their hands raised, and the soldiers asked some to take off their clothes.
Inside the corridors of the hospital, some soldiers shot in the air as they moved from room to room carrying out thorough searches and inspections.
The crying of women and children became louder in the various departments.
In front of the emergency room, the soldiers positioned an electronic gate on which cameras were installed.
Israeli authorities accuse Hamas, which the United States, Israel and the European Union classify as a “terrorist organization”, of using hospitals, including Al-Shifa, to launch attacks or of hiding and using civilians as “human shields”, as the movement. denies.
The United States has adopted the accusations of the Jewish state. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements have a “command and control center based at Al-Shifa Hospital.” Israeli tanks entered the compound and positioned themselves in front of several sections.
The Al-Shifa medical complex is located west of Gaza city, where clashes between the Israeli army and Hamas fighters take place on the ground.
For days, violent clashes occurred near the Al-Shifa hospital, accompanied by intense Israeli bombing.
Conditions were difficult inside the complex, especially in light of the days-long power outage.
The Israeli army said in a statement on Wednesday that it had delivered incubators, baby food and medical supplies to the hospital during the precise and targeted operation against Hamas, which it was carrying out in a “specific area of the hospital.”
It stressed that its units “include medical and Arabic-speaking teams that have undergone specific training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the aim of not causing any harm to the civilians that Hamas uses as human shields.”
It is not known whether the army also transported fuel to the hospital to run the incubators, as electricity generators stopped working in recent days due to a lack of fuel at the hospital.
The Hamas Ministry of Health announced the deaths of 27 intensive care patients and seven premature newborns due to the power outage in recent days.
On Wednesday, for the first time in forty days, a fuel truck from Egypt entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, according to media reports close to the authorities in Cairo.
Several hospitals have stopped providing services due to fuel shortages.
Since the Hamas attack began, around 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, most of whom were civilians, who died on the first day of the attack, according to Israeli authorities, who also estimate that around 240 people were taken held hostage in the attack. attack. The army said Tuesday that 46 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
After the attack, Israel relentlessly bombed the Strip. The Hamas government’s Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that 11,320 people, including 4,650 children, had died in the bombings.
The director of Al-Shifa hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, said on Tuesday that “at least 179 bodies” were buried in a “mass grave” in the compound’s courtyard, explaining that among them were seven premature babies who died suddenly. consequence of the power failure in their incubators.
He added: “We had to bury them in a mass grave,” underlining that “corpses are scattered in the hospital corridors and electricity is cut to the refrigerators in the morgues.”