Israel Denies Attacking Gaza’s Largest Hospital
By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Worthy News) – Israel was preparing Sunday to help evacuate babies from Gaza’s largest hospital after several died but denied accusations that it deliberately attacked the facility.
However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted that “clashes” with Hamas fighters were ongoing near Al-Shifa Hospital.
Israel accused Hamas of deliberately putting its fighters and weapons among civilians and even operating command centers near or beneath hospitals.
Yet medical staff say the fighting has impacted the hospital as it is running out of water, food, and electricity while the intensive care unit had been struck.
At least two premature babies died as a result of power cuts at Gaza’s largest hospital, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said Saturday, citing doctors there, as fighting rages around the Al-Shifa complex.
“As a result of the lack of electricity [at Al-Shifa], we can report that the neonatal intensive care unit has stopped working. Two premature infants have died, and there is a real risk to the lives of 37 other premature infants”, the Israeli doctors’ group said in a statement.
Britain’s broadcaster BBC said it has been sent pictures of at least 20 newborn babies being kept in a surgical theatre at al-Shifa hospital, as doctors warned “they may die” because the “neonatal intensive care unit has stopped working, due to the lack of electricity.”
No Fuel?
No fuel entered Gaza in more than five weeks of war, prompting multiple hospitals and clinics relying on generators to shut down. Israel says there is plenty of fuel in Gaza but accuses Hamas of using it to fire rockets from the territory toward Israel.
“The hospital is besieged, with no option to bring in the corpses and injured people sprawled outside. There is no movement in or out of the hospital,” Physicians for Human Rights Israel said.
The IDF blamed Hamas, which it views as a terrorist organization, and said it “was operating from tunnels underneath the hospital,” which the group denies.
However, Israel’s military announced that it had established a corridor for people to flee Al-Shifa and would help evacuate babies to a “safer hospital” on Sunday.
The charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been under “relentless bombardment” for the last 24 hours.
Israel began striking Gaza after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, which saw 1,200 people killed and more than 200 taken hostage.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since – of whom more than 4,500 were children, but those figures have been difficult to verify.
MORE CLASHES
Clashes have also been reported in the West Bank, the other Palestinian enclave, with Palestinian authorities saying at least 18 Palestinians were killed and 20 others injured when the IDF raided Jenin city and its refugee camp.
Israel says it is cracking down on known militants and terrorists and denies targeting innocent civilians.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose country hosted an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on the Israel-Hamas war, said, however, that “Israel bears responsibility for the crimes committed against Palestinians.”
With clashes ongoing, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWA said that more than 100 of its workers have been killed in Gaza.
Its chief repeated calls for international cooperation on a “political solution” to halt the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza.
In an address on Saturday at the Saudi-hosted Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said:
“The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees is in mourning for 101 colleagues confirmed killed in Gaza. On Monday, U.N. flags worldwide will be at half-mast to honor their memory.”
Many Killed
He added that across “the Gaza Strip, more than 10,000 people have reportedly been killed, with the majority to be women and children. Many more are surely still under the rubble.”
Lazzarini claimed that Israeli forces have “pushed” over 1.5 million people out of the north of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF said it provided corridors for people to flee the region to safe lives ahead of its operations against Hamas, which Israel vowed to destroy.
“More than 700,000 women, children, and men now live in UNRWA schools and shelters. Basic services are crumbling. Everything is running out – food, water, medicine, and fuel,” Lazzarini countered.
“The dramatic developments at the al-Shifa hospital last night pushed many health staff and wounded people to leave. I have 13,000 colleagues in Gaza. Most are displaced. Many continue to work. We can offer much more if we have the means,” he said.
Lazzarini echoed opinions expressed by Islamic leaders at the meeting, saying, “A political solution has become a matter of life and death for millions of people. A genuine prospect of Palestinian statehood is critical. We must step back from the brink before it’s too late.”
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