WHO: Gaza’s Main Hospital Not Functioning After Strikes; Israel Denies Hitting Facility
By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos
JERUSALEM/GAZA/BEIRUT (Worthy News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, “is not functioning as a hospital anymore,” but Israel blamed Hamas.
News of the standoff in Gaza came as Israel also faced another front and prepared to strike sites in southern Lebanon from where Hezbollah has fired rockets and drones toward Israel and pledged to use heavier weapons against the Jewish nation.
Back in Gaza, the WHO says, “constant gunfire and bombings in the area have exacerbated the already critical circumstances.”
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 2,300 people are still inside Al-Shifa, in an update shared by the WHO.
Pictures pictures of at least 20 newborn babies being kept in a surgical theatre at the site have been shared with Western media.
However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they agreed to help evacuate babies from the hospital to a “safer” facility.
Radio communications shared by IDF and reviewed by Worthy News seemed to confirm that the Israeli army set up corridors for people to leave hospitals, unarmed with bands in the air.
Still Power
The IDF also denied that Al-Shifa had lost power. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog accused Hamas on Sunday of placing its base underneath the hospital building.
Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization by Israel and most of its allies, denied the accusations despite mounting evidence of an extensive tunnel network beneath Gaza.
The Israeli military has denied hitting the hospital during fighting with nearby Hamas fighters, who Israel claims use civilians as human shields.
Footage has also emerged, purportedly showing people with families happy to have left northern Gaza through corridors provided by the IDF, saying they had suffered under Hamas. The videos could not be independently verified, but several sources have confirmed that thousands have left during recent pauses in fighting when the IDF encouraged and enabled residents to leave northern Gaza toward the south.
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. Those figures have been complex to verify, and it was unclear how many Hamas fighters were among those killed.
Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians but says Hamas is hiding weapons and fighters among ordinary Palestinians, further endangering the local population in Gaza, an overcrowded enclave home to some 2.3 million people.
Southern Lebanon
It came as the IDF also prepared to attack targets in Southern Lebanon, warning civilians to flee North, Worthy News learned early Monday local time.
With the intensity of the skirmishes across the Lebanon-Israel border over the past day, war appeared to be inevitable with Hezbollah, condemned as a terrorist organization by most Western countries.
Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah said over the weekend his group has started using more powerful ammunition in its almost daily cross-border attacks against Israel, including drones and larger missiles.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah fired Burkan short-range ballistic missile that weighs between 300 kilograms and 500 kilograms (660-1,100 pounds)
In a televised speech, Nasrallah said the group dispatches so-called attack drones “and regular [Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles] UAVs almost daily,” reaching deep into Israel, including as far as Haifa.
He condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza after Hamas killed 1,200 people in the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust or Shoah. “Pray that Allah will bring victory to the Gazans from above and shorten the time for it. The final victory is coming, coming, coming,” he warned, according to a transcript of his remarks obtained by Worthy News.
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