Israeli soldiers and tanks entered Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest military facility in Gaza. IDF claims to have killed Hamas terrorists and discovered a command centre and weapons in the complex, but so far no hostages have been found. Patients, including babies, remain trapped inside
Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, has been at the centre of the fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas. After encircling the facility for days, the Israeli forces raided the medical complex in a “targeted operation” against the Palestinian militant group. Israel claims that the hospital is used by Hamas for military purposes, something that Gaza health officials have denied. Even as Israel raids continue, several civilians remain trapped inside Al-Shifa Hospital – more than 600 patients, including newborns, 200 to 500 health workers, and 1,500 displaced who sought refuge there. We take a look at what has happened since
Israel stormed the hospital and what’s in store for the patients. What do we know about the Al-Shifa raid? On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that they are carrying out
“a precise and targeted operation” against Hamas “in a very specific area” of the Al-Shifa Hospital. The raid was “based on intelligence information and an operational necessity”, calling for the surrender of “all Hamas terrorists” present there, it said. Khader Al-Za’anoun, a reporter for the Palestinian news agency Wafa, told CNN, “Explosions are shaking the buildings of Al-Shifa Hospital … which is besieged from all four directions, following the launching of rocket and artillery shells in the vicinity of the hospital.” The Israeli soldiers reportedly invaded the hospital with military vehicles, which included tanks, armoured vehicles and bulldozers and prevented anyone from leaving. According to a report by the BBC, around 100 commandos and six tanks entered the hospital complex. The IDF asked all men aged 16 to 40, except those in the surgical and emergency departments, to leave the premises and go into the courtyard.
Omar Zaqout, the supervisor of the ER department, said that people were sheltering inside the buildings and staying away from windows and doors. “We don’t know what is going on outside, all we’re hearing are explosions, gunfire, screams of older people and cries of children,” Zaqout was quoted as saying by CNN.
What has IDF found inside the hospital? When Israeli soldiers entered the hospital complex, they engaged with several Hamas members and killed them, claimed IDF. Inside the hospital’s MRI building, the Israeli troops found “an operational command centre, weapons, and technological assets” belonging to Hamas, according to IDF. In a video posted on X, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus pointed to security cameras that he said had been covered. He showed weapons like AK47 rifles and cartridges hidden behind MRI scanners. “Hamas systematically used the hospital for their military operation in violation of international law. What we have found, I think, is only the tip of the iceberg,” said Conricus.
According to a report by Israeli radio, the army had so far found no indication of hostages inside the hospital. Mark Regev, who is a senior adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has told the BBC News Channel that he was sure “more and more material” from what he says is Hamas’s subterranean network under the Al-Shifa Hospital will be shared. “International law specifically says that the minute your enemy uses a humanitarian site like a hospital for its military machine then you can target that site… It doesn’t mean you do so lightly or irresponsibly but under international law it loses its immunity,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_13393062” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]![]()
This image taken from a video released by the Israeli Defense Forces, shows a cache of weapons the IDF says were found in a closet at the MRI centre at the hospital in Gaza City. Israel Defense Forces via AP[/caption] IDF spokesperson Daniel Haggard said in his daily briefing late Wednesday that the military operation at the hospital was “still underway and will take time”. The White House said on Tuesday that its independent intelligence supported Israel’s claim that Hamas was using Gaza’s hospitals, including its biggest, to hide command posts and hostages. White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on the presidential plane, Air Force One, that intelligence confirmed the militant Hamas group, which rules Gaza, used tunnels underneath
Al-Shifa and other hospitals to conceal military operations and to hold hostages. Also read: Is Hamas using Gaza hospitals to carry out terror operations? What has Hamas said? Hamas has denied Israel’s claims that it has a command-and-control centre beneath the Al-Shifa Hospital. On Wednesday night, the Palestinian group described such allegations as “lies and cheap propaganda”. The government media office of Hamas said that Al-Shifa is under the control of Israeli forces. “We hold the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the lives and safety of medical personnel, the wounded, the sick, premature children, and the displaced,” it said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_13393082” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]![]()
In this image taken from a video released by the Israeli Defense Forces, Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, holds up a bulletproof vest with a Hamas insignia that was found along with weapons in a medical closet at the MRI centre at Al-Shifa Israel Defense Forces via AP[/caption] How safe are patients inside the hospital? There are around 600 to 650 patients, including
36 newborns, inside the Al-Shifa Hospital, according to information shared by the World Health Organization last Sunday. Dr Ahmed Mokhallalati, a plastic surgeon at Al-Shifa, told the BBC that there were only civilians in the hospital and there were tunnels under all buildings in Gaza including the medical facility. The hospital, he said, was without power, oxygen and water. He told the publication that surgeries were carried out without proper anaesthesia with “patients screaming in pain”. Doctors were unable to help one patient with burns, and had to just “let him die”.
**Also read: Babies dying, bodies rotting: Inside Gaza’s largest hospital which has stopped functioning** “There are 36 surviving premature babies. There were 39, but we lost three,” Dr Marwan Abu Saada, the head of Al-Shifa’s general surgery department, told BBC Arabic over the phone. The shortage of fuel has forced doctors to move the babies from incubators in the neo-natal unit to an operating theatre. Eight of 10 are kept together on heated blankets and covered in foil to keep them warm. [caption id=“attachment_13393142” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]![]()
Newborns are placed in bed after being taken off incubators in Al-Shifa Hospital after a power outage. Reuters[/caption] Another doctor working at the hospital told CNN that they were given a 30-minute warning before the Israeli raids began. Khaled Abu Samra, said “We were asked to stay clear of the windows and the balconies. We can hear the armoured vehicles, they are very close to the entrance of the complex.” The IDF has said that it was providing incubators, baby food and medical supplies to the hospital. However, action by Israel has been condemned by international organisations. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Wednesday called for the protection of medical staff and patients inside Al-Shifa Hospital. “In Gaza, as Israeli forces enter Al-Shifa Hospital, we call once again for the protection of medical staff, patients and displaced civilians sheltered inside the hospital,” MSF International said on X. “We are extremely worried for their lives.” The World Health Organization head said that the Israeli military incursion into Al-Shifa Hospital was “totally unacceptable”. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in Geneva that patients and staff must be protected even if hospitals were used for military purposes. The UN agency, also said it was “urgently exploring” the possibility of evacuating patients and medical staff from the facility. “To make sure this can be enabled, of course, there is a need for safe passage and also for fuel for the ambulances,” said Rik Peeperkorn, a WHO representative. With inputs from agencies
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