Gaza Conflict: Concern grows for patients inside Al Shifa hospital amid Israeli siege

Hundreds of patients and medical workers at Gaza’s largest hospital, sealed off from the outside world for more than a day after Israeli forces entered, are under constant threat of death, Palestinian medics said on Thursday. More than a day after entering the hospital’s grounds as part of an operation to exterminate Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave, Israel reported on Thursday that its commandos were still combing through Al Shifa hospital. It has so far made public images of what it claims to be guns and flak jackets discovered on the property, but it has not provided any proof of the existence of the massive subterranean Hamas command centre they said was tunnelled beneath it. Human Rights Watch issued a warning, noting that hospitals are specifically protected by international humanitarian law. According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israeli soldiers had cleared the hospital’s grounds of dead corpses and wrecked any automobiles that were parked there, but they were preventing patients and personnel from leaving. According to Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra, Shifa, which was home to 650 patients and roughly 7,000 residents who had been forced to flee their homes due to weeks of Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardment, was devoid of food, water, and baby milk. “Medical teams, patients and displaced people are fighting death due to the lack of any basic life necessities. The occupation forces are now present in the complex, but they did not provide any fuel for the hospital to continue work,” he said in a statement. He insisted that the Israeli soldiers vacate the premises. Medical professionals have already stated that during the days-long siege that ended with Israeli forces entering the hospital early on Wednesday, dozens of patients—including three preterm babies—had died from a shortage of fuel and basic supplies. On Wednesday, Israel released photos of its forces emptying “medical aid” and “baby food” cartons while claiming to have discovered weaponry. On Thursday, a military officer from Israel stated that although hundreds of patients and medical personnel were still inside the facility, commandos were going through every room and structure. The World Health Organisation stated that communication difficulties and security concerns were impeding its attempts to organise a medical evacuation of patients from Shifa. As far as WHO officials knew, about 600 patients remained inside, 27 of them were very ill. (With agency inputs)