Mass grave inside Gaza hospital surrounded by Israeli forces

Despite Israel’s announcement that it would send portable incubators, Palestinians imprisoned inside Gaza’s largest hospital said they had no plan in place to evacuate babies and were digging a mass grave on Tuesday to bury patients who died while under Israeli encirclement. Israeli forces have surrounded Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital, claiming it is the top of a hidden Hamas militant headquarters. The Islamist organisation that rules Gaza, Hamas, claims that 650 patients and 5,000–7,000 other displaced civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds and are constantly being fired upon by drones and snipers. Hamas also disputes the presence of fighters. Forty patients are reported to have passed away in the last few days, including three premature babies whose incubators were turned off due to a power outage. Israel’s closest ally, the United States, has expressed concern about the fate of the encircled hospital, just five weeks after Israel threatened to destroy Hamas in retaliation for a terrorist attack across the border. Thirty-six infants remain in the neonatal ward following the deaths of three. The infants were arranged eight to a bed and kept as warm as possible since there was not enough fuel for generators to run the incubators. On Tuesday, Israel declared that it was providing battery-operated, transportable incubators to enable the babies to be relocated. Israel asserts that its forces are allowing people inside the hospital to escape while denying that it is under siege. This is untrue, according to hospital officials and medics, and people attempting to leave have faced resistance. After the militant group’s fighters broke through the fence surrounding the enclave on October 7 and went on a killing spree through Israeli towns, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas. Israeli officials claim that on the deadliest day in the country’s 75-year history, 1,200 people died and about 240 were taken as hostages and returned to Gaza. However, the way it responded—laying siege to the small, densely populated enclave and continuously bombarding it, killing thousands of civilians—has alarmed nations all over the world. (With agency inputs)