“Hands up!”: Israeli soldiers take over Al Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza

Dozens of Israeli soldiers, some of them hooded and shooting into the air, order Gazans sheltering in Al Shifa hospital to surrender. The battle over the biggest hospital in the world Link It reached its corridors, as an AFP contributing journalist tells us.

Through loudspeakers and in Arabic, Israeli soldiers order patients: “all males 16 years of age or older, raise your hands and exit the buildings towards the inner courtyard to surrender.”

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Said that, Hundreds of young people leave the various services of the immense complexlocated in the city of Linkin the north of the Strip, where fighting between Israeli tanks and fighters from the Islamic movement is concentrated Hamasin power in this Palestinian territory.

In the battle, Hamas has the support of Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian movement. Both organizations are considered “terrorists” by Israelthe United States and the European Union.

The White House said US intelligence sources corroborated the Israeli claim that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have a command center under Al Shifa Hospital.. For years, Israel has accused both movements of using Palestinian civilians as “human shields”.

This photograph released by the Israeli army on November 15, 2023 shows soldiers during a military operation around Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. (AFP). (-/)

Hamas denies, and requested on several occasions the visit of international investigation commissions. The government of the Palestinian Islamic movement also accused the Israeli army of committing “a war crime and a crime against humanity”.

According to the UN, around 2,300 people, including many patients, medical staff and people displaced by the conflict, are in Al Shifa hospital.surrounded for days by Israeli troops.

The Red Cross said on Wednesday it was “extremely concerned” about the Israeli attack on this hospital.

On October 7th, Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

Since then, the Israeli army has bombed the Gaza Strip. More than 11,000 Palestinians were killed in these attacks, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

Generators stopped

According to doctors and international NGOs, Anyone leaving the center risks being shot by Israeli forces.

On Wednesday morning, Entire columns of Palestinians, hands up, crowded into the hospital courtyard, from the burns service, the maternity ward – a recent target of gunfire -, the surgery service and even the dialysis service, according to this journalist who took refuge for days in Al Shifa.

Inside, soldiers shoot into the air from room to room, looking for Hamas fighters.

Scared and crying women and children were searchedand others had to go through a post equipped with a recognition camera, according to the journalist.

Inside the complex there are Israeli tanks, parked in front of various services, including the emergency room.. In recent days, the generators have stopped working due to lack of fuel, a consequence of the siege imposed by Israel since October 9th.

Incubators

At least nine premature babies died after being removed from incubators, and 27 intensive care patients died because they did not have a working ventilator, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

A mass grave was opened in the complex, where there are already 179 bodies, according to the hospital director, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya.

The Israeli army said it sent medical teams and Arabic-speaking soldiers to its operation in a “specific area” of Al Shifa.

On Wednesday morning, he also said he had delivered “incubators, baby food and medical supplies” during the operation.

Source: Elcomercio