Thousands trapped as Israeli forces raid Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israeli forces have raided al-Shifa Hospital, the place 1000’s of Palestinians are sheltering, following days of heavy assaults within the space surrounding the complicated in Gaza Metropolis.

Israel’s army mentioned early on Wednesday morning that it was finishing up an “operation towards Hamas in a specified space” at al-Shifa. Calling the assault a “focused operation” on Gaza’s largest medical facility, it mentioned the raid was based mostly on Israeli and United States intelligence.

Israel accuses Hamas, the group that governs Gaza, of utilizing the hospital as a base. Hamas rejects the declare. Israel has not produced proof to again up its assertion.

Dozens of Israeli troopers entered the power whereas tanks had been stationed within the yard of the medical complicated, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum mentioned, reporting from Khan Younis on Wednesday. The raid “is taken into account to be very dangerous and harmful as contained in the hospital there are round 7,500 Palestinians together with sufferers, medical doctors and displaced individuals,” he mentioned.

Dr Munir al-Bursh, the overall director of hospitals within the Gaza Strip, informed Al Jazeera that Israeli forces searched the basement of al-Shifa and entered the surgical and emergency buildings inside the complicated.

Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a surgeon inside the power, reported heavy gunfire and explosions might be heard within the compound. “We noticed the [Israeli] tanks and the bulldozers on the centre’s campus,” he informed Al Jazeera.

About 700 sufferers stay on the hospital, together with about 100 in crucial situation, Mokhallalati reported. Greater than 1,000 medical workers are additionally trapped on web site, however they’re unable to deal with sufferers because of a scarcity of medication and gasoline.

1000’s of civilians displaced by Israel’s five-week bombardment of Gaza, which has killed greater than 11,200 Palestinians, are additionally inside al-Shifa Hospital.

Mokhallalati described the worry that has taken maintain among the many 1000’s trapped within the facility. “We don’t know what they are going to do to us. We don’t know whether or not they are going to kill individuals or terrorise them. We all know all of the propaganda is lies, and so they know in addition to we do that there’s nothing at al-Shifa medical centre.”

‘Barbaric crime’

The realm round al-Shifa has been battered by a number of Israeli assaults for weeks. The Israeli authorities has issued warnings to evacuate the power. Nonetheless, Palestinian medical officers have rejected the order, saying they can not depart their sufferers behind.

Amid the raid, Palestinian Authority Well being Minister Dr Mai al-Kaila mentioned, in a press release revealed by the Palestinian information company Wafa, that Israeli forces “are committing a brand new crime towards humanity, medical workers, and sufferers”.

The Palestinian authorities holds Israeli forces “accountable for the lives of the medical workers, sufferers, and displaced individuals within the al-Shifa complicated,” she added.

Hamas mentioned that it holds Israel and US President Joe Biden accountable for the implications of the raid, labelling it a “barbaric crime towards a medical facility protected by the fourth Geneva Conference”.

“The Israeli occupation and everybody who colluded with it to kill kids, sufferers and harmless civilians will likely be held accountable,” the group mentioned in a press release.

The US mentioned it “has data” that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use Gaza’s hospitals, together with al-Shifa, “to hide and help their army operations and to carry hostages”.

On the similar time, Washington has continued to supply phrases of warning, Reuters reported.

A spokesperson for the White Home Nationwide Safety Council mentioned: “We don’t help placing a hospital from the air and we don’t need to see a firefight in a hospital the place harmless individuals, helpless individuals, sick individuals making an attempt to get medical care they deserve are caught within the crossfire.”

Hamas has denied it makes use of Gaza’s hospitals as a base and has invited the United Nations to ship impartial investigators to confirm that Israel’s claims are “falsehoods”.

Ardi Imseis, a world legislation knowledgeable at Queen’s College in Canada, mentioned Israel carries the burden to “produce proof” and show its declare that the hospital has been utilized by Hamas as a base.

“The thing of the assault is a civilian object. Till such time that the Israelis present proof that it has been transformed right into a army object, the civilian nature of the thing doesn’t change,” he mentioned.

Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, informed Al Jazeera that “the Israeli authorities has put ahead no proof that might justify stripping hospitals of their particular protections below worldwide humanitarian legislation”.

Even when Israel’s justifications for attacking hospitals are taken at “face worth,” Shakir mentioned, “worldwide humanitarian legislation solely permits attacking hospitals if room is made for protected evacuation”.

He added: “The fact right here is there is no such thing as a protected place to go in Gaza.”