Published: 14 November 2023
Last updated: 6 September 2024
IDF closes in on Al-Shifa hospital believed to house Hamas command centre; injuries from Lebanon missiles; reports of hostage negotiations.
As Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip enters its third week, several hospitals in northern Gaza have become the focus of an international spotlight, as the battle frontline reached several of these medical facilities.
Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals, in particular, and Gazan civilians, in general, as human shields. On the other hand, Palestinian voices and reports portray the hospitals as under siege or in the line of fire.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has exhausted its food supply and has no water or electricity, its director said Saturday, while the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health called it "out of service" amid persistent Israeli fire.
IDF Spokesperson Rear. Adm. Daniel Hagari said Hamas had lost its grip on the northern Gaza Strip and failed to prevent residents from fleeing. To keep more Gazans from heading south, he said, Hamas "is lying about what is happening in the hospitals."
"In the past few hours, false news has been published that we are surrounding Al-Shifa Hospital and attacking it. These are false reports. We are fighting with terrorists who choose to fight right next to hospitals."
He also said that Israel had been falsely blamed for an alleged bombing of the hospital a day earlier. "We checked our systems, and once again it was a failed launch by terrorist organizations in the strip. Hamas is committing a war crime in its use of hospitals."
Up until Friday, some 50,000 Gazans were staying around the Al-Shifa complex. Most left the area as the IDF approached but some 800 wounded and sick, as well as a substantial medical staff, are still at the hospital. The IDF said that it was in contact with Al-Shifa’s director and continued to allow people to exit from its eastern time.
Israeli security forces delivered 300 litres of diesel fuel to Al-Shifa Hospital early Sunday morning and later received intelligence indicating that Hamas had stopped the delivery.
