Despair in Gaza City hospitals encircled by fighting
"The rules of war are clear. Hospitals are specially protected facilities under international humanitarian law,"
AFP
Fri, 10 November 2023
The Israeli military says troops are in the heart of Gaza City, battling Hamas (Ismail Zanoun)
At Gaza's largest hospital, a sheltering Palestinian said Friday he felt "under siege" as the facility was encircled by fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants.
"We need help from the international community, people are dying here due to lack of treatment," said Atef, who has taken refuge at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, surrounded by patients on trolleys.
The hospital was hit earlier on Friday by an Israeli strike, the facility's director and Gaza's Hamas government said, with the latter giving a death toll of 13.
The Israeli military has denied bombing hospitals.
Gaza resident Hanane, whose wounded daughter is being treated at Shifa, said that with each explosion his "daughter starts shaking".
The girl "was wounded in the bombing of a queue outside a bakery", Hanane said, wondering aloud about how join the rest of her family who have fled to the south where the fighting is less intense.
In the courtyard of Shifa hospital, the boom of explosions echoed around Mohammed Rihane as he walked on crutches for his injured leg.
"People are dying, torn to shreds in the streets and we can't go and look for them," he said, while moving around the city remains incredibly dangerous.
The Israeli military says its troops are in the heart of Gaza City, battling Hamas, which it says uses hospitals "as command and control centres and hideouts", a tactic denied by the group.
- Seeking refuge -
Faced with the advance of Israeli troops and bombardments, tens of thousands of residents in Gaza have sought refuge in hospitals across the city, which was home to nearly 600,000 people before the war.
The fighting is also encroaching on other Gaza City hospitals, witnesses and Hamas government officials told AFP.
At Al-Rantisi hospital, a distraught young girl said "Israeli tanks are besieging us from all sides".
"We were asked to immediately leave the hospital, but there's neither the Red Cross nor anyone who can guarantee the safe exit of civilians," she said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli snipers fired on Al-Quds hospital on Friday, killing one person and wounding 28 others, the majority children.
The Israeli military told AFP it would not comment on the attack because it could "compromise the troops".
Israel's campaign has killed over 11,000 people across the Gaza Strip, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The war erupted when Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into southern Israel in an unprecedented attack that killed around 1,200 people, according to an updated toll from Israeli officials.
- 'Can't evacuate -
After five weeks of war, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that Gaza's health system had "reached a point of no return", putting the lives of thousands of patients and medics at risk.
Rantisi hospital had been forced to cease operations, the ICRC said, while Al-Nasser hospital was among those heavily damaged.
"The rules of war are clear. Hospitals are specially protected facilities under international humanitarian law," the organisation said in a statement.
Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to remain in northern parts of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza City, while overall the United Nations says almost 1.6 million people have been displaced by the war.
At Shifa, director Mohammad Abu Salmiya said "all the hospitals of Gaza City were targeted" by the Israeli military.
"We didn't expect to see hospitals bombed in 2023. We can't evacuate, because we have more than 60 patients in intensive care, more than 50 babies in incubators, more than 500 patients on dialysis," he said, looking visibly exhausted in his blue scrubs.
bur/smk/rsc/jd/sea
Lilia Sebouai
Fri, 10 November 2023
A Palestinian woman injured in an Israeli strike is evacuated from Al-Shifa hospital toward south Gaza
- REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustaf/REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustaf
“They call me many times to evacuate this hospital,” a Palestinian doctor who works at Al-Awda facility in the north of Gaza City told The Telegraph by voice note on Thursday evening. “[But] I refuse completely to leave … I’m here with my staff to provide health services and health care for injured people and pregnant women.”
Only hours later, as night fell, huge explosions were recorded pummelling the vicinity of Al-Awda, the main maternity provider in northern Gaza. It was one of four hospitals to experience direct, or extremely close, overnight bombardment as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pushed into Gaza City.
“They call me many times to evacuate this hospital,” a Palestinian doctor who works at Al-Awda facility in the north of Gaza City told The Telegraph by voice note on Thursday evening. “[But] I refuse completely to leave … I’m here with my staff to provide health services and health care for injured people and pregnant women.”
Only hours later, as night fell, huge explosions were recorded pummelling the vicinity of Al-Awda, the main maternity provider in northern Gaza. It was one of four hospitals to experience direct, or extremely close, overnight bombardment as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pushed into Gaza City.
By the morning, harrowing footage was circulating online showing men, women and children screaming and covered in blood in a courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza. Reuters news agency said it had verified the footage and that one person had died. Israel’s military said radar data showed the projectile to have come from Hamas rather than the IDF.
“Allah, Allah,” victims cry, as the camera scans the aftermath of the shelling. One boy lies face-up, a pool of blood under his head, his arm draped across the curb. A young girl, no more than 12, cries into the camera, her face and hands covered in blood.
Israel has been urging hospitals in Gaza City to evacuate for weeks but to little avail. While the great bulk of the population has moved south, hospitals have remained open, with the UN and World Health Organisation unable or unwilling to evacuate them.
Some have emptied as fuel has run low and the fighting has got closer. But in others – notably the Al-Shifa, whose grounds the IDF says conceal Hamas command bunkers – civilians have flooded in, seeking shelter.
Between 50,000 and 60,000 people were sheltering inside and around the grounds of Al-Shifa as of Thursday, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.
That may now finally be starting to change, as the IDF pushes ever deeper into the city and Hamas loses control over the local population. On Friday, there were reports and dramatic pictures of tens of thousands of people moving south, including hospital patients.
On Thursday evening, Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British surgeon based at Al-Shifa, told the Telegraph that numbers in the hospital grounds were increasing but by Friday evening the tide appeared to have turned.
“Shifa hospital has collapsed. Wounded and staff leaving in droves,” he said on Twitter on Friday afternoon.
Photographs released by the Associated Press appeared to confirm the exodus, showing thousands of people walking south, some carrying white flags and others being pushed in hospital wheelchairs.
“People are forced to walk and being forced to raise white flags and hold their IDs and hands in the air,” said Tarneem Hammad, an advocacy and communications officer at Medical Aid Palestinian.
Palestinians flee north Gaza and move southward as Israeli tanks roll deeper into the city - REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
“Many report their relatives being arrested [by soldiers], they don’t know what happens to them … People report seeing dead bodies on the road, with birds, crows and dogs eating the bodies.”
Israeli troops now control what they describe as Hamas’s “military quarter”, a significant area of military and administrative facilities adjacent to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
Israeli tanks have also taken up positions around the Rantisi, Al-Quds and Nasser Children’s hospitals, which were also starting to evacuate.
Mustafa al-Kahlout, the head of Al-Nasr Hospital for Children and Al-Rantisi Pediatric hospital, just north of Al-Shifa, told CNN that they were surrounded and asked for the Red Cross to assist with an evacuation.
“We are completely surrounded, there are tanks outside the hospital, and we cannot leave,” Mr Kahlout told the broadcaster. “We do not have electricity, no oxygen for the patients, we do not have medicine and water. We do not know our fate.”
Ever-encroaching Israeli troops, armour and air strikes were believed to be forcing similar panicked evacuations from hospitals across the area. The IDF has promised to push on in its fight to purge Gaza of Hamas terrorists.
“We won’t stop fighting for the people of Israel. That’s what we’re here for, and we’ll do everything so the communities surrounding Gaza can prosper again,” the IDF tweeted on Friday afternoon.
The IDF did not comment directly on Gaza’s hospitals on Friday, but confirmed fierce fighting in the surrounding areas, with some 150 Hamas operatives being killed.
Hospital evacuations of civilians and the walking wounded to the south will save many thousands of civilian lives, but they come far too late for serious patients who could only be moved with a negotiated temporary truce and intensive medical support.
Last month, the WHO said attempts to relocate the sick and injured from Gaza’s hospitals “could be tantamount to a death sentence”, despite mass evacuations of this kind being successfully executed in previous conflicts.
“There is no way that we can evacuate, there is no practical way of doing it,” the Gazan health ministry spokesman continued to insist on Friday.
“We are talking about 45 babies in incubators, 52 children in intensive care units, hundreds of wounded and patients, and tens of thousands of displaced people.”
There is no doubt that conditions in hospital wards are appalling and that help is desperately needed.
Fuel, medicines, blood supplies and other essentials have fallen to critically low levels, officials say, power cuts and a lack of clean water is making infection control nearly impossible.
The Telegraph reported last month that C-sections and other major surgeries were being performed by torchlight and without anaesthetic in some cases, while poor hygiene is causing terrible infections as patients’ wounds become full of worms and flies.
Footage and photos shared with The Telegraph on Wednesday by Palestinian medics showed terrible conditions inside Al-Shifa.
In one video clip, Dr Marwan Abusada, head of surgery at the hospital, describes how its cardiac surgery unit has been turned into a recovery area. The room is overflowing with cots, hospital beds, and injured patients.
“We are overwhelmed by a huge number of patients here”, he says. “There is no place to accommodate them.”
A young boy can be seen in one of the beds with both legs in plaster and a medical screw in his left foot. The doctor explains that he was struck by an explosion while standing in front of the gates of the hospital.
In another video filmed at Al-Shifa, Dr Abusada shows a corridor overflowing with patients, many with terrible injuries.
“This is the corridor of our operating theatre. Many cases in the corridor, there is no place to accommodate more people here in Gaza,” he explains.
Doctors in scrubs weave between beds, stepping over unconscious bodies as they go.
On the floor, a grown man sits cross-legged, wiping the tears from his eyes as he looks down at a boy, a bandage wrapped around his bloodied head, wired up to an oxygen tank.
Dr Abu Sitta also shared with the Telegraph pictures of refrigerated food trucks that he says have been brought to Al-Shifa as an additional morgue for dead bodies.
Humanitarian groups have warned that thousands of mothers and newborn babies are now at risk owing to a lack of functioning maternity services in Gaza.
An estimated 50,000 pregnant women are living in Gaza, with an average 160 births expected to occur every day over the next month, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
In an audio recording shared by UNFPA with The Telegraph, one pregnant teenager who had entered labour described how she was turned away from Al-Shifa because of a lack of space.
“My contractions started at 4 o’clock in the morning,” said 17-year-old Samaa. “I went to Al-Shifa Hospital. They told us there was no maternity care. We kept walking in the street until we found a car.
“I was in a bad condition. I had a caesarean section. I didn’t wish to give birth in such a situation, during a war and in dire circumstances.”
A man and child receive treatment at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in central Gaza - ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA TheMegaAgenc/ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA TheMegaAgenc
Another pregnant woman described being “buried in rubble” following an airstrike.
“My face was all covered in blood, my hands, and my legs. Honestly, I couldn’t feel them,” said 26-year-old Sondos.
“I was transferred to the operating room for my legs because bones were shattered. After that, thank God, I gave birth to a girl. I will name her Habiba al-Rahman, after her sister who was martyred on the same day.”
The outbreak of secondary infections continues without clean water and antimicrobial drugs.
“We have a health disaster. We have a type of worm, called white flies, covering the wounds after the surgery. They appear after one day,” said Dr Abusada.
“Most injuries and surgeries have no follow-ups as the medical teams cannot cope with the influx of injuries every hour.”
Calling the situation “disastrous”, he said that the wards have “zero” space left for patients.
“On a normal day, we have a capacity of 210 beds, and now we have more than 800 patients that need to be admitted.”
As night settled over Gaza on Friday, there was no sign of a let up in the fighting around the hospitals.
Palestinian sources report that there is a heavy exchange of fire in Al-Quds Hospital area in Gaza City. The Red Crescent reported one dead and 20 wounded, including two seriously, from IDF fire.
There were also calls for the IDF to make greater efforts to reduce civilian deaths.
Speaking in New Delhi at the end of an intense nine-day diplomatic tour of the Middle East and Asia, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said on Friday that the US “appreciates” Israel’s formalisation of pauses in their military operations to allow Palestinians to move south and its creation of a second safe corridor for them to use to escape harm but that more needed to be done.
Mr Blinken added that Israel’s steps “will save lives and will enable more assistance to get to Palestinians in need”, but at the same time ”much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them”.
He said “far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks” and that everything possible should be done to prevent harm and maximise the assistance they need.
Margaret Harris, a World Health Organisation spokesman, said on Friday that Al-Shifa hospital had been “coming under bombardment”, adding that 20 hospitals in Gaza were now out of action entirely.
Asked about the Gaza health ministry’s allegation of an Israeli strike on the hospital courtyard, Ms Harris said: “I haven’t got the details on Al-Shifa, but we do know they are coming under bombardment.” Asked to elaborate, she said there was “intense violence” at the site, quoting colleagues on the ground.
Palestinian girl Orheen Al-Dayah, who was injured on her forehead in an Israeli strike, is treated at Al-Shifa hospital - REUTERS/REUTERS
At the same briefing, Jens Laerke, a UN humanitarian office spokesman, said: “If there is hell on earth today, it’s name is northern Gaza. It is a life of fear by day and darkness at night and what do you tell your children in such a situation, it’s almost unimaginable – that the fire they see in the sky is out to kill them?”
Although the current focus is on the hospital in the north of Gaza, there are fears also for the south.
The flow of aid into the strip remains a fraction of what is usually delivered, as the Israeli government continues to limit the provision of supplies amid concerns it could be diverted to Hamas terrorists.
The US government said it “saw 106 trucks of humanitarian aid flow into Gaza through the Rafah crossing” on Wednesday. Prior to the war, more than 500 trucks were granted daily access to distribute food, water, medicine and other resources among the territory’s 2.3 million civilians.
With Gaza’s healthcare system on its knees, Turkey said on Friday it had sent a ship loaded with field hospital equipment, ambulances and generators to Egypt to treat war casualties. Other governments, including the UK, have sent officials to the border to support the flow of aid.
Despite the increasing international pressure, Israel has reiterated its intention to push ahead with its military operations until Hamas is destroyed in Gaza.
“It’s a process that will end in the defeat of Hamas as a governing authority,” said Lt Col Peter Lerner, the spokesman of the IDF, on Tuesday.
“We’re determined to do it. And, as I said, we really don’t have any other choice. There is no way that Israel can go back to the situation of October 6, the day before.”
Doctors in scrubs weave between beds, stepping over unconscious bodies as they go.
On the floor, a grown man sits cross-legged, wiping the tears from his eyes as he looks down at a boy, a bandage wrapped around his bloodied head, wired up to an oxygen tank.
Dr Abu Sitta also shared with the Telegraph pictures of refrigerated food trucks that he says have been brought to Al-Shifa as an additional morgue for dead bodies.
Humanitarian groups have warned that thousands of mothers and newborn babies are now at risk owing to a lack of functioning maternity services in Gaza.
An estimated 50,000 pregnant women are living in Gaza, with an average 160 births expected to occur every day over the next month, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
In an audio recording shared by UNFPA with The Telegraph, one pregnant teenager who had entered labour described how she was turned away from Al-Shifa because of a lack of space.
“My contractions started at 4 o’clock in the morning,” said 17-year-old Samaa. “I went to Al-Shifa Hospital. They told us there was no maternity care. We kept walking in the street until we found a car.
“I was in a bad condition. I had a caesarean section. I didn’t wish to give birth in such a situation, during a war and in dire circumstances.”
A man and child receive treatment at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in central Gaza - ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA TheMegaAgenc/ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA TheMegaAgenc
Another pregnant woman described being “buried in rubble” following an airstrike.
“My face was all covered in blood, my hands, and my legs. Honestly, I couldn’t feel them,” said 26-year-old Sondos.
“I was transferred to the operating room for my legs because bones were shattered. After that, thank God, I gave birth to a girl. I will name her Habiba al-Rahman, after her sister who was martyred on the same day.”
The outbreak of secondary infections continues without clean water and antimicrobial drugs.
“We have a health disaster. We have a type of worm, called white flies, covering the wounds after the surgery. They appear after one day,” said Dr Abusada.
“Most injuries and surgeries have no follow-ups as the medical teams cannot cope with the influx of injuries every hour.”
Calling the situation “disastrous”, he said that the wards have “zero” space left for patients.
“On a normal day, we have a capacity of 210 beds, and now we have more than 800 patients that need to be admitted.”
As night settled over Gaza on Friday, there was no sign of a let up in the fighting around the hospitals.
Palestinian sources report that there is a heavy exchange of fire in Al-Quds Hospital area in Gaza City. The Red Crescent reported one dead and 20 wounded, including two seriously, from IDF fire.
There were also calls for the IDF to make greater efforts to reduce civilian deaths.
Speaking in New Delhi at the end of an intense nine-day diplomatic tour of the Middle East and Asia, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said on Friday that the US “appreciates” Israel’s formalisation of pauses in their military operations to allow Palestinians to move south and its creation of a second safe corridor for them to use to escape harm but that more needed to be done.
Mr Blinken added that Israel’s steps “will save lives and will enable more assistance to get to Palestinians in need”, but at the same time ”much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them”.
He said “far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks” and that everything possible should be done to prevent harm and maximise the assistance they need.
Margaret Harris, a World Health Organisation spokesman, said on Friday that Al-Shifa hospital had been “coming under bombardment”, adding that 20 hospitals in Gaza were now out of action entirely.
Asked about the Gaza health ministry’s allegation of an Israeli strike on the hospital courtyard, Ms Harris said: “I haven’t got the details on Al-Shifa, but we do know they are coming under bombardment.” Asked to elaborate, she said there was “intense violence” at the site, quoting colleagues on the ground.
Palestinian girl Orheen Al-Dayah, who was injured on her forehead in an Israeli strike, is treated at Al-Shifa hospital - REUTERS/REUTERS
At the same briefing, Jens Laerke, a UN humanitarian office spokesman, said: “If there is hell on earth today, it’s name is northern Gaza. It is a life of fear by day and darkness at night and what do you tell your children in such a situation, it’s almost unimaginable – that the fire they see in the sky is out to kill them?”
Although the current focus is on the hospital in the north of Gaza, there are fears also for the south.
The flow of aid into the strip remains a fraction of what is usually delivered, as the Israeli government continues to limit the provision of supplies amid concerns it could be diverted to Hamas terrorists.
The US government said it “saw 106 trucks of humanitarian aid flow into Gaza through the Rafah crossing” on Wednesday. Prior to the war, more than 500 trucks were granted daily access to distribute food, water, medicine and other resources among the territory’s 2.3 million civilians.
With Gaza’s healthcare system on its knees, Turkey said on Friday it had sent a ship loaded with field hospital equipment, ambulances and generators to Egypt to treat war casualties. Other governments, including the UK, have sent officials to the border to support the flow of aid.
Despite the increasing international pressure, Israel has reiterated its intention to push ahead with its military operations until Hamas is destroyed in Gaza.
“It’s a process that will end in the defeat of Hamas as a governing authority,” said Lt Col Peter Lerner, the spokesman of the IDF, on Tuesday.
“We’re determined to do it. And, as I said, we really don’t have any other choice. There is no way that Israel can go back to the situation of October 6, the day before.”
Gaza hospitals forced to evacuate after being encircled by Israeli tanks
Ben Farmer
Fri, 10 November 2023
al-Shifa Hospital was struck by Israeli forces on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring others - STRINGER/REUTERS
Israeli tanks surrounded several hospitals in northern Gaza and ordered staff and patients to evacuate after artillery struck the compounds where thousands have been sheltering.
The territory’s main health centre came under gunfire from Isreali troops, aid agencies said, as Hamas officials claimed the death toll in the territory had hit more than 11,000.
Meanwhile, thousands of civilians travelled south along the strip’s main road as they used a brief humanitarian pause in Israel’s offensive in an attempt to flee fighting.
Tanks closed in on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital late on Friday, which had been hit by an Israeli strike earlier in the day, killing at least one person and wounding others, officials said.
Staff refused to evacuate last night as three other hospitals were successfully emptied. Israel claims Hamas uses al-Shifa as an underground base shielded by civilians.
Videos from inside Gaza yesterday showed tanks inching towards hospitals as Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza City. One video showed a small crowd of apparent civilians waving white flags before being forced back by gunfire. It is not clear if the fire came from Israeli forces or Hamas, which has previously ordered civilians not leave the city.
Israeli troops advanced around at least three hospitals in Gaza City’s north-west on Friday night, forcing their evacuation, the Washington Post reported.
Videos showed Israeli tanks right outside the Al-Rantisi Hospital, with more troops streets away outside the Al-Nasr Pediatric Hospital.
A separate video showed a series of explosions around the Al-Awda Hospital near the town of Beit Hanoun.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, warned on Friday that “far too many Palestinians have been killed” in fighting despite a deal to open humanitarian corridors out of Gaza’s capital.
A UK-based medical charity working in the strip warned the enclave’s hospitals were now at risk of a full-scale military assault as Israel continued its ground offensive to wipe out Hamas.
Health officials said Israeli forces had surrounded al-Nasr and Rantissi hospitals, and the Eye Hospital. All three were later evacuated. This was later confirmed by an announcement on Israel’s army radio.
Israeli officials said its forces were “taking an operational risk” by evacuating civilians from the north to the south.
Lt Col Richard Hecht, an IDF spokesperson said: “It would be easier if Hamas would just leave the hospitals.”
The al-Shifa hospital appears to be set for a standoff with Israeli forces after refusing orders to evacuate.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said: “The terrorists located in the basements of Shifa tonight can hear the thundering sound of our tanks and bulldozers.”
‘We will do what we need to do’
Doctors inside the hospital said they had no plans to fully evacuate, saying they could not transport vulnerable patients in intensive care, or babies in incubators.
Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, the director of al-Shifa Hospital, told Reuters: “Israel is now launching a war on Gaza City hospitals, on Rantissi, Nasr hospitals and on al-Shifa.”
Both the al-Shifa and Rantissi hospitals came under bombardment on Friday, the World Health Organisation said, without attributing blame.
Gunfire was later reported, while the Palestinian Red Cross claimed Israeli snipers were firing at medical facilities.
Lt Col Hecht said. “If we see Hamas terrorists firing from hospitals, then we will do what we need to do.”
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas in the strip after gunmen stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
Tanks pushed into the 25-mile strip under the cover of heavy bombardment nearly two weeks ago. They have since cut the territory in two and besieged the Gaza City area, which Israel says is the centre of Hamas’ military operations.
Stocks and supplies are dangerously low
Gaza’s hospitals are working under dire conditions, staff and aid agencies warn. Wards are overflowing with seriously wounded people and stocks of medicines and supplies are low. Surgeons are performing operations without anaesthetics and large numbers of people have also taken refuge from the fighting in hospital compounds.
Melanie Ward, the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said: “Without urgent action from the international community, including the UK government, Gaza’s hospitals remain at serious and imminent risk of full-scale military attacks.
“Palestinian civilians and healthcare must be protected, and Israel must cease its attacks on hospitals now.”
The overnight strike on al-Shifa triggered an exodus among crowds who had spent weeks sheltering in the complex.
Ayman Al-Masri, a refugee, told Reuters: “They struck Shifa today... Everyone started to run to the streets and we came here walking.”
He had joined a flow of people carrying belongings including mattresses, and luggage, with some carrying white flags.
An Israeli artillery shell that landed in the compound of the al-Shifa hospital late on Thursday is thought to have injured at least two people.
Experts said the colour and markings suggest the round was an illumination round used to light up the battlefield.
This photograph of IDF forces inside Gaza was taken half a mile from the al-Shifa hospital - Ziv Koren/Polaris / eyevine
Doctors at the hospital also said at least 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on al-Buraq school in Gaza City, where people whose homes had been destroyed were sheltering.
The Palestinian Red Cross said Israeli forces had shot at al-Quds hospital, where violent clashes ensued, with one person killed and 28 wounded, most of them children. Two children were in a critical condition, it said.
Israel says it does not attack civilians and tries to protect them, but accuses Hamas of building bases and fortified tunnels beneath hospitals.
“While the world sees neighbourhoods with schools, hospitals, scout groups, children’s playgrounds and mosques, Hamas sees an opportunity to exploit,” the Israeli military said.
Israel is under growing international pressure to show restraint, but it has refused to impose a ceasefire without the release of hostages.
Mr Blinken said recent Israeli moves to improve dire conditions in Gaza by allowing brief pauses in operations were positive, but not nearly enough.
He said: “Much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them.
“Far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks, and we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximise the assistance that gets to them.”
Ben Farmer
Fri, 10 November 2023
al-Shifa Hospital was struck by Israeli forces on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring others - STRINGER/REUTERS
Israeli tanks surrounded several hospitals in northern Gaza and ordered staff and patients to evacuate after artillery struck the compounds where thousands have been sheltering.
The territory’s main health centre came under gunfire from Isreali troops, aid agencies said, as Hamas officials claimed the death toll in the territory had hit more than 11,000.
Meanwhile, thousands of civilians travelled south along the strip’s main road as they used a brief humanitarian pause in Israel’s offensive in an attempt to flee fighting.
Tanks closed in on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital late on Friday, which had been hit by an Israeli strike earlier in the day, killing at least one person and wounding others, officials said.
Staff refused to evacuate last night as three other hospitals were successfully emptied. Israel claims Hamas uses al-Shifa as an underground base shielded by civilians.
Videos from inside Gaza yesterday showed tanks inching towards hospitals as Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza City. One video showed a small crowd of apparent civilians waving white flags before being forced back by gunfire. It is not clear if the fire came from Israeli forces or Hamas, which has previously ordered civilians not leave the city.
Israeli troops advanced around at least three hospitals in Gaza City’s north-west on Friday night, forcing their evacuation, the Washington Post reported.
Videos showed Israeli tanks right outside the Al-Rantisi Hospital, with more troops streets away outside the Al-Nasr Pediatric Hospital.
A separate video showed a series of explosions around the Al-Awda Hospital near the town of Beit Hanoun.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, warned on Friday that “far too many Palestinians have been killed” in fighting despite a deal to open humanitarian corridors out of Gaza’s capital.
A UK-based medical charity working in the strip warned the enclave’s hospitals were now at risk of a full-scale military assault as Israel continued its ground offensive to wipe out Hamas.
Health officials said Israeli forces had surrounded al-Nasr and Rantissi hospitals, and the Eye Hospital. All three were later evacuated. This was later confirmed by an announcement on Israel’s army radio.
Israeli officials said its forces were “taking an operational risk” by evacuating civilians from the north to the south.
Lt Col Richard Hecht, an IDF spokesperson said: “It would be easier if Hamas would just leave the hospitals.”
The al-Shifa hospital appears to be set for a standoff with Israeli forces after refusing orders to evacuate.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said: “The terrorists located in the basements of Shifa tonight can hear the thundering sound of our tanks and bulldozers.”
‘We will do what we need to do’
Doctors inside the hospital said they had no plans to fully evacuate, saying they could not transport vulnerable patients in intensive care, or babies in incubators.
Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, the director of al-Shifa Hospital, told Reuters: “Israel is now launching a war on Gaza City hospitals, on Rantissi, Nasr hospitals and on al-Shifa.”
Both the al-Shifa and Rantissi hospitals came under bombardment on Friday, the World Health Organisation said, without attributing blame.
Gunfire was later reported, while the Palestinian Red Cross claimed Israeli snipers were firing at medical facilities.
Lt Col Hecht said. “If we see Hamas terrorists firing from hospitals, then we will do what we need to do.”
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas in the strip after gunmen stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
Tanks pushed into the 25-mile strip under the cover of heavy bombardment nearly two weeks ago. They have since cut the territory in two and besieged the Gaza City area, which Israel says is the centre of Hamas’ military operations.
Stocks and supplies are dangerously low
Gaza’s hospitals are working under dire conditions, staff and aid agencies warn. Wards are overflowing with seriously wounded people and stocks of medicines and supplies are low. Surgeons are performing operations without anaesthetics and large numbers of people have also taken refuge from the fighting in hospital compounds.
Melanie Ward, the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said: “Without urgent action from the international community, including the UK government, Gaza’s hospitals remain at serious and imminent risk of full-scale military attacks.
“Palestinian civilians and healthcare must be protected, and Israel must cease its attacks on hospitals now.”
The overnight strike on al-Shifa triggered an exodus among crowds who had spent weeks sheltering in the complex.
Ayman Al-Masri, a refugee, told Reuters: “They struck Shifa today... Everyone started to run to the streets and we came here walking.”
He had joined a flow of people carrying belongings including mattresses, and luggage, with some carrying white flags.
An Israeli artillery shell that landed in the compound of the al-Shifa hospital late on Thursday is thought to have injured at least two people.
Experts said the colour and markings suggest the round was an illumination round used to light up the battlefield.
This photograph of IDF forces inside Gaza was taken half a mile from the al-Shifa hospital - Ziv Koren/Polaris / eyevine
Doctors at the hospital also said at least 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on al-Buraq school in Gaza City, where people whose homes had been destroyed were sheltering.
The Palestinian Red Cross said Israeli forces had shot at al-Quds hospital, where violent clashes ensued, with one person killed and 28 wounded, most of them children. Two children were in a critical condition, it said.
Israel says it does not attack civilians and tries to protect them, but accuses Hamas of building bases and fortified tunnels beneath hospitals.
“While the world sees neighbourhoods with schools, hospitals, scout groups, children’s playgrounds and mosques, Hamas sees an opportunity to exploit,” the Israeli military said.
Israel is under growing international pressure to show restraint, but it has refused to impose a ceasefire without the release of hostages.
Mr Blinken said recent Israeli moves to improve dire conditions in Gaza by allowing brief pauses in operations were positive, but not nearly enough.
He said: “Much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them.
“Far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks, and we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximise the assistance that gets to them.”
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