GAZA LIVE BLOG: Shifa under Attack | Police Chief Assassinated | Smotrich: More Settlements | WP: US Strategy Failing – Day 164

March 18, 2024 Blog, News
The Israeli army ordered patients and displaced Palestinians at Al-Shifa to evacuate. (Photo: Anas al-Sharif, via QNN)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Israeli occupation forces besieged and stormed the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza, detaining scores of Palestinians. A fire broke out at the gate of the complex, leading to suffocation cases among the displaced women and children inside.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that it was impossible to rescue any of the patients from the hospital, due to the intensity of the fire and the targeting of anyone who approached the windows. 

The Gaza Government Media office condemned the Israeli storming of Al-Shifa, describing it as a blatant war crime. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 31,726 Palestinians have been killed, and 73,792 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

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LATEST UPDATES

Tuesday, March 18,1:45 am (GMT+2)

SHEHAB: Israeli strikes target an UNRWA aid center in Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, leaving two dead and a number of wounded.

Tuesday, March 18,1:00 am (GMT+2)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: 10 civilians were killed, and others were injured as a result of the Israeli raids that targeted two houses and an apartment in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Tuesday, March 18, 12:00 am (GMT+2)

AL-JAZEERA:

Israeli warplanes carried out two raids targeting Mosbeh and Khirbet al-Adas areas, north of Rafah, and a third raid in Al-Geneina neighborhood, east of the city.

Six civilians were killed, and others were wounded as a result of Israeli shelling on a house west of Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Monday, March 18,11:00 pm (GMT+2)

JERUSALEM POST (quoting Israeli officials): Netanyahu reduced the powers of the negotiating delegation.

CHANNEL 12: Netanyahu prevents the head of the Shin Bet from meeting with an American official.

CHANNEL 13: Disagreements between officials to expand the powers of the negotiating delegation.

KAN: Smotrich calls for expanding settlement in response to European sanctions.

Monday, March 18, 9:00 pm (GMT+2)

AL-JAZEERA: The Israeli army released Ismail Al-Ghoul and a number of journalists after detaining them for 12 hours in Al-Shifa Hospital.

CHANNEL 13: The ruling coalition is heading toward a crisis against the backdrop of the negotiating delegation going to Qatar.

ISRAELI FM: We will not stop the war until the last detained prisoner returns.

US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the situation in Gaza, and that Biden affirmed his commitment to Israel’s security.

Monday, March 18, 8:00 pm (GMT+2)

HEZBOLLAH: We carried out 6 attacks against Israeli military sites off the southern border of Lebanon and in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

ISRAELI MEDIA: Israeli forces attacked a demonstration of Haredi Jews.

BEN-GVIR: “We have succeeded in arming 100,000 Israelis since the beginning of the war.”

HAMAS: The cowardly assassination of the Director of Police Operations in Gaza, Faiq al-Mabhouh, is a crime aimed at preventing the arrival of aid.

Storming of Al-Shifa Medical Complex – Israel Kills Senior Gaza Police Official

WASHINGTON POST: Biden found himself involved in a war he did not want.

US STATE DEPARTMENT: We are pushing towards reaching a truce agreement in the Gaza Strip that allows the return of hostages and the entry of more aid.

Monday, March 18, 6:15 pm (GMT+2)

WASHINGTON POST (quoting US officials): The US’ strategy regarding Israel is headed toward failure

UN OFFICIAL: We must hold Israel accountable for its crimes against journalists in Gaza.

GUTERRES: We must take action to prevent what is unthinkable or unjustifiable in Gaza.

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: Our fighters had been engaged since dawn on Monday in “fierce clashes with the Israeli enemy forces near al-Shifa Hospital.” The brigades said that its fighters had caused deaths and injuries among the ranks of the occupation army.

ISRAELI ARMY: Two soldiers were injured in Gaza during the past hours.

JERUSALEM POST: (citing unnamed sources) There are no indications that Hamas leaders have been eliminated, nor that any more “hostages” have been released.

Monday, March 18, 4:15 pm (GMT+2)

BELGIAN FM: The Belgian Foreign Minister called for the opening of all routes for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and for a ceasefire.

AL-JAZEERA (citing informed sources): Brigadier General Fayeq Al-Mabhouh, who was killed by the occupation in the Al-Shifa Hospital operation, holds the position of police operations officer in the Gaza Strip. The sources stated that Brigadier General Al-Mabhouh coordinated with the tribes and UNRWA to bring and secure aid in the northern Gaza Strip

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Hospitals should not be battlefields. Any hostilities or militarization of the facility endangers health services, the arrival of ambulances, and the delivery of life-saving supplies to residents.

BORRELL: Gaza is the largest open cemetery in the world.

Monday, March 18, 2:30 pm (GMT+2)

ISRAELI ARMY: The Israeli army claimed that it killed Faiq al-Mabhouh, head of operations for Hamas’ internal security in Gaza, during the operation it carried out at the Shifa Medical Complex in the northern Gaza Strip.

UN REPORT: The number of people facing a “catastrophic” level of hunger across the Gaza Strip has risen to 1.1 million, representing about half the population

Monday, March 18, 1:15 pm (GMT+2)

AL-JAZEERA: Israeli forces destroyed the broadcast vehicles belonging to the press crews at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, opened fire towards the building and warned those inside it not to approach the windows.

UNRWA: The famine in Gaza affects all residents of the Strip.

AL-JAZEERA: Israeli forces arrested Al-Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul from inside the Al-Shifa Hospital.

ISRAELI ARMY: An Israeli soldier was killed during the storming of the Al-Shifa complex

Monday, March 18, 12:00 pm (GMT+2)

JORDANIAN FM: What is happening in Gaza is a war crime and must stop immediately.

UNRWA: 28% of children under the age of two in Khan Yunis and the central Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition, and explained that more than 10% of children under the age of two suffer from severe wasting in those areas.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Several Palestinians were killed and others were injured as a result of an Israeli bombing that targeted a house on Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City.

‘Trapped inside Al-Shifa’ – Israeli Forces Storm Largest Medical Complex in Gaza

ISRAELI ARMY: The Israeli occupation army announced that it bombed a military building and a reconnaissance site belonging to Hezbollah in Ramia, southern Lebanon, last night.

BORRELL: Israel uses starvation as a weapon of war in the Gaza Strip.

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 31,726 Palestinians have been killed, and 73,792 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Monday, March 18, 10:30 am (GMT+2)

ISRAEL HAYOM: Senior officials are concerned about the slowdown in US arms shipments.

ISRAELI ARMY: The Israeli occupation army ordered residents and displaced people in the Al-Rimal neighborhood and Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip to leave immediately to the south of the Strip.

AL-JAZEERA: The Israeli occupation forces arrested the displaced men after storming the American School near the Shifa Complex, and asked the women to go to Deir Al-Balah via Al-Rashid Street.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: The Israeli occupation army forces surrounded two schools in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip.

Monday, March 18, 09:o0 am (GMT+2)

CHANNEL 12: Israeli Channel 12 quoted sources in the Israeli army as saying that it had tightened its control over the Shifa Medical Complex and arrested 80 people it described as “saboteurs” from the hospital.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: A number of Palestinians were killed and others injured as a result of an Israeli raid that targeted a house on Lababidi Street in Gaza City.

Monday, March 18, 08:o0 am (GMT+2)

ISRAELI ARMY: We launched a joint military operation with the Shin Bet in the Shifa complex.

AL-JAZEERA: Israeli occupation vehicles fire towards Al-Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings.

ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESMAN: “The army is currently carrying out a precise operation in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex based on information indicating that the hospital is being used by the Hamas movement.”

Monday, March 18, 07:o0 am (GMT+2)

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: Displaced people are trapped inside the specialized surgery building in Al-Shifa Complex.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Al Jazeera’s correspondent said that Israeli occupation aircraft bombed the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

HAMAS: A new crime was committed by the occupation in its aggression against the Al-Shifa Complex.

Monday, March 18, 06:o0 am (GMT+2)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Israeli forces bombed areas in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Al-Rimal and Al-Nasr neighborhoods, with large numbers of tanks besieging the complex.

Monday, March 18, 05:10 am (GMT+2)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: A number of Israeli tanks are stationed at the main gate of the Al-Shifa complex, and the specialized surgery building inside the complex caught fire due to Israeli shelling.

GAZA GOVERNMENT MEDIA OFFICE: The Israeli army’s incursion into the Al-Shifa Medical Complex with tanks, drones and weapons, and shooting inside it is a war crime that confirms the intentions of the occupation to eliminate the health sector and destroy hospitals.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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