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

March 18, 2024 Blog, News
Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, for the second time. (Photo: via WAFA)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

This is the second time that Israeli forces have stormed the Al-Shifa Medical Complex since the beginning of the genocidal war on October 7.

Several Palestinians were killed and wounded as a result of the attack carried out by Israeli occupation forces on the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Strip. 

The ministry said that it was impossible to rescue any of the patients from the hospital, due to the intensity of the artillery fire and the deliberate targeting from Israeli snipers. 

Additionally, a fire broke out at the gate of the complex, leading to suffocation cases among the displaced women and children inside.

‘Tight Control’

Daniel Hagari, the mouthpiece of the Israeli military, said early on Monday that Israeli occupation forces were “conducting a high-precision operation in limited areas of Shifa hospital based on (…) intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists to command attacks”.

Hours later, the Israeli army stormed the largest hospital in the Strip, took control of the complex and detained at least 80 people.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif reported that Israeli occupation forces detained displaced men and youth after storming a number of schools in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Complex.

Israeli troops reportedly ordered all women to head to Deir Al-Balah via Al-Rashid Street. 

Israeli occupation forces also besieged two schools in the vicinity of the medical complex.

Footage circulating online shows the presence of Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers inside the Shifa Medical Complex.unction with bulldozing operations inside the square.

Dr. Mu’nis Muhaisen, an orthopedic at the Al-Shifa Complex, said that hundreds of displaced people and medical staff were trapped in the hospital’s corridors amid heavy gunfire from Israeli forces. 

‘Blatant War Crime’

The government media office in Gaza condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s storming of the Al-Shifa complex, describing it as a “blatant war crime” that “affirms the occupation’s deliberate intention to eliminate the health sector and destroy hospitals.”,

For its part, the Gaza Ministry of Health called on “all international organizations to immediately stop this massacre against patients, the injured, the displaced, and the medical teams inside the hospital.”

The Palestinian factions in Gaza also condemned the continued targeting of hospitals, describing it as a “continuation of the genocide being waged by the occupation against the Palestinian people and a blatant violation of all international laws and conventions.”

“We affirm that the occupation’s narratives and false claims are lies. The hospitals are civilian health institutions that have not engaged in any activities contrary to their functions and missions as defined by international and humanitarian law,” the statement by the Palestinian factions added.

Hamas: Failure of Intl. Community

The Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas said in a statement on Monday that “he crimes of the occupation and the ongoing genocide war against our people and all components of life in Gaza will not create any image of victory for Netanyahu and his Nazi army.”

“The failure of the international community and the United Nations to take action against the occupation army was a green light to continue the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing it is committing against our people, one of the pillars of which is the destruction of medical facilities in the Gaza Strip,” the statement added.

Hamas reiterated its call on the “Red Cross, the World Health Organization and other relevant international institutions to fulfill their responsibilities to protect the remaining medical facilities in the Gaza Strip, and to document the crimes of the Nazi zionists against the medical sector, which is protected under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.”

This is the second time that Israeli forces have stormed the Al-Shifa Medical Complex since the beginning of the war on October 7.

They stormed it for the first time on November 16, after besieging it for at least a week.

Israeli forces subsequently withdrew from the hospital, after destroying its courtyards, parts of its buildings, medical equipment and equipment, in addition to the hospital’s electricity generator.

Genocide Continues

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7. 

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.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’

(PC, AJA)

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