Israeli army obliterates Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital
An enclave that has seen the deaths of over 30,000 people since October 7, famine imminent and its healthcare system on its knees, Gaza’s main hospital was pummeled by Israeli forces, the Associated Press (AP) reported on April 1.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) once again committed a siege, starting on March 18, on the Al-Shifa Hospital, where around 6,200 Palestinians had been sheltering in and around prior to the Israeli ground offensive, Gaza City and after two weeks of brutal military activity, large parts of the fading building have been turned into rubble which can be seen scattering across the ground alongside rotten corpses.
Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas fighters were hiding in the building or underneath it in bunker-like tunnels as they killed 170 people who they said were militants, also detaining nearly 500 others.
Despite reports on the ground saying the contrary, Israel claimed that no civilian casualties occurred during the two-week raid.
Hamas said Israel detained 350 people from inside the hospital, including patients, displaced people and dozens of others from nearby neighbourhoods.
A spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry also noted that Israeli forces had used bulldozers to dig up the grounds of the complex as well as buried bodies.
The WHO and UN were alarmed at the reports coming out of Al-Shifa as dozens of patients were killed and the hospital has been deemed wholly unfit for purpose shortly after the start of Israel’s offensive in the war-torn enclave.
READ: Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital faces threats
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s Director-General, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on March 31, “21 patients have died since the hospital came under siege on 18 March. Hostilities continue around the hospital according to updates from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza reported by a health worker inside the hospital.
“107 patients are in an inadequate building, within the hospital compound, lacking needed health support, medical care and supplies.
“Patients have been moved multiple times within the hospital compound since the siege began.
“Among the patients are 4 children and 28 critical patients lacking necessary means of care – no diapers, urine bags, water to clean wounds. Many have infected wounds and are dehydrated.”
Similarly on November 15 last year, the IDF carried out brutal raids on Al-Shifa, also claiming back then that a Hamas command centre was operating underground.
At the time, 1,500 patients, 1,500 medical workers and around 15,000 displaced people who were seeking shelter were in the hospital as the Palestinian Heath Ministry reported that 40 civilians died in the complex in one day.
Well over half of civilian infrastructure has been bombed to shreds and 85% of Gaza’s beleaguered population has been internally displaced since October 7.
AP/BBC
