Fighting has intensified around several hospitals in northern Gaza, with some taking direct hits and reports of patient casualties and tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering in the facilities, as Israeli troops continue their advance .
Gaza’s health ministry said Friday that Israeli tanks closed in on at least four hospitals from all directions.
Al-Shifa Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera: “Today was a day of war against hospitals.”
“The sick and injured occupy all the corridors of the hospital and we cannot carry out surgeries,” Salmiya said.
“We cannot find a single bed to accommodate the victims,” he added of the situation in Gaza’s largest medical center. “We are making difficult decisions between who to save and who to let die… As I speak to you, I am standing in front of 100 dead bodies. »
“Over the past few hours, the Israeli army surrounded three hospitals in Gaza City and the Indonesian hospital to the north,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from Khan Younis.
“Using tanks and armored vehicles, they closed a perimeter of around 100 meters around these hospitals, still sheltering thousands of injured and displaced people. People have sent calls from Al-Rantisi Hospital and Nasser Hospital, asking to be allowed to flee,” he said, adding that although Israel had ordered the evacuation of the facilities, even those who could flee were afraid to do so without guarantee. of safe passage.
“The journey from Nasser and Al-Rantisi hospitals to the east of Salah al-Din Street in Gaza City is very dangerous and has been hit several times by airstrikes,” he said.
Early Friday, Israel struck the courtyard and obstetrics department of Al-Shifa Hospital, where tens of thousands of people are housed, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for Gaza’s health ministry. At least 13 people were killed and several injured.
Israel has bombed the Al-Shifa hospital buildings five times since Thursday evening, al-Qudra said.
Another attack near Al-Nasr Medical Center, which includes two children’s hospitals, killed two people, according to the ministry.
Later Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said at least one person was killed and 20 others injured in a shooting by Israeli forces at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza.
Panic as Israeli troops ‘surround’ Al-Shifa Hospital
Dr Ahmed Mokhallalati, a surgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital, told Al Jazeera that the attacks in front of the complex have not stopped since last night.
“You can hear a lot of gunshots and then you know the tanks are getting closer to Al-Shifa Hospital,” he said.
Mokhallalati added that repeated attacks on Al-Shifa by the Israeli army had caused many patients to leave “the hospital without completing their treatment or surgery.”
“Over the last month, everyone has seen that this is a dangerous place,” he said. “Apparently (it was) supposed to be the safest place. »
Earlier, a video from Al-Shifa recorded the sound of incoming gunfire waking people in their makeshift shelters in the courtyard, followed by screams calling for an ambulance.
The Al-Shifa director said Israel had demanded that the facility be evacuated, but added that there was nowhere for such a large number of patients to go.
Human Rights Watch reviewed satellite images showing Israeli forces surrounding Al-Shifa on Thursday evening. The international human rights organization said that “suggesting that all civilian structures are targets or warning civilians to flee without safe passage or a safe place to go is not enough” as an effective warning, calling on world leaders to “act to prevent further mass atrocities.”
“There is no longer a safe place. The army struck Al-Shifa. I don’t know what to do,” said Abu Mohammad, 32, who was among those seeking shelter at the hospital. “There’s a shooting… at the hospital. We are afraid to go out. »
Following the attacks, witnesses said many people began leaving the facility grounds, fearing further attacks.
“I work at Al-Shifa Hospital, and it could be bombed at any time,” Ezz Lulu, a medical student working at the hospital, said in a video testimony posted on Instagram from the facility, in which he said his goodbyes.
“Israeli occupying forces shelled parts of the hospital to pressure everyone there, including patients, victims and medical staff, to leave,” he said. -he declares.
“We cannot abandon our duties; we cannot leave thousands of injured victims and patients without help. We are not leaving at any time. We will only leave as victors or martyrs. Forgive me.”
The Israeli military claimed that Hamas had set up a command center under Al-Shifa’s leadership – claims that Hamas and hospital staff denied.
Snipers at Red Crescent Hospital
The PRCS said Israeli snipers were firing at Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City.
“Fierce clashes at the moment and Israeli sniper fire on Al-Quds hospital are causing casualties among displaced Palestinians,” the medical organization said in a statement.
In an update, it was stated that Israeli forces opened fire on the intensive care unit of Al-Quds Hospital.
🚨Israeli occupying forces opened fire on the intensive care unit of Al-Quds Hospital.#HospitalAlQuds #NotATarget #Gaza pic.twitter.com/ocIk0d8XLb
– PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 10, 2023
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said Israel is “kidnapping hospitals as hostages for extortion” in Gaza.
In a statement, the ministry said Israel was continuing its siege of hospitals to “blackmail” the international community for “political gains” and to force Palestinians to move south in a “new episode of genocide.” .
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates: Israel kidnaps hospitals as hostages for extortion, in order to obtain advantages in the eyes of the whole world
الخارجية والمغتربين// إسرائيل تختطف المستشفيات كرهينة للابتزاز وت حقيق المكاسب على سمع وبصر العالم
اسرائيل… pic.twitter.com/wmTtfMzUVe
— State of Palestine – MAE 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) November 10, 2023
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 36 health establishments including 22 hospitals have been damaged since the start of the war.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 18 hospitals, out of 35, are out of service. At least 57 ambulances were damaged, 45 of them completely.
“Palestinian civilians and healthcare must be protected and Israel must stop its attacks on hospitals now,” said Melanie Ward, chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, a UK-based NGO operating in Gaza. “Without urgent action from the international community… Gaza’s hospitals remain at grave and imminent risk of large-scale military attacks.” »
“The scenes in Al-Shifa today were horrible,” Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor who regularly works there as a volunteer, told Al Jazeera.
“Would this have been accepted by Europe and the United States if these were hospitals treating white people in Europe? Never again. It’s a racist policy, it’s absolutely disgusting and I think we have to see this as the greatest moral collapse of Western politics in my generation.”
More than 11,000 people, including 4,506 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel began shelling the enclave following the October 7 Hamas attack that left more than 1,400 dead, for most civilians.