The Washington Post confirmed on Tuesday that Israel has made hospitals a main target of its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, documenting 90 targeting incidents since last October 7.
The newspaper reported that 23 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza were damaged or put out of service as a result of the Israeli bombing.
She explained that many of the Israeli attacks on hospitals in the Gaza Strip did not receive significant media coverage, such as those received by Al-Shifa hospitals in the north of the Strip and Nasser in the south, noting that a number of hospitals that were subjected to Israeli bombing went unnoticed as the fighting intensified.
Repetitive pattern
The newspaper monitored – based on satellite images and information from international relief institutions and the Palestinian Red Crescent – an Israeli military pattern that appeared against at least 7 hospitals, starting with the siege of the building and ending with its raid, noting that this pattern began to appear since last November, beginning with the storming of Al-Shifa Hospital. .
The newspaper also pointed out that the Israeli army did not have the opportunity to evacuate the hospitals it besieged and launch operations there.
“No support for Israel’s claims”
In its report, The Washington Post quoted an Israeli army statement that the targeting of hospitals in Gaza was for what it called “operational necessities.”
Although the Israeli army claimed that it was attacking hospitals because the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) takes them as its headquarters or in search of detainees, the newspaper said that Israeli evidence does not support allegations about Hamas using hospitals for military purposes.
The newspaper quoted Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the United Nations Human Rights Office, as saying that even if Israel claims that a medical facility has lost its protection as a result of its use in actions that harm Israeli forces, it must nevertheless adhere to the principles of precautions to protect civilians.
Targeting hospitals
Regarding the devastation suffered by the Strip, the newspaper quoted an analysis of satellite images conducted by Yale University as saying that medical complexes in Gaza were damaged as a result of the Israeli bombing at approximately the same rate as other buildings were exposed to in the first month of the war.
But during the following months, the attacks on hospitals increased by a factor of four, higher than the bombings on other buildings, according to Danielle Paul, a researcher at Yale University.
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has been deliberately pushing the health sector in the Gaza Strip to collapse by bombing and besieging hospitals and dispensaries, targeting doctors, and restricting the entry of medicines and medical supplies. Mass graves were also found in hospitals that the occupation besieged and carried out military operations in, such as Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals.