Gaza\u2019s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, has become a flashpoint in Israel\u2019s war in the enclave, which began when Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people. <\/p>\n
Palestinians and humanitarian agencies say the current fighting in and around Al-Shifa is proof of Israel\u2019s wanton disregard for civilian life in Gaza, while Israel accuses Hamas of using the medical center as a shield for its operations. <\/p>\n
The UN meanwhile is calling for access to Al-Shifa, warning that hospitals should not be used as battlegrounds for any side. \u201cThis is precisely where you need an independent international investigation, because we have different narratives,\u201d said Volker T\u00fcrk,\u00a0<\/strong>the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. \u201cYou cannot use civilian, especially hospitals, for any military purposes.\u00a0But you also cannot attack a hospital in the absence of clear evidence.\u201d <\/p>\n The hospital is a key shelter for Palestinian civilians fleeing Israeli bombardment in Gaza, currently estimated to be sheltering over 7,000 displaced people in addition to medical staff and patients. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we know so far. <\/p>\n Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating from tunnels beneath the vast complex of Al-Shifa hospital. <\/p>\n In a presentation to the media last month, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that Hamas was directing rocket attacks and commanding operations from bunkers underneath the hospital building, which he said were linked to the network of tunnels that Hamas had dug underneath Gaza City. <\/p>\n The IDF also published an \u201cintelligence-based\u201d illustrated video of what it claims the Hamas headquarters under Al-Shifa looks like. The video shows a 3D diagram of the hospital, which moves to show an animated network of purported tunnels and operation rooms. <\/p>\n The White House has backed Israel\u2019s claims, saying that Hamas was storing weapons and operating a command node from the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, citing US intelligence. <\/p>\n Senior US officials have declined multiple times to expand on how they are able to back up Israel\u2019s claims, as the US does not have a presence on the ground in Gaza. <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s claims have been vehemently denied by Hamas, the Gaza Health Ministry, and hospital officials. <\/p>\n After Israel launched its offensive, Hamas accused the US of giving Israel \u201ca green light \u2026 to commit more massacres against civilians\u201d by amplifying what it called a \u201cfalse narrative\u201d that a militant command center lies somewhere inside Al-Shifa. <\/p>\n After launching the raid on Wednesday, Israel said soldiers had located a room in the hospital where they found, \u201ctechnological assets, along with military and combat equipment used by Hamas.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIn another department in the hospital, the soldiers located an operational command center and technological assets belonging to Hamas,\u201d the statement said, claiming \u201cthat the terrorist organization uses the hospital for terrorist purposes.\u201d <\/p>\n Hamas has rejected both findings as \u201cbaseless lies.\u201d <\/p>\n The bodies of two Israeli hostages \u2013 a 65-year-old woman and an Israeli soldier \u2013 were also found near the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital this week, Israel\u2019s military said. <\/p>\n Israel says it is still working to expose tunnel infrastructure and added it will provide further evidence in a \u201cfew weeks.\u201d <\/p>\n Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus claimed mobile items like guns could have easily been removed before Israeli forces arrived. He claimed soldiers at the hospital complex were \u201cproceeding one building at a time, searching each floor, all while hundreds of patients and medical staff remain in the complex.\u201d <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s assault on Al-Shifa has compounded a grim humanitarian crisis inside the complex, Palestinian health officials say. <\/p>\n At least 41 patients, including three premature babies, lost their lives at Al-Shifa Hospital between November 11 and November 16 due to the lack of electricity amid Israel\u2019s fuel blockade, according to a report published by the Palestinian Authority\u2019s Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Friday citing medical sources from the Hamas-controlled enclave. <\/p>\n Most of the ICU patients who relied on ventilators have died due to the lack oxygen and fuel to power the hospital\u2019s generator, Dr. Ahmad Mofeed Al-Mokhalalati, the head of the burns department at Al-Shifa Hospital told Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera over the phone from inside the hospital on Friday. <\/p>\n Dr. Al-Mokhalalati noted a significant decrease in the number of premature babies in their care with little hope for the survival of the remaining infants under the current conditions. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is no water or electricity in the main buildings of the compound,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Surgical operations have come to a halt due to the lack of electricity. This has led to an increase in suffering, especially among children who are now facing severe intestinal infections, a direct consequence of the unavailability of clean water, Dr. Al-Mokhalalati added. <\/p>\n He mentioned that although the Israeli forces promised to provide food, the supply delivered was grossly insufficient, enough for only 40% of those inside the hospital. <\/p>\n On Thursday, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa,\u00a0spoke of desperate conditions inside\u00a0the hospital affecting over 650 wounded people, 36 premature babies, 45 kidney patients, and 5,000 displaced people. <\/p>\n In a phone interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic from inside the hospital, Abu Salmiya said children were starving, especially those who are still dependent on milk for sustenance. <\/p>\n \u201cThe children are starving, and here I mean the displaced children because they need milk and there is no water to make formula for them,\u201d Abu Salmiya said. <\/p>\n Abu Salmiya reported the death of a kidney patient, with four others on the brink of death due to critical conditions and the absence of dialysis for days. He accused the \u201cIsraeli occupation\u201d of besieging the hospital, sabotaging sections, and roaming within its premises. <\/p>\n The hospital is facing a severe shortage of essential supplies, the director added. <\/p>\n Abu Salmiya passionately called for urgent global intervention to avert the impending tragedy, emphasizing that every passing minute and hour results in more deaths. <\/p>\n The United Nations\u2019 human rights chief has called on Israel to give his team access to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after Israel\u2019s military released video of what it called a Hamas \u201coperational tunnel shaft\u201d in the complex\u2019s grounds, a claim immediately rejected by the militant group and Al-Shifa medical administrators as \u201cridiculous.\u201d <\/p>\n Volker T\u00fcrk,\u00a0the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called\u00a0on Israel\u00a0to grant his team access to Gaza to investigate competing claims about Al-Shifa Hospital. <\/p>\n He said the situation needs an \u201cindependent international investigation, because we have different narratives.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot use civilian, especially hospitals, for any military purposes.\u00a0But you also cannot attack a hospital in the absence of clear evidence,\u201d T\u00fcrk added. <\/p>\n The sprawling medical facility\u00a0of Al-Shifa, which sits in the western part of Gaza City, was\u00a0built in 1946\u00a0when Gaza was still under British rule. It has long been seen as the backbone of medical services across\u00a0the besieged Gaza Strip, and has been hit in previous Hamas-Israel conflicts. <\/p>\n This is a developing story and will be updated.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n Gaza\u2019s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, has become a flashpoint in Israel\u2019s war in the enclave, which began when Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people. Palestinians and humanitarian agencies say the current fighting in and around Al-Shifa is proof of Israel\u2019s wanton disregard for civilian life in Gaza, while <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} What does Israel say?<\/h2>\n
How has Hamas responded?<\/h2>\n
What evidence has Israel given?<\/h2>\n
\u2018Children are starving\u2019<\/h2>\n
United Nations demands access<\/h2>\n