On Thursday, 16 November, the IDF continued its operations at the main hospital in the Gaza Strip; It has raised serious considerations and complaints abroad, regarding the fate of patients and thousands of trapped civilians.
Breaking the silence for the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, the United Nations Security Council called for “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the enclave.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of using Al-Shifa hospital as a military base, a site that represents a main target in Israel’s war against the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip. It launched its operation on Wednesday morning, making an investment in hospital infrastructure as its infantrymen and tanks flee. A journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP) can see Israeli troops repositioning around the gymnasium in the late afternoon.
But on Wednesday night, the Israeli army announced that it would again conduct an operation at Al-Shifa hospital. “Tonight we will carry out a targeted operation at Al-Shifa hospital. We continue to advance,” Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman said, in rhythm of operations in the Gaza Strip, he said on the IDF’s Telegram channel.
The Ministry of Health of the Hamas government, for its part, reported the presence of Israeli bulldozers in this hospital complex where, according to the UN, there are some 2,300 people, as well as patients, caregivers and displaced people. south entrance” of the hospital, the ministry announced in a writing in Arabic.
In the early hours of Wednesday, dozens of Israeli soldiers, some wearing hoods, stormed the hospital, according to an AFP journalist present at the scene. “All males over the age of 16, raise your hands in the air and leave the buildings into the inner courtyard to surrender,” they shouted in Arabic.
On Wednesday night, the Israeli military claimed to have discovered Hamas “ammunition and military devices” in the hospital. He published photographs of what he claimed were weapons, grenades and other devices discovered in al-Shifa. Claims.
The Israeli army “located weapons or military equipment” at the Al-Shifa hospital, the Hamas Health Ministry responded, adding that it “authorizes” their presence in its facilities.
Wednesday’s attack on Al-Shifa hospital drew foreign condemnation and urgent appeals to Palestinian civilians.
U. S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for Israel to be “extremely cautious. “
The U. S. has not “given the green light to the Jewish state’s operations around Al-Shifa hospital,” U. S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “We have been very transparent with our Israeli partners about the importance of minimizing civilian casualties,” he said. aggregate.
The day before, he had corroborated the Israeli ally’s claims about the use of hospitals in the Gaza Strip for the army, adding Al-Shifa, statements described by Hamas as a “green light” for Israel to “commit new massacres. “
French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, condemned “in the strongest terms” the bombing of civilian infrastructure. Shortly before, the Quai d’Orsay had expressed “deep concern” that the Palestinian population “does not have to pay for Hamas’ crimes. “
For its part, Qatar, a key mediator in negotiations over the release of hostages still held by Hamas, called for “a foreign investigation” into Israeli raids on Gaza hospitals, calling the Al-Shifa operation a “crime. ” of war”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called Israel a “terrorist state” and denounced the loss of life caused by the bombing of the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, in al-Shifa, infantrymen also searched women and girls who were crying, according to the journalist present at the scene. In the corridors of the hospital, shots were fired into the air as they went from room to room. Israel said it had sent “trained Arabic-speaking medical teams” so that “no harm is caused to civilians used by Hamas as human shields. “”When the infantrymen entered the hospital compound, they confronted several terrorists and killed them,” the army said. .
According to his Israeli army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, civilians have been evacuated from the complex but “there are still many other people inside. “
The war broke out with the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, an attack unprecedented since the creation of Israel. According to authorities, about 1,200 more people died that day, mostly massacred civilians. In retaliation, Israel has vowed to “annihilate” Hamas. , an organization classified as “terrorist” by the United States and the European Union, through incessant bombings on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israeli bombardments have killed 11,500 people, mostly civilians, as well as 4,710 children, according to the Hamas government.
Since November 5, some 200,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), have fled the ruined northern Gaza Strip after Israel opened “evacuation corridors. ” According to OCHA, 1. 65 million of the territory’s 2. 4 million inhabitants have been displaced due to the war.