[News] Israeli forces close in on al-Shifa Hospital, trapping thousands

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Israeli forces close in on al-Shifa Hospital, trapping thousands

*Thousands of people are holed up in Gaza’s largest hospital, which Israel
claims is a Hamas command centre.*
[image: hospital]
Video Duration 02 minutes 09 seconds 02:09
Published On 11 Nov 2023
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/11/israeli-forces-close-in-on-al-shifa-hospital-trapping-thousands
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Israel’s military has closed in on the front gates of Gaza’s biggest
hospital
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/8/why-is-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-at-the-heart-of-israels-war>,
where thousands of injured and displaced people are trapped amid intensive
Israeli bombardment.

Israeli forces had fully encircled the al-Shifa Hospital as of early on
Saturday morning, preventing ambulances from entering or leaving the
facility, where medical supplies and food are running low.

“They are attacking and destroying the front gates of the main medical
complex in the Gaza Strip as patients and thousands of Palestinians are
still residing inside the yard of this hospital,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu
Azzoum said.

“Those people are really trapped right now by Israeli forces who are
stationed in different sectors encircling the entire place. They are no
longer able to move ambulances to bring victims and wounded people from the
areas targeted. People are trapped and they lack food.”

Abu Azzoum said that Israeli snipers and artillery were also targeting
anyone moving outside the hospital.

Al-Shifa director Muhammad Abu Salmiya described the area around the
hospital as a “battlefield”, but said the hospital’s staff have pledged to
stay with patients until the “last moment”.

“We will not leave, because we know if we leave the hospital, dozens of
patients will die,” Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera.

The escalating bombardment comes after an Israeli strike on the al-Shifa
Hospital early on Friday killed at least 13 people and wounded several
others
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/10/hospitals-in-north-gaza-come-under-siege-as-fighting-intensifies>,
according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-governed enclave.

Health officials said later on Friday that Israeli tanks were closing in on
at least four hospitals in northern Gaza from all directions.

As fighting escalated on Friday night, Marwan Jilani, director general of
the Palestine Red Crescent Society, condemned Israel for attacking
hospitals at the UN Security Council in New York.

“Displaced people at the hospitals are getting shot at as we speak,” Jilani
said.

“They are asking, ‘What can we do? Where can we go?’ Thousands of innocent
lives are under imminent threat.”

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed his
concerns, saying he was “extremely disturbed” by the situation at the
al-Shifa Hospital.

“Many of the thousands sheltering at the hospital are forced to evacuate
due to security risks, while many still remain there,” he posted on X,
formerly known as Twitter.

“WHO is very concerned about the safety of patients, health workers and
those sheltering in hospitals. They need immediate protection.”

Israel has claimed the hospital is used by Hamas as a command centre, which
both the al-Shifa staff and the armed group have denied.

The area around al-Shifa has been bombed at least five times since
Thursday, according to Gaza health officials, while Israeli forces have
also struck al-Nasr Medical Centre, al-Quds Hospital and al-Rantisi
Hospital.

The WHO has confirmed that half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are not functioning
and two-thirds of its primary care facilities are out of commission amid
the fighting.

At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza
since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to Palestinian health
officials.

More than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas in the armed
group’s surprise attacks on Israel on October 7, according to Israeli
officials.
Source: Al Jazeera
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