Two and a half weeks after sending tanks and ground troops into northern Gaza, Israeli forces entered a hospital early Wednesday that they claim Hamas operates out of. Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, said Israeli tanks were inside the medical compound and that soldiers had entered buildings, including the emergency and surgery departments, which house intensive care units. Shifa Hospital has become a symbol of the widespread suffering of Palestinian civilians during the war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted after the militant group killed some 1,200 people and seized around 240 captives in a surprise Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. The Israeli army claims the militant group uses hospitals as cover for its fighters, and has set up its main command center in and beneath Shifa Hospital, the largest in the besieged territory. Both Hamas and Shifa Hospital staff deny the Israeli allegations. More than 11,200 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing.
Quick Read
- Israeli Forces at Shifa Hospital: Israeli soldiers are still present inside Gaza’s Shifa Hospital after a raid. They searched the basement and departments including emergency and surgery, causing panic among patients and staff. Israel claims Hamas has a command center there, which Hamas and hospital staff deny.
- U.N. Official Condemns Israeli Raids: Martin Griffiths, a U.N. official, criticized the Israeli military’s actions at Shifa Hospital and stressed that Hamas should not use the hospital as a shield.
- Israeli Military’s Targeting Policy: Israel’s military emphasizes that its operations in Gaza, including at Shifa Hospital, target Hamas, not civilians. They have warned that Hamas’s military use of the hospital could jeopardize its protected status under international law.
- Surge in Gun Permit Requests in Israel: Since Hamas’ attack on October 7, there has been a significant increase in gun permit requests in Israel, with over 236,000 new applications. The Ministry of National Security has eased restrictions, leading to a daily issuance of around 1,700 permits, a substantial increase compared to previous years.
The Associated Press has the story:
Israeli forces are still operating in Gaza’s hospital, UN official condemns Israeli raid on hospital
Newslook- CAIRO (AP)
A senior official with Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says Israeli forces are still operating inside Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, hours after launching a raid early Wednesday.
Speaking by phone from the hospital, Munir al-Boursh said Israeli soldiers ransacked the basement and other buildings, including those housing the emergency and surgery departments.
“They are still here … patients, women and children are terrified,” he said. He said doctors vowed to stay with their patients “till the end.”
Israel says Hamas has a secret command center in and under the hospital but has provided no visual evidence. Hamas and the hospital staff deny the allegations.
The military said it was carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in a specific part of the hospital away from patients and medical staff. It said it also delivered medical supplies.
Al-Boursh called for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to secure a safe corridor for patients, medical staff and displaced families trapped in the facility to leave.
Al-Boursh said an Israeli official spoke with him by phone early Wednesday and asked him to join the forces searching the facility, but he refused.
UN OFFICIAL CONDEMNS ISRAELI RAIDS ON HOSPITAL
GENEVA — The U.N.’s top emergency relief official on Wednesday condemned reported Israeli military raids on Gaza’s embattled Shifa Hospital and insisted Hamas militants must not use it as a “shield” for their activities.
Martin Griffiths underscored growing international concern for the plight of patients in the Gaza City hospital who are too sick or frail to be moved.
“Look, Hamas must not, should not, use a place like a hospital as a shield for their presence,” he said in a video statement. He added, “hospitals should not become a place of — a war zone — of danger.”
Griffiths said earlier on X, previously called Twitter, that he was “appalled” by overnight reports of Israeli raids on Shifa.
The U.N. World Health Organization says Shifa patients have needs that are “well beyond basic care.” Images reportedly from the facility showed medics trying to keep newborns warm in blankets because power for incubators had failed.
“The babies have no incubators,” Griffiths said. “Some are dead already. We can’t move them out. It’s too dangerous.”
“I understand the Israelis’ concern for trying to find the leadership of Hamas, that’s not our problem,” he added. “Our problem is protecting the people of Gaza from what’s being visited upon them.”
ISRAELI MILITARY STRESSES IT’S TARGETING HAMAS, NOT CIVILIANS
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s military insisted Wednesday its forces in and around the largest hospital in Gaza are specifically targeting Hamas, which it claims set up a command center there. Both Hamas and Shifa Hospital staff deny the Israeli allegations.
“Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the civilians in Gaza,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces. “The IDF has publicly warned time and again that Hamas’s continued military use of Shifa Hospital jeopardizes its protected status under international law.”
Hagari said Israeli forces in Gaza included medics and Arabic speakers to try and provide assistance in the “complex and sensitive environment.”
GUN PERMIT REQUESTS SKYROCKET AFTER HAMAS INCURSION, ISRAELI MINISTRY SAYS
JERUSALEM — Requests for gun permits in Israel have skyrocketed since Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 incursion, according to a press release from the Ministry of National Security.
More than 236,000 new requests for permits have been filed since the attack — a figure equal to the number filed over 20 years, the statement said.
A sense of insecurity gripped Israel following the attack and the army’s hourslong delay in responding, leading to a rush to buy guns. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage after Hamas militants breached Israel’s border fence and fanned out across the country’s south.
Armed civilian security squads entered the breach in the army’s absence to fight off some of the attackers. Shortly after, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said he would expand and arm such squads with 10,000 assault rifles that would be distributed particularly in border towns, mixed Jewish-Arab cities and West Bank settlements. Ben-Gvir has a long record of anti-Arab rhetoric, and Palestinians feared these guns would be used against them.
Some 1,700 permits are being issued daily after the Ministry of National Security eased restrictions, the report said. By comparison, an average of 94 were issued daily in November 2022, and an average of 42 a year earlier.
