Hospitals, healthcare workers and patients in northern Gaza must be protected as intense fighting rages, the International Committee of Red Cross said Friday. “Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return risking the lives of thousands of wounded, sick and displaced people,” the organizations said.
Quick Read
- Red Cross Statement on Gaza Hospitals:
- The International Committee of the Red Cross emphasized the need to protect hospitals, healthcare workers, and patients in northern Gaza amid intense fighting.
- The healthcare system in Gaza is under severe strain due to the conflict.
- Legal Status of Hospitals in War Zones:
- Hospitals have special protections under international humanitarian law, which can be lost if used for military purposes.
- Even in such cases, attackers must give warnings and consider evacuation of non-combatants.
- Islamic Jihad Official’s Statement:
- Mohamad al-Hindi, from Islamic Jihad, denies claims that Shifa Hospital in Gaza is being used by Palestinian fighters.
- He asserts that Palestinian fighters use tunnels, not hospitals, for military operations.
- UNRWA Staff Casualties:
- The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency reports the deaths of 101 staff members in Gaza, the highest UN fatalities in a single conflict.
- Palestinian Exodus to Southern Gaza:
- Over 720,000 displaced people are sheltering in UNRWA facilities across Gaza.
- Escaping Palestinians describe dire situations, including attacks near a UNRWA school and lack of basic amenities in shelters.
- Netanyahu’s Meeting with Community Leaders:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with leaders from communities near Gaza, focusing on security and the neutralization of Hamas.
- Humanitarian Corridors Opened:
- Israel has opened a second humanitarian corridor for Palestinians to leave northern Gaza.
- The “Rashid” coastal road and the main north-south highway are being used for evacuation.
- Hezbollah Drone Activity:
- Hezbollah announced the launch of three drones into Israeli airspace, allegedly targeting Israeli military sites.
- The Israeli military confirmed intercepting one drone and reported the other two fell in northern Israel.
The Associated Press has the story:
Red Cross: Hospitals in North Gaza reached ‘Point of No Return’
Newslooks- JERUSALEM (AP)
Hospitals, healthcare workers and patients in northern Gaza must be protected as intense fighting rages, the International Committee of Red Cross said Friday.
“Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return risking the lives of thousands of wounded, sick and displaced people,” the organizations said.
The statement, which did not specifically name either the Israeli military or Palestinian militants, came after several reported strikes on or near at least four hospitals in northern Gaza. Tens of thousands of people had crowded into hospital grounds, believing they would be safe.
The ICRC noted that children’s hospitals had sustained major damage from the fighting. The Nasr Hospital was heavily damaged by fighting and Rantisi Hospital had to completely shut down, the statement said. Al-Quds Hospital was running out of supplies.
WHAT IS THE LEGAL STATUS OF HOSPITALS IN A WAR ZONE?
WASHINGTON — Hospitals have special protections from combatants under international humanitarian law.
Hospitals can lose their protections if, for example, one side uses it to hide combatants or store weapons, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.
Even then, the other side must give ample evidence and warning before any attack, allowing for the safe evacuation of patients and medical workers if possible, ICRC legal officer Cordula Droege says in an online primer on hospitals’ special status.
When evacuation isn’t possible – as medical workers have said is the case for many of the patients at Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza – any attacker must weigh the proportionate harm before attacking, and do the utmost to minimize the toll among noncombatants.
ISLAMIC JIHAD OFFICIAL SAYS GAZA HOSPITALS AREN’T USED BY PALESTINIAN FIGHTERS
BEIRUT — A senior official in the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad disputed what he said were Israeli claims that Shifa Hospital in Gaza was being used by Palestinian fighters.
Mohamad al-Hindi, Islamic Jihad’s deputy secretary-general said from Beirut Friday that Israel could reach Shifa Hospital “within hours” and that claims the hospital was a resistance base were “false.”
He said “not one bullet was fired from from Shifa Hospital or any other hospital,” adding that Palestinian fighters use tunnels leading them to the battlefront in the north as shown in released videos.
101 UNRWA STAFF KILLED IN GAZA
The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said Friday that 101 of its staff members have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
This is the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict, UNRWA said earlier this week.
The dead include teachers, nurses, doctors and support staff, and the U.N. will lower its flag to half staff at the New York headquarters, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
FLEEING SOUTH, PALESTINIANS DESCRIBE DEATH AND MISERY
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A stream of thousands of Palestinians have taken what few belongings they can carry and made their way on foot Friday to the relative safety of the southern Gaza Strip after Israel announced an hourslong window for safe passage.
More than 720,000 displaced people across the Gaza Strip were sheltering at 150 facilities run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, as of Thursday.
Displaced from Beit Lahiya in the north, Umm al-Adhan spoke to The Associated Press on Gaza’s main highway as as people trudged past, heading southward. She said she had been sheltering in a UNRWA school.
“Yesterday, as we were leaving the school, they fired at us,” she said. “Ten people were killed, including my nephew.”
A badly wounded child begged for water in his final moments.
“I could not find water to give him. He died in front of me,” she said, crying.
Israel estimates that more than 850,000 of the 1.1 people in northern Gaza have left, and later Friday said over 100,000 Palestinians have gone south in the past two days.
At shelters, the lack of water makes it hard to maintain even basic hygiene.
Families are packed into a school building in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, with tents set up in the playground, washing hung up to dry in corridors and children sleeping on mats next to their worried parents.
Suzan Wahidi, from Gaza City, says as many as seven people might share a mattress — if they can find one.
“Our children are now suffering from an epidemic, ” she said. “They suffer from all the diseases that you can imagine, diarrhea, vomiting, fever. There are no medicines, there is no food to provide us.”
NETANYAHU MEETS HEADS OF COMMUNITIES FROM AROUND GAZA STRIP
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised the resilience of communities near the Gaza strip that were targeted in deadly attacks by Hamas last month, and renewed a vow to neutralize the Palestinian militant group.
At a meeting with community leaders from the region Friday, Netanyahu said: “First of all (our priority is) to restore security – to make sure that there is no Hamas and that Hamas does not return – but also to make sure that there will be a strong life afterward.”
Israel says it has opened a second humanitarian corridor for Palestinians to leave the northern Gaza Strip and head south.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said the “Rashid” coastal road was opened on Friday, although he said it was not widely used. He said the hours for the corridors were expanded Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled along Gaza’s main north-south highway in recent days as fighting takes place in the north, including Gaza City.
HEZBOLLAH LAUNCHES 3 DRONES INTO NORTHERN ISRAEL
JERUSALEM — Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group announced Friday that it had released three drones into Israeli airspace and alleged that the aircraft had struck two Israeli military sites.
The Israeli military said that one of the drones was intercepted and the two others fell in the northern part of the country. The statement did not say whether the drones had targeted military sites.
