After a 6-day siege, the Israeli occupation army stormed, at dawn on Wednesday, the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City, which was crowded with sick, injured, and displaced people. The Director General of Gaza Hospitals confirmed that not a single bullet was fired from inside the complex during the storming.
At dawn on Wednesday, Israeli occupation army forces stormed the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City, after besieging it for the sixth day in a row.
At dawn on the 40th day of the aggression against Gaza, the army announced the start of a military operation in a “certain part” of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City.
The Israeli occupation army's announcement came after a statement by the Ministry of Health in Gaza in which it said, "The army officially informed the administration of the medical complex that it will storm the place tonight."
Israel bombs buildings and departments in the Shifa Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip ---
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said in a press statement on Al Jazeera, “Dozens of soldiers entered the emergency department building in the Al-Shifa Complex, and occupation tanks entered the medical complex campus.”
He added, "The Israeli occupation forces are searching the basement of Al-Shifa Hospital."
Al-Qudra denounced the Israeli army’s shooting inside the hospital after storming it, saying: “Nothing calls for shooting inside Al-Shifa Hospital because there is no form of resistance there, and what the Israeli occupation is doing constitutes terrorism for doctors and patients.”
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In the same context, the Director General of Gaza Hospitals, Dr. Muhammad Zaqout, confirmed that not a single bullet was fired from inside the Al-Shifa Complex during the storming.
Zaqout said in a press statement on Wednesday, “The occupation forces stormed the surgical and emergency buildings in the Shifa Complex and entered the emergency department, and are now searching the hospital’s basement.”
He pointed out that "the occupation army opened fire on whoever left the corridor that it claimed was safe to exit the Shifa Complex," adding that "the occupation army believed that its soldiers entering the Shifa Complex would be a victory for it, but it did not find any evidence of the presence of resistance."
Warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe
As for the Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai Al-Kaila, she held Israel responsible for the lives of the medical staff, patients, and displaced persons in the Shifa Medical Complex, and said, “The occupation forces are committing a new crime against humanity by besieging and bombing the Shifa Medical Complex.”
The Minister of Health warned of "catastrophic consequences for patients and medical staff if the occupation army carries out a storming of the Shifa Medical Complex."
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"war crime"
For his part, Director General of the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Al-Thawabta, confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces’ storming of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex west of Gaza City is a “war crime.”
Al-Thawabta said in a press statement on Al Jazeera, “The occupation will fail to prove that Al-Shifa Hospital is the headquarters of the resistance leadership,” pointing out that he expects “the occupation will bring weapons into the hospital, arrange them in a specific way, and then photograph them.”
He added: "We sent appeals to all international organizations and the Red Cross a few days ago to rescue the wounded in the Shifa complex, but they refused to respond and aligned themselves with the goals of the occupation, and bear part of the responsibility for what is happening."
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There are about 1,500 medical staff members, about 700 patients, 39 premature babies, and 7,000 displaced people in the Shifa Complex, according to a statement by the government media office in Gaza.
For days, the complex and its surroundings, as well as other hospitals in the Gaza Strip, have been continuously targeted by bombing by the occupation army, claiming that “there is a headquarters for Palestinian militants,” which the government in Gaza has repeatedly denied.
For 40 days, the occupation has launched an aggression against Gaza, during which 11,320 Palestinians were martyred, including 4,650 children and 3,145 women, in addition to 29,200 injured, 70% of whom were children and women, according to official Palestinian sources on Tuesday evening.
Global Health: More than half of Gaza's hospitals are out of service and the rest are without supplies
The World Health Organization said that 22 hospitals out of 36 in the Gaza Strip are out of service, stressing that the remaining ones do not have the medical supplies to continue critical surgical operations and intensive care.
The World Health Organization confirmed on Tuesday that more than half of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip were out of service due to fuel scarcity, Israeli attacks, and an unsafe environment.
The organization explained in a statement that 22 hospitals out of 36 in Gaza are out of service, noting that the remaining ones do not have the medical supplies to continue critical surgical operations and provide intensive care.
She stressed that it is very difficult to evacuate Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which houses 700 patients.
The World Health Organization called for an immediate ceasefire, the provision of health services and protection for civilians, and respect for international humanitarian law.