Israeli forces raid Gaza al-Shifa hospital, open fire inside complex
Heavily armed Israeli forces have stormed the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City using tanks and drones, firing at people inside the complex.
The government media office in Gaza said the raid, which was conducted early on Monday, sparked fear and panic among thousands of patients, medical staff and the displaced, and threatened their lives.
The new war crime “added to the black record of the occupation army, which is still committing various crimes and massacres, and continues … to eliminate the health sector and destroy hospitals” in the besieged Gaza Strip, it noted.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says some 30,000 people, including displaced civilians, wounded patients and medical staff are trapped inside the hospital.
The ministry said anyone “who tries to move is targeted by sniper bullets and quadcopter”.
The Israeli military announced that its troops were “conducting a high-precision operation” at the al-Shifa hospital against what it called “senior fighters of Hamas.”
The Health Ministry in Gaza denounced the attack as a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, saying the regime’s army is using fabricated narratives to justify its conduct.
It also urged the international community to condemn the raid, calling for the UN to intervene to protect the hospital and those trapped inside it.
The Ministry further said that a fire broke out at the entrance of the medical compound, causing cases of suffocation among women and children.
“There are casualties, including deaths and injuries, and it’s impossible to rescue anyone due to the intensity of the fire and targeting of anyone approaching the windows,” it added.
The ministry called on all international organisations to “immediately stop this Israeli massacre against the sick, the wounded, the displaced, and the medical staff inside al-Shifa Hospital”.
Crimes ‘won’t create image of victory’ for Israeli PM
In a statement, Hamas said the Israeli crimes during its genocidal war on Gaza “will not create any image of victory for [prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his Nazi army.”
The Israeli atrocities show “the state of confusion, chaos, and loss of hope” within the regime’s military, which has made no achievements during the Gaza onslaught, said Hamas.
“The failure of the international community and the United Nations to take action against the occupation army was a green light to continue the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing it is committing against our people,” it added.
‘US, West, Arab regimes accountable for Israeli crimes’
The Palestinian Mujahideen movement also said the Zionist enemy keeps targeting hospitals and abusing patients and medical staff under US support and the silence of international organizations.
“We hold the American administration, the Western governments, the negligent Arab regimes, and the incapable international system responsible for the continuation of the genocidal massacres committed by the Nazi-Zionist enemy against our people in the Gaza Strip, the most recent of which was the storming of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza,” it stressed.
The general director of hospitals in the Gaza Strip says Israeli troops have fired at people inside the al-Shifa hospital.
In November 2023, Israel conducted a similar raid on the medical facility, sparking widespread international condemnation.
Israel waged its brutal US-backed war on the Gaza Strip last October after Hamas carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 31,645 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 73,676 others.
