Israel’s ground assault is causing a collapse of Gaza’s health care centers — including the region’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, which has been raided by Israeli forces.
A group of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fighters entered al-Shifa on Tuesday, after the hospital had been under siege for days. Care at the hospital had been shut down since Saturday, after it ran out of fuel. Health care officials and local journalists in the hospital have said that gunshots can be heard throughout the facility and that soldiers are actively interrogating people. One al-Shifa surgeon told Reuters that staff have been hiding during the raid and that an Israeli tank was parked in front of the emergency department.
Israel has maintained that its focus on the hospital is due to claims that a Hamas command center is based underneath it, allegations US officials have echoed and which Hamas has denied. Israel says its forces battled with Hamas fighters outside the hospital, and that it’s discovered weapons and “terror infrastructure” inside it, a claim Hamas has also denied. The Israeli military also says there has not been fighting with physicians, patients, and civilians inside the hospital, though that has not been separately corroborated.
Little reporting coming from the hospital has been independently verified, making it unclear exactly what is happening. The Israeli military’s raid of al-Shifa has also been condemned by some members of the international community — including Turkey and the United Nations — who argue hospitals should not be military targets.
Additionally, Al-Shifa’s not the only hospital damaged by the ongoing Israeli offensive. As of mid-November, Gaza’s Health Ministry says just 10 out of the region’s 35 hospitals are still operational. The situation is particularly dire in the north, which has weathered the brunt of Israel’s airstrikes, and where multiple facilities are facing “perilous” conditions. Like al-Shifa, al-Quds…
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