Israeli forces raid Al-Shifa Hospital: Israeli media reports no Palestinian resistance within the hospital itself.
The Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, is now controlled by the Israeli army following an overnight raid with dozens of troops storming the hospital
Frame grab from video shows al-Shifa, Gaza's main hospital, after Israeli raid and firing upon civilians, on November 15, 2023.
The Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, is now controlled by the Israeli army following an overnight raid with dozens of troops storming the hospital on November 15 based on Israeli and US intelligence alleging the complex houses a “Hamas command center.”
In comments made Tuesday night following the Israeli raid on the besieged medical complex, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Shifa and tunnels underneath them, to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages.”
Similar comments were made by Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, claiming that the Biden administration obtained “newly declassified intelligence” showing Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza using hospitals as a “way to conceal and support their military operations and hold hostages.”
Neither Kirby nor Singh provided evidence supporting their claims. Instead, they cited a “variety” of intelligence sources to back the assertions from the Biden administration.
“Since last night, it’s been a nightmare that cannot be imagined. Before storming the compound, they targeted all the floors, the generators, the communications unit, and now we can have no contact with the outside world,” Palestinian journalist Jihad Abu Shanab told Al-Jazeera from inside the Al-Shifa compound on Wednesday morning.
“The Israelis have told everyone to go up a floor, then go to a lower floor for investigation, and then they are forced to be interrogated, and they have seen a lot of humiliation,” Shanad continued.
Al-Jazeera also cited sources saying “about 30 people were taken outside of the building, stripped of their clothes. They are in the courtyard of the hospital, blindfolded, surrounded by three tanks. There is one tank right at the front of the emergency department targeting any moving object inside these buildings.”
According to the sources, the Israeli tanks surrounding the hospital “blew up a warehouse of medicines and medical devices.”
A statement from the Euro-Mediterranean Rights Monitor said that the Israeli forces have turned Al-Shifa Hospital into a center for “detention and torture.” The monitor stated concern that patients, refugees, and medical staff would be executed, with sporadic gunfire continuing throughout the hospital complex.
According to the Chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Rami Abdu, “Israeli allegations about the use of Al-Shifa Medical Complex for military purposes do not need all these long hours of searching and raiding. Therefore, there are concerns that the army may be creating an artificial scene for a new play.”
Medical staff from inside the hospital reported that the Israeli forces had continued attacking against the hospital. Several sections were bombed while live fire could be heard inside the complex.
“Israeli drones are shooting anything moving inside the hospital,” the head of the orthopedics department told Al-Alam Radio.
Social media videos showed hospital staff and Palestinian volunteers transferring babies from one ward in the hospital to another in an attempt to protect the babies from the Israeli raid.
Israeli media reports that the Israeli forces discovered “weapons and Hamas assets” inside Al-Shifa hospital. However, the Israeli government claims there has been “no indication” of Israeli hostages being held inside the medical complex, as they had previously claimed.
“We hold the occupation and President Biden wholly responsible for the assault on Al-Shifa medical complex,” Hamas said in a statement released early Wednesday morning.
“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation’s false claim that the resistance is using Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians,” the statement continued.
According to The Jerusalem Post, “Israeli forces have not encountered any violent resistance within the hospital itself so far.” The Post reports that since 2014, Israeli forces “have said that Shifa Hospital served as a Hamas wartime command center and refuge for its top leaders.”
The Israeli government is having difficulty backing this claim so far. The Post reports that this is a developing story.