LIVE | Israel-Hamas War Day 39: Battles rage around Gaza hospitals
With Israeli forces fighting in the centre of Gaza City, the territory’s main city, both sides have seized on the plight of hospitals as a symbol of the war
Battles between Israel and Hamas around hospitals have forced thousands of Palestinians to flee from some of the last perceived safe places in northern Gaza, stranding critically wounded patients, newborns and their caregivers with dwindling supplies and no electricity, health officials told news agency AP on Monday (November 13).
With Israeli forces fighting in the centre of Gaza City, the territory’s main city, both sides have seized on the plight of hospitals as a symbol of the larger war, now in its sixth week. The fighting was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 surprise attack into Israel, whose response has led to thousands of deaths — and much destruction — across Gaza.
Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals as cover for its fighters, alleging that Hamas has set up its main command centre in and beneath Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, without providing visual evidence. Both Hamas and Shifa Hospital staff deny the Israeli allegations.
Gunfire and explosions raged Monday around Shifa, which has been encircled by Israeli troops for days. Tens of thousands of people have fled the hospital in the past few days and headed to the southern Gaza Strip, including large numbers of displaced people who had taken shelter there, as well as patients who could move.
For Palestinians, Shifa and the other hospitals in the combat zone evoke the suffering of civilians. UN monitors said Tuesday that only one hospital in northern Gaza is still operating, with the others forced to shut down because of nearby fighting and the lack of fuel, power, water and medicine.
US President Joe Biden said Monday that Shifa “must be protected.” “It is my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action,” Biden said in the Oval Office.
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- 14 Nov 2023 7:13 AM GMT
IDF claim on children's hospital
On Monday, the military released footage of a children’s hospital that its forces moved into over the weekend, showing weapons it said it found inside, as well as rooms in the basement where it believes the militants were holding some of the around 240 hostages they abducted during the initial attack.
“Hamas uses hospitals as an instrument of war,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the army's chief spokesperson, standing in a room of the Rantisi Children's Hospital decorated with a colourful children's drawing of a tree. Explosive vests, grenades and RPGs were displayed on the floor. (AP)
