Israel raids Al Shifa hospital, urges Hamas to surrender

Just an hour earlier, at 23:00 GMT, a Gaza Health Ministry spokesman said Israel had informed officials in the enclave that it would raid the Al Shifa hospital complex “in the next few minutes”.

Dr. Munir al-Bursh, head of the Gaza Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera television that Israeli forces raided the western part of the hospital complex.

“There were multiple explosions and dust was flying towards our area. We believe an explosion occurred in the hospital.”

The fate of Al Shifa hospital has become the focus of international attention as the situation inside the facility has deteriorated in recent days, with calls from the international community urging a humanitarian ceasefire after the hospital endured five weeks of Israeli airstrikes.

“Based on intelligence and operational needs, IDF forces are conducting a high-precision operation targeting Hamas in a specific area at Shifa Hospital,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

“The IDF forces, including medical teams and many Arabic-speaking individuals, have been specially trained to prepare for operations in this complex and sensitive environment, with the goal of causing no harm to civilians.”

Israel has claimed that Hamas has set up its command headquarters under the Al Shifa hospital and used the hospital and the tunnels underneath to conceal military operations and take hostages. Hamas has denied the allegations.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN that the hospital and surrounding complex were for Hamas “a center of their operations, perhaps even a nerve center.”

On Tuesday, the US government confirmed that US intelligence also supported Israel's assertion.

Hamas on Wednesday claimed the US statement gave Israel the “green light” to raid the hospital, and held Israel and US President Joe Biden fully responsible for the raid.

Israeli forces have been clashing with Hamas on the streets for the past 10 days before advancing on Gaza city centre and Al Shifa hospital.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the attack it carried out on October 7. Israel claims the attack left 1,200 dead and more than 240 hostages taken.

In the West Bank, a Palestinian enclave not controlled by Hamas, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila asserted that Israel had “committed crimes against humanity, medical staff and patients when they attacked” Al Shifa hospital.

“We affirm that the occupying forces bear full responsibility for the lives of medical staff, patients and displaced people in Al Shifa,” he said in a statement.

dire situation

Hamas said 650 patients and 5,000 to 7,000 other civilians were trapped in the hospital, under fire from Israeli snipers and drones. With fuel, water and other supplies running low, the group said 40 people had been killed in the past few days.

Only 36 babies remain in the neonatal unit after three died. Due to a lack of fuel for the generators that generate electricity to run the incubators, the remaining babies are being kept as warm as possible in beds, eight to a bed.

Palestinians trapped in the hospital on Tuesday dug a mass grave to bury the dead and no plan was made to rescue the newborns despite Israel's offer to provide portable incubators, according to Ashraf Al-Qidra, a spokesman for Gaza's health ministry.

Mr Qidra said there were about 100 decomposing bodies in the hospital and there was no way to remove them.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman said he was deeply disturbed by the “heavy loss of life” at the hospital. “On behalf of all humanity, the Secretary-General calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”

Health officials in Gaza have said more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead in Israeli air strikes, about 40% of them children, and countless others are still trapped under rubble.

About two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been left homeless, trapped inside the enclave as fuel, food, water and medicine run low.

International law

UN human rights officials have said Israel's actions at Al Shifa hospital raise questions about how it interprets international law protecting medical facilities, as well as the thousands of forced migrants sheltering there.

Hospitals are protected buildings under international humanitarian law. But UN officials say allegations that Al Shifa is also being used for military purposes complicate the situation because such use also violates international law.

Medical units used for purposes harmful to the enemy, and ignoring warnings about this action, will lose their special protection under international law.

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said before the Israeli raid that even if there was evidence that Hamas was using the hospital for military operations, international law still required effective warning before an attack.

This means providing safe places for people to come here, and providing safe transportation to get them to safety, Mr Shakir said. “It is alarming because we have to remember that hospitals in Gaza are housing tens of thousands of forced migrants.”

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Israel said it had given Gaza authorities 12 hours to halt military operations at the hospital. “Unfortunately, they did not do so,” the statement said.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan, in a statement issued on October 30 about attacks on protected areas such as hospitals, asserted that Israel also “must demonstrate the ability to discriminate, be vigilant and act proportionately.”

While protection under international law can be removed, “the burden of proving that the subject deserves to lose that protection lies with the attacker,” he said.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)

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