Israel attacks Shifa hospital in Gaza again, Hamas calls it ‘war crime’

Israeli forces launched an operation on Monday (local time) around Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, after witnesses said the hospital’s damaged neighborhood was hit by airstrikes.

Israeli soldiers “are currently conducting precision operations in the Shifa hospital area,” a military statement said.

“The operation was based on intelligence information indicating that senior Hamas terrorists were using the hospital.”

Witnesses in Gaza City told AFP they saw tanks surrounding the hospital site.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter in the complex, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Israeli forces also carried out operations in Shifa in November, triggering an international outcry.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of carrying out military operations in hospitals and other medical centers, which the militant group denies.

The media office of the Hamas government in Gaza condemned the operation, saying “the attack on the Shifa Medical Center with tanks, drones and weapons and the shooting inside is a war crime.”

The health ministry in the besieged Hamas-controlled areas said it had received calls from people near hospitals reporting dozens of casualties.

“Due to the intensity of gunfire and shelling, no one was able to take them to hospital,” the health ministry said.

Since the war began, Israeli forces have conducted numerous operations in and around medical facilities in the Gaza Strip.

The war began on October 7 when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack from Gaza that killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official AFP statistics.

Palestinian terrorists took some 250 Israeli and foreign hostages in an attack on October 7, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.

Israel believes that approximately 130 people remain in Gaza, 33 of whom (eight soldiers and 25 civilians) are presumed dead.

Israel, vowing to destroy Hamas, has launched a relentless bombing and ground offensive into Palestinian territory that the health ministry says has killed at least 31,645 people, mostly women and children.

According to the Israeli military, troops in Shifa “received instructions on the importance of cautious actions and the measures to be taken to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical personnel and medical equipment.”

The statement also said Arabic-speaking staff had been deployed to “facilitate dialogue with patients remaining in the hospital.”

“Patients and medical staff are under no obligation to evacuate,” it added.

After the Nov. 15 operation against Al-Shifa, the Israeli military said it had found hidden weapons and other military equipment at the site, a claim Hamas denies.

It also claimed to have discovered a 55-meter-long tunnel in the basement and shared videos proving hostages were being held there, although Hamas also denied this.

According to the United Nations, 155 medical facilities have been damaged in the Gaza Strip since the war began.

“Where should they go?”

The Hamas-run health ministry said earlier on Monday that dozens of people had died overnight in the Gaza Strip.

Over the weekend, 12 members of the same family were killed when their house was attacked in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

Leen Thabit, a Palestinian girl who picked up a white dress from under the rubble of her razed house, told AFP in tears that her cousin had been killed in the strike.

“She was dead. All that was left was her clothes,” Thabeet said.

For weeks, the focus of the war has been on southern Gaza, where some 1.5 million people have sought refuge after fleeing other affected areas since the war began.

Israel’s allies, including the United States, have warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government against launching a full-scale operation in Rafah, near the Egyptian border.

Rafah is the only urban center in Gaza that Israeli ground forces have not yet entered.

Visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that if such an offensive caused “a large number of casualties” “it would make any peaceful development in the region very difficult.”

Israel insists, however, that its war goal of eliminating Hamas cannot be achieved without cross-border operations.

On Sunday, Netanyahu vowed that civilians huddled in the southern Gaza Strip would be able to leave before troops move in to hunt down Hamas terrorists.

Netanyahu’s office said on Friday he approved the military’s plan to take action in Rafah and “evacuate residents.”

“Our goal of eliminating the remaining terrorist camps in Rafah goes hand in hand with removing civilians from Rafah,” Netanyahu said during a press conference with Scholz.

“We’re not going to do this while keeping the population in place.”

As others have done, Scholz asked the question: “Where should they go?”

“Away from danger”

The United States, which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, said it wanted a “clear and implementable plan” to ensure civilians “are protected from harm.”

According to the United Nations, Gaza is facing the threat of famine, with many residents in the area facing multiple displacements in recent months.

There is no indication yet where those crammed into Rafah will go, and any suggestion that Palestinians are dispersed outside Palestinian territory is highly controversial in the Arab world.

Hamas’s truce proposal calls for Israel to withdraw its troops from “all cities and populated areas” in Gaza during the six-week truce and provide more humanitarian aid, according to an official with the group.

International envoys plan to meet in Qatar soon to restart talks that have stalled on a ceasefire and a deal to release hostages.

Netanyahu’s office said Israel plans to participate in the talks, and a cabinet meeting will be held on Sunday night to decide on the mission’s mission, but the outcome of the meeting is unclear.

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