Updated 09.24 | Published 09.07
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Fierce fighting is taking place between Israel and terrorist-branded Hamas at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. Aid workers describe the situation at the hospital as catastrophic.
“In recent hours, the attacks on al-Shifa hospital have intensified dramatically,” writes the organization Doctors Without Borders in a statement on Saturday morning.
20 of the total of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have ceased to function, according to the UN’s coordination body Ocha.
Communication broken
The al-Shifa hospital is the largest in the Gaza Strip and is centrally located in Gaza City. Israeli forces have reportedly surrounded three hospitals in Gaza City, and all communications with al-Shifa have been severed, the Saudi-owned media house al-Arabiyya said. At the same time, Israeli forces are advancing on the hospital from four directions.
A spokesperson for Gaza’s health authority, which is part of Hamas’s rule there, is calling on the world to act immediately to stop the hostilities.
Many have taken refuge in the hospital, and AFP correspondents testify to how people are cooking in liquor kitchens and eating on the floor while the explosions rumble like thunder outside. A Gaza resident who came to the hospital with his injured daughter says that the girl starts shaking every time she hears the sound.
“Saw dead bodies”
The militant Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, claimed on Friday that around ten people were killed in an attack on al-Shifa.
Nurse Mahir Sharif tells how she saw people throwing themselves on the floor when the attack happened.
– I saw dead bodies, among them women and children. It was terrible, she says.
Israel has denied that hospitals are being targeted in the war, but accuses Hamas of using them as command centers and hideouts.
The US emphasized this week that Israel had agreed to daily pauses in the offensive in northern Gaza, so that civilians would have a chance to escape the fighting. Ceasefires of four hours a day should also provide opportunities for emergency aid to reach those in need. The cease-fires will be announced three hours before they begin, the White House says.