the United States accuses the Islamist movement of using Gaza hospitals for military operations

Hamas rejected these accusations on Tuesday evening, calling these remarks a “green light” for Israel “to commit new massacres”.

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John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, speaks at the White House, in Washington DC, United States, November 8, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

A heavy charge. On Tuesday, November 14, the United States accused Hamas, on the basis of its own intelligence, of using hospitals in Gaza for military operations, and in particular that of al-Chifa, around which the fighting is raging. .

Hamas and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad use “a command and control center from al-Chifa hospital” in Gaza, said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, thus going in the same direction as the Israeli authorities. “It’s a war crime,” he said during an interview with journalists aboard the plane taking President Joe Biden to California, where he is due to meet his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday.

A “green light for new massacres”, according to Hamas

Hamas rejected these accusations in the evening, describing these remarks as “green light” to Israel “to commit new massacres”. “The United States is directly responsible for enabling Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza,” adds the group in the press release in English.

The American spokesperson assured that the two Palestinian Islamist groups were using “certain hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, and the tunnels beneath them, to conceal and support their military operations and to hold hostages.”

In particular, he declared that these sites were used to store weapons, and specified that this information had been obtained by the United States itself. “We do not support airstrikes on a hospital and we do not want an exchange of fire in a hospital where innocent, destitute, sick people are simply trying to be treated.“, he added. A spokesperson for the US State Department assured him that Washington was asking that patients be “evacuated safely” and would be in favor of a third party taking charge of these evacuation operations.


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