The Israeli government and the United States say the health facility is used to house a strategic Hamas military site.
Israel took action against the al-Chifa hospital center. On Wednesday, November 15, the Israeli army entered the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of displaced Palestinians are crowded, to “a targeted and precision operation against Hamas in a specific sector of al-Chifa hospital”, announces the Israeli army in a press release. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this operation.
Israel claims to target hospital as Hamas strategic center
The Israeli army has been monitoring this hospital for several weeks. She has repeatedly publicly warned of Hamas’ continued military use of al-Chifa hospital “endangered its protected status under international law, and provided sufficient time to end this illegal abuse of the hospital”she declared in a press release published on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
🔴Operational Update:
IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital, based on intelligence information and an operational necessity.The IDF is conducting a ground operation in Gaza to defeat Hamas and…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 15, 2023
On Tuesday, the Israeli army once again warned Hamas, asking the relevant authorities in Gaza to stop “within 12 hours” “all military activities within the hospital”. “Unfortunately, they didn’t.”assured the Israeli army in its press release. An infographic published at the end of October on X (formerly Twitter) by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu illustrated the Israeli vision of the building, without it being possible to confirm it.
“This hospital is used by Hamas to protect its command post. I am not saying that it is in the hospital, but probably underneath. This is information that we have had for a very long time, General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN, told franceinfo. Hamas uses hospitals to protect itself, which is totally prohibited in the law of war, but which allows it to shelter behind civilian populations and behind a hospital.”he adds.
Israeli soldiers and Arabic-speaking caregivers entered the building
According to the UN, around 2,300 people, including patients, caregivers and war-displaced people are inside al-Chifa hospital, surrounded for several days by tanks and troop transports of the Israeli army . Dozens of Israeli soldiers, some hooded and firing in the air, entered the building demanding Gazans taking refuge in the hospital to surrender, said a journalist working with AFP on the spot.
Hamas Deputy Health Minister Youssef Abou Rich, present in al-Chifa, told AFP that “dozens of soldiers and commandos” Israelis were “in the emergency room and at the reception” from the hospital and “tanks entered the hospital complex”. The Israeli army said it had sent “Arabic-speaking and trained medical teams” for this type of environment “complex” in order to “Let no harm be caused to civilians used by Hamas as human shields”.
The United States took up Israel’s accusations
On Tuesday, the United States claimed, based on its own intelligence, that Hamas and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad were running “a command and control center from al-Chifa hospital”. John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, added 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”.
Washington has not commented directly on the attack launched by Israel, but a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council reiterated that the United States does not support “air strikes against a hospital and (…) [voulaient] not see exchanges of fire in a hospital where innocent, destitute, sick people seeking care are caught in the crossfire. Hospitals and patients must be protected.”
The army claims to have found “arms and military equipment”
The Israeli army announced Wednesday evening that it had found “ammunition, weapons and military equipment” of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the al-Chifa hospital in Gaza where she intervened militarily. “We have proof that the hospital was used for military and terrorist purposes, contrary to international laws,” Army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters.
Hamas denies accusations and urges UN to end operation
Before this attack, the situation was “horrible”, had alerted the UN. The hospital director said Tuesday that at least “179 bodies” were buried in a mass grave. The Hamas Ministry of Health warned “against a massacre at the hospital” of al-Chifa. “We hold [Israël]the international community, the United States fully responsible for the safety of the thousands of members of the medical teams, injured, displaced within the compound”declared the ministry.
The Hamas Ministry of Health had denied the accusations of Israel and the United States and had, on several occasions, requested the visit of “international commissions of inquiry”. “The White House and Pentagon’s embrace of the occupation’s false narrative that the resistance is using al-Shifa for military purposes has given the occupation a green light to commit more massacres against civilians.”, Hamas said. Youssef Abou Rich, Hamas’ deputy health minister, called on the UN and international community to intervene “immediately” to end this operation.
The Israeli army “did not find any weapons or equipment” military at the al-Chifa hospital in Gaza, also affirmed the Hamas Ministry of Health, which specifies “not to allow” the presence of weapons in its establishments.
For its part, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused the Israeli army of having “blatantly violated” international law in launching this operation and called for a “international intervention to protect civilians there”.
Humanitarian organizations denounce military raid
“I am horrified by reports of military raids on al-Chifa hospital in Gazawrote on the social network X Martin Griffiths, head of UN emergency humanitarian operations. The protection of newborns, patients, medical personnel and all civilians must take precedence over all other concerns. Hospitals are not battlefields.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) also said “extremely worried” of the impact on medical staff, patients and civilians who took refuge in the hospital. The ICRC recalls that “patients, medical personnel and civilians must be protected at all times” and indicates being in contact “with the authorities concerned.” The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, judged on X that “Reports of a military incursion into Al-Chifa hospital are deeply worrying”.