what we know about the Israeli operation against al-Chifa hospital in Gaza

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The Israeli army began an operation on Monday against the largest hospital complex in the Gaza Strip. It caused the deaths of several dozen Palestinian fighters and forced hundreds of civilians to flee the area.

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Displaced Palestinians flee the area near al-Chifa hospital in Gaza City, March 18, 2024. (AFP)

Al-Chifa hospital still targeted by Israel. The largest hospital complex in the Gaza Strip, already stormed in November, was the scene of a new operation by the Israeli army on Monday March 18.

Started shortly before dawn, the operation continued throughout the day and continues on Tuesday. Its goal is to stop “high-ranking Hamas terrorists”, justified the Israeli authorities, but the hospital also serves as a refuge for hundreds of civilians. On Tuesday, the Israeli army said to have killed “more than 50 terrorists” and arrested “approximately 180 suspects”.

Sending Israeli tanks and armored vehicles

L’“targeted operation” started Monday morning. “The operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by high-ranking Hamas terrorists”the press release said. “During the operation, the terrorists opened fire on the troops from the hospitalexplained another joint statement from the army and Israeli internal intelligence. The troops responded by firing.”. Which suggests that individuals had been hit by the shots.

On site, witnesses confirmed to AFP “air operations” on the al-Rimal district where the hospital is located, in which people are said to have fallen “shrapnel”. Gaza residents claimed that “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” had entered the neighborhood. Some have reported “fights” around the building. The Israeli army spoke through loudspeakers to residents in the area asking them to stay at home while drones were shooting “on the people in the streets near the hospital”according to witnesses cited by AFP.

Israeli troops had received “instructions on the importance of operating with caution, as well as measures to take to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical personnel”says a spokesperson for the Israeli army. “Arabic-speaking people were brought on site to facilitate exchanges with patientshe adds, patients and medical staff are not required to evacuate.”

Israel says it found weapons, Hamas denies

To justify this operation, the Israeli army broadcast what it presents as an extract from a telephone exchange which took place “the last days” between the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) and an official from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, during which its representative explained that he was “ready” to provide assistance if “terrorist activities” within the hospital cease. She claimed to have found “munitions, weapons and military equipment”supporting her statements with a video, published on the social network ‘hospital.

“We confirm that the accounts of the occupation [Israël] are falseresponded the Palestinian movements active in the Gaza Strip in a joint statement. Hospitals are civilian buildings dedicated to health, which have done nothing that contravenes their tasks as defined by international humanitarian law..

A heavy human toll

Shortly after the start of its operation, the Israeli army asked the civilian population to evacuate “immediately” the area of ​​al-Chifa hospital, wrote a spokesperson in a message published on the social network “to the west”that is to say towards the sea, and then take the road along the coast “southwards to the humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi”, which is located in the south of the Gaza Strip, almost 30 kilometers away. Leaflets with the same message were also air-dropped over the area.

The Israeli army said on Tuesday that it had “eliminated” over 40 “terrorists” – 20 in the hospital complex and “more than 20 in the surrounding area” – and arrested “more than 200 suspected terrorists”. In particular, it killed Fayq Al-Mabhouh, presented by the Israeli spokesperson as “the head of special operations of Hamas’s internal security organization”.

For its part, Hamas accused the Israeli army of “war crime”to get “targeted buildings” from al-Shifa “without worrying about patients, medical teams and displaced people”while “tens of thousands of people” were there at the time of the attack. The Gaza Ministry of Health reported “dozens of dead and injured”, most civilians, without giving a precise figure. He assured that one of the buildings had caught fire after “an air strike” and deplored “dozens of martyrs”.

WHO “very concerned” by the situation on site

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday “terribly concerned” by the situation in al-Chifa, saying that the fighting “endangered the health of staff, patients and civilians”. “Any fighting or militarization of the facility compromises health services, ambulance access and the delivery of life-saving supplies.”he wrote on the social network “Hospitals should never become battlefields”, he added. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also stressed that the establishment “had just returned to minimum healthcare service”. “Hospitals must be protected. Ceasefire!”he concluded.


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