Israel’s raid on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital: Here’s what you need to know
Thousands of people, including patients, are trapped inside Gaza’s largest hospital amid deadly Israeli siege.
Published On 15 Nov 202315 Nov 2023
Israeli forces raided Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital on Wednesday after laying siege of the enclave’s largest medical facility for days. Thousands of people are trapped inside, with decomposed dead bodies buried in a mass grave on the hospital premises. Here is what to know:
What is happening at al-Shifa Hospital?
- Dr Ahmad Mokhallalati, a surgeon at al-Shifa who is currently in the hospital, told Al Jazeera that gunshots can be heard from all directions in the medical facility.
- Dr Mokhallalati said 650 patients remain at the hospital, including about 100 in critical condition. There are 2,000 to 3,000 displaced Palestinians seeking shelter in the building. Additionally, there are 700 medical staff, he said.
- Israeli forces have been calling doctors inside al-Shifa. “You being inside the hospital will create a state of fear and hysteria among the patients here. … The hallways are full of people, all floors are full of people,” Dr Munir al Barsh told an Israeli soldier in a call which was shared online.
- The hospital also has 36 premature babies who were recently taken off their incubators because the station supplying them oxygen was destroyed in Israeli shellings three days ago, said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Three babies have already died.
- Those evacuated from inside the al-Shifa have been made to sit in the hospital’s outdoor courtyard. They are forced to take their clothes off and are interrogated outdoors amid rain and cold weather, Mahmoud reported.
- “Israeli forces have tried to kill anyone moving inside … No one has done anything. We don’t have any kind of resistance inside the hospital,” journalist Jihad Abu Shanab, who is inside the medical complex, told Al Jazeera.
- “The bombing has been really really aggressive over the last nine hours with continuous shooting all over the area,” said Dr Mokhallalati. He also said that Israeli tanks can be heard approaching the hospital.
Where is al-Shifa Hospital?