Exchanges of fire and fighting took place shortly before dawn on Monday March 18 in and around Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The Israeli army announced that it would carry out an operation on the hospital in a press release published Monday morningwhile witnesses on site confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) bombings and shootings and fighting.
The soldiers “are currently carrying out a targeted operation in the Al-Shifa hospital area”details the press release. “The operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by high-ranking Hamas terrorists. »
“During the operation, the terrorists opened fire on the troops from the hospital”explains another joint statement from the army and Israeli internal intelligence. “The troops responded by shooting”he continues, suggesting that individuals had been hit by the shots.
The health ministry in the Hamas-administered Gaza Strip said ” dozens of thousands “ people were in the hospital. One of the buildings is on fire “following an airstrike”he added, deploring “dozens of martyrs”some bodies having been brought from the surroundings of the hospital, others remaining on the roadway, “no one could transport them to the hospital due to the intensity of the shooting”.
Air operations
On site, witnesses confirmed to AFP “air operations” on the Al-Rimal neighborhood, where the hospital is located, the largest in the Gaza Strip, in which people are said to have fallen “shrapnel”. Residents of this central neighborhood of Gaza City said that “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” had entered Al-Rimal. Some report ” fights “ around the hospital.
The Israeli army addresses residents through loudspeakers, asking them to stay at home while “drones shoot people in the streets near the hospital”according to witnesses on site interviewed by AFP.
Israeli troops received “instructions on the importance of operating with caution, as well as measures to take to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical personnel”says the army press release. “Arabic speaking people were brought on site to facilitate exchanges with patients”he adds, “patients and medical staff are not required to evacuate”.
“Terrorist activities”
The army also released what it said was an extract from a telephone exchange that took place ” the last days “ between the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) and an official from the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, during which his representative explains that he is ” ready “ to provide assistance if “terrorist activities” within the hospital cease.
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“We confirm that the accounts of the occupation [Israël] are false »declared the Palestinian movements active in the Gaza Strip in a joint statement. “Hospitals are civilian health buildings, which have done nothing that contravenes their tasks as defined by international humanitarian law. ».
The Israeli army entered this hospital on November 15, and the establishment is now operating at a minimum and with a reduced team. After this major operation, the Israeli army said it had found “munitions, weapons and military equipment” of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Al-Shifa hospital, which Hamas denied.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army has carried out operations in several hospitals in the Palestinian territory. She accuses Hamas of using health establishments as command centers.