by Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) – The Israeli army entered Gaza’s main hospital on Wednesday morning, where it said it found a command center and weapons belonging to Hamas, in an operation that caused international concern on the fate of the thousands of civilians stranded on the site.
Israel has in recent days focused its ground military operation on Al Chifa hospital in Gaza City, in the north of the enclave, claiming that Hamas houses the “heart” of its operations there with a command center located in tunnels dug under the building. Hamas denies these accusations.
Israeli troops found weapons, combat gear and technological equipment on site, said an Israeli army spokesperson, adding that searches were continuing.
A video released by the Israeli army shows equipment found in an unidentified building in the hospital complex, including automatic weapons, grenades and bulletproof vests.
After several days of siege and clashes with Palestinian fighters in front of the hospital, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the fact that IDF soldiers managed to enter the building.
“There is no place in Gaza that we cannot reach. There are no hiding places. There is no shelter or refuge for Hamas murderers,” he said. declared in a press release. “We will eliminate Hamas and bring back our hostages. These are two sacred missions.”
According to the Israeli authorities, no clashes or skirmishes occurred inside the hospital, whether with civilians, patients or caregivers.
Israel has repeated that Al Chifa hospital housed a Hamas command center, which the United States said Tuesday it could confirm with its own intelligence.
“Before entering the hospital, our troops were confronted by explosive devices and terrorist commandos. Clashes ensued, during which terrorists were killed,” the IDF said.
“We can confirm that incubators, baby food and medical supplies brought from Israel by army tanks have successfully arrived at Al Chifa Hospital. Our medical teams are on the ground to ensure that these supplies serve those in need,” the Israeli army added.
“THE POPULATION DOES NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR HAMAS CRIMES”
Witnesses inside the building described to Reuters a seemingly calm situation as IDF soldiers searched the premises. Sporadic gunfire was heard, with no immediate reports of casualties inside the building.
The international community is concerned about the fate of the hundreds of patients stranded in the hospital, where basic medical equipment is out of service in the absence of electricity and where thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting since the 7th have also found refuge. october.
Many patients, including three newborns, have died in recent days due to the siege of the hospital by Israeli forces, Palestinian officials said.
In the West Bank, Palestinian Authority Health Minister Mai al Kaila said Israel was “committing a new crime against humanity, medical personnel and patients by besieging” Al Chifa.
France is “very seriously concerned” by Israeli military operations in the Al Chifa hospital, declared the Quai d’Orsay, estimating that “the Palestinian population does not have to pay for the crimes of Hamas”.
Questioned on the subject during a trip to Switzerland, President Emmanuel Macron responded that Paris condemned “with the greatest firmness all bombings of civilians, and in particular of civilian infrastructure, which must be protected under international law and humanitarian law, not just the buildings but the people who provide care there.”
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO) denounced as “totally unacceptable” the incursion by the Israeli army into Al Chifa hospital.
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said hospitals were “not battlefields” and that patients and medical staff must be protected even when these buildings were used for military purposes.
He also said that the WHO had lost contact with healthcare staff at Al Chifa hospital and was no longer kept informed of the numbers of injured and killed.
A WHO representative for the Palestinian territories said there was no oxygen, electricity or water in the hospital, where there were 633 patients, around 500 caregivers and some 4,000 people who had taken refuge there. .
QATAR NEGOTIATES BREAK WITH HOSTAGE RELEASE
The UN humanitarian affairs director has implored Israel to allow aid to flow into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing point. The only road through which aid currently transits, the Rafah border post with Egypt, was designed for the passage of pedestrians.
Martin Griffiths told journalists in Geneva that this axis was used before the conflict to deliver more than 60% of the humanitarian aid provided to the Palestinian enclave.
The UN Security Council approved a resolution late today calling for urgent and prolonged humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip as well as humanitarian corridors. This vote ends an impasse in the Council after the failure of four texts presented last month in response to the conflict.
Israel has so far rejected calls for a ceasefire, saying such a scenario would benefit Hamas, a position supported by the United States.
A pause in the fighting is nevertheless under discussion as part of the mediation led by Qatar to obtain the release of some of the 240 hostages held by Hamas since the attack on October 7, which left 1,200 dead in the south of Hamas. Israel.
More than 11,000 people, including 40% children, have since been killed in the offensive led by Israel, according to data from Palestinian representatives considered reliable by the UN. Two thirds of the residents of the northern enclave have been displaced and are homeless.
A source familiar with the talks said Wednesday that Doha negotiators were seeking to seal a deal on a three-day truce in Gaza, with the release of 50 Israeli hostages as well as the release of several women and minors detained by security forces. Israelis.
Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a surgeon at Al Chifa hospital, told Reuters by telephone in the morning that nighttime clashes around the building had forced medical staff into hiding.
“An imposing assault tank entered the hospital via the main door (…) They parked in front of the entrance to the emergency room,” he said, while what sounded in the background was he described as “incessant firing from tanks”.
Israeli forces warned the hospital administration in advance of their intention to enter Al Shifa, the surgeon said, but then gave no instructions to medical staff even though they were “a few meters away “caregivers,” he added.
The IDF used “all types of weapons” and aimed “directly at the hospital”, he said, expressing concern for the patients but not saying he was worried about potential clashes in the building as he described Israel’s assertion of the presence of fighters there as a “huge lie”.
(Reporting Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Maayan Lubell, James Mackenzie and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem, Abir Al Ahmar and Claudia Tanos in Dubai, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Jean-Stéphane Brosse in Paris; written by Jean Terzian, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
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