Use in hospital
Israel calls reports of atrocities lies
December 24, 2023, 4:41 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
According to Israel, Hamas used the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip as a terrorist headquarters. Reports are now circulating that Israeli soldiers mistreated people and ran them over with a bulldozer when they took over the clinic. Israel denies this.
Israel has dismissed as lies reports of atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers at a hospital in the Gaza Strip. The army (IDF) had nothing to do with bodies discovered at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, a statement said. Among other things, a video was spread on social media in which a red bulldozer allegedly buried people at a hospital, it said. However, this video comes from 2013 and has nothing to do with the current deployment of Israeli soldiers in Jabalia.
This was also the result of a fact check by the dpa. Accordingly, the video was uploaded to YouTube more than ten years ago and reportedly shows the suppression of a protest in the Egyptian capital Cairo. The other information provided by both sides cannot yet be independently verified.
Report on bulldozer operation
A week ago, the news channel Al-Jazeera reported that Israel’s army had used a bulldozer to destroy displaced people’s tents in the courtyard of the hospital, killing around 20 people. The US broadcaster CNN then reported again on Saturday about statements from Palestinian eyewitnesses that Israeli soldiers had used a bulldozer to uncover the bodies of already buried victims and pushed them together.
In addition, they shot several doctors even though they had already checked them for terrorist activity, let a military dog bite into a man in a wheelchair and made fun of victims, were other allegations. The patients remaining in the hospital could no longer be cared for because there was no drinking water, food or medication. Part of the hospital was destroyed by shelling and children and other patients died. This information cannot yet be independently verified.
IDF: Weapons were hidden in incubators
The Israeli army rejected the allegations. The IDF is doing everything it can to avoid causing harm to bystanders. The hospital was used by Hamas for terrorist activities and was located near one of its headquarters. Israeli soldiers arrested around 90 Hamas activists in the hospital. Weapons and other military equipment were found hidden in incubators in the infant ward.
The soldiers also made it possible for bystanders and injured people to be evacuated before they entered the hospital. Only a few dozen civilians refused to leave the compound despite warnings from the IDF that an attack was imminent.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 people were killed. Israel then began massive air strikes and, since the end of October, a ground offensive in the area. According to the health authority controlled by the Islamist Hamas, more than 20,400 people have now been killed and more than 54,000 injured.