PARIS: The Israeli army operation in Al-Shifa hospital, targeting what it says is a command centre under Gaza’s biggest medical facility, on Wednesday set off a wave of international condemnation.
The army had announced overnight it was carrying out “a precise and targeted operation in a specified area” of the hospital where the UN estimates there are at least 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians.
An official from the health ministry who was in the hospital said that he could see tanks inside the compound.
The territory’s health ministry says Israel’s ensuing aerial bombardment and ground offensive have killed 11,320 people, mostly civilians and including thousands of children.
Palestinians said US President Joe Biden was “wholly responsible for the assault on the Al-Shifa medical complex”.
“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation’s false claim that the resistance is using the Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians.”
The Palestinian Authority that runs the occupied West Bank denounced the raid as a “flagrant violation” of international law, demanding world action to protect patients and civilians inside the facility.
The White House renewed its concerns for the safety of civilians shortly after the raid began.
The White House “won’t speak to the specifics of an ongoing Israeli military operation,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.
“We do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don’t want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire,” said the spokesperson said.
“Hospitals and patients must be protected.”
The United Nations humanitarian chief demanded immediate action to “rein in the carnage”.
“As the carnage in Gaza reaches new levels of horror everyday, the world continues to watch in shock as hospitals come under fire, premature babies die...”
“An entire population is deprived of the basic means of survival. This cannot be allowed to continue,” said Martin Griffiths.
Griffiths stressed in a separate video statement he understood Israel wanted to find fighting leaders, but insisted that was no excuse for turning hospitals into a battlefield. — AFP
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