Israeli forces have entered Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in Gaza, causing significant damage and raising concerns for the safety of patients under its care. Reports suggest that the hospital has been extensively ransacked, heightening the vulnerability of those currently admitted.
Here is a list of truths about the hospital after the Israeli raid.
No water, no oxygen:
The director of the Gaza Strip’s main hospital raided by Israeli soldiers says the facility has now run out of oxygen and water, and patients “are screaming from thirst”.
Muhammad Abu Salmiya said the conditions were “tragic” in Al-Shifa, where there were more than 650 patients, 500 medical staff, and 5,000 displaced people.
Israeli soldiers still inside:
Muhammad Abu Salmiya said that Israeli tanks were surrounding the hospital in Gaza City, with drones buzzing overhead and Israeli soldiers still moving around inside, as their search of the complex lasted a second day.
A journalist trapped inside the hospital, Khader, told the BBC’s Rushdi Abu Alouf by phone that Israeli troops were “everywhere, shooting in all directions”.
Water line blown up:
Mr Abu Salmiya said Israeli troops had blown up Al-Shifa’s main water line.
“Sniping operations continue, no one can move from one building to another, and we have lost communication with our colleagues,” he said.
Journalist Khader told the BBC that Israeli troops had “stormed all departments”, destroying the southern part of the building’s wall and dozens of cars.
Before Khader’s phone line cut off, he also said that armored bulldozers had been brought in.
Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry reports that Israeli bulldozers “destroyed parts of the southern entrance” of the medical complex.
Israel launched a major military campaign in the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the 7 October cross-border attack by hundreds of gunmen. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group, as does the UK, US, and European Union.
At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s assault on Israel and about 240 others were taken hostage.
Since Israel started its counter-attack, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 11,400 people have been killed in the territory and the UN has warned of a “humanitarian disaster”.
On Thursday evening, the IDF announced that the body of one of the hostages had been found near Al-Shifa.
The IDF identified the victim as Yehudit Weiss, saying she had been kidnapped from her home in Be’eri – a kibbutz in southern Israel.
The IDF said their soldiers were continuing their “complex” operation against Hamas at the hospital.
“Soldiers are proceeding one building at a time, searching each floor, all while hundreds of patients and medical staff remain in the complex,” an official said in an update on Thursday evening.
Hamas has repeatedly denied that its fighters have been operating inside the hospital.
On Thursday, Osama Hamdan, the most senior Hamas leader in Lebanon, ridiculed the Israeli weapons claims, saying that all the arms had been brought in and planted in the hospital by Israelis.
