Koas in the Shifa hospital in Gaza / Fighting arena between Hamas and Israel

2023-11-14 07:50:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Gaza's Shifa hospital has been at the center of fighting in Israel's war against Hamas for several days. Shifa is the largest hospital in Gaza. But Israel claims Hamas is using it for military purposes and has built a large complex underground command center beneath the hospital that connects through tunnels.

Since Israel declared war on Hamas in response to a bloody cross-border attack by the Islamist group on Oct. 7, its forces have advanced toward Shifa.

While Israel says it is willing to allow staff and patients to evacuate, Palestinians say Israeli forces have opened fire on evacuees and that it is too dangerous to move the weakest patients. Meanwhile, the doctors say that the facility is running out of gas and that the patients are starting to die.

Here's a look at the situation around Shifa

HOSPITAL AND HOSPITAL

Shifa is the main hospital of a health care system largely in ruins after years of conflict, lack of funding and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade aimed at weakening Hamas.

Shifa has over 500 beds and offers services such as MRI scans, dialysis and an intensive care unit. Roughly half of all medical operations in Gaza are performed at the hospital, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

After the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of people flocked to the hospital grounds to seek shelter. As the fighting has drawn closer to the hospital, most of those sheltering there have fled south, as have about two-thirds of the territory's 2.3 million residents who have fled their homes.

But hundreds of people, including health workers, premature babies and other critically ill patients, remain at the hospital, officials say.

On Saturday, the hospital announced it had run out of fuel. Health officials say at least 32 patients, including three infants, have died. They say another 36 babies are in danger because the equipment needed to save their lives is not working.

International law provides for special protection for hospitals during war. But hospitals can lose the right to be protected if they are used to hide fighters or hold weapons, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

However, warnings must be given to allow evacuation of personnel and patients. If the civilian consequences of an attack are disproportionate to the military objective, that attack is considered illegal under international law.

ISRAEL'S ACCUSES AGAINST HAMAS

Israel has long accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields. The group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, often fires rockets at Israel from populated areas, and its fighters have battled Israeli troops inside densely populated neighborhoods.
Throughout the war, Israel has released photos and videos showing what it says are weapons and other military facilities in or near mosques, schools and hospitals.

Late Monday, Israel's chief army spokesman, Adm. Daniel Hagari showed footage of what he said was a Hamas weapons cache found in the basement of Gaza's Rantisi Children's Hospital.

Spokesman Hagari said he had entered the hospital with Israeli troops on Monday, a day after the facility's last patients were evacuated.

The hospital ran out of fuel last week and Israel had ordered people to leave as it continued its ground offensive.

Adm. Hagar entered a room where he saw a children's drawing of a tree on the wall, while on the floor were weapons, including explosive vests, automatic rifles, bombs and grenades.

"Hamas uses hospitals as an instrument of war," he said. He pointed to another part of the compound that he said appears to have been used to hold hostages.

"This is not the only hospital used like this in Gaza and the world needs to know that," Hagari said.

The Israeli military says Hamas is operating inside Shifa and in bunkers behind it, some of which Israel says can be accessed from the hospital.

Israel also says hundreds of Hamas fighters took refuge in Shifa after the October 7 massacre, according to intelligence. However, Israel has provided little evidence to support these claims.

Spokesman Hagari showed maps last month that Israel believes show underground Hamas command centers, including one near the hospital's reception hall and another near the dialysis department. He also showed simulated illustrations of what these centers might look like, but admitted it is "just an illustration".

Other evidence presented by Israel has been equally difficult to verify.

Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, dismissed the Israeli claims about Shifa as "false and misleading propaganda".

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Israel on Sunday said it had tried to deliver about 300 liters of gas to the hospital, leaving it a few hundred meters from the facility. But until Monday it had remained untouched. Israel accused Hamas of not allowing hospital workers to take them. Hospital officials said the fuel was supposed to be delivered by the Palestinian Red Crescent and that it was in short supply anyway.

Israel offered safe passage for people to leave. But those who tried to leave described a terrifying experience. Goudhat Samy al-Madhoun, a health care worker, said about 50 people left the facility on Monday, including a woman on kidney dialysis.

He said Israeli forces fired several times at the group, injuring one man who was unable to flee.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday that the hospital "must be protected" and called for "less aggressive action" by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military has said it is aware of the complexity of the situation, but says Hamas should not hope for immunity. "We are not trying to take control of the hospitals. We are trying to destroy their infrastructure," said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, another spokesman for the Israeli army. / Voice of America