Thousands of people are holed up in Gaza’s largest hospital, which Israel claims is a Hamas command center.
The Israeli military has approached the front gates of Gaza’s largest hospital, where thousands of injured and displaced people are trapped amid intense Israeli bombardment.
Israeli forces had completely surrounded al-Shifa hospital early Saturday morning, preventing ambulances from entering or leaving the facility, where medical supplies and food are running low.
“They are attacking and destroying the entrance gates of the most important medical complex in Gaza, while patients and thousands of Palestinians are still in the courtyard of this hospital,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said.
“These people are really trapped at the moment by Israeli forces stationed in different sectors and surrounding the entire place. They are no longer able to move ambulances to get victims and injured people out of the target areas. People are trapped and lack food.”
Abu Azzoum said Israeli snipers and artillery also targeted anyone moving outside the hospital.
Al-Shifa director Muhammad Abu Salmiya described the area around the hospital as a “battlefield” but said hospital staff were committed to staying with patients until the “last moment.”
“We will not leave because we know that dozens of patients will die if we leave the hospital,” Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera.
According to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled enclave, the escalating bombardment came after an Israeli attack on Al-Shifa Hospital early Friday killed at least 13 people and injured several others.
Health officials said later on Friday that Israeli tanks were heading from all directions toward at least four hospitals in northern Gaza.
As fighting escalated on Friday evening, Marwan Jilani, director general of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, addressed the UN Security Council in New York condemning Israel for the attacks on hospitals.
“As we speak, displaced people are being shelled in hospitals,” Jilani said.
“They ask, ‘What can we do? Where can we go?’ The lives of thousands of innocent people are in imminent danger.”
World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern, saying he was “extremely concerned” about the situation at al-Shifa Hospital.
“Many of the thousands hospitalized are having to evacuate due to security risks, while many still remain there,” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“WHO is very concerned about the safety of patients, health workers and those hospitalized. They need immediate protection.”
We are extremely concerned by reports of airstrikes near Al-Shifa Hospital in #Gaza. Many healthcare workers we came into contact with had to leave the hospital in search of safety. Others report being unable to move due to great uncertainty. Many of the…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 10, 2023
Israel has claimed the hospital is being used by Hamas as a command center, something both al-Shifa personnel and the armed group have denied.
The area around al-Shifa has been bombed at least five times since Thursday, according to Gaza health authorities, while Israeli forces have also attacked al-Nasr Medical Center, al-Quds Hospital and al-Rantisi Hospital.
The WHO has confirmed that half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are out of order due to the fighting, and two-thirds of primary care facilities are out of order.
At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to Palestinian health authorities.
More than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas in the armed group’s surprise attacks on Israel on October 7, according to Israeli officials.