The US President hopes for “less intrusive measures” at Al-Shifa Hospital as patients and staff remain trapped inside.
US President Joe Biden said Gaza’s largest hospital “must be protected” as Israeli tanks surround the facility and hundreds of patients and staff are trapped inside.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Biden said he hoped Israel would take “less intrusive measures” at Al-Shifa Hospital, which medical staff said has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli bombings and snipers.
“My hope and expectation is that there will be less intrusive measures compared to hospitals and we will stay in touch with the Israelis,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office.
“There are also moves to achieve this pause to deal with the release of prisoners and this is also currently being negotiated, with the Qataris… involved,” the US president added. “So I remain somewhat hopeful, but hospitals need to be protected.”
Biden’s comments came as medics warned of a rising number of patients, including newborns, at the hospital, which has been surrounded by Israeli forces since Saturday.
Witnesses reported Monday that tanks and armored vehicles stood just meters from the gate of the medical complex, where staff said power outages, dwindling medical supplies and Israeli bombings had made caring for patients nearly impossible.
At least 32 patients, including six premature babies, have died in hospital since Friday, Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said on Monday.
The UN relief agency in the occupied Palestinian territory said on Sunday that three nurses were also killed in the facility.
Israel has claimed that Hamas operates a command center beneath the hospital, which the armed group and hospital officials have denied.
The Israeli military said on Monday that its soldiers had discovered a cache of weapons in a tunnel connected to Rantissi Hospital, a facility that treats children in northern Gaza, and shared a video that allegedly showed grenades , suicide vests and other explosives could be seen.
“Hamas is hiding in hospitals,” spokesman Daniel Hagari said during an evening news conference. “Today we will show this to the world.”
Since Sunday, Al-Shifa, Al-Quds and Kamal Adwan hospitals have ceased operations due to Israeli bombings and dwindling fuel and medicine supplies.
Israel urged civilians to leave Al-Shifa and urged doctors to send patients elsewhere. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from Khan Younis and said the “Israeli military is telling patients to leave the hospital with their hands over their heads.”
“But some of them need wheelchairs while others are disabled and therefore cannot walk,” he said. “It is difficult to understand that these are also the demands of the Israeli military [it is] We play nice with the media and tell journalists: ‘We provide a safe corridor’.”
Israel has pledged to eliminate Hamas in response to the armed group’s attacks on southern Israeli communities on October 7, which Israeli officials said killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s bombing and ground operations in the Gaza Strip have since killed at least 11,240 Palestinians, including more than 4,600 children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled enclave.