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The hospital of Al Shifa The news hit the headlines after an Israeli raid captured a cordon of ambulances outside one of its entrances last Friday. The day before yesterday, Al-Jazeera reported that the hospital’s solar panel system was destroyed in another raid. The IDF later denied this news. Despite this, Unfortunately, the anger against Al-Shifa will only intensify. On October 27, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari explained that the hospital was Hamas’ main vital center, a concept reiterated in another IDF briefing two days ago.
Al-Shifa is located in the eastern part of Gaza City, 1 km from the sea, ed It is the largest hospital complex in the Gaza Strip. In addition to 1,500 beds and 4,000 employees, it is now estimated to provide refuge for around 40,000 civilians. Of the 21 major hospital facilities surrounding the Al-Shifa compound, the IDF said it had clear evidence that five of them were hotspots for Hamas activity.
The large central structure is Hamas’ control and command center, from which orders are given to the militia members in the area. The other four smaller buildings They enable access to important nodes in the tunnel network which runs hundreds of kilometers beneath Gaza. Access to tunnels in the basement of a hospital is part of Hamas’ “philosophy.” Other access points are located under schools, other hospitals and offices of UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees).
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Click on the photo: Subscribe to the WhatsApp channelThe Al-Shifa Hospital will then be built among the five buildings a vast system of underground environmentsthe operational heart of the al-Quassam Brigades (Hamas’s military wing), allowing both access to tunnels (about 30 meters deep) and access to shelters with lighting, ventilation systems, telephone lines, showers, etc. Electricity is essential for the functioning of these structures, ed Hamas militiamen take over the diesel for generators from the hospital tank. A former Gaza energy official reveals that the hospital (and Hamas) now has around a million liters of fuel at its disposal, and that more than half a million underground are exclusively available to Hamas.
Use hospitals, schools and UNRWA headquarters as rocket launch sites and tunnel access points has always prevented the Israeli army from intervening directly without violating its codes of conduct and international treaties. In the phase of open war when the army is approaching the city, it is very likely that Al-Shifa Hospital will become one of the most important and extremely cruel battlefields.
Pietro Molteni, November 9, 2023