The gist According to Palestinian authorities and NGOs, several hospitals in the Gaza Strip were hit by bomb attacks or shootings on Friday, leaving several people dead and dozens injured. The Red Cross denounces a situation that has become “unbearable” and a health system on the verge of collapse.
Hospitals bombed? Vaccinations in intensive care units? Patients trapped? Deadly attacks and shootings occurred in northern Gaza on Friday, November 10, shaking several hospitals, according to Palestinian officials. Places where civilians seek refuge to escape the fighting and Israeli bombings that have forced tens of thousands of them to flee.
Bombing and shooting at Al-Shifa Hospital
A strike hit the Al-Shifa hospital complex, the largest hospital center in the Gaza Strip, leaving 13 dead and dozens injured, according to Hamas. “All hospitals in Gaza City were attacked by the Israeli army on Friday,” hospital director Mohammed Abou Salmiya assured the AFP news agency. He spoke of Israeli tank fire in the maternity ward. He had previously explained that the facility had received around fifty bodies “following the bombing of a school on Friday morning” in the city, where many displaced people sought refuge.
The Israeli army said Thursday evening that one of its divisions was conducting major operations in an area “very, very close” to the hospital. She said Friday that she would “kill” Hamas militants “shooting from hospitals” in Gaza. While supporting Israeli ground forces through bombing, the army said it particularly targeted a “military district” next to Al-Shifa Hospital, which it described as the “heart” of Hamas’s operational intelligence.
An AFP journalist said he saw at least seven bodies near the hospital. A 32-year-old father who calls himself Abou Mohammed told the agency that he sought refuge with 15 of his relatives in Al-Shifa, west of Gaza City, after bombings in his eastern neighborhood. “There is no safe place, the army has attacked Al-Shifa, I don’t know what to do anymore,” he said.
“Shifa Hospital fell. The wounded and personnel flee en masse. This morning there were rocket attacks on the outpatient clinic where displaced people are accommodated.” tweeted Ghassan Abu Sita, a surgeon currently in Gaza, on Friday afternoon. In a video published on (ex-Twitter) of the Hamas-affiliated agency Shehab, we can see several injured people and bodies on the ground in a yard. According to the agency, the scene was filmed in the Al-Shifa hospital complex (warning, shocking images).
Shifa Hospital collapsed. The wounded and personnel left in droves. Rocket attacks on the ambulance this morning. where internally displaced people were housed.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) November 10, 2023
Sniper fire on Al-Quds Hospital?
The Palestinian Red Crescent (affiliated with the Red Cross) said Israeli snipers left at least one dead and 20 injured, “mainly children,” at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City on Friday.
“Violent clashes are currently taking place and snipers from the (Israeli) occupation are firing at Al-Quds Hospital, causing casualties among the displaced,” the medical organization said in a statement. In another tweetThe Red Crescent reports shootings “in the intensive care unit” of the facility.
\u26a0\ufe0fOne martyr and 28 injured among the displaced in Al-Quds Hospital, mostly children, with two of them in critical condition due to the occupation’s snipers attacking the hospital. In addition, there are injuries from artillery shells west of the hospital.… pic.twitter.com/spA06fQjzI
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 10, 2023
The organization previously published a video There we saw nurses operating on a patient using only flashlights while electricity was cut and no fuel deliveries were authorized as Israel imposed a total siege on the enclave since the Hamas attack on October 7th. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the establishment faces an “immediate threat” and will have to suspend operations “in the coming hours due to a lack of fuel.”
Medical teams at Al-Quds Hospital are working with minimal resources \ud83d\udd26due to power outages caused by a lack of fuel.
These videos from one of the displaced people continue to support the hospital for the third time, despite ongoing communication and internet disruptions… pic.twitter.com/oLzmLKXSXv
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 10, 2023
A children’s hospital under siege?
“Israeli tanks are laying siege to four hospitals in western Gaza City,” endangering tens of thousands of patients and displaced people who have sought refuge there, the Hamas Health Ministry said Friday. In particular, witnesses saw the al-Rantissi children’s hospital surrounded by tanks.
“Numerous (Israeli) tanks are stationed 200 meters from the al-Bouraq school on al-Nasr Street and surround four hospitals in the area,” the Hamas government press office reported.
The Israeli army told AFP it could not “discuss potential locations related to our operations” in order to “not endanger the troops.”
A “point of no return” has been reached
“The destruction of hospitals in Gaza is becoming unbearable and must stop,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, adding that the health system had reached a “point of no return.”
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, the death toll has passed the 11,000 threshold, reporting that 11,078 people have been killed in Israeli bombings in the Palestinian enclave since October 7. The deaths registered so far include 4,506 children and 3,027 women. In addition, 27,490 people were injured.