The World Health Organization said on Sunday it had documented more than 100 attacks on the health system in Gaza, as the Israeli military said Hamas militants were using two additional hospitals in the enclave to conceal their operations.
Fourteen hospitals in the enclave – including ten in the densely populated Gaza City area – are no longer operating, according to the WHO department operating in the Palestinian territories. The WHO called for “active protection of the civilian population and health care.” a post on Xformerly known as Twitter.
Israeli officials continued to insist Sunday that Hamas was using health centers in the area as human shields. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s top spokesman, said Hamas was “cynically” and “systematically” exploiting medical facilities.
Just over a week after Israeli officials said they had determined that Al Shifa, Gaza’s largest and most modern hospital, was being used by Hamas as underground command and control centers, Admiral Hagari presented what he said was evidence that the armed Group two of these used others – Sheikh Hamad north of Gaza City and Indonesian in the north of the Gaza Strip – essentially as cover.
Admiral Hagari presented images and videos of the opening of a Hamas tunnel under Sheikh Hamad Hospital and of gunmen opening fire on Israeli ground troops from inside the hospital. He also said there was an underground Hamas command and control center beneath the Indonesian hospital and showed aerial photos of rocket launch pads about 80 meters from the site. Hamas placed them there, he said, knowing that any airstrikes on the launch pads would damage the hospital.
The images could not be independently verified. Admiral Hagari said Israel shared them with “other authorities.”
In his previous allegations about Al Shifa, Admiral Hagari had presented an illustrated map of that hospital and, citing intelligence sources he had not made public, described areas of the complex and underground facilities that he said were used by Hamas as command centers. Hamas officials denied the accusation at the time, saying Israel had provided no evidence.
People running for cover near Al-Shifa Hospital after the strike last week.Credit: Bashar Taleb/Agence France-Presse – Getty ImagesDisplaced Palestinians gathered at Al-Quds Hospital in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood last week in the south of Gaza City.Source: ..Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock
Israeli and Palestinian claims and counterclaims against the hospitals have become a flashpoint in the war, not least because many of the facilities have become havens for displaced Gazans who believe they are safer than other alternatives.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society, an independent aid group, said on Sunday that Israel continued to bomb the area around Al-Quds Hospital in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza City. Israel has not publicly disclosed that this hospital, run by the Red Crescent, houses Hamas’ military infrastructure.
The Red Crescent group said Israeli forces had increased their attacks on the area around the hospital. Artillery and air strikes “from all directions” last week injured 47 displaced people who sought shelter in the hospital and two patients in the intensive care unit.
According to the group, a strike occurred near the entrance to the hospital’s emergency room on Saturday. A surgeon there, Dr. Nabil al-Shawa said 21 people were injured.
About 14,000 displaced people have been hospitalized in recent days and another 500 are being treated there, the aid agency said, adding that the bombing had caused significant damage to the hospital’s intensive care unit and water supply lines.
The World Health Organization said in a statement on Saturday that an attack had been reported near the Indonesian hospital, but gave no details.
The WHO in its statement condemned attacks near Al-Quds Hospital and an Israeli airstrike on Friday that hit near the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital, killing several people, according to Gaza and Israeli officials. The Palestinian Red Crescent said the attack came as a convoy of ambulances carrying wounded people to the Gaza border was returning to the hospital. The convoy, the group said, turned around after hitting a crater on its southbound road.
The Israeli military said it carried out the attack on an ambulance used by Hamas, killing several militants.
“We strike based on intelligence,” Admiral Hagari said on Sunday. “We don’t want to strike hospitals and ambulances,” he said. He added: “We are fighting to defeat Hamas, free our hostages and liberate Gaza from Hamas.”
Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting.
— Isabel Kershner reports from Jerusalem