The Hamas government’s deputy health minister in Gaza told AFP on Sunday that an Israeli airstrike had “totally destroyed” the Israeli-shelled and besieged building of the heart disease ward at al-Chifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip.
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“The two-story building of the heart disease department was completely destroyed in an airstrike,” Youssef Abou Rich said, blaming the Israeli army for the attack.
The AFP was unable to confirm this attack on site, but at least one witness present at the hospital confirmed raids and damage.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond.
“There was a new strike in the surgical department and the outpatient surgical department,” the Palestinian official added, reporting that “five shells have been fired at the complex since the morning.”
“The (Israeli) tanks are completely laying siege to al-Chifa hospital,” he said, while the Israeli army described as “false” reports that its troops “surrounded and hit” al-Chifa.
“They are shooting at anyone who tries to leave any building in the hospital complex,” said Mr. Abou Rich, who offered no assessment.
The Israeli army confirms that it is stationed around the hospital, while providing an exit to the east open to the thousands of displaced people housed in the hospital.
“There are two (Israeli) tanks with their weapons aimed at the maternity ward at the southern entrance to the Al-Chifa complex,” Mr Abou Rich explained. As well as “two tanks outside the west entrance and two tanks inside this entrance.”
Around the huge hospital complex, “there are dozens of bodies in the streets, hundreds of injured people,” said Mr. Abou Rich. His ministry has stopped publishing the daily death toll since Friday, saying it can no longer contact all hospitals or send ambulances because of the violence of the fighting and strikes.
In al-Chifa, there are “650 patients, about forty children in incubators, all at risk of death, and 15,000 displaced people,” said Mr. Abou Rich.
The electricity has been cut off in al-Chifa since Saturday and dozens of babies in incubators and patients in intensive care are now in mortal danger, according to several international NGOs.
“Nurses are performing manual breathing massages on these premature babies,” Mr. Abou Rich said, saying he feared several of them would die within hours.