Gaza’s largest Hospital Al-Shifa, is under Israeli siege
By Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi, Nov. 13, 2023
The Gaza authority led by Hamas on Monday strongly rejected and denounced the charge leveled by a European Union representative that Hamas is using hospitals and civilians as human shields in the on-going war against Israel. Hamas said it seems that the EU is also swayed by Israeli propaganda as it is committing war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, made allegations that Hamas has been using hospitals and civilians as human shields to save its fighters.
Taking a strong exception to EU representative Borrell’s remarks, Hamas said his statement was nothing more than a bid to deny the facts and provide European cover for the Israeli occupation to commit more crimes against children and defenseless civilians.
In a statement, Hamas said, “We strongly reject and denounce this attempt by European Union foreign policy official Borrell to distort the facts by pushing a false narrative that Hamas is using hospitals and civilians as human shields. We consider these remarks an EU cover for the Zionist occupation to commit more massacres against children and defenseless civilians, and we call on Borrell to immediately retract his shameful and inhumane comments.
“These serious statements ignore all the footage, testimonies, facts, and international reports confirming the truth that the Israeli army has willfully killed more than eleven thousand people so far, the vast majority of whom were women and children. Civilians are being targeted, including in their homes and at shelter centers, schools, and internationally protected hospitals, with the aim of terrorizing and forcibly displacing them from their lands in a genocidal crime broadcast live in front of global media.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s brutal aggression has now lasted 37 days, and Gaza’s healthcare system has nearly collapsed.
The Israelis targeted Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa’s intensive care unit, twice.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the Israeli authorities contacted the hospital director, offered him 300 liters of diesel, and asked him to send somebody out to collect it. The hospital director refused and asked for fuel to be brought in through the Red Cross. The occupation did not agree. Note that the rate of diesel consumption in Al-Shifa Hospital is 500 liters per hour.
The ministry said Al-Shifa Hospital is under a complete siege. There are more than 100 bodies lying on the ground and beginning to decompose, which turns the hospital into a dangerous place from an epidemiological standpoint. The smell of corpses has begun to spread everywhere. There is no food, and the medical teams are surviving on biscuits and dates. The remaining 8,000 displaced people in Shifa begin to suffer from thirst and cannot find any food. The occupation reported that Al-Wahda Street is a safe way to exit and enter Al-Shifa Hospital, and there are no military vehicles on it. However, the planes target anyone who tries to leave the hospital.
With the electricity cut off in Al-Shifa Hospital, doctors gather premature babies together in order to warm them and prevent them from losing their lives.
