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Palestinians wounded in an Israeli strike at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, last week. Credit: Stringer/Reuters Published by Haaretz

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by IMEMC News
Nov 11, 2023

Medical sources said a newborn has died in his incubator, and four patients have died due to power blackout as the Al-Shifa hospital ran out of fuel to its electricity generators, amidst constant Israeli bombing of the medical facility in direct violation of International Law.

Israeli tanks are surrounding the Shifa Medical Center, west of Gaza, city, and have already fired many shells and missiles at it.

Medical workers are trying to keep thirty-seven premature babies warm by carrying them and trying to provide them with heat from their bodies and whatever sheets they have left.

The Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal as more premature babies could die at any given moment.

The Pediatric Intensive Care and the Oxygen Unit at the Shifa Hospital are out of service.
The Israeli army bombed the Surgery Ward on the fifth floor of Shifa Hospital, wounding many patients.

On Saturday dawn, as the Israeli army continued its onslaught on the civilians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, dozens of Palestinians were killed, and hundreds injured in a series of Israeli air strikes targeting civilian areas, homes, and residential buildings.

Medical sources said at least seven Palestinians were killed and dozens injured, including many buried under the rubble of a bombarded home owned by Monir Al-Kahlout in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, after the army fired several missiles at it.

The sources added that the bombing of the home occurred without warning, burying families, including those who fled their homes, under the rubble; the search is still ongoing to locate slain or injured Palestinians.

Also, an Israeli war jet fired a missile at a home in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least six Palestinians and wounding dozens.

The army also fired a missile at a home for the Hamdan family near the Mujahidin Mosque, west of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip’s southern part, killing one woman and wounding dozens.

Furthermore, the army fired a missile at the home of the Fayyad family, east of Al-Qarara town, east of Khan Younis, causing several injuries.

In Gaza City, the armed fired many missiles at homes, buildings, and hospitals in several parts of the city, especially in the Nasr and Sheikh Radwan neighborhoods, and also fired artillery shells at several areas while its tanks advanced into neighborhoods northwest of the city.

Furthermore, the army fired many missiles and artillery shells at areas surrounding the Shifa Medical Center in Gaza, killing more than 13 Palestinians and wounding dozens, in addition to firing missiles at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia.

It is worth mentioning that the Indonesian Hospital is now without any water or electricity after the fuel for its power generators ran out, and suffers a depletion of medical supplies.

The Indonesian Hospital announced stopping all surgeries after the army fired missiles at its main gate and its surroundings.

Furthermore, the army fired many missiles and artillery shells at the vicinity of the Shifa Medical Center in Gaza and fired phosphorus shells into the area and the Shati refugee camp.

The Shifa Medical Center said it is housing 650 wounded Palestinians, 50 babies in incubators, 1200 of its staff, and 20,000 Palestinians, mainly children and women, who took shelter in the medical facility.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the Israeli army sharpshooters fired many live rounds at the Al-Quds Hospital in Tal Al-Hawa area in Gaza, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding more than twenty.

Palestinian ambulances and rescue teams are facing serious challenges in reaching bombarded areas to evacuate the wounded and the dead in various parts of the coastal region due to the intensity and the ongoing Israeli bombings.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRS) said in a statement that the collapsing healthcare system in Gaza is trying to cope with the serious shortages of medical supplies amidst increasing threats and attacks by the Israeli army, an issue that threatens the lives of thousands of patients, wounded Palestinians and the families that are seeking shelter in the medical centers.

The ICRS said all hospitals and medical facilities must be afforded protection as stated in International Law and all related treaties.

The administration of the Shifa Medical Compound said all of its hospitals and medical centers were bombarded by the Israeli army Friday.

“It is unimaginable that in the twenty-first century, hospitals and medical centers are targets for bombs, shells, and missiles,” the administration stated, “We cannot evacuate our medical facilities. We cannot just move more than sixty patients out of Intensive Care, more than fifty premature babies out of the incubators, and more than five hundred patients from the Kidney dialysis centers.”

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army has been surrounding four hospitals west of Gaza City, starting several days ago when the military pushed its tanks and armored vehicles into the area.

The United Nations said more than 1.5 Million Palestinians in Gaza have fled their homes and added that thousands remain surrounded and isolated in northern Gaza amidst ongoing hostilities and escalating Israeli bombing.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli missiles and shells have killed at least 11078 Palestinians, including 4506 children and 3027 women, and injured more than 27490 Palestinians, most of them women and children in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
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As Israeli Troops Near Gaza's Al-Shifa, Hospital Warns of Collapse

An IDF source says the Israeli military contacted Al-Shifa's director to warn him to evacuate during the past few days

by Jack Khoury and Yaniv Kubovich for Haaretz
Nov 11, 2023 10:32 pm IST

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has exhausted its food supply and has no water or electricity, its director said Saturday.

“We are totally cut off from the whole world,” Mohammed Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera. “We lost a baby in the incubator, we also lost a young man in the intensive care unit,” he said. Abu Salmiya told the news outlet that many patients and wounded were at risk of death and that medical supplies had run out.

Abu Salmiya said the IDF was attacking buildings in the hospital’s complex and preventing people from leaving it. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said the hospital’s fuel supply had run out and that operations had ceased. According to Hamas, three Gaza City hospitals have been surrounded by Israeli forces.

The military reached the outskirts of the Shati refugee camp, near Al-Shifa, on Saturday morning. IDF Spokesman Rear. Adm. Daniel Hagari said in an evening briefing the military had expanded its operations in Shati, but denied claims that the military was attacking Al-Shifa. "In the past few hours, false news has been published that we are surrounding Al-Shifa Hospital and attacking it. These are false reports. We are fighting with terrorists who choose to fight right next to hospitals."

He also said that Israel had been falsely blamed for an alleged bombing of the hospital a day earlier. "We checked our systems, and once again it was a failed launch by terrorist organizations in the strip. Hamas is committing a war crime in its use of hospitals."

Hagari said Hamas had lost its grip on the northern Gaza Strip and failed to prevent residents from fleeing. To keep more Gazans from heading south, he said, Hamas "is lying about what is happening in the hospitals."

The IDF said that it was in contact with Al-Shifa’s director and continued to allow people to exit from its eastern time.

The Physicians for Human Rights organization said the hospital was surrounded and had no power, water, or oxygen. “Some members of the medical staff have fled over an immediate threat to their lives and left hundreds of sick and wounded trapped, without treatment or escape.”

The organization wrote on X that the military had hit the hospital’s only generator, cutting power to incubators and killing two babies. It warned that the lives of 37 other babies were in danger. It further said that because the hospital was surrounded, it was impossible to go out to collect wounded and dead bodies.

Up until Friday, some 50,000 were staying around the Al-Shifa complex. Most left the area as the IDF approached and explosions took place nearby throughout the night. Some 800 wounded and sick, as well as a substantial medical staff, are still at the hospital.

According to an IDF source, the military contacted the hospital director recently and warned him that the complex was within a battle zone and had to be evacuated.

The Wall Street Journal meanwhile cited an Israeli official as saying some of the Israeli hostages might be held underneath the hospital. The report added that U.S. administration officials said there were Hamas command rooms beneath it.

Hagari presented intelligence two weeks ago about a main command center used by Hamas located underneath Al-Shifa in a briefing to the foreign press.

Around 10 hospitals in northern Gaza have been evacuated since the war began. Others have begun to evacuate but still house civilians using them as shelter. The evacuations are carried out by international medical and aid staff. The severely ill are transferred to Egypt, and the less seriously sick to field hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila announced Saturday that 20 out of the Gaza Strip’s 30 hospitals were out of operation. She said the Red Crescent’s Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City was only operating its emergency room, which was only partially working and would likely have to stop within hours. According to Al-Jaila, doctors were performing surgery on floors and using lights from cell phones, without any anesthesia.