Topline
The situation at the Al-Shifa hospital continued to get bleaker on Tuesday, with the World Health Organization referring to it as a “cemetery” as UN officials said only a single medical facility remained operational in Northern Gaza as intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas continued.
Key Facts
Gaza City’s Al Ahli Hospital—the site of an explosion last month which Israeli authorities blamed on a misfired rocket from the Palestinian enclave—is the only medical facility in northern Gaza that can still receive patients, the United Nations’ Humanitarian Affairs Office (OCHA) said.
According to the OCHA, 32 patients, including three premature babies, have died at the Al Shifa hospital since Saturday after it lost power and 36 babies in incubators still face a heightened risk of death.
The Al-Shifa hospital—Gaza’s largest—has become the focus of global attention, as authorities in the Palestinian enclave have accused Israel of targeting the hospital, while Israeli officials allege the presence of a Hamas command center underneath the building.
A World Health Organization official described Al-Shifa as “nearly a cemetery” on Monday, with dead bodies piling up inside the hospital.
On Tuesday, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said staff at the Al-Shifa hospital are trying to bury nearly 150 bodies in a mass grave inside the hospital complex, accusing Israeli forces of effectively putting it under a blockade.
Amid growing global pressure, the Israel Defense Forces said it is coordinating the transfer of incubators from Israel to Al-Ahli, although it is unclear how these incubators would be made operational, as the hospital has no power.
Chief Critic
Human Rights Watch issued a statement Tuesday demanding that Israel’s alleged attacks on medical facilities should be investigated as war crimes. “Israel’s broad-based attack on Gaza’s healthcare system is an attack on the sick and the injured, on babies in incubators, on pregnant people, on cancer patients. These actions need to be investigated as war crimes,” A. Kayum Ahmed, special adviser on the right to health at Human Rights Watch, said.
Key Background
On Monday evening, President Joe Biden told reporters he hoped “there will be less intrusive action relative to hospitals.” Biden said his administration officials have been in touch with Israel on a potential halt in fighting to allow the release of hostages, but added that “hospitals must be protected.” Fighting around Al-Shifa has reportedly been a point of concern for the White House, prompting it to urge Israeli officials to avoid harming civilians at the medical facility, Haaretz reported on Monday. The Biden administration is reportedly desperate to avoid a situation where the hospital becomes the site of a bloody battle and has warned Israel that it will not have its public backing if a large number of civilian casualties occur at the facility.
‘World Cannot Stand Silent’—WHO Says Gaza’s Largest Hospital Has Ceased Functioning (Forbes)
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