Israeli forces raided Gaza‘s largest hospital early Wednesday, where hundreds of patients, including newborns, have been stranded with dwindling supplies and no electricity, as the army extended its control across Gaza City and the north.
Shifa Hospital has become a symbol of the widespread suffering of Palestinian civilians during the war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted after the militant group killed some 1,200 people and seized around 240 captives in a surprise Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel.
The hospital is also at the heart of clashing narratives over who is to blame for the thousands of deaths and widespread destruction in the besieged territory. Israel accuses Hamas of using Palestinians as human shields, while Palestinians and rights groups say Israel has recklessly endangered civilians as it seeks to eradicate the group.
Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, said Israeli tanks were inside the medical compound and that soldiers had entered buildings, including the emergency and surgery departments, which house intensive care units. It was not clear if he was speaking from inside the compound.
Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebutted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement calling on Israel to end the “killing of women, of children, of babies” and said that Hamas should be held accountable, not Israel.
“It is Hamas not Israel that should be held accountable for committing a double war crime – targeting civilians while hiding behind civilians. The forces of civilization must back Israel in defeating Hamas barbarism,” he said.
Affirming his stand that Hamas is killing civilians in the ongoing conflict, he said that Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm.
Taking to X, the Israeli PM replied to the Canadian PM and said, “It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust. While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way. Israel provides civilians in Gaza humanitarian corridors and safe zones, Hamas prevents them from leaving at gunpoint.”
Trudeau said on Tuesday that the “killing of women, of children, of babies” in the besieged Gaza Strip must end. Netanyahu pushed back, insisting that Hamas is responsible for civilian deaths as Israeli forces continue to batter the enclave, Al Jazeera reported.
“I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint,” Trudeau said in his sharpest criticism of Israel since the war on Gaza broke out more than five weeks ago. “The world is watching–on TV, on social media–we’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who have lost their parents.
“The world is witnessing this killing of women, of children, of babies. This has to stop,” he told a news conference in the western province of British Columbia, Al Jazeera reported. With agency reports
A wounded Palestinian girl is carried into the emergency room of the al-Shifa hospital, following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)