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Al-Shifa Hospital siege
Part of the siege of Gaza City
Date 10 November 2023 Location Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza31°31′27.5″N 34°26′34″E / 31.524306°N 34.44278°E / 31.524306; 34.44278 Result Ongoing; Israel raids parts of the hospital complex on 15 November

Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, has been under siege in the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. The hospital has been completely encircled, cutting it off from the rest of Gaza City, trapping 15,000 people who are either patients in need of treatment or have taken refuge in the hospital grounds. Israel and the United States have stated their intelligence indicates the hospital is used for military purposes by Hamas, a claim that Hamas denies. The hospital staff have also denied their hospital is being used by Hamas and invited international delegations to come and verify for themselves.

On 15 November Israeli forces entered the hospital, with the Israeli military claiming to have discovered a Hamas command centre and weapons cache inside.

Background

On 7 October 2023, Hamas invaded Israel as part of a multi-pronged surprise attack. Israel conducted a counterattack, airstrikes, and a total blockade on Gaza as retaliation. Israel invaded the Gaza Strip on 27 October, and Gaza City was surrounded on 2 November.

Al-Shifa is the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. Israel has claimed that it is a Hamas control and command center.

The IDF has ordered Northern Gaza and specifically Al-Shifa hospital to be evacuated on November 9.

Thousands of displaced civilians were sheltering in the hospital at the time of the attacks on November 11.

Preliminary clashes and siege

On 3 November, an Israeli airstrike targeted an ambulance convoy leaving the hospital. The attack killed 15 and wounded 60. Israel claimed that Hamas was using the ambulances. Neither the Washington Post nor the Human Rights Watch found anything to evidence the Israeli claims. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) stated that Israel had targeted Al-Shifa ambulances 7 times prior and had killed 4 of their personnel. On 6 November, Israeli forces struck and destroyed the solar panels atop the hospital, leaving it fully reliant on back-up generators powered by rapidly dwindling fuel supplies.

On 10 November, at least four strikes hit various areas of the hospital with various projectiles. Israel claimed that at least one projectile was a misfired militant rocket, but did not elaborate further. The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) claimed that there were at least 5 strikes damaging parts of the hospital complex,- two, at 2 and 8 am., hitting the maternity ward located on the upper floors,- stating that 14 people had been killed. Later a Palestinian doctor stated that 7 people had died following the strikes. On the same day, it was reported that Israeli forces were at the gates of the hospital.According to a follow-up investigation commissioned by the New York Times from experts who examined videos and remnants of the munitions, three of the projectiles fired at the hospital were Israeli.

On 11 November, the GHM claimed that an evacuation was underway. It claimed that 50,000–60,000 people were sheltering in the hospital before, and that fewer than 3,000 people remained. Later that day, the PRCS claimed that Israeli tanks were 20 meters away from the hospital. Doctors Without Borders (DWB) and the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed that Israeli troops were shooting at those trying to exit the hospital, which Israel denied. Israel claimed that they were letting people leave the hospital, which DWB denied. By this time, Al-Shifa ran out of fuel and had suspended some operations. As a result, 2 babies in incubators and two other patients died. The hospital director said that the hospital had electricity until the morning of 12 November, meaning that 37 babies in incubators are at risk of dying. The GHM claimed that 100 bodies would be buried in a mass grave inside the hospital.

In a series of comments with Al Jazeera, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of the hospital, said that the hospital was cut off from the rest of the city, trapping a reported 15,000 people inside. He also added that "patients were dying by the minute, victims and wounded were also dying, even babies in incubators."

The Israeli military denies the siege of Al-Shifa after one of the senior Israeli military official issued a statement. The official stated that there wasn't any shooting or siege, and that the east side remained open.

On 12 November, the WHO lost contact with the hospital. The hospital director said that premature babies were in a 'precarious situation' and that they were transferred to an 'unhealthy location'. At this time, power was completely cut off in the hospital. Minister of Health Mai Al-Kalia stated that over 100 bodies were buried in the graveyard, however the medical teams were unable to make a mass grave in the courtyard due to the 'seriousness of the field situation.' She also added that 39 babies were at risk of death and that one baby died that morning due to lack of fuel.

Hamas officials had reported to Agence France-Presse that the cardiac ward was struck by Israeli air strikes, which was confirmed by witnesses but not by AFP.

Also on 12 November, Israel attempted to provide fuel to the hospital, which was blocked by Hamas.

On 13 November, about 50 people tried to evacuate from the hospital, but they said that Israeli forces fired at them, wounding one man.

15 November raid

Just after midnight on 15 November, Israeli forces informed officials that they would shortly be raiding the hospital. Hospital staff reported sounds of clashes from outside the grounds, and Israel reported killing several Hamas militants outside of the grounds.

Following the raid, Israel stated that they had delivered supplies to the hospital, including incubators, medical supplies and baby food, although hospital officials, activists, and experts have said that there are already sufficient incubators; instead what is needed is power for the incubators. Reuters verified that a photo of boxes labelled as such was taken from inside the hospital. Israel also reported finding weapons and other "terror infrastructure" within the hospital; "concrete evidence", they said, of Hamas using the hospital as a "terror headquarter". According to the BBC, an Israeli official said that Israel had found weapons and terror infrastructure but did not immediately provide evidence.

According to a journalist inside the hospital, Israel was interrogating people within the hospital on Wednesday morning, including doctors and patients. According to a witness, Israeli forces fired a smoke bomb into the hospital that "caused people to suffocate", while a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry said "The occupation army is now in the basement and searching the basement. They are inside the complex, shooting and carrying out bombings."

The decision to directly raid the hospital lead to widespread criticism from "governments, United Nations agencies and other aid organisations".

Claims of military use

There have been allegations that Hamas has been using the Al-Shifa Hospital for military purposes. Izzat al-Risheq, a Hamas official, denied allegations that the group was using Shifa Hospital as a shield for its underground military structures, saying there was no truth to the claims. On 14 November, Associated Press stated Israel had provided no visual evidence for its claims.

On 14 November 2023, the U.S. National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, said that the United States had its own intelligence sources indicating that Al Shifa hospital was being used by Hamas to run military operations and store weapons, which constitutes a war crime.

Al-Shifa staff had appealed to the international community to send international delegations to the hospital to see that no military actions were taking place in the hospital.

Israeli release of "evidence"

Following the release of Israeli claims they had found weapons at the hospital, political analyst Marwan Bishara stated, "It's kind of baffling. Why would Hamas leave the guns and not anything else?" Bishara added that Israel "doesn't have anything to show as justification for the genocide that they've carried out against Gaza and for the bombings of the hospitals and other facilities and for the collective punishments." Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East analyst, stated, "Israeli forces have invaded Shifa Hospital and been inside it for 12 full hours – having refused any independent party to accompany them – and now we’re supposed to believe that there were Hamas militants in there being pursued by the Israeli military but they somehow left their weapons behind? The fact of the matter is, 40 days into this war, their main achievement is raising the Israeli flag over a hospital which I think, to any serious military analyst, is laughable."

Impact and casualties

The situation at al-Shifa Hospital is part of a serious healthcare crisis in Gaza. The hospital is rapidly running out of electricity, food and medical supplies. The last generator ran out of fuel, killing three premature babies and four other patients. Another 36 children are at risk of death. According to a doctor at the hospital quoted in a November 15 BBC article, six premature infants have died, as has a critically ill adult burn victim. The doctor attributes these deaths to a lack of fuel for incubators, oxygen, and other essential medical equipment.

The blockade has resulted in a humanitarian disaster, with numerous Palestinians seeking refuge in medical facilities. The toll on civilians, particularly children, has been extensive, with almost half of Gaza’s hospitals shutting down due to acute fuel scarcity. The hospital has had to provide makeshift housing, and the absence of clean water and sanitation services is exacerbating the transmission of infectious diseases.

Amidst the siege, Hamas suspended hostage negotiations due to Israel's takeover of Al-Shifa Hospital and heavy fire as Israeli forces approached the facility.

Gaza officials said an airstrike destroyed the hospital's cardiac ward, while a power cut shut down the neonatal unit's incubators where around 40 children were hosted and ventilators for others receiving urgent care. By November 12, two critically ill patients in the ICU had died because of a lack of electricity and oxygen.

Reactions

Government

China has described the struggling hospital as a manifestation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai al-Kaila, described Israeli actions as a "crime against humanity." Joe Biden stated Gaza's hospitals "must be protected." Justin Trudeau stated, "Even wars have rules... I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint... The world is witnessing this, the killing of women and children, of babies. This has to stop." Ayman Safadi, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned the attack, stating, it was a "violation of international humanitarian law, especially the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War." Qatari foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, stated the siege was a "war crime and a blatant violation of international laws."

Media

Antony Loewenstein noted Israel has a long history of "deliberately targeting medical facilities in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza," and that IDF claims about military facilities needed to be "treated with deep scepticism." Palestinian analyst Thabet Al-Amour stated, "This is madness, absolute madness… It's a hospital."

Organizations

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that Al-Shifa Hospital is without electricity, putting patients, including children, at risk of death. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media that al-Shifa had been without water for three days and was "no longer functioning as a hospital". Doctors Without Borders reported that an ambulance and the patients inside were attacked near the hospital. A spokesman for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement stated, "I cannot even imagine … the panic among the patients, the panic among doctors and nurses. What they're through is really something that is unbelievable."

A group of Israeli doctors, known as Doctors for the Rights of Israeli Soldiers, has signed a statement advocating the bombing of Al-Shifa hospital. The statement was publicly signed by dozens of Israeli doctors and was widely shared on various social media platforms. The doctors claimed that it was Israel's "legitimate right" to bomb al-Shifa hospital because it served as a base for "Palestinian armed groups". Alice Rothchild, the director of Jewish Voice for Peace, stated noted Israel's lack of hard evidence of military operations at al-Shifa, stating, "Israeli sources have a long history of not being very accurate."

See also

• Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion
• Attacks on health facilities during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

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• Current events from November 2023
• November 2023 events in Asia
• Military operations of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
• 2023 in military history
• Conflicts in 2023
• Health disasters in the Middle East
• Attacks on hospitals
• History of Gaza City
• 2023 in the Gaza Strip
• 2023 in Israel