The IDF operates at al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital

The Israeli military announced this Monday that it is conducting an operation on al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, where there are “thousand dozen” Witnesses at the scene, displaced according to Hamas, confirmed to AFP that they heard the bombings. Israeli soldiers “Currently conducting a targeted operation in the area of ​​Al-Shifa Hospital” in Gaza City (north), reported an Israeli military press release on Monday morning, which added “The operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by high-level Hamas terrorists”.

At the site, witnesses confirmed to AFP “Air Operations” The people are said to have fallen in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City where the health facility is located “Shrapnel”. The surrounding residents claimed “Over 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” entered Al-Rimal. Some even report “fights” around the hospital. The Israeli army addresses residents through loudspeakers, asking them to stay home “Drone shoots people on streets near hospital”According to witnesses at the site visited by AFP.

The press service of the government of the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas confirmed that Al-Shifa Hospital “bombing”By clarifying that “Thousands of people displaced” were in the building. “Attacking Al-Shifa Medical Complex with tanks, drones and weapons and firing inside it is a war crime”Added the same source.

Rafah invasion “will happen”

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas due to bloody attacks by this Palestinian terrorist movement, the Israeli army has accused Hamas of using health facilities as command centers. Israeli forces entered Al-Shifa Hospital before withdrawing on 15 November. She was found there “Arms, Weapons and Military Equipment” of Hamas, which the movement rejected. Israel also said it had discovered a 55-meter-long tunnel under the installation, which had been used “For Terrorism”.

Also readThe Hamas-Israel conflict: why the law of war, in rare cases, permits an attack on a hospital

The hospital is no longer functioningminimum And with a small team. Less than a third of hospitals in the Gaza Strip are functioning, and only partially, according to the UN. In the besieged coastal region, the human toll in the war between Israel and Hamas continues to rise, with 31,645 people killed since October 7, according to Hamas’ health ministry. That day, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, killing at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally from official sources.

About 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still being held in Gaza, of whom 33 are believed to be dead, including a 22-year-old soldier, whose death was announced by the Israeli army on Sunday. In retaliation, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. Most of the 1.7 million people displaced by the war, according to the UN, have taken refuge in the city of Rafah (south), located on the closed border with Egypt and bombarded daily by the Israeli army.

While reaffirming its determination to launch a ground military offensive in Rafah, “Hamas’ Last Bastion” According to Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu assured on Sunday that such an operation would not be carried out “locking down the population in place”. The international community fears the possibility of such an attack. Washington, Israel’s main ally, reiterated its opposition to any attack in Rafah that would endanger refugee civilians there. “No international pressure will stop us from achieving all our war objectives (…) We will take action in Rafah, it will take a few weeks but it will happen”According to his services, Benjamin Netanyahu declared.

“Let the Bomb Go Off”

Palestinians “It takes a bomb to stop”, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on Sunday. residents “Food, medicine and shelter are desperately needed”, he added. Israel controls the entry of land aid into Gaza, which remains woefully inadequate considering the overwhelming needs of the 2.4 million residents, most of whom are at risk of famine, according to the UN.

According to the NGO Oxfam, Israel prevents “deliberately” The entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, whether food or medical equipment, in violation of international humanitarian law. In a report published on Monday, the NGO condemned the aid monitoring protocol “unreasonably ineffective” or else “Attacks against humanitarian personnel, aid structures and humanitarian convoys”.

Also read“We refuse to give terrorists the means to continue their war on us”: hard-line Israelis trying to block humanitarian aid to Gaza

Mediator countries – the United States, Qatar, Egypt – are trying to reach a new ceasefire after a week in late November. Netanyahu says he will not accept the deal “which makes Israel weak and unable to defend itself”. Hamas said it was open to a new proposal for a six-week ceasefire, during which 42 hostages – women, children, the elderly and the sick – would be released in exchange for 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners for each hostage. It is also demanding “Withdrawal of troops from towns and populated areas”The “Return of the Displaced” And 500 aid trucks enter Gaza daily, according to one of its executives.