Again, Israeli attacks hit hospitals in northern Gaza, which are still damaged from previous attacks

Their purpose was to aid in the recovery of individuals. But once more, Israeli troops are firing on and surrounding three hospitals in northern Gaza.

Israel is initiating a fresh assault on Hamas fighters it claims have gathered nearby, with bombs striking them forcefully. The war, which has targeted hospitals in a way uncommon in modern fighting, continues to haunt the staff as they diligently treat waves of injured people.

Israeli troops launched attacks and sieges on all three hospitals approximately a decade ago. While efforts to repair the damage to the Kamal Adwan, al-Awda, and Indonesian hospitals continue, they remain the only partially operational hospitals in the area.

In wars, medical facilities are often attacked, but the people involved generally say that it was an accident or an isolated case because hospitals are protected by international law. During its year-long operation in Gaza, Israel has stood out by attacking hospitals openly. It has besieged and raided at least 10 hospitals across the Gaza Strip, some more than once, and has also hit many others with airstrikes.

It has stated that destroying Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attacks is a military necessity. Hamas uses hospitals as “command and control bases” to plan strikes, hide fighters, and ensure the safety of hostages. It asserts that this deprives hospitals of their legal rights.

In an interview with The Associated Press in January, after the first round of hospital raids, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said of Hamas, “If we want to take down the military infrastructure in the north, we have to take down the philosophy of (using) the hospitals.”

Most notably, Israel twice raided Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, which is the largest medical center in the strip. They created a video animation that depicted the hospital as a significant Hamas base, although the validity of the evidence they used remains under scrutiny.

 

 

 

But the focus on Shifa has made raids on other sites less important. It took the AP months to gather reports on the raids on al-Awda, Indonesian, and Kamal Adwan Hospitals. They talked to more than thirty patients, witnesses, medical and humanitarian workers, and Israeli officials.

It found that Israel had not shown much or any proof of a strong Hamas presence in those situations. The AP gave the office of the Israeli military spokesman a dossier with a list of the events that the people it interviewed told them about. The office said it couldn’t say anything about individual events.

“A death sentence” at Al-Awda Hospital
There have been no claims by the Israeli forces that Hamas is present at al-Awda. When asked about the information that led troops to surround and raid the hospital last year, the military spokesman’s office did not respond.

Israeli troops’ fighting in the nearby Jabalia refugee camp has forced the hospital to close again in recent weeks, leaving parts of northern Gaza without access to food, water, or medical supplies. Last month, Mohammed Salha, the head of the facility, stated that the surrounding troops prevented the evacuation of six critically ill patients. He said that the staff only ate one meal a day, which was usually just some flat bread or rice.

As more war veterans came in, doctors were working hard to treat them even though they were tired. Doctors often have to amputate limbs broken by gunfire to save lives, as there are no neurosurgeons or vascular surgeons remaining north of Gaza City.

 

 

Salha said, “We are living the nightmares of November and December of last year all over again, but this time they are worse.” “We have less medicine and supplies, and we have less faith that something will be done to stop this.”

In response to a specific question about the al-Awda hospital, the military stated that they take all necessary precautions to prevent civilian injuries.

On November 21, 2018, as fighting raged around al-Awda, a shell exploded in the building’s operating room. Doctors Without Borders, an international charity, said it had told the Israeli military where to find Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, two other doctors, and a patient’s uncle. They all died almost quickly.

She said that she had to walk an hour to al-Awda to give birth because of her labor pains. Her mother-in-law, brother-in-law, who is 16, and she all raised white shirt flags. Her mother-in-law, Khatam Sharir, could not stop shouting, “Civilians!” A burst of gunshots killed Sharir just outside the gate.

Forces stormed the hospital on December 23, ordering men between the ages of 15 and 65 to undress and face interrogation in the courtyard. After soldiers cut off Mazen Khalidi’s infected right leg, he reported that nurses pleaded with them to allow him to rest, rather than accompany the handcuffed and blinded men outside. They said no, and he limped downstairs with his stump bleeding.

Khalidi said, “The shame scared me more than death.”

Israeli troops captured Ahmed Muhanna, the hospital’s manager, and no one knows where he is now. During the raid, Israeli troops also arrested Adnan al-Bursh, an orthopedist and one of Gaza’s best doctors, who died in Israeli prison in May.

Upon dismantling the November shelling, the staff discovered a message that Abu Nujaila had scrawled on a whiteboard several weeks prior.

It stated in English, “Anyone who stays until the end will tell the story.” “We did what we could.” “Remember us.”

Hagari, a military spokesman, said that hospitals “give the (Hamas) war system a life of its own.” He stated that tunnels connect hospitals and facilitate the movement of troops. “And they can’t move when you take it.” “Not from north to south.”

Despite searching numerous hospitals and asserting their connection to Hamas’ underground networks, the military has only discovered a single tunnel shaft that leads to Shifa’s grounds.

A U.N. investigation panel said last month in a report that “Israel has set up a coordinated plan to destroy Gaza’s health care system.” It said that what Israel did in hospitals was “collective punishment against the Palestinians in Gaza.”