During the Israeli military’s invasion of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, several doctors and nurses were kept in one room with little water or food. Some medical workers were blindfolded and handcuffed during operations and were unable to provide adequate care to patients.
Taysir al-Tanna, a vascular surgeon, said Israeli forces gathered doctors in the emergency room. “The Israeli military did not treat us with violence. But we had almost no food and water,” he told reporters. New York Times (NYT).
Witnesses who managed to escape after the Israeli operation began described an atmosphere of panic in the hospital, a pile-up of bodies, shortages of medicine and the detention of people on suspicion of links to Hamas.
Medical workers stress that the situation at the medical complex, where patients die daily due to lack of adequate treatment, has worsened since the entry of Israeli soldiers.
Some men were captured, stripped naked and interrogated, for which they were separated from women and children, witnesses said.
“The situation is very bad,” said Mohammed Haddad, 25, who lives about half a mile from the hospital. “We can’t go out and walk for more than five days. We can’t get water or food. And we are in Ramadan,” he explained, referring to the Muslim holy month of fasting. .
According to Gaza’s health ministry, some 30,000 Palestinians have taken refuge in al-Shifa since the war began on October 7, and many have had to flee again since the Israeli military invasion began.
On Saturday, the Hamas press office said Israeli soldiers had threatened medical staff and people sheltering at the hospital, saying they would face interrogation, torture or execution if they remained there.
The military operation on Al-Shifa Hospital, one of Israel’s longest attacks on hospitals during the Gaza war, began last Monday with the use of tanks, bulldozers and airstrikes. The Israeli military said the aim was to attack senior Hamas officials.
Evidence examined New York Times It is believed that Hamas used the hospital as a hideout, stored weapons inside it and maintained a secure tunnel under the complex that was supplied with water, electricity and air conditioning. According to US authorities, the Islamic group also used the hospital building to hide hostages.