REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
UPDATED: Originally posted a Press TV report that Shifa hospital was ordered to evacuate which I am now told by multiple sources is false [however, there certainly has been Zionist incitement to attack the hospital, but apparently not an official evacuation order, as per Wafa]
Press TV:
…Israeli warplanes and tanks bombed several hospitals across the besieged region over the past few days.
The third floor of the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah was hit by Israeli tank fire on Monday. Palestinian officials say at least five people were killed and dozens wounded in the incident in central Gaza, among them medical staff.
Also on Friday, a hospital in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip was struck by Israeli artillery shells.
Senior Palestinian officials have described the multiple attacks as a “brazen violation of international norms.”
Medical workers are now raising the alarm over a humanitarian crisis in Gaza where hospitals are running low on basic medical supplies.
According to figures provided by emergency services, the total number of people killed since the Israeli offensive on July 8 stands at nearly 655. More than 4,200 people have been injured in the attacks.
Fresh Israeli attacks have killed more than two dozen Palestinians, with almost half of them killed due to tank shelling in Khan Yunis. The victims include a journalist who died in an attack on his house in Gaza’s Shojaiya neighborhood. Israeli jets have also bombed a mosque and Gaza’s power plant.“
If what Press TV reports is accurate, this is not to be taken lightly. Shifa is Gaza’s largest hospital and hosts the hundreds of Palestinians already injured by these criminals.
The Zionists have already bombed the Wafa hospital (for DISABLED patients, most of whom CANNOT MOVE of their own accord), and the al Aqsa hospital [see video of the damage] in central Gaza, killing 4 and injuring at least 70, according to al Akhbar:
“Israeli tank shells slammed into the third floor of Al-Aqsa hospital in the central Gaza Strip which housed an intensive care unit and operating theaters in Deir al-Balah, killing four people, among them doctors, Qudra said, indicating at least 70 people were wounded.
Other shells had fallen around the hospital, he added, with officials calling on the Red Cross to help evacuate patients.
a hospital.”
***
The Zionist criminals also bombed the al Quds hospital in 2009, with White Phophorous and conventional bombs, as well as gunning down fleeing Palestinians on the hospital’s steps. In 2009, they also bombed the same Wafa hospital, including with White Phosphorous, and they targeted and killed 16 medics/rescuers, including targeting one medic’s ambulance with a dart (flechette) shell.
These are CRIMINALS, they have no conscience, they are hell-bent on murdering as many Palestinians as possible before they finally have to stop their sport. At the same time, they want to live up to prominent Zionists’ calls to bomb Gaza back to the Middle-Ages.
Nov 2012: The Flattening of Gaza:
“On Nov. 17, four days into Israel’s eight-day assault on the Gaza Strip, deputy Israeli Prime Minister Eli Yishai publicly called for the Israeli army to “blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages, destroying all the infrastructure including roads and water”.
The following day, Gilad Sharon, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called for Israel to “flatten entire neighbourhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing”, adding, “there is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip.””
[see also: Israeli Interior Minister: “The Goal of the Operation Is to Send Gaza Back to the Middle Ages”, “Destroying All the Infrastructure Including Roads and Water”]
***
Israeli military destroyed el-Wafa hospital even though it knew there were no weapons inside:
“The Israeli army targeted and destroyed the Gaza strip’s only rehabilitation hospital even though Israeli authorities said they did not believe weapons were inside of the facility. El-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital, which treats long-term injuries and physical disabilities, was heavily shelled Thursday evening causing an emergency evacuation of all staff and patients. El-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital treats long-term injuries and physical disabilities. All of the patients have some degree of paralysis, require around the clock care and many are on oxygen support and feeding tubes.
According to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) hospitals are protected sites. Article 19 of the Fourth Geneva Convention also states: “The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit…acts harmful to the enemy.” The Geneva Convention also requires “a reasonable time limit,” for allowing an evacuation. If a hospital is used to launch weapons, under IHL it can only be targeted when there is an imminent strike originating from the location. Even storing caches of weapons do not meet international law’s stringent threshold for firing on humanitarian sites.
Furthermore, on July 11, 2014 the army fired five missiles at el-Wafa, taking out part of the hospital’s fourth floor.”
‘Gaza hospitals are no longer safe’ :
“Dr Medhat Abbas from al-Aqsa Hospital says that nobody is safe in Gaza. “If you want to stay alive, stay far from children, because these are the declared targets of the Israeli army,” he says.”
Twenty-four European doctors denounce Israeli assault on Gaza:
“Wounded and sick people cannot leave easily to get specialized treatment outside Gaza. Entries of food and medicines into Gaza have been restricted and many essential items for survival are prohibited,” the group of 24 doctors from Italy, Britain and Norway wrote in The Lancet.
“Before the present assault, medical stock items in Gaza were already at an all time low because of the blockade. They have run out now.”
Along with reports of hospitals being shelled, there were also allegations of “threats to the medical personnel in emergency services and denial of entry for international humanitarian convoys,” wrote the group.
“We as scientists and doctors cannot keep silent while this crime against humanity continues.”
They urged others in the medical fraternity to speak out, and expressed dismay that “only five percent of our Israeli academic colleagues signed an appeal to their government to stop the military operation against Gaza.
“We are tempted to conclude that with the exception of this five percent, the rest of the Israeli academics are complicit in the massacre and destruction of Gaza.”Filed under: Zionists attacks on Gaza, Zionsts wars on Gaza
