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SvennoJ on 21 March 2024
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Israeli army responsible for deaths of 13 patients at al-Shifa: Gaza media office

The media office in Gaza has given an update on the Israeli siege at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Here is a summary of translated comments:

  • Thirteen patients died at the facility after the Israeli army deprived them of medicine, oxygen, and food.
  • Of the 13, four people on ventilators in intensive care died after Israeli troops cut off the electricity supply at the hospital.
  • In addition to arresting doctors and nurses and removing them, medical staff were forced to take off their clothes and prevented from entering patients’ rooms to try to save them.
  • “We hold the American administration, the international community, and the Israeli occupation fully responsible for these ongoing crimes against the sick, the wounded, medical teams, and our Palestinian people for the sixth month in a row,” a statement said.

Many Palestinians ‘executed extrajudicially’ at al-Shifa Hospital: Rights group

The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor says what the Israeli military is doing at the al-Shifa Hospital and surrounding areas in Gaza “reflects a pattern of systemic violence”. The group noted that Israeli forces are detaining medical staff, including doctors and nurses, inside the hospital in Gaza City and preventing them from providing lifesaving care.

“Patients are languishing without medical attention,” it said, adding it documented at least three such patient deaths. “The ongoing Israeli atrocities in al-Shifa Medical Complex have resulted in the deaths of over 200 Palestinians, including civilians. Many were deliberately killed or executed extrajudicially after arrest,” the rights organisation alleged.



Al-Shifa Hospital surrounded by Israeli military tanks

The majority of areas in the Gaza Strip have been attacked over the past few hours. There have been more attacks on Rafah, especially on agricultural lands. There is also ongoing bombardment in many parts of Gaza City … where confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters are continuing.

The entire al-Shifa Hospital complex is surrounded by Israeli military tanks, where hundreds of patients and displaced people are still trapped inside. According to Gaza’s government media office, patients have died because of a lack of medical treatment and care.

The Israeli soldiers have blown up an important building inside al-Shifa Hospital, which was used for carrying out specialised surgeries.

WHO loses contact with al-Shifa Hospital staff amid Israeli raid

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says on X that the UN’s World Health Organization and its partners have not been in touch with health personnel at al-Shifa Hospital since the Israeli raid on the facility, now in its fourth day, began.

“We are seeking information on the patients’ condition and if they are receiving needed care,” he said. “Accessing Al-Shifa is now impossible, and there are reports of health workers being arrested and detained.


“We repeat once again: hospitals are not battlegrounds. They must be protected in line with international humanitarian law.”



Hamas disputes Israeli claims on al-Shifa Hospital raid

A Hamas security official, in comments to Al Jazeera, has said that a collection of photos published by the Israeli army that purports to show hundreds of detainees arrested during Israel’s ongoing raid on the Gaza City hospital is inaccurate.

Here is a summary of what the Hamas security official said:

  • The list of photos of detainees at al-Shifa Hospital issued by the occupation army spokesman is inaccurate.
  • A number of the photos on the list belong to people currently outside Gaza and other pictures are of martyrs.
  • Three of the photos in the list belong to doctors previously released by the occupation.
  • There is no truth to what was published by the Israeli media regarding the arrest of dozens of resistance leaders in al-Shifa Hospital.
  • What is published in the Israeli media is inaccurate and falls within the psychological and moral war against the resistance in Gaza.



Translation: Further to the update of the [Israeli army] spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hagari, a photo of some of the 358 terrorists who were arrested at al-Shifa Hospital by the [Israeli army] and Shin Bet is attached.

Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s healthcare facilities

The Israeli army’s raid on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is now in its fourth day. According to the army, the raid has killed more than 140 and led to 600 arrests. But this attack isn’t Israel’s first on a medical centre in the Gaza Strip.

Our team put together this graphic showing the scale of Israel’s assault on the strip’s healthcare sector: