Israel and Hamas battle outside Shifa hospital where US claims terrorist gunmen are sheltering in underground command centre as Palestinian authorities call for ceasefire to evacuate trapped civilians
- UN estimates at least 2,300 patients, staff and displaced civilians are inside
Israel and Hamas are battling outside the Shifa hospital where US intelligence sources claim terrorist gunmen are sheltering in an underground command centre.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad ‘operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City,’ the White House’s National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, citing US intelligence sources.
‘They have stored weapons there and they’re prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility.’
The US statement comes as pressure ramps up on Israel over its blockade of the sprawling Al-Shifa compound, where doctors say patients and people seeking shelter are stranded in horrific conditions.
Hamas-run Palestinian authorities have today called for a ceasefire to evacuate three dozen newborns and other patients trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israeli forces battled Hamas in the streets just outside and seized more ground across northern Gaza.
The United Nations estimates that at least 2,300 people – patients, staff and displaced civilians – are inside and may be unable to escape because of fierce fighting from the facility where supplies are nearly exhausted.
The Israeli army has encircled Al-Shifa hospital because it believes Hamas is hiding inside and underneath the facility, using civilians as shields for their main command base.
But hospital staff as well as the terror group itself deny the claim.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad ‘operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City,’ the White House ‘s National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, citing US intelligence sources
The US statement comes as pressure ramps up on Israel over its blockade of the sprawling Al-Shifa compound, where doctors say patients and people seeking shelter are stranded in horrific conditions
Hamas-run Palestinian authorities have today called for a ceasefire to evacuate three dozen newborns and other patients trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israeli forces battled Hamas in the streets just outside and seized more ground across northern Gaza
READ MORE: Gaza’s biggest hospital has almost 180 people buried in mass grave as Hamas-run health ministry refuses Israeli offer to evacuate babies
Supplies in the hospital are dwindling and there is no electricity to run incubators and other life-saving equipment. With refrigeration out for days, morgue staff dug a mass grave in the yard for more than 120 bodies today, officials said.
At Al-Shifa, doctors said patients and people taking shelter were stranded in horrific conditions in the facility.
‘There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,’ said Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya, adding that 179 bodies had been interred so far.
‘We were forced to bury them in a mass grave,’ he said, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those who had died after fuel for the hospital’s generator ran out.
A witness said the stench of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the Gaza City facility as bombardment and gunfire echoed constantly in the area.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says Israel’s relentless assault has killed 11,320 people, also mostly civilians, including thousands of children.
Al-Shifa’s fate has become a major focus of the more than five week war, which started after the deadly Hamas of October 7, which killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and saw 240 hostages being taken to Gaza.
The United Nations estimates that at least 2,300 people – patients, staff and displaced civilians – are inside and may be unable to escape because of fierce fighting from the facility where supplies are nearly exhausted
The Israeli army has encircled Al-Shifa hospital because it believes Hamas is hiding inside and underneath the facility, using civilians as shields for their main command base
Supplies in the hospital are dwindling and there is no electricity to run incubators and other life-saving equipment. With refrigeration out for days, morgue staff dug a mass grave in the yard for more than 120 bodies today, officials said
At Al-Shifa, doctors said patients and people taking shelter were stranded in horrific conditions in the facility
‘There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,’ said Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya, adding that 179 bodies had been interred so far
Newborns are placed in bed after being taken off incubators in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital after power outage on November 12
Israel insists it must protect citizens after the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history. But Israel’s critics point to the toll of a blockade and near-relentless bombing campaign on long-suffering civilians in Gaza.
The standoff at Shifa and other hospitals comes as Israeli forces control larger swaths of Gaza City and the surrounding northern part of the Gaza Strip, saying they are driving out and killing Hamas fighters.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said in a nationally televised press conference Tuesday night that Hamas has ‘lost control’ of northern Gaza and that Israel has made significant gains in Gaza City.
But asked about the timeframe for the war, Gallant said: ‘We’re talking about long months, not a day or two.’
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas rule in Gaza after the militants’ October 7 attack into Israel, but even as its troops control more of a devastated north Gaza, the Israeli government has acknowledged it doesn’t know what it will do with the territory after Hamas’ defeat.
The onslaught – one of the most intense bombardments so far this century – has been disastrous for Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
More than 11,200 people, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says Israel’s relentless assault has killed 11,320 people, also mostly civilians, including thousands of children
A witness said the stench of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the Gaza City facility as bombardment and gunfire echoed constantly in the area
Premature babies under treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit of Al-Shifa hospital were removed from the incubators and transferred to another department in the hospital
Israel insists it must protect citizens after the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history. But Israel’s critics point to the toll of a blockade and near-relentless bombing campaign on long-suffering civilians in Gaza
The standoff at Shifa and other hospitals comes as Israeli forces control larger swaths of Gaza City and the surrounding northern part of the Gaza Strip, saying they are driving out and killing Hamas fighters
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said in a nationally televised press conference Tuesday night that Hamas has ‘lost control’ of northern Gaza and that Israel has made significant gains in Gaza City
About 2,700 people have been reported missing. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.
Almost the entire population of Gaza has squeezed into the southern two-thirds of the tiny territory, where conditions have been deteriorating even as bombardment there continues.
About 200,000 fled the north in recent days, the U.N. said Tuesday, but tens of thousands are believed to remain.
READ MORE: Israel has ‘no proof of life’ for hostages seized by Hamas in October 7 attacks, foreign minister declares, claiming the Red Cross has not been able to meet any of terror group’s captives
Hamas released a video late Monday showing one of the hostages, 19-year-old Noa Marciano, before and after she was killed in what Hamas said was an Israeli strike. The military later declared her a fallen soldier, without identifying a cause of death.
She is the first hostage confirmed to have died in captivity. Four were released by Hamas and a fifth was rescued by Israeli forces.
Fighting has raged for days around Shifa Hospital, a complex several city blocks across at the center of Gaza City that has now ‘turned into a cemetery,’ its director said in a statement.
The Health Ministry said 40 patients, including three babies, have died since Shifa’s emergency generator ran out of fuel Saturday. Another 36 babies are at risk of dying because there is no power for incubators, according to the ministry.
The Israeli military said it had started an effort to transfer incubators to Shifa. But they would be useless without electricity, said Christian Lindmeier, a World Health Organisation spokesman.
The Health Ministry has proposed evacuating the hospital with the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross and transferring the patients to hospitals in Egypt, but has not received any response, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.
While Israel says it is willing to allow staff and patients to evacuate, some Palestinians who have made it out say Israeli forces have fired at evacuees.
Israel says its claims of a Hamas command center in and beneath Shifa are based on intelligence but has not provided visual evidence to support them.
Denying the claims, the Gaza Health Ministry says it has invited international organizations to investigate the facility.
The onslaught – one of the most intense bombardments so far this century – has been disastrous for Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians
More than 11,200 people, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah. About 2,700 people have been reported missing
Almost the entire population of Gaza has squeezed into the southern two-thirds of the tiny territory, where conditions have been deteriorating even as bombardment there continues
About 200,000 fled the north in recent days, the U.N. said Tuesday, but tens of thousands are believed to remain
Fighting has raged for days around Shifa Hospital, a complex several city blocks across at the center of Gaza City that has now ‘turned into a cemetery,’ its director said in a statement
The Health Ministry said 40 patients, including three babies, have died since Shifa’s emergency generator ran out of fuel Saturday. Another 36 babies are at risk of dying because there is no power for incubators, according to the ministry
The White House’s national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said the U.S. has unspecified intelligence from a variety of sources that Hamas and another Palestinian militants use Shifa and other hospitals and tunnels underneath them to hide and support military operations and hold hostages
The White House’s national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said the U.S. has unspecified intelligence from a variety of sources that Hamas and another Palestinian militants use Shifa and other hospitals and tunnels underneath them to hide and support military operations and hold hostages.
But Kirby said the U.S. doesn’t support airstrikes on hospitals and does not want to see ‘a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care that they deserve.’
On Monday, the military released footage of a children’s hospital in Gaza City that its forces entered over the weekend, showing weapons it said it found inside, as well as basement rooms where it believes militants were holding hostages.
The video showed what appeared to be a hastily installed toilet and ventilation system in the basement.
The Health Ministry rejected the allegations, saying the area had been turned into a shelter for displaced people.
Independent accounts of the fighting in Gaza City have been nearly impossible to gather, as communications to the north have largely collapsed.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces have completed the takeover of Shati refugee camp, a densely built district bordering Gaza CIty’s center, and are moving about freely in the city as a whole.
Independent accounts of the fighting in Gaza City have been nearly impossible to gather, as communications to the north have largely collapsed
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces have completed the takeover of Shati refugee camp, a densely built district bordering Gaza CIty’s center, and are moving about freely in the city as a whole
Israel says it has killed several thousand fighters, including important mid-level commanders, while 46 of its own soldiers have been killed in Gaza
In recent days Hamas rocket fire into Israel – constant throughout the war – has waned
Details of the Israeli account and the extent of Hamas losses could not be independently confirmed
Palestinians injured in Israeli raids arrive at Nasser Medical Hospital on November 14
Videos released by the Israeli military show troops moving through the city, firing into buildings. Bulldozers push down structures as tanks roll through streets surrounded by partially collapsed towers.
The videos portray a battle where troops are rooting out pockets of Hamas fighters and tearing down buildings they find them in, while gradually dismantling the group’s tunnel network.
Israel says it has killed several thousand fighters, including important mid-level commanders, while 46 of its own soldiers have been killed in Gaza.
In recent days Hamas rocket fire into Israel – constant throughout the war – has waned. Details of the Israeli account and the extent of Hamas losses could not be independently confirmed.
READ MORE: IDF prepare to storm Hamas terror tunnels: How Israeli troops now face the most dangerous stage of the ground invasion as they enter booby-trapped Gaza passages where terrorists lie in wait
One Israeli commander in Gaza, identified only as Lt. Col. Gilad, said in a video that his forces near Shifa Hospital had seized government buildings, schools and residential buildings where they found weapons and eliminated fighters.
The army said it had captured Gaza’s legislature building, the Hamas police headquarters and a compound housing Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters. The captured buildings carry high symbolic value, but their strategic value was unclear. Hamas fighters are believed to be positioned in underground bunkers.
Israeli news sites showed pictures of soldiers holding up the Israeli flag and military flags in celebration inside some of the buildings.
Israel has urged civilians in the north to flee south, but southern Gaza is not much safer. Israel carries out frequent airstrikes throughout Gaza, hitting what it says are militant targets but often killing women and children.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians, more than two thirds of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes. U.N.-run shelters in the south are severely overcrowded.
People stand in line for hours for scarce bread and brackish water. Trash is piling up, sewage is flooding the streets and taps run dry because there is no way to power water systems. Israel has barred fuel imports since the start of the war, saying Hamas would use it for military purposes.
At a tent camp outside a hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, people trudged through mud as they stretched plastic tarps over flimsy tents.
‘All of these tents collapsed because of the rain,’ said Iqbal Abu Saud, who had fled Gaza City with 30 of her relatives. ‘How many days will we have to deal with this?’
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, which is struggling to provide basic services to over 600,000 people sheltering in schools and other facilities in the south, said it may run out of fuel by Wednesday, forcing it to halt most aid operations, including bringing limited supplies of food and medicine in from Egypt.
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