Israel releases footage of airstrike that ‘killed’ Hamas leader who held 1,000 Gazans ‘hostage’ in a hospital and ‘used them as human shields’
- Ahmed Siam was the commander of the terror group’s al-Furqan Brigade
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Israel has released footage of an airstrike it claims has killed a Hamas commander who held 1,000 Gazans hostage in a hospital.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the leader of the al-Furqan Brigade, Ahmed Siam, had been hiding in the Al Buraq school alongside other terrorists.
Siam had held about a thousands Gazans hostage at the Al-Rantisi hospital in Gaza City and used them as ‘human shields’.
The IDF claimed to have killed Siam in a joint operation with the country’s intelligence agency Shin Bet at around noon on Friday.
Daniel Hagari, IDF spokesperson, wrote on X: ‘Ahmed Siam was killed when he hid in an “Alborak” school, where a number of Hamas terrorists who were under his command hid and were killed along with him.
‘Ahmed Siam is another example of the Hamas terrorist organisation’s cynical exploitation of the residents of the Gaza Strip and civilian facilities, as a human shield for the organisation’s terrorist needs.’
Israel Defence Forces said the leader of the al-Furqan Brigade, Ahmed Siam (pictured), had been hiding in the Al Buraq school alongside other terrorists
The IDF wrote on X: ‘Siam was a commander in Hamas’ Naser Radwan Company, and is another example of Hamas using civilians in Gaza as human shields for terrorist purposes.’
Palestinian officials said on Friday at least 25 Palestinians had been killed in an Israeli strike at the school, which was packed with evacuees.
Gaza’s hospitals have been under contact fire in recent days as intense fighting between Hamas and Israel’s military rages.
The IDF said it was ready to evacuate babies from the Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, where Palestinian officials said two newborns died and dozens more were at risk after fuel ran out amid intense fighting across the enclave.
Mr Hagari said the Israeli military would help evacuate babies, at the request of the staff.
The hospital has been forced to suspend operations after running out of fuel, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which has led to two newborn children, out of the 45 being treated there, dying.
On top of this, the roughly 500 people who have been forced to remain have been continuously bombarded for the past 24 hours, according to a senior doctor at the hospital.
Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the hospital’s director, told Al Jazeera that protecting patients was the priority.
‘We contacted the Red Cross and informed them we ran out of water, oxygen, fuel, and everything,’ Abu Salmiya said.
READ MORE: Israel’s military says it will help evacuate babies from Gaza’s largest hospital after Palestinian officials said two newborns died – as Netanyahu insists there will be no ceasefire before hostages are returned
‘The premature babies, patients of the intensive care, and even wounded people couldn’t survive with the lack of electricity.
‘If the occupation forces want to evacuate the wounded people to any place in the world that is safer than the Gaza Strip, we are not against that.’
He said that the hospital being forced to suspend operations after running out of fuel had deadly consequences
‘Medical devices stopped. Patients, especially those in intensive care, started to die,’ he said by phone, with gunfire and explosions in the background.
He accused Israeli troops of ‘shooting at anyone outside or inside the hospital’ and had prevented movement between buildings.
Israel’s military confirmed clashes outside the hospital, but Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari denied Al-Shifa was under siege.
Ahmed al-Mokhallalati, a senior plastic surgeon at Al-Shifa, told Reuters: ‘It’s totally a war zone. It’s a totally scary atmosphere here in the hospital.’
Médecins Sans Frontières staff are still working inside the hospital with a desperate text message from a nurse begging for someone to ‘please do something’ as ‘we are being killed here’.
The Al-Shifa hospital, the biggest in Gaza and where an estimated 60,000 people have taken refuge, along with the Rantisi children’s hospital and the Indonesian hospital all came under fire overnight, Hamas authorities said. Pictured: Smoke is seen rising over the hospital on November 8. A camp has been set up in the courtyard
A Palestinian girl wounded in Israeli strikes, waits at Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza City, November 9
A map showing the locations of the three hospitals that Hamas officials claimed were attacked by Israeli strikes
‘The situation in Al-Shifa is truly catastrophic. We call on the Israeli Government to cease this unrelenting assault on Gaza’s health system,’ said Ann Taylor, head of MSF in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
‘Our staff and patients are inside Al-Shifa hospital where the heavy bombing has not stopped since yesterday.’
The group, named Doctors Without Borders in English, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care.
Israel has denied targeting hospitals but its army has accused Hamas of using the medical facilities as command centres and hideouts, a charge the Palestinian militant group denies.
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