IOF tanks fire at Gaza's Al-Quds hospital: Palestine Red Crescent

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Nov 2023 19:18
2 Shares

IOF tanks have been encircling hospitals since yesterday, destroying civilian infrastructure and deliberately targeting places of sanctuary, such as schools and hospitals.

An injured Palestinian woman is wheeled into the al-Shifa hospital, following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023 (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Israeli tanks were reported to be firing at Al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which currently shelters thousands of displaced individuals.

"Israeli tanks are 20 meters [66 feet] away from Al-Quds Hospital. Direct shooting at the hospital, creating a state of extreme panic and fear among 14,000 displaced people," the PRCS wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Urgent: Israeli tanks and military vehicles surround Al-Quds hospital from all sides, with artillery shelling causing the building to shake. There is intense shooting at the hospital and the number of injuries is not yet known.#Gaza #AlQudsHospital #NotATarget pic.twitter.com/RQORg3JdG9
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 11, 2023

The Government Media Office in Gaza said that due to the ongoing violent bombardment, the Ministry of Health today was unable to accurately count the number of martyrs and wounded.

"Today is the day of the war on the Shifa Medical Complex, which is under heavy fire," The government media office added.

Al-Quds Hospital, located in the northern part of Gaza City, is almost completely out of service, as its intensive care unit is the only functional section in the hospital and it is also "threatened to stop [operating] within the [next few] hours," the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

IOF tanks have been encircling hospitals since yesterday, destroying civilian infrastructure and deliberately targeting places of sanctuary, such as schools and shelters.

This is a video of tanks outside the AL Rantisi Children's Hospital, medical staff and patients are trapped inside. Reports say there are snippers shooting at anyone moving in the area.

It is indiscriminate.

Ceasefire now
Sanctions now
The Hague nowpic.twitter.com/sX6LrChd8O
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) November 10, 2023

Al Shifa bombed with white phosphorus

Earlier in the day, Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai al-Kaila confirmed "Israel" bombed the al-Shifa Medical Complex, in Gaza, with internationally prohibited White Phosphorus.

The Minister also revealed that 39 children and infants who were administered to the intensive care unit are threatened with death in Al-Shifa Hospital as their oxygen supply is close to running out. Al-Kaila stressed that "patients in al-Shifa Complex are threatened with imminent death."

She also revealed that "20 out of 30 hospitals in [in the Gaza Strip] are completely inoperational."

The official highlighted the illegal bombing of hospitals in the Gaza Strip in "plain sight", saying that the circumstances that Gaza's health sector is facing have "never occurred in history."

MSF reports catastrophic situation

On another note, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stated in a thread posted on X that attacks on al-Shifa Hospital have "dramatically intensified" over the last few hours.

MSF warned that its staff at the hospital have reported a "catastrophic situation" inside the al-Shifa Hospital, located near Gaza City's coast.

The humanitarian medical organization said that contact with its staff in the hospital has been cut, expressing extreme concern "about the safety of patients" and "medical staff".

Patients are stuck inside the hospital, some in critical condition and "unable to move," MSF pointed out.

"There is a patient who needs surgery. There is a patient who's already asleep in our department. We cannot evacuate ourselves and [leave] these people inside. As a doctor. I swear to help the people who need help," MSF Surgeon in al-Shifa Dr. Mohammed Obeid said as quoted by MSF.

The organization "urgently" reiterated its calls "to stop the [Israeli] attacks against the hospitals and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff, and patients."

This morning, Gaza's Health Ministry spokesperson said operations were suspended at al-Shifa after it ran out of fuel completely.