Resistance denies US claim of Gaza hospitals used as operation centers
3 Min Read
Palestinian Resistance factions say the US statements give a green light to the Israeli occupation to commit further brutal massacres targeting hospitals.
-
A picture shows a view of the exterior of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 10, 2023. (AFP)
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement warned on Tuesday of the US administration adopting Israeli occupation's lies regarding the use of hospitals by the Palestinian Resistance as operation centers.
The PIJ stated that this development greenlights Israeli crimes against hospitals, denying the claims made by the White House and the Pentagon on this matter.
Hamas also expressed its rejection of Washington's statements regarding the movement allegedly using hospitals to hide captive Israeli occupation soldiers or as command and control centers.
"These statements give a green light to the Israeli occupation to commit further brutal massacres targeting hospitals, with the goal of destroying Gaza's healthcare system and displacing Palestinians," the movement said in a statement issued in English.
Hamas reiterated its call for the United Nations to establish an international committee to roam and inspect all hospitals to verify the falsehood of the fabrications of "Israel" and the United States.
"The United States bears direct responsibility for enabling Israel's genocidal war on Gaza," the statement read.
Similarly, the Palestinian Mujahideen movement indicated that the US administration is paving the way for the Israeli occupation to commit more massacres against patients and injured Gazans. pointing out that Washington is complicit in the shelling and targeting of hospitals by adopting the occupation's false narrative.
The statements came soon after US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby claimed that Palestinian Resistance factions had a "command and control node" at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
"We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages," he told reporters during a briefing.
"They have stored weapons there and they're prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility," he added.
In the same context, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, said that Israeli occupation military vehicles surrounded the al-Shifa Medical Complex from all directions amid continuous artillery shelling and intense gunfire.
Al-Qudra pointed out that al-Shifa has been under Israeli siege for the fifth consecutive day, noting that Israeli snipers target anyone attempting to leave the complex.
The spokesperson highlighted that the al-Shifa complex houses approximately 10,000 people, including displaced Gazans who remain without protection and limited access to food and water. He mentioned that the bodies of 100 Palestinian martyrs have been buried in the medical complex's courtyard after their corpses decomposed.
According to al-Qudra, only al-Ahli Baptist Hospital and al-Awda Hospital are operational but with limited capabilities, and both are on the verge of going out of order due to fuel depletion.
The New York Times reported that evidence suggests that Israeli occupation targeted al-Shifa Hospital last Friday. The newspaper said pictures of weapons fragments analyzed by experts show that at least three of the projectiles that struck the hospital "appear to have been Israeli munitions."
It cited the experts as saying that the shell that hit al-Shifa Hospital's courtyard "was from an Israeli illumination round that is fired to identify targets at night."
Read more: IOF claims on Al-Rantisi Hospital debunked, dubbed 'stupid charade'
