Israel steps up attacks on Gaza's hospitals

The Israeli army has ramped up its indiscriminate attacks on hospitals and surrounding areas where displaced Palestinians are seeking refuge, as it maintains its intensive shelling of the Gaza Strip.

The attacks have left more than 32,000 Palestinians dead and over 74,000 injured, including women and children, since 7 October, 2023. Schools, mosques, churches and historical-cultural sites have also been destroyed during raids.

One of the primary targets is Al-Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza, which serves as the largest healthcare centre in the area.

The Israeli army raided the hospital, which houses thousands of ill and wounded patients, as well as displaced residents, on 18 March.

More than 800 Palestinians were detained and interrogated since then and over 170 have been reported killed, including 13 intensive care patients who were left without lifesaving care and equipment.

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Eyewitnesses report that Israeli tanks pounded the upper floors of Al-Shifa Hospital, causing significant damage.

Speaking to an Anadolu reporter, 45-year-old Palestinian Imad Murshid noted that the Israeli army bombed Al-Shifa Hospital and set some parts of it on fire, stressing that the streets around the hospital were full of the bodies of those who were killed in the week-long attacks.

“The people inside were either killed or detained and taken to an unknown place,” Murshid added.

Israeli occupation forces also besieged the Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in southern Gaza.

Reports indicate that communication with staff at Al-Amal Hospital has been cut off, and Israeli drones have called for everyone inside to walk out of the premises naked, threatening further escalation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israel threw smoke bombs at Al-Amal Hospital to force medical teams, patients and those who were forcibly displaced out of the building.

The attacks on hospitals and their surroundings have generated numerous casualties, forced displacements, and a dire situation where patients battle to access necessary medical care.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder has said that 12 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are now only partially operational.

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