Israel says Hamas fighters using hospitals in the enclave to conceal their operations

 Fourteen hospitals in the enclave — including 10 in the densely populated area of Gaza City — are no longer operating, according to the WHO arm working in the Palestinian territories

Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Rafah on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023.: AP/PTI

Isabel Kershner, NYTS, New York, 07.11.23 : Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Rafah on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023.

The World Health Organisation said on Sunday that it had documented more than 100 attacks on the health care system in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli military said Hamas fighters were using two additional hospitals in the enclave to conceal their operations.

Fourteen hospitals in the enclave — including 10 in the densely populated area of Gaza City — are no longer operating, according to the WHO arm working in the Palestinian territories. The WHO called for “active protection of civilians and health care”, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Israeli officials continued to insist on Sunday that Hamas was using health centres in the area as human shields. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, said Hamas was “cynically” and “systematically” exploiting medical facilities.

A little more than a week after Israeli officials said they had identified Al Shifa, Gaza’s largest and most advanced hospital, as being used by Hamas for underground command and control centres, Hagari presented what he said was evidence that the armed group was using two others — Sheikh Hamad, north of Gaza City, and Indonesian, in northern Gaza — essentially as cover.

Hagari presented images and videos of what he said was the opening to a Hamas tunnel under Sheikh Hamad Hospital and assailants opening fire on Israeli ground forces from within the hospital. He also said there was an underground Hamas command and control centre under Indonesian Hospital, and showed aerial images of what he said were rocket launchpads about 80 yards from its grounds. Hamas placed them there, he said, knowing that any airstrike against the launchpads would damage the hospital.

The images could not be independently verified. Hagari said that Israel had shared them with “other agencies”.

In making the earlier accusations about Al Shifa, Hagari had presented an illustrated map of that hospital and, citing intelligence sources that he did not release, described areas of the complex and underground installations that he said were used as Hamas command centres. Hamas officials denied the accusation at the time, saying that Israel had failed to provide any evidence.

Israeli and Palestinian claims and counterclaims about the hospitals have become a flashpoint in the war, not least because many of the facilities have become refugees for displaced Palestinians in Gaza who believe they are safer than other alternatives.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society, an independent aid group, said Sunday that Israel was continuing to bombard the area around Al-Quds Hospital in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of southern Gaza City. Israel has not publicly identified that hospital, which is run by the Red Crescent group, as harbouring Hamas military infrastructure.

Red Crescent said Israeli forces had intensified their attacks on the hospital’s vicinity, where it said that artillery and aerial bombardments “from all directions” over the past week had injured 47 displaced people sheltering in the hospital as well as two patients in its intensive care unit.

On Saturday, a strike hit near the entrance of the hospital’s emergency room, according to the group. A surgeon, Dr Nabil al-Shawa, said 21 people had been wounded.

About 14,000 displaced people have been sheltering at the hospital in recent days, and another 500 were being treated there, the aid society said, adding that the bombardment had caused significant damage to the hospital’s critical care unit and water supply lines.

The WHO said in a statement on Saturday that an attack was reported near the Indonesian Hospital, but it did not provide details.

The WHO’s statement condemned attacks near Al-Quds Hospital and an Israeli airstrike on Friday that hit near the entrance of Al Shifa Hospital and, according to Gaza and Israeli officials, killed multiple people. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said the strike came as a convoy of ambulances trying to carry wounded people to the Gaza border was returning to the hospital. The convoy, the group said, had turned back after reaching a crater on its southbound road.