‘Israel threatens to destroy Al-shifa Medical Complex with people inside’
Gaza media office said it received testimonies from inside the medical complex
Gaza City, Palestine - The Israeli army threatened to destroy the Al-shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza with medical teams and patients inside, media office in the enclave said on Saturday.
“We received testimonies from inside Al-shifa Medical Complex indicating that the Israeli occupation army threatened the medical staff and the displaced people sheltering there that it would destroy the hospital buildings with them inside,” Gaza media office said in a statement.
The army demanded that the Palestinians inside the hospital ‘head out for torture, investigation, and execution,” it added.
Israel first raided Al-shifa hospital, the largest medical facility in the territory that houses thousands of patients and displaced people, last November, arguing that Palestinian group Hamas used it as a command centre. The latest attack began on Monday.
The media office condemned the ‘organised crime’ that the Israeli army continues to commit
‘with all brutality and vengeance’. It held the American administration and the international community ‘fully responsible’ for the raids.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army on Saturday said the number of Palestinians killed in raids and attacks around the Gaza Strip’s AlShifa Hospital rose to 170.
The military in a statement on X said the Israeli army and Shin Bet security forces continue ‘targeted fighting’ in the area while
‘avoiding harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment’.
Troops killed about 170 Palestinians and arrested more than 800 ‘suspects’, the statement said, claiming to have recovered weapons as well.
The Israeli army has been carrying out an offensive in the vicinity of Al-shifa Hospital since Monday, putting the lives of thousands of patients and displaced Palestinians in danger.
Death toll climbs to 32,142
At least 72 more Palestinians were killed and 114 others injured over the last 24 hours, as Israel continues its onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, the territory’s Health Ministry said on Saturday.
“The Israeli occupation (forces) committed seven massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 72 martyrs and 114 injured during the past 24 hours,” a ministry statement said.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Flouting the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 32,142 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 74,412 injured since October 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85 per cent of the territory’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Besides, another three Palestinian journalists were killed in fresh Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 136 since October 7, 2023, media office in the enclave said. A statement by the media office identified the slain journalists as Muhammad Al-rifi, Abdul Rahman Saima, and Mahmoud Imad Issa.
In an earlier statement, the office said: “Israel deliberately killed journalists in Gaza in order to silence the voice of Palestinians, to hide the facts, and to prevent information from reaching the regional and international public.”
The Israeli army threatened the medical staff and displaced people that it would destroy the hospital buildings with them inside
GAZA MEDIA OFFICE