Fighting nears new hospital in Gaza
Reports: Israeli shell hits facility, killing 12 of thousands inside
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza on Monday, battling militants around a hospital where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks.
A medical worker inside the facility and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a shell struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing 12 people. Both blamed Israel, which denied shelling the hospital, saying its troops returned fire on militants who targeted them from inside the 3.5-acre compound.
The offensive came as 28 premature babies evacuated from Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital by the World Health Organization were transported to Egypt on Monday. Three others were transferred to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza, the Red Crescent said. More than 250 critically ill or wounded patients remain stranded in the compound Israeli forces stormed days ago.
Gaza’s hospitals play a prominent role in the battle of narratives over the war’s brutal toll on Palestinian civilians, thousands of whom have been killed or buried in rubble since the conflict was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel. In the wake of the assault, Israeli leaders vowed to eradicate Hamas, destroy its ability to rule Gaza and uproot its militant infrastructure.
Israel says Hamas uses civilians as human shields and that it operated a major command hub inside and beneath Shifa, a claim hospital officials and Hamas deny.
Critics say Israel’s siege and relentless bombardment amount to collective punishment of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
Israeli troops were battling Hamas fighters in the Jabaliya refugee camp, a densely built up district on Gaza City’s northeastern side that has been heavily hit by bombardment for weeks. The military said after moving through the center of the city to Shifa, its forces were now working to uproot Hamas fighters from eastern areas.
Dozens of dead and wounded in airstrikes and shelling overnight flowed into the Indonesian Hospital, near Jabaliya, said Marwan Abdallah, the medical worker there. He said Israeli tanks were operating less than 200 yards away and Israeli snipers could be seen on the roofs of nearby buildings. As he spoke on the phone, the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.
Hamas’ Health Ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, said roughly 200 wounded patients and their companions were evacuated from Indonesia Hospital to southern Gaza in a rescue effort coordinated by the U.N. and the International Committee for the Red Cross. Between 400 and 500 wounded remain, Ashraf told Al-Jazeera.