Gaza City, March 31 (RHC)-- The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip says 107 Palestinian patients are still trapped inside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City under inhumane conditions, as the Israeli regime’s siege on the medical complex is still ongoing after two weeks.
The ministry made the remarks on Saturday, saying the trapped patients are gathering in the Human Resources Development building without water, electricity, or medicine. Among them are 30 paralyzed patients, in addition to 60 medical staff members, it added. The ministry further noted that the Israeli regime has prevented all attempts by international institutions to evacuate these patients. It also warned that these patients are in “grave danger,” calling for immediate action to save their lives.
On March 18, heavily armed Israeli forces stormed the al-Shifa hospital using tanks and drones, firing at people inside the complex.
Heavily armed Israeli forces have stormed the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, firing at people inside the complex.
The Israeli military claimed that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas is using the facility to “conduct and promote terrorist activity.” Later that day, Israel said that “terrorist forces” were firing at Israeli troops.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said at the time that about 3,000 people were inside the medical complex seeking refuge and that those attempting to leave were being targeted by snipers and fire from helicopters.
The deadly raid has been going on for two weeks now, with the occupation troops laying siege on the hospital and targeting those trying to flee. So far, the Israeli soldiers have killed more than 170 Palestinians in and around the hospital and arrested a total of 800 others, including journalists and health workers.
Israel has been targeting hospitals in the strip since the beginning of its war on Gaza in early October last year, claiming Hamas uses them as command centers. Hamas officials have rejected such claims on several occasions.
Hamas says those killed by Israel in the raid on the hospital were patients, medical workers and displaced civilians.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Israeli aggression has so far killed some 32,623 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and wounded more than 75,092 others.
The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
