Gaza Health Ministry accuses Israel of attacking evacuees and health workers at Al Shifa Hospital

The Gaza Health Ministry on Wednesday accused the Israeli Army of attacking medical staff and evacuees inside Al Shifa Hospital, where they say they are carrying out a "precise and localized operation" in a part of the medical center.

The general director of Health Hospitals, Mohamed Zaqout, has indicated that the soldiers have also interrogated several hospital doctors "for hours" in side rooms and that they have opened fire on those who were leaving the hospital complex, the largest in the Strip where there are some 2,000 displaced people and 650 patients, including 22 in intensive care and 36 premature babies.

Palestinian media suggest that at least 200 people would be detained, including medical personnel and evacuees.

For his part, the director of the Al Shifa medical complex, Mohamed Abu Salmiya, has reported that the Israeli Army continues to be deployed in several buildings on the compound, including the dialysis department, and that medical staff cannot access the pharmacy to supply medications to patients, since "the occupation shoots at everything that moves."

Abu Salmiya says there is no water, electricity or oxygen in any department of the hospital, and that he has not been able to contact many of his doctors to ask about the condition of his patients, "particularly premature babies."

"The smell of death smells everywhere, from the emergency room to the last building of the hospital," says the hospital director, who also mentions that the wounds of many patients are rotting due to the absence of antibiotics and the suspension of hospital services.

The press office of the Gaza Government asserts that the Israeli Army stormed Al Shifa with tanks, explosives, drones and heavily armed soldiers, "shooting inside", which constitutes a "war crime."

For his part, a senior Israeli Army officer assures that there has been no fighting inside the hospital, only outside, which resulted in the death of "four terrorists," and insists that the troops are operating inside the hospital. "slowly and accurately to minimize harm to innocent civilians.

The military officer assures that they have found weapons and evidence that they will bring to light "in the next few hours" that would "prove" that Al Shifa Hospital was used as a Hamas command center, including a network of underground tunnels.