Since Monday morning, when Israeli soldiers surrounded Indonesian Hospital in Gaza, at least 12 more Palestinians have reportedly died as a result of Israeli strikes. This is the fourth hospital that Israeli forces have attacked since October 7.
According to Al Jazeera, who cited Gaza-based journalist Ismail Al Ghoul, Israeli forces were shooting anyone attempting to flee the hospital, and “the situation in the hospital is catastrophic.”
The reporter went on to tell Al Jazeera that around 6,000 individuals, including personnel and patients, were being housed at the facility.
The journalist reported that “it has been challenging to transfer patients from northern Gaza because Israeli forces are targeting anyone that approaches the area.”
IDF is firing at the Indonesian hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/UMRqP568Yz
— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 20, 2023
“Israeli forces are continuing to attack the hospital,” Munner al-Bursh, General Manager of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told Al Jazeera in more updates from the Indonesian hospital. The attack, he claimed, “targeted the surgical department, wounding the doctors working there and killing 12 civilians who were taking refuge,” and it began in the middle of the night.
According to Al-Bursh, the Israeli soldiers “then shot people near the hospital who were leaving the hospital, targeting them.” Nobody has been able to bury them, and their bodies are still lying in the open.
Al-Jazeera reported that Israeli forces set fire to the al-Kuwait UN school, but it does not yet have information on how many people died inside the building.
Ten thousand people were housed in the shelter centers surrounding the hospital prior to the attack, in addition to the approximately 700 patients and 5,000 refugees, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
The general manager of the hospital stated, “We are using a small power generator that is run by vegetable oil, manufactured by some creative individuals who sacrificed some of their food supply to run the generator.”
Anas al-Sharif of Al Jazeera called the conditions inside Indonesian Hospital “chaotic.”
The reporter visited many hospital floors, noting that “patients are in a state of overwhelming panic.”
He claimed that Israeli forces were now “besieged” the hospital and that anyone venturing outside would be targeted.
Monday saw the “expanding” of Israeli troop activity in the Gaza Strip, according to AFP, as Qatari mediators indicated that an agreement to release some of the 240 hostages held by Hamas terrorists was getting near.
According to the Palestinian Health Authority, 13,000 people have died as a result of Israel’s ground and aerial assault of Gaza, many of them were minors.
Israel issued an evacuation order on Sunday for those residing in the largest refugee camp in Gaza, Jabalia, as well as a camp along the coast. The military also said that it was “expanding its operational activities in additional neighbourhoods… of the Gaza Strip.”
On Sunday, following a heavy bombardment, columns of smoke rose from Jabalia, as reported by an AFP journalist in Gaza.
Over 80 people were slain in the simultaneous attacks on Jabalia, according to a health official, including those on a UN school that was providing shelter to displaced people.
Videos on social media that AFP was able to confirm showed people covered in blood and dust on a building’s floor, where mattresses had been pushed under classroom tables.
Jabalia is one among the areas of emphasis, according to the Israeli military, as they “target terrorists and strike Hamas infrastructure”.
The Israeli army stated that “an incident in the Jabalia region” was being investigated, although it made no mention of the strikes.
The UN rights chief, Volker Turk, called the alleged school strike “horrifying” on Sunday and said that “the horrendous events of the past 48 hours in Gaza beggar belief.”
Wafa, a Palestinian news agency, reported on Monday that shelling had also occurred at the Indonesian hospital next to Jabalia.
Extensive damage at IDF’s Biranit army base in northern Israel following a Hezbollah attack from Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/zICXp6rjxs
— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 20, 2023
Israel is under tremendous international pressure to defend its horrific casualty toll six weeks into the conflict.
A “window of legitimacy” for the fight to destroy Hamas, according to Israeli leaders, may be closing.
Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, demanded on Monday that immediate action be taken to halt the “humanitarian disaster” that is occurring in Gaza.
Wang addressed visiting diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority countries, “The situation in Gaza affects all countries around the world, questioning the human sense of right and wrong and humanity’s bottom line.”
On Sunday, Israel purportedly provided proof that Hamas militants had concealed subterranean tunnels and taken foreign hostages at Gaza’s main hospital, Al-Shifa.
Claimed to be CCTV footage from October 7, the Israeli military released images of two male hostages from Nepal and Thailand being taken to a hospital.
“Both of these hostages have not yet been located,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said reporters.
In one video, five men—at least three of them armed—were seen dragging a man wearing shorts and a light blue shirt into an entry hall.
In a second video, multiple people dressed in blue hospital scrubs watch as armed men wheel an injured man in his underwear into a gurney. The video could not be immediately verified by AFP.
Additionally, Israel released pictures of what it claimed to be a 55-meter-long subterranean tunnel beneath the hospital and charged the Palestinian resistance group with the murder of 19-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Marciano at Al-Shifa.
Al-Shifa serves as a base for Palestinian fighters, according to Israel’s persistent claims, which are refuted by Hamas and hospital managers.
A video from Gaza shows the moment an Israeli strike destroys a mosque in Gaza.
In a second video Israeli soldiers can be heard cheering and laughing as the mosque is destroyed pic.twitter.com/g0NFgQascY
— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 20, 2023
The hospital has been dubbed a “death zone” by the World Health Organization. Hundreds of people left the Al-Shifa hospital over the weekend on foot as huge explosions could be heard all around the building.
Doctors, nurses, and displaced individuals were observed departing in columns carrying sick and injured patients. An AFP journalist reported that at least 15 remains, some of which were in a state of severe decomposition, were scattered along the path.
On Sunday, the WHO announced that it had taken thirty-one preterm infants out of the institution.
According to AFP, Marwan Abu Sada, the head of surgery at Al-Shifa, there were still Israeli military present at the hospital, which was surrounded by tanks.
He claimed on Sunday that he had heard “at least two explosions since this morning.”
According to other medical professionals, the soldiers were seeking for Hamas tunnels by traveling from building to building and setting off bombs on hospital basements and ground levels.
This week, the Israeli military claimed to have recovered the bodies of two female hostages from Gaza. Hamas has so far freed four of the kidnappees, and the military has managed to free a fifth.
Negotiators from Qatar announced on Sunday that a deal to release some of the captives held by Hamas in Gaza was getting near.
The prime minister of Qatar expressed optimism that Israeli, Nepali, American, and other hostages may soon be set free by stating that efforts to return hostages “safely back to their homes” in exchange for a brief ceasefire were now achievable.
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani declared, “I’m now more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal,” adding that just “minor” practical elements were still outstanding.
Senior citizens, teenagers, and newborns are among the hostages. Not only have their families been devastated by their fate, but the Israeli people as a whole.
In an interview with US media, US deputy national security adviser Jon Finer stated that the parties were “closer than we have been in quite some time” to reaching an agreement.
“There’s just a big, big hole in all our hearts that won’t be filled until she comes home again,” he told AFP
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