The largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, Al-Chifa, once again targeted by a major operation. The incursion by the Israeli army into the hospital complex entered its fourth day on Thursday March 21.
Here is what we know about the fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters in this complex, in the sixth month of the war between Israel and Hamas triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7.
An operation launch Monday before dawn
Monday, around 1 a.m. GMT (3 a.m. local), the army announced the launch of a "targeted operation" on the Al-Chifa hospital complex in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City (north), on the basis " reports indicating that it is used by high-ranking Hamas terrorists.
Witnesses confirmed to AFP airstrikes on Al-Rimal and the arrival of several dozen Israeli tanks and military vehicles in the area. The army drops leaflets calling on the population present in the area to evacuate.
Thousands of people who had fled the fighting had found refuge in the hospital complex. According to testimonies collected by AFP, many of them are still there.
The army carried out a similar operation in Al-Chifa in November. She accuses Hamas of using this hospital as a command center and has published videos showing weapons or cash seized, according to her, on site.
Also read “Weapons cache, Hamas HQ”: Al-Chifa hospital in Gaza, at the heart of a communications war
Deadly battles and significant destruction
Fighting pitted Israeli soldiers against Palestinian fighters around and within the hospital itself, the army said, with supporting images. She said on Thursday that she had killed “more than 140” Palestinian fighters since Monday.
Hamas authorities accuse him of having killed "dozens of displaced people, patients and medical staff", without giving a precise figure.
“No civilian, doctor or (member of a) medical team was injured,” army spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari assured Thursday.
According to witnesses, the fighting caused significant destruction.
Mariam, a 42-year-old patient in the internal medicine department who did not wish to give her name, told AFP that nighttime strikes had targeted the part of the hospital where she is.
“We are hundreds of women, children and babies and we have no water or food,” she said, adding that it was impossible for them to go to the toilet.
The army assured that it had provided water and food.
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Arrests and interrogations
According to Daniel Hagari, Israeli troops have "arrested so far more than 250 identified Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists", and another 350 people suspected of being "linked to terrorism" are being questioned.
Mariam said Israeli soldiers on Monday took "all the men and young men over 16, even the wounded" and gathered them in the hospital courtyard, without their clothes.
“They hit them with the guns and shot them,” she said.
Younis, a 60-year-old patient who also did not want to give his name, said he himself was "taken outside, without clothes" and "blindfolded" to be questioned before being released.
“They beat all the young men and arrested them,” he told AFP.
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“Put pressure on the negotiations”
This operation was launched the day an Israeli delegation was sent to Doha to negotiate a truce agreement and a release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The Israeli chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, estimated on Thursday that this operation was “also very important to put pressure on the negotiations”.
On Tuesday, Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh, on the other hand, accused Israel of having wanted to “sabotage” the discussions by launching this operation.
With AFP
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