Joshua Keating
It was one of the most controversial episodes in an already controversial war–and it was over in less than 24 hours. By late Wednesday Israeli forces had reportedly withdrawn from Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the region, after launching a raid inside the facility early Wednesday morning.
There had been heavy fighting for days, including artillery shelling, around the hospital, and the raid had been widely expected. Israel claims that al-Shifa sits atop an underground Hamas command center. It is also where thousands of Palestinian civilians have taken shelter since the fighting began more than a month ago–and where local medical workers and international aid organizations say patients, including newborns, have died because of a lack of medicine and electricity.
It’s been difficult for reporters on the ground to verify information about what went on inside the hospital on Wednesday. Israel and Hamas–as well as different media outlets–are presenting very different narratives.
Here’s a look at what we know about the military operation in al-Shifa Hospital.
The raid
Israel Defense Forces troops entered the hospital around 2 a.m. local time in what they described as a “precise and targeted” operation. One doctor told CNN that hospital staff were given a 30-minute warning before the raid began and told to avoid windows and balconies. The operation involved about 100 commandos and six tanks, a local journalist told the BBC.
According to that source, Israeli troops interrogated hundreds of people inside the hospital. Men between the ages of 16 and 40 were gathered in a courtyard and some were told to strip to their underwear prior to the interrogations. About 200 people were taken from the hospital, according to the BBC’s source.
One hospital employee told Al Jazeera that some of the men were “brutally assaulted." Israel said there had been no fighting or even “friction” with patients or staff in the hospital. Witnesses who spoke to Reuters described a “calm but tense” atmosphere inside the hospital compound.
As for what they found inside the hospital, the IDF has released photos of weapons and body armor it says it seized during the operation, as well as military-style uniforms on the floor, which a spokesman says indicates that Hamas fighters had changed into civilian clothes in order to escape.
So far, the IDF has not released imagery of the tunnels or “command center” that it claimed were at the facility. The IDF also said there were no indications of hostages currently being held at al-Shifa.
An image released by the IDF shows Israeli troops fighting outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
The patients
At one point during the war, tens of thousands of civilians were sheltering inside al-Shifa, but most evacuated in recent days. NGOs say those who remain are the more severely wounded, and mothers with newborn babies; they also say that in recent days fighting around the facility has made evacuation impossible.
The hospital’s generator ran out of fuel on Saturday, and Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, says that 40 patients, including three babies, have died since then. On Tuesday, CNN reported that premature babies were being wrapped in tinfoil and placed next to hot water to keep them alive.
The Israeli military claimed it had dropped off incubators, baby food, and medical supplies at the hospital Wednesday, but al-Shifa remains without power, according to the World Health Organization, whose director tweeted on Sunday, “Regrettably, the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore.”
On Wednesday, Israel allowed the first deliveries of diesel fuel into Gaza since the fighting began, but the fuel is to be used only for U.N. trucks, not hospitals. Many of Gaza’s other hospitals have suspended services.
The IDF claims that it offered to evacuate newborn babies and had placed 300 liters of fuel outside the hospital last Saturday, but that both gestures were rejected by Hamas.
International reaction
The hospital raid came under heavy international criticism.
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s humanitarian relief coordinator, said he was “appalled” by the operation, tweeting, “The protection of newborns, patients, medical staff and all civilians must override all other concerns. Hospitals are not battlegrounds.”
The Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank but not Gaza, condemned the raid as a “flagrant violation of international law.”
The United States, prior to the raid, supported Israel’s assertion that the hospital was a military target. “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members operate a command-and-control node from al-Shifa,” National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday, citing U.S. intelligence. But he added that the U.S. did not support striking the hospital from the air.
On Wednesday, Kirby said that the U.S. “did not give an OK to their military operations around the hospital,” noting that the U.S. is not directly involved in Israel’s tactical planning. Several days earlier, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS that the U.S. “does not want to see firefights in hospitals.”
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