(Reuters) – Israeli soldiers entered Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa, on Wednesday and were searching the premises, after Israel said Hamas fighters had their headquarters in tunnels beneath the facility, a charge the Palestinian group denies.
Here are reactions to the fighting at Al Shifa and other Gaza hospitals:
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
“Reports of military incursion into Al Shifa hospital are deeply concerning,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X.
“We’ve lost touch again with health personnel at the hospital. We’re extremely worried for their and their patients’ safety.”
UNITED NATIONS AID CHIEF
“The protection of newborns, patients, medical staff and all civilians must override all other concerns,” U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths wrote on X, adding he was “appalled” by reports of the raids.
“Hospitals are not battlegrounds.”
DOCTOR AT AL SHIFA HOSPITAL
“Bombardment. Shooting around the hospital and within the hospital. It’s really horrible you can feel that it’s very near to the hospital. And then we realised that the tanks are moving around the hospital,” Doctor Ahmed El Mokhallalati told Reuters by telephone.
“They just parked in front of the hospital emergency department. All kinds of weapons were used around the hospital. They targeted the hospital directly. We try to avoid being near the windows.”
UNITED STATES
“We do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don’t want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said.
“Hospitals and patients must be protected.”
CANADA
“I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday, before the raid. “The world is witnessing this killing of women, of children, of babies. This has to stop.”
He also said Hamas needed to stop using Palestinians as human shields and should release all its hostages.
ISRAEL
“Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
“The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians.”
HAMAS
“The White House and the Pentagon’s adoption of the false (Israeli) narrative, claiming that the resistance is using Al Shifa medical complex for military purposes, was a green light for the occupation (Israel) to commit more massacres against civilians,” Hamas said.
(Compiled by Bernadette Baum; Editing by Edmund Blair)
