JERUSALEM — Israeli forces continue a week-long operation to battle hundreds of terrorists holed up in Gaza’s largest medical center, Al-Shifa Hospital, promoting access to and protecting health care around the world. The United Nations agency tasked with doing so has remained silent. , refrained from condemning the cynical use of hospitals by Palestinian terrorist groups.
Repeated requests for comment from Fox News Digital to the World Health Organization were ignored this week, even as the Israeli Defense Forces continue to engage fighters from the US-designated terrorist group Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad holed up inside a hospital. Ta. Maternity wards, emergency rooms and other locations within Gaza City’s vast center.
“Hamas itself has admitted that it is using almost every hospital in Gaza, including Shifa Hospital,” Itamar Yar, former vice-chairman of Israel’s National Security Council, told FOX News Digital. “This information has been on the table for a long time.”
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Ambulances carrying victims of an Israeli airstrike crowd the entrance to the emergency ward of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, October 15, 2023. (Dawood Nemer/AFP via Getty Images)
Yar, who is the CEO of the Israeli Security Command, an organization made up of about 550 former security officials, said Hamas’s use of hospitals in particular for military activities is because “Israel dared to do so.” “Because I believe that we will not send troops into hospitals.” ”
Early in the fight against Iran-backed terror groups, Israel drew harsh international criticism for allowing troops to enter al-Shifa hospital to search underground bunkers used by terrorists and Hamas fighters. In November, Israel revealed an underground system hidden beneath a hospital. It includes a command and control center and rooms where hostages kidnapped from Israel during a major terrorist attack on October 7 were held, the military said.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks at the launch of a multi-year partnership with Qatar to make the 2022 FIFA World Cup and other sporting events healthy and safe at WHO headquarters in Geneva, October 18, 2021. attended. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli forces have since withdrawn from the area, but the medical campus, which includes several medical clinics and offices, remains largely intact and operational, leaving thousands of Gazan civilians who remained within the fighting zone despite Israeli requests. were able to provide the service. Please evacuate the area.
“When the IDF first entered the scene, they had limited information about the facility. But after being there for several weeks, they [got]More information,” Yar said, adding that Israel likely left behind surveillance equipment that signaled Hamas’s return to the area and the establishment of a terror operations room inside the hospital.
“Hamas returned inside the hospital because most of the other buildings nearby were destroyed,” Yar said. He added that the hospital’s medical staff, including the general manager, were also likely aware that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were operating within the building.
“Some say that the general manager of the hospital had no choice but to cooperate with Hamas, and they are right,” Yar said. “Hamas uses fear against its own people to control Gaza. If a hospital director does not allow Hamas activities in the hospital, he will be fired, arrested, or worse. It will be.”
Troops of Nahal Reconnaissance Force, 162nd Division at Shifa Hospital eliminated armed terrorists in close combat and eliminated several buildings in the hospital, hidden inside the MRI facility and various medical equipment in the hospital. Found many weapons. The roof of the hospital. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
Yar also said the World Health Organization was likely aware of Hamas’ terrorist activities inside the medical center.
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“I understand why the World Health Organization is silent. They are perplexed because there is no doubt that the people on the ground in Gaza knew what was going on there,” he said. Ta. “Maybe they didn’t know all the details, but they knew that Hamas was using the hospital.”
Yar said information about Hamas’s use of the hospital cannot be denied, but the WHO is likely to claim it does not have the information.
“They’re not ignoring it because they’re anti-Israel. They’re ignoring it because they think it’s the best way to protect the local people.” “But in doing so, they are helping Hamas gain further control over the Palestinian people.”
A spokesperson for World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ignored multiple requests for comment from FOX News Digital about the organization’s ties to Hamas, although Tedros said in January that the organization cooperates with terrorist groups. refuted that claim.
“The WHO refuted Israel’s accusations at yesterday’s board meeting that it is ‘colluding’ with Hamas and ‘turning a blind eye’ to the suffering of hostages held in Gaza. Such false claims are harmful and can put our staff at risk. “We risk our lives to serve the vulnerable. As a United Nations agency, WHO is impartial and works for the health and well-being of all people,” he tweeted.
Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said in a briefing with journalists earlier this week that the military had killed about 170 terrorists and arrested more than 500 during a week-long intensive operation at the hospital. He also said the military had found 11 million shekels ($3 million) worth of weapons and ammunition hidden in the hospital’s office.
In a statement issued jointly with the IDF, Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, said that among the arrested terrorists were top operatives of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, Amr Ashida, head of the Nablus force, and Islamic Jihad. Planner Mahmoud Kawasma said that included. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in 2014.
“Our intelligence services were monitoring al-Shifa Hospital once again becoming Hamas’ terrorist headquarters,” Hagari said. “We dismantled the Hamas military structure in the north, but some terrorist organizations remained there. And they all came back to al-Shifa like a magnet.”
Six humanitarian aid trucks entered the northern Gaza Strip via Israel. The IDF says this was done as part of a pilot program to thwart terrorist support for Hamas. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
He said those who had surrendered or were captured by Israel had access to the hospital, which was attractive not only because it was considered a safe zone but because they still had electricity, water and food. Hagari said there were still several terrorists barricaded inside the hospital and engaging Israeli forces.
The spokesperson also said that no patients or medical staff were harmed during the delicate operation. A claim by a woman in the Gaza Strip last week that Israeli soldiers abused and raped a Palestinian woman during the fighting was dismissed as a fabrication over the weekend by the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news network, which first reported the story. Rejected.
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Israeli forces are also battling terrorist groups at other hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including last month’s Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. In December, hostages released by Hamas during a temporary ceasefire said they were being held in one of the Gaza Strip’s hospitals.
Tal Mimran, director of the Center for Cybersecurity Research at the Hebrew University of Law, told Fox News Digital that under international humanitarian law, hospitals should be given special protection during wartime. But there are exceptions to every rule, he said. One exception, he said, is if the hospital is used “to further military interests against the enemy.”
“Hamas has used hospitals not only for defensive and offensive purposes, but also for command and control purposes,” Mimran said, adding that the use of hospitals for military purposes is part of Hamas’ “modus operandi.” added.
An infographic created by the Israel Defense Forces shows where authorities say Hamas has set up a command center under al-Shifa hospital. (Israel Defense Forces)
Fighting in and around hospitals in the Gaza Strip was a key element in the five-month long Hamas-Israel war, he said.
“This is the first time that Israel has carried out such a large-scale and important operation inside a hospital in the Gaza Strip. It is clearly different from previous rounds and conflicts,” Mimran said, adding that the IDF should operate with respect. He added that he is doing so.
He said that during the first battle in al-Shifa, Israeli forces took their time infiltrating the hospital grounds, and once they did, they helped transport patients and bring in medical equipment. A field hospital was also built nearby.
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“This was a surprise mission,” Milmuran said of the military operation over the past week. “The number of civilians and patients there was small, but the number of operatives was large. We have not heard of any significant collateral damage. There was no harm to medical staff or patients. Therefore, this operation was an international I believe it meets the requirements and standards of humanitarian law.” ”
