Martyrs on the roads, sieges, and arrests of patients, displaced people, and journalists, What happened at Al-Shifa Complex?

A number of martyrs and wounded fell when Israeli occupation army forces stormed the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, at dawn on Monday, after an incursion and siege from all sides, while the Israeli occupation forces conducted extensive excavation operations in the hospital courtyard.

A number of martyrs and wounded fell in the courtyards of Al-Shifa Medical Complex as a result of a bloody Israeli attack. The Palestinians of Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza, lived through a bloody night after Israeli forces suddenly stormed the hospital.

The events of the Israeli operation continued until noon on the eighth day of Ramadan, during which the occupation intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip, despite international warnings of the escalation of violence.

The beginning of events

The events began at 2:00 am on Monday (24:00 GMT), with violent bombardment with about 40 raids targeting the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and its surrounding areas from all sides, in addition to an intense flight of marches, which led to the death and injury of many Palestinians inside the hospital. And in its surroundings.

Local sources reported that under this heavy cover of fire, Israeli tanks and military vehicles entered quickly and suddenly from areas south of Gaza City via Al-Rashid Street to the Al-Mina area near the hospital, and from there they distributed to reach the northern and southern gates of Al-Shifa.

In a second axis of the incursion, Israeli tanks entered from areas north of Gaza City via “Al-Jalaa” Street to “Al-Wahda” Street and from there to the eastern gate of the hospital. In the third axis, Israeli forces entered from the north of the Gaza Strip through “Al-Nasr” and “Izz al-Din al-Qassam” Streets, reaching the main eastern gate of Al-Shifa Hospital.

Eyewitnesses explained that Israeli military vehicles surrounded Al-Shifa Hospital from all sides and began shooting at it as drones flew over its courtyards and between its buildings, before storming it and shooting everyone who moved.

Corpses in the streets

According to medical sources, there are many bodies of martyrs lying in the courtyards of the hospital and the roads leading to it. They were martyred by direct shooting or by bombing that targeted the vicinity of “Al-Shifa” before the start of the incursion.

The Israeli occupation army almost completely disrupted communications in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and its surrounding areas before the incursion operations began.

A fire broke out in the hospital's specialized surgeries building as a result of it being directly targeted by Israeli forces, resulting in cases of suffocation among patients and displaced persons in the hospital, whose number is estimated at about 25-30 thousand displaced persons, especially women and children.

Israeli forces later stormed the same building, in addition to the reception and emergency buildings, and opened heavy fire inside them, resulting in a number of martyrs and wounded, according to sources inside the hospital.

The Israeli occupation army soldiers do not allow medical teams to treat the injured and save their lives amid intense fire in the hospital courtyards and inside the buildings that the soldiers stormed.

Military vehicles were stationed in the parking garage in the back yard of the hospital and carried out extensive sweeping operations there, even though it contains dozens of graves of Palestinians who were martyred during the past months in raids on Gaza City.

Arrest of displaced persons and journalists

Israeli forces arrested more than 90 displaced Palestinians inside the hospital and took them to unknown destinations.

Israeli occupation soldiers also arrested an unspecified number of young men displaced from the American School, and asked the women to go to the city of Deir al-Balah (central Gaza Strip) via Al-Rashid Street adjacent to the seashore.

The occupation forces arrested a number of journalists, including an Al Jazeera correspondent, from Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City, after beating them, according to eyewitnesses.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces severely beat a number of journalists (the number was not specified), including Al Jazeera’s correspondent, Ismail al-Ghoul, before blindfolding them, handcuffing them, and arresting them from inside Al-Shifa Hospital.

Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza appealed to all UN institutions to stop the ongoing Israeli massacre against the sick, wounded, displaced, and medical teams inside the Shifa Medical Complex.

The Ministry said, in a statement, that a fire broke out at the gate of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, and there were cases of suffocation among displaced women and children in the hospital, and communications were cut off. She added that the displaced people are trapped inside the specialized surgery building and in the emergency reception in Building 8.

It pointed to the fall of a number of martyrs and wounded, with the inability to save any of the injured due to the intensity of the fire and the targeting of anyone who approached the windows.

This is the second time that Israeli forces have stormed the Al-Shifa Medical Complex since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7. They stormed it for the first time on November 16 after besieging it for at least a week.

Then, Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital on November 24, after destroying its courtyards, parts of its buildings, medical equipment and equipment, in addition to the hospital’s electricity generator.