A hospital as Hamas command center?
As Israel's military advances further and further into the city of Gaza, a possible - and highly controversial - target is coming into focus: the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. According to findings by Israeli intelligence services, the terrorist organization Hamas, which rules the coastal area, is misusing the hospital as a command and control center.
Precarious conditions in the Shifa hospital
The fighting near the hospital intensified. Eyewitnesses report damage to the roof of the hospital after Israeli bombardments. Tens of thousands of people have found refuge in the corridors and grounds of the overcrowded hospital, including Mohammed al-Kuka and his family. He told the German Press Agency that he feared attacks on the building by the Israeli army. A man who was praying next to him was recently killed by shelling, says al-Kuka. Many people have now fled the clinic. He himself also wanted to leave.
Clinic director: misleading accusations
The director of the clinic, Mohammed Abu Salamija, calls Israel's accusations that Hamas is using the clinic for its own purposes a "misleading attempt" to drive people out of the hospital. He reports terrible conditions for the patients and the completely overworked staff. According to the media, the clinic with its departments for surgery, internal medicine, radiology, obstetrics and gynecology has space for 700 patients. However, thousands are currently being treated, according to reports.
Salamija also warns of fuel shortages. If there is no more fuel, it could be immediately fatal for people who need to be ventilated, for example. Israel's army, on the other hand, says that there is fuel in the hospitals in the Gaza Strip - but that Hamas is using it for its "terror infrastructure".
Human rights activist: Torture was used in the hospital ward
Accusations that Hamas uses the Shifa hospital for acts of violence have already been made by others in the past. The human rights organization Amnesty International reported more than eight years ago that Hamas members had tortured Palestinians in a disused ward of the hospital in 2014 during a war with Israel. Hamas accused the victims of collaborating with Israel. Military expert Danny Orbach from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem says that it has been known for many years that Hamas is misusing the clinic, whose expansion was once initiated by Israel, for its own purposes. There is "no doubt" about this knowledge.
Army: hiding place for terrorists
According to the Israeli army, Hamas also uses various departments in the hospital to order rocket launches, for example. "Hamas wages war from hospitals," says military spokesman Daniel Hagari. After the massacre on October 7, hundreds of terrorists also hid in the Shifa clinic. According to the military, there is also an entrance to the underground base inside the clinic. Hamas denies the allegations.
Misuse of clinics is a war crime
The army published satellite images and materials to prove that the clinic was being used by Hamas. Videos showed control rooms and communication tunnels deep underground beneath the clinic. The information cannot currently be independently verified. According to international law expert Daniel-Erasmus Khan from the University of the German Armed Forces, the use of a clinic for military purposes constitutes a war crime.
Civilian targets in international humanitarian law
According to Israel's armed forces, they are determined to attack Hamas wherever necessary. The army does not say whether this includes the Shifa hospital. Israeli media report that the military has not yet decided if and when troops will be sent to the hospital.
According to international humanitarian law, attacks on civilian targets such as hospitals are prohibited. "However, when civilian objects are abused, they are no longer sacrosanct per se," explains Khan. "If the Israeli narrative is correct, then such an attack would be permissible." In this case, international humanitarian law even accepts unintentional civilian casualties. Nevertheless, Israel must do everything in its power to evacuate civilians from the clinic.
Expert: army will relocate clinic
The historian Orbach considers the proportionality to be given. "The military value is high - even if the Hamas leadership is not at the base." However, the Israeli army assumes that most high-ranking Hamas members are hiding in the clinics, especially in Shifa Hospital. They are taking advantage of the fact that the army is not bombing hospitals. According to Orbach, the destruction of the "center of Hamas rule" would also be a symbolic victory for Israel over the terrorist organization. However, he assumes that Israel will wait before doing so. First of all, the army will surround the clinic until everyone inside surrenders.
Mass evacuation and patient transfers
The military historian assumes that the power of the Islamist organization will soon collapse. "That will trigger a domino effect." The armed forces could then enforce the mass evacuation of civilians from the clinic. Orbach sees the fact that more and more people are currently responding to the army's call and fleeing to the south of the Gaza Strip as a sign that Hamas is beginning to lose control. Patients could be transferred from the clinic to the foreign-funded hospitals, says Orbach.
According to Israeli media, an agreement has already been reached between Israel and the emergency services to transfer 50 patients. However, when the ambulances arrived, Hamas reportedly only let seven people leave the Shifa hospital. The UN, meanwhile, is refusing to transfer patients, claiming that this would endanger their lives.
According to military expert Orbach, the army will bomb the hospital once an evacuation has been completed. Eventually, ground troops could capture the building and destroy the Hamas facilities inside. The military historian does not assume that the army will reduce the building to rubble. He even believes it is possible that the hospital, which was founded during the British Mandate, could be used as a clinic again after the war.
In light of the allegations, the director of the Shifa hospital strongly denies that Hamas is using the facility for its own purposes, instead highlighting the dire conditions faced by patients and overworked staff. Meanwhile, human rights organization Amnesty International reported more than eight years ago that Hamas members had tortured Palestinians in a disused ward of the hospital during a war with Israel.
Despite the Israeli army's claims that Hamas uses various departments in the hospital to order rocket launches and that hundreds of terrorists hid in the Shifa clinic after a massacre, Hamas denies these allegations and the use of clinics as a war crime is internationally prohibited unless civilian objects are being abused.
Source: www.dpa.com
