GAZA CITY, Palestine
Thousands could be trapped
inside Gaza's largest hospital due to nearby fighting, while officials have
warned of rotting bodies piling up there.
This handout photo issued by the military on November 13, 2023, shows Israeli ground forces in Gaza during the war against the Hamas terror group.
Al-Shifa Hospital, which is
also tackling power cuts and a lack of fuel, is "nearly a cemetery",
the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
The hospital's manager said it
was under a "blockade", and that dogs had started eating corpses.
The area around the hospital
has seen intense fighting in recent days.
US President Joe Biden said he
hoped to see "less intrusive action" at the hospital, which he said
"must be protected".
Gaza City has seen an
intensification of fighting between Israeli and Hamas forces in recent days,
much of which has been taking place in streets close to the hospital. There
have been reports of tanks and armoured vehicles being within metres of the hospital
gate.
Israel accuses Hamas of
operating a command-and-control centre in tunnels underneath the hospital,
which Hamas and the hospital deny. It also accuses Hamas, which governs the
Gaza Strip, of "preventing humanitarian solutions".
Israel's army has also said
that while there are clashes close to Al-Shifa, there is no shooting at the
hospital itself nor a siege, and that anyone wanting to leave can do so.
An image of newborns after being taken off incubators in Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital due to power outages
Christian Lindmeier, a
spokesman for the WHO, said about 600 people remained in the hospital, with
others sheltering in hallways.
"Around the hospital
there are dead bodies which cannot be taken care of or not even be buried or
taken away to any sort of morgue," he said. "The hospital is not
working at all any more as it should. It's nearly a cemetery."
The Hamas-run health ministry
has said there are at least 2,300 people still inside the hospital - up to 650
patients, 200 to 500 staff and around 1,500 people seeking shelter.
Doctors have also spoken of
bodies piling up and rotting at the hospital, and Dr Mohamed Abu Selmia,
Al-Shifa's manager, said there were about 150 bodies decomposing, "leaving
unpleasant odours".
He told the BBC the Israeli
authorities had still not granted permission for those bodies to leave the
hospital to be buried, and that dogs had now entered the hospital grounds and
started eating the bodies.
There are also concerns about
the fate of dozens of premature babies that are no longer able to stay in their
incubators due to the power cuts.
Dr Selmia said seven of those
babies have now died due to a lack of oxygen.
He said negotiations had been
conducted with Israeli authorities to try to evacuate the babies, but that no
agreement had been reached.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser
to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was offering
"practical solutions" to evacuate the babies, but accused Hamas of
not accepting proposals.
"They don't take the fuel
that was offered for their generators. They don't support the movement of
babies out in ambulances, so of course they're stuck there because [Hamas] want
those terrible photographs," he said. He also accused Hamas of turning the
hospital "into a war zone" by building tunnels underneath it. Hamas
denies using the hospital for its operations, while doctors inside insist there
is no Hamas presence there.
As well as Al-Shifa, other
hospitals across the Gaza Strip have reported
widespread issues, including a lack of supplies and power due to the
fighting and the blockade Israel has enforced on the territory since Hamas
launched its attacks on Israel on 7 October.
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