Israeli Forces ‘Brutally Assaulted’ Men at Al-Shifa Hospital: Staff Member
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Omer Zaqout, an emergency room employee at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, revealed to Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers have "detained and brutally assaulted some of the men who were taking refuge at the hospital."
"Israeli forces took the detained men naked and blindfolded. (They) did not bring any aid or supplies, they only brought terror and death," he said. The Israeli army is now surrounding every building within the hospital complex.
"More than 180 dead bodies are deteriorating and are still lying in the hospital’s yard," he said. "The situation is very terrifying, gunshots are heard everywhere in the hospital’s perimeters."
United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths, expressing being "appalled" by the Israeli storming of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, stated firmly, "Hospitals are not battlegrounds."
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said that "reports of military incursion into al-Shifa Hospital are deeply concerning."
"We’ve lost touch again with health personnel at the hospital. We’re extremely worried for their and their patients’ safety."
Despite Israeli military claims of a command center under al-Shifa, there is a lack of proof so far. The military now states there is no current evidence of captives being held there, but they continue to survey the area as they move in around the hospital. They also announced the widening of the operation, raising questions about its precision.
As Israeli troops search for "Hamas infrastructure" and hostages in al-Shifa Hospital, concerns arise about the evidence they'll find. Ardi Imeseis, a professor of international law at Queen’s University, pointed out Israel's history of presenting unverifiable evidence.
"In respect to what’s happening at al-Shifa right now, it’s hard to say. What we can say is the hospital is a civilian object. And until such time as the Israelis provide proof that it’s been converted into a military object, the civilian nature of that object does not change," Imeseis told Al Jazeera.
"The obvious thing to do is to allow a third party into the hospital. The Israelis control the area, and given the heightened sensitivity of their claim that this hospital has been used and abused by Palestinian paramilitaries, they should, reasonably, invite third parties in. Given the historical record, Israeli claims of this sort have never been proved."
According to a source inside al-Shifa Hospital, approximately 30 people are taken outside, stripped of their clothes. They are in the courtyard, blindfolded, surrounded by three tanks. One tank is positioned right at the front of the emergency department, targeting any moving object inside the buildings.
Inside the specialized surgeries building, commandos tear apart partitions, destroy walls between rooms, go to the basement, and call out people one by one for interrogation.
An Israeli radio host stated there are no indications of hostages. Palestinians fear any supposed evidence of Hamas activity coming out will be staged by the Israeli military. So far, there is no evidence of hostages or the use of the hospital as a "command center."
