Gaza, the director of al-Shifa hospital: “Isolated and without electricity”

L’al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and two other medical centers would be ”surrounded by Israeli tanks in all directions”‘. This was stated by the Israeli broadcaster N12, citing reports from Gaza. The Haaretz newspaper adds that communication with al-Shifa hospital has been interrupted. Israeli authorities believe Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar is hiding right under the hospital.

”A few minutes from death”. This is how Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of the al-Shifa hospital, feels when interviewed by the broadcaster al-Jazeera from inside the facility which is said to be under siege by Israeli tanks. Explaining that the hospital is isolated, ”left without electricity, Internet and even without water and medical supplies”, Abu Salmiya denounces being ”completely cut off from the whole world”‘. And he claims that ”we have sent many SOS signals to the world, but none have been listened to, we have had no response”.

Abu Salmiya speaks of ”patients dying every minute, even babies in incubators”. In particular he states that ”we lost a child in the incubator, we lost a young man in the intensive care unit”. The dramatic story of a ”doctor who tried to reach the incubator to help the children born inside and was shot dead”, says Abu Salmiya.

”The hospital complex is cordoned off and targeted – reports Abu Salmiya -. Any person moving within the compound is targeted. The Israeli occupation forces are outside and preventing anyone from moving”.

The operations at the hospital were suspended after it ran out of fuel to power it. This was announced by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders has lost contact with its staff inside the hospital, after the “heavy bombings” that occurred nearby. “In the last few hours, attacks against Al-Shifa hospital have intensified dramatically. MSF staff at the hospital have reported a catastrophic situation inside,” the group wrote in a post on X.

“We are currently unable to communicate with our staff within Al Shifa and are extremely concerned about the safety of patients and medical staff,” the organization added.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army has conquered eleven Hamas outposts in the northern Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7th. The IDF reported this, adding in particular that during night operations the troops of the Nahal Brigade found and subsequently destroyed the entrance to a tunnel near a school.

The IDF adds that the 215th Brigade identified a group of Hamas operatives approaching the troops of the Givati ​​Brigade and ordered an aircraft to strike them. Finally, the Israeli Navy, which during the night targeted buildings used by Hamas agents in northern Gaza.

Seven hours to leave the north of the Gaza Strip and find safety in the south of the Palestinian enclave. This is what the Israeli Defense Forces conceded today, announcing the opening of a corridor from 9am to 4pm local time along the Salah a-Din road. The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, explained this in a tweet. In recent days the same road had been opened towards the south with a window of four to six hours.

The IDF, adds the spokesperson, will also observe ”tactical pauses in military activities” in the Jabaliya refugee camp between 10am and 2pm local time today. And this is to allow residents to be able to reach the humanitarian corridors and evacuate towards the south.

Meanwhile, a joint Arab-Islamic summit will be held today in Riyadh, with the aim of calling with one voice for an end to the Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip. This was announced by the Saudi Foreign Ministry, which wanted to explain the decision to hold a single summit instead of one of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League.

The Arab League, said its Deputy Secretary General Hossam Zaki, aims to demonstrate ”how the Arabs will move on the international stage to stop aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation and hold it accountable for the his crimes”. The call is for an ”immediate end to Israeli aggression against the Palestinians and the provision of every form of support to Palestine and its people”.

The Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi meanwhile he accused the United States of ”preventing the ceasefire” in the war between Hamas and Israel and of ”providing fuel for the war”. Going to the Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, Raisi added that ”it is no longer the time to talk, it is the time to act”.

Israeli raids this morning in Lebanese territory. According to Lebanese sources cited by the Haaretz newspaper, this morning the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked near the Lebanese Zahrani river, about 40 kilometers from Israel’s northern border.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah will therefore hold a new public speech today, the second since the start of the war on October 7, at 2pm Italian time. In his first speech Nasrallah announced that ”all scenarios are open” with respect to the ongoing conflict and ”what will happen on the Lebanese front depends only on what happens in Gaza”.

Thirty trucks with humanitarian aid for the population of the Gaza Strip entered the Rafah crossing yesterday after being inspected by the Israeli authorities. This was announced by Cogat, the body of the Israeli Ministry of Defense that supervises civil activities in the Palestinian territories. Of the 30 trucks, 22 transported food totaling 395 tons, three medical devices, two water resources and three miscellaneous goods. The material transported by the trucks was donated by the United Nations and the Egyptian Red Crescent, Cogat specifies.