Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that there is no safe place for the Hamas after the October 7 attacks. There is "no place in Gaza" the Israeli army wouldn't reach, he said hours after troops raided the territory's biggest hospital-Al-Shifa.
“They told us we wouldn't reach the outskirts of Gaza City and we did, they told us we wouldn't enter Al-Shifa (hospital) and we did,” he said, adding, “There is no place in Gaza that we won't reach.”
The Israeli army operation in the hospital set off a wave of international condemnation. While, Israel said that it was carrying out "a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area" of the hospital, the United Nations estimates that there were at least 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians in the complex.
Israel accused Hamas of using Gaza hospitals as bases, digging tunnels under Al-Shifa and exploiting patients as human shields but Hamas said that US president Joe Biden was "wholly responsible for the assault on the Al-Shifa medical complex".
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“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation's false claim that the resistance is using the Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians,” Hamas said as per news agency AFP.
{{/usCountry}}“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation's false claim that the resistance is using the Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians,” Hamas said as per news agency AFP.
{{/usCountry}}The Palestinian authority that runs the occupied West Bank denounced the raid as a "flagrant violation" of international law.
The United Nations humanitarian chief demanded immediate action to “rein in the carnage”, saying that situation in “Gaza reaches new levels of horror every day, the world continues to watch in shock as hospitals come under fire, premature babies die. An entire population is deprived of the basic means of survival. This cannot be allowed to continue.”
Martin Griffiths stressed, “Hamas must not, should not, use a place like a hospital as a shield for their presence."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was "extremely concerned about the impact on sick and wounded people, medical staff, and civilians".
"All measures to avoid any consequences on them must be taken," it said insisting that "patients, medical staff, and civilians must be at all times protected".
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency had lost touch again with staff at the hospital.
“We're extremely worried for their and their patients' safety.”