Israeli occupation forces continue their genocidal airstrikes, bombing hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip, and as their latest atrocity, targeting al-Shifa Hospital where thousands of Palestinians are seeking refuge from the aggression.
Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director general of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said the Israeli regime conducted four attacks on the largest medical complex in Gaza since the early hours of Friday.
He warned that Israel is “waging a war on the hospitals and the healthcare sector in Gaza.”
Two of the fatal strikes targeted the outpatient clinic buildings and the maternity hospital in the Al-Shifa medical complex.
Meanwhile, one of the strikes hit an area near the encampment where journalists were staying in al-Shifa. The exact number of casualties is not clear yet.
Israeli strikes also bombed the Ranteesi Children’s Hospital and areas near the Indonesian Hospital and al-Quds Hospital.
‘Thousands trapped in hospitals’
The Gaza-based health ministry said thousands of Palestinians remain trapped in hospitals as Israel intensifies its bombardment of Gaza.
“Israeli tanks had surrounded the al-Rantisi and al-Nasr Hospitals in all directions,” said Ashraf al-Qedra, a spokesman for the ministry.
“Thousands of patients, medical staff, and displaced people are trapped inside hospitals, without water and food, and are at risk of death at any moment.”
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have repeatedly targeted hospitals, residential buildings, mosques, and churches. Under the Geneva Convention, attacks on hospitals are strictly prohibited.
On October 17, hundreds of civilians were killed and injured by Israeli airstrikes on al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The attack has been condemned as an act of genocide by many governments around the world.
Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for Palestinians hoping to be spared Israeli bombardments, which began early in October.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has urged the United Nations secretary-general to form an international committee to visit hospitals in the besieged strip to counter Israel’s “false” claims that they are used as launch pad for anti-Israel operations. Hamas has noted that the claims are aimed to “justify” Israel’s attacks on hospitals in Gaza.
Campaigners block arms factory in UK over Israel crimes
Also on Friday, hundreds of British trade unionists blocked the entrances of an arms factory that provides Israel with parts for a plane used to bomb Gaza. The protesters called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The arms factory, owned by BAE Systems, is located in Rochester, southeast England. It makes parts for Israel’s most advanced fighter jet, the F-35.
BREAKING: 400+ trade unionists are blockading multiple entrances to an arms factory in Kent which provides weapons for the Israeli military.
We demand an immediate #CEASEFIRENOW to halt the killing of civilians in Palestine & an end to British complicity in Israeli war crimes! pic.twitter.com/a1us8eQo1h
— Workers for a Free Palestine (@Workers4Pal) November 10, 2023
Opposition grows on US support for Israel
The United States, a staunch ally of Israel, also saw growing opposition to Washington’s support for the war, with more than 500 people who worked on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign calling on the US president to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A major American labor union also demanded a truce, while pro-Palestine protests continued all across major US cities.
The Biden administration was also warned by American diplomats in the Arab world that its strong support for Israel’s war “is losing us Arab publics for a generation,” a diplomatic cable, obtained by CNN, revealed.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
According to the Gaza-based health ministry, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and injured in the strikes, most of them women and children.
