Features: Israel's Humanitarian Crimes in Gaza
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Ignoring world concerns, Israel's brutal air attacks since the war broke out on October 7 have killed around 3,000 Palestinian residents.
1. Israel Bombs Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, 500 People Killed
The Israeli military bombed the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, on Tuesday (17/10). The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that at least 500 people died as a result of this senseless attack.
This airstrike was Israel's deadliest attack in the five wars fought since 2008. Photos from Baptist al-Ahli Hospital showed flames engulfing the hospital halls, broken glass and human body parts strewn throughout the area.
Israel did not hesitate to target the hospital in Gaza City, even though it knew that the hospital had become a refuge for hundreds of people who hoped they would escape the indiscriminate air attacks carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Not only that, Israel even shamelessly blamed the destruction of the hospital on a failed rocket launch by a Palestinian fighting group, after erasing the existing digital traces. In fact, previously the Israeli military admitted through a tweet that it had bombed the hospital on the grounds of attacking Hamas fighters based there.
Medical officials called the Israeli attack genocide, a war crime and a massacre. “This is genocide. This is a war crime," said Nebal Farsakh, a medical officer from the Palestinian Red Crescent to Al Jazeera, Wednesday (18/10/2023).
He explained that apart from the patients inside, many Palestinian civilians had sought refuge in the hospital compound, after Israel ordered everyone in northern Gaza to leave.
“Those in front of the hospital were forced to leave their homes due to evacuation orders. They couldn't even afford to flee south. There was total destruction of infrastructure and transportation," he said.
“What happened was terrible because these people, all of them were civilians. They left their homes and reached a place they believed was safe - a hospital, which according to international law is a safe place," Ziad Shehadah, a doctor in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.
“People leave their homes because they think they are more dangerous and they move to schools and hospitals to be safe. And within a minute, they were all killed in the hospital.” According to Shehadah, it is feared that the death toll could reach more than 1,000 people. “This is a massacre,” he said.
Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, an Anglican Christian denomination. Its destruction was condemned by the World Health Organization (WHO), Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, among others.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh insisted that Israel's brutality underscored their “defeat” on October 7, and said the United States was ultimately to blame.
“The US is responsible for the hospital attack because of the cover they provided against Israeli aggression,” Haniyeh said.
Russia and the United Arab Emirates have called an emergency session of the UN Security Council for Wednesday to discuss the hospital attack in Gaza.
2. Israel Refuses to Open Blockade of Gaza Strip for Humanitarian Aid
Israel insists on refusing the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip while continuing to carry out non-stop bombing which has resulted in thousands of victims. Israel has surrounded the Gaza Strip in response to a surprise attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.
The Zionist state also launched the most devastating bombing campaign in the 75-year history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, devastating the entire region. Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said there was no exception to a siege without the release of Israeli hostages.
"Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No power switch will be pulled, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will come in until the Israeli hostages are returned home," Katz wrote on the social media platform X.
The only plant that supplies electricity to the Gaza Strip has also been shut down and hospitals have run out of fuel for emergency generators. "The human suffering caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore all parties to reduce the suffering of civilians," said Fabrizio Carboni, Regional Director of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in a statement.
“When Gaza lost electricity, hospitals lost electricity supply, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients who needed oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stopped, and x-rays could not be taken. "Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues," he said.
As Palestinian rescue workers were overwhelmed, other rescue workers in the crowded coastal strip searched the rubble for bodies. “I was sleeping here when the house collapsed on me,” one man shouted as he used a flashlight on the stairs of the building hit by the missile to find anyone trapped.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the enclave, about 340,000 of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced by the war, and about 65% of them have sought refuge in shelters or schools.
As the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip worsens, with shortages of food, fuel and water, humanitarian aid from several countries remains stuck in Egypt pending an agreement for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders across the border via Rafah.
According to the UN, fuel reserves in all hospitals in the enclave are expected to last for around 24 hours. On Monday (17/10), Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu's office stated that there would be no ceasefire for humanitarian aid to Gaza in return for the exit of foreign citizens.
The international community has repeatedly requested that Israeli officials open a 'safe corridor' for Gaza residents. On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officially announced the opening of an evacuation corridor from the northern part of Gaza to the southern region.
There are only three checkpoints available for exiting the Gaza Strip: Erez and Kerem Shalom to Israel and Rafah to Egypt. The first checkpoint, Erez, located on the northern border from Gaza to Israel, functions exclusively to let people through. The Erez post was completely destroyed during Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The same fate befell Kerem Shalom, the second checkpoint on the morning of the Hamas attack. It was the only morning that allowed all oversized cargo to enter Gaza, due to the economic blockade that Israel imposed on the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule in 2007. For now, only the Rafah checkpoint to Egypt is available for operations, but the situation at the crossing remains not clear.
Recently, Egypt closed the checkpoint because it was bombarded by Israeli troops since last week. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society is waiting for the Rafah checkpoint to be officially opened.
According to Palestinian Red Crescent representative Neebal Farsakh to Sputnik. “Until now the Red Crescent has not received information regarding the opening of the Rafah checkpoint for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Even though we are the party responsible for the delivery of humanitarian aid, we continue to wait for official notification regarding the opening of checkpoints, so that our crews can safely reach, carry and distribute aid to those affected," Farsakh told Sputnik.
While the Rafah checkpoint is still closed, Egypt is collecting humanitarian aid at El-Arish airport, as not only Egypt, but also Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Turkey are sending aid.
Director of the Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies Samir Ghattas told Sputnik that on Sunday, Egypt had deployed a long convoy of vehicles carrying humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and basic necessities. However, Israel did not allow the cargo to pass, and opened fire on the checkpoint.
"The Israeli side then announced they would not allow the entry of ground aid from Egypt or any other country," he said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said on Thursday that Gaza residents must “remain steadfast and remain on their land”. So far, dozens of humanitarian aid trucks for Gaza are still waiting near the Rafah checkpoint on the Egyptian side, while Cairo is waiting for approval and security guarantees from Israel to enter the enclave.
3. Relentlessly Bombarded, More Than 1 Million Gaza Residents Flee
More than 1 million residents of the Gaza Strip were forced to leave their homes due to the brutal Israeli attacks on the territory. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced this on Monday (16/10/2023).
"More than 1 million people, almost half of Gaza's total population, have been displaced," the UN agency said in a statement. "Around 600,000 internally displaced persons are in the southern Gaza Strip, and nearly 400,000 of them are in UNRWA facilities, which significantly exceeds their capacity to assist in any way," the statement said.
Palestinians poured out of northern Gaza for the third day in a row on Sunday, as Israeli airstrikes increasingly hit the enclave. Israel is also aggressively forcing residents to evacuate under the pretext of carrying out a land invasion.
Israel ordered some 1.1 million Palestinians to leave their homes on Friday without providing guarantees of their return. Israel has launched its most devastating bombardment yet on the impoverished Gaza Strip and one of the world's most densely populated areas.
Much worse is expected to happen in the coming days, prompting many people to seek safe haven wherever they can. Raeda Ashqar (45) is among thousands of Palestinians who have fled their homes. He told Middle East Eye that he was ready to do whatever was necessary for his family's survival.
She left northern Gaza with her four children after seeking refuge in her daughter-in-law's apartment in the south. "Some of our friends who fled told us that they had to sleep on chairs because of limited space in the houses where they sought refuge," Ashqar told MEE, adding he had no qualms about having to share a small apartment with four other families.
The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) provides health and education services to millions of Palestinians. The agency called on Israeli authorities on Saturday to ensure the safety of all civilians seeking refuge at its facilities across the region.
“War has rules,” the agency said. “Civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and UN offices cannot be targeted.” "UNRWA has not made any efforts to advocate for the parties to the conflict to fulfill their obligations under international law to protect civilians," concluded the UN agency.
However, these warnings are often ignored by the Israeli military, which not only bombs residential areas, but also hospitals, schools and places of worship, which in times of crisis generally become places of refuge for the population.
4. Israeli Indiscriminate Air Strikes Kill 2,269 Palestinians
In just over a week, Israel's brutal attacks on the West Bank and Gaza Strip have left at least 2,269 Palestinians dead and 9,814 others. This was reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Saturday (14/10) local time.
"The death toll includes 2,215 people killed in Gaza and 8,714 people injured. Another 54 people killed and 1,100 people injured came from the West Bank," added the report as quoted by Al Arabiya, Sunday (15/10/2023).
The Gaza Ministry of Health on Saturday reported that Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours had killed at least 324 Palestinians and injured 1,000 others. Pretending to attack Hamas fighters, the Israeli raid killed at least 126 children and 88 women.
Israel launched an indiscriminate attack on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, launched a surprise attack last Saturday (7/10), which killed more than 1,300 people. Israel's military, the IDF, has given the clearest indication that its troops are preparing to attack the Gaza Strip.
The IDF has invaded the Gaza border with troops and military equipment. In a statement issued just hours after the evacuation deadline in northern Gaza expired – forcing hundreds of thousands of panicked civilians to flee south, without food or shelter – the Israel Defense Forces said they were preparing for the next stage of the war.
An IDF spokesperson told CNN that it would begin a major military operation in Gaza after seeing that civilians had left the territory. The Israeli military called their attitude of giving the "warning" first a "generous" act.
“It is very important for the people of Gaza to know that we are very generous with our time. We had given sufficient warning, more than 25 hours. "I cannot emphasize enough to say now is the time for Gazans to leave," said Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.
“Grab your things, go south. Defend your lives, and do not fall into the trap that Hamas has prepared for you," he said.
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