Israel once again lays siege to Al Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, as efforts to reach a truce continue

The Israeli army launched an operation on Monday in the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas, with witnesses reporting airstrikes and presence of tanks near this complex where thousands of civilians take refuge.

The operation at Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza City (north), takes place in parallel efforts to reach a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, which began more than five months ago.

The head of Israel’s intelligence service, the prime minister of Qatar and senior Egyptian officials will meet this Monday in Doha to continue negotiations, a source close to the matter told AFP.

The war was sparked on October 7 by Hamas’ bloody attack in southern Israel, where its fighters killed around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.

The Islamists They also kidnapped around 250 people. Israel says 130 people are still detained in Gaza, of whom 33 are reported to have died.

In response, Israel promised “annihilate” Hamaswhich it considers a terrorist organization like the United States and the European Union.

Islamist-ruled Gaza’s health ministry says Israeli offensive has killed 31,726 people in the Palestinian territory so far, including 81 in the last 24 hours.

The Israeli army announced on Monday that 250 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive in Gaza began on October 27, the latest during the operation in Al Shifa.

This operation “is based on information that indicates the use of the hospital by high-ranking terrorists” of Hamas, indicated the army, which asked the population to evacuate “immediately to the area to the west” and take the coastal road “to the south, towards the humanitarian area of ​​Al Mawasi”.

The fighting began just before dawn around the hospital, which the army had stormed on November 15.

Since the start of the war, the army has conducted operations at several hospitals in the Palestinian territory, accusing Hamas of using the facilities as command centers.

Witnesses confirmed to AFP “aerial operations” in the al Rimal neighborhood, where the hospital is located. According to some residents “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” entered the area.

“The soldiers identified the terrorists by shooting at them from several hospital buildings. The soldiers responded to the terrorists and shot several of them,” the Israeli army said.

Hospital work minimally and with a small team. Less than a third of the hospitals in the territory, besieged and on the brink of famine, are functioning, and only partially, according to the UN.

In Rafah, a city in the far south, the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians there live in fear of a ground offensive, according to the United Nations.

“No international pressure will prevent us from achieving all the objectives of our war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday, assuring that he will not launch the operation “leaving the population trapped there.”

“Before the war, Gaza was the largest open-air prison. It is now the largest open-air cemetery“, deplored the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, on Monday.

Negotiations for a truce

Faced with the intransigence of both sides, the international mediators – United States, Qatar and Egypt – They try to reach a new truce like the one sealed at the end of November.

The Islamic group said it was willing to accept a six-week truce and release 42 Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of between 20 and 50 Palestinians per hostage.

It also calls for the “withdrawal of the army from all cities and populated areas”, the “return of displaced persons” and the entry of 500 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza daily, according to one of its leaders.

Netanyahu assured that he will not accept any agreement “that weakens Israel and prevents it from defending itself”.

Israel controls aid entering the enclave, mainly from Egypt through Rafah, but supplies reaching the population are insufficient.

“Famine in northern Gaza is imminent”

A United Nations-backed report said Monday that 1.1 million Palestinians face the most severe level of food insecurity.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), “famine is imminent in the northern provinces” and is expected to occur between now and May if urgent measures are not taken.

The NGO Oxfam said on Monday that Israel “deliberately” prevents help from enteringin violation of international humanitarian law, and denounced “unjustifiably ineffective” inspection protocols and “attacks against humanitarian personnel”.