By Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: Palestinian Territory – Horrific testimonies have been received by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor regarding the slow death faced by dozens of sick and injured Palestinians at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex. The hospital has been the target of a massive military operation by the Israeli army for the fourth day in a row now.
According to the testimonies, the Israeli army has confined all doctors and nurses in an unknown location inside Al-Shifa Complex in an effort to prevent them from carrying out their duties. Meanwhile, the sick and injured have been denied access to medical treatment and medication, resulting in the deaths of at least three patients in the past few hours.
Israel’s army has turned Al-Shifa Complex into an open massacre for the fourth consecutive day amid field executions, and imposed a slow death sentence against the sick and wounded people there, either by denying them any medical care or starving them to death.
The ongoing Israeli massacre in the hospital and its surrounding areas has left at least 200 Palestinians dead, many of whom were victims of extrajudicial executions after their arrest at an electronic examination gate set up by the Israeli army in the Complex’s morgue.
Israeli forces evacuated dozens of patients from several buildings within Al-Shifa Complex against their will. They left behind a number of elderly and immobile patients who could die at any time, as the entire Complex might be bombed given the targeting of its multi-store surgical building, which the Israeli army has already completely blown up; the neighbouring buildings and houses are badly burned.
“The Israeli forces evacuated the patients from all the specialty buildings and forced them to gather in the reception building, then forcibly asked those who could walk to leave, while about 22 patients remained unable to move and their fate is unknown,” a woman who had been accompanying a patient in Al-Shifa Complex told the Euro-Med Monitor team.
She went on to say that the conditions inside the Medical Complex are appalling and catastrophic. The Israeli army has closed the internal pharmacy and denied the sick and injured any medication, causing some of their wounds to rot, she explained. All of the doctors and nurses have been detained for “investigation” and are unable to perform their duties amid a lack of food and electricity, which has resulted in the deaths of three patients so far.
Euro-Med Monitor has obtained a leaked clip showing dozens of women and children trapped in a basement inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex, following the men’s arrest. In the footage, the Israeli army can be heard threatening the trapped people, over loudspeakers, to follow their orders “or else the buildings will be bombed over [their] heads”.
“I miraculously survived an Israeli bombing of a residential building this morning adjacent to Al-Shifa Complex, sheltering a number of families,” a woman called Zainab Al-Masry told Euro-Med Monitor’s team. “The building and the surrounding buildings were completely destroyed.”
Euro-Med Monitor previously documented testimonies of newly-released detainees and eyewitnesses which confirm that Israeli forces have carried out unlawful killings and executions against displaced Palestinian civilians inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex for four days now, and that the military operations there are ongoing.
A survivor who asked to be identified only as “M.K.” confirmed that Israeli soldiers repeatedly took prisoners into the hospital’s morgue area, that gunshots were then heard, and that the soldiers left without the prisoners. “The soldiers detained me and handcuffed me in the hospital courtyard; I was left undressed for more than nine hours,” M.K. stated.
“About four times during that period, I saw soldiers lead groups of detainees—[always] at least three people and [never] more than 10—into the hospital buildings, particularly the morgue building where bodies had previously been kept,” added M.K. “Gunshots were heard, with the soldiers then leaving the area to bring another group there.”
Another witness, who preferred to remain completely anonymous due to safety concerns, and who was able to leave Al-Shifa Medical Complex recently, confirmed to the Euro-Med Monitor team that he witnessed Israeli forces taking eight or 10 Palestinian civilians at a time towards the morgue area. He then heard heavy gunfire, and the Israeli forces later left without the civilians.
These civilians were likely subjected to unlawful killings and executions, as all the information obtained by Euro-Med Monitor’s field team suggests that since Al-Shifa Medical Complex was restored on Sunday/Monday night, 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in and outside of it.
The Israeli army itself has acknowledged that it killed 140 people during the ongoing military operation in Al-Shifa Medical Complex. An international committee must be established to investigate the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli forces as part of its genocide campaign, which includes planned killings and executions against civilians that are outside the purview of the law and judiciary.
Meanwhile, Israel’s army is still arbitrarily detaining hundreds of civilians for the fourth day in a row, including medical personnel and immobile patients, amid an environment of intimidation and heavy Israeli gunfire.
About 400 people have already been detained, including journalists, medical personnel, and displaced people, many of whom have been tortured and forced to remain fully nude or dressed in flimsy white clothes. More than half of these individuals have been transported in trucks and military vehicles to Israeli detention facilities.
The ongoing events at Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the risks faced by civilians there, including patients, healthcare workers, and displaced people seeking refuge—who are protected by international humanitarian law—are deeply concerning. As hospitals and medical facilities are required to be protected, the international community must take on its responsibilities to protect all Gaza Strip residents and force Israel to end its genocide against Palestinians in the Strip.
