Human Shields: Israel Releases Footage Of Hamas Fighters Firing RPGs From Gaza Hospital

(Daily Mail) Hamas fighters carrying RPGs have engaged in a ‘firefight’ with IDF troops at a second Gaza hospital this afternoon – while Israeli forces continue to surround a medical facility believed to be hiding the terrorists’ headquarters.

While fighting has so far been largely concentrated in a tightening circle around Al Shifa, Gaza’s biggest hospital, the Israel Defense Forces released footage this afternoon claiming to show Hamas fighters with RPGs outside a second hospital in the territory, al-Quds.

 

The IDF said some of its troops were fired at from the entrance of the hospital, where militants had ’embedded’ themselves among civilians. But the force engaged with the fighters and ‘subsequently eliminated’ them, they say.

‘RPG fire and small arms fire were directed at the soldiers from the direction of the al Quds Hospital in Gaza City,’ the IDF said in a statement.

‘The shooting was carried out by a terrorist squad that had embedded itself within a group of civilians at the entrance of the hospital.’

It said a tank was damaged in the exchange, and some Hamas fighters were able to make their way back inside the hospital after a firefight.

‘During the incident, approximately 21 terrorists were killed and there were no casualties to our forces.’

It is unclear if any civilians were hurt in the exchange.

‘During the exchange of fire, civilians were seen leaving the hospital building, and other terrorists who came out of adjacent buildings hid among them and joined the attempted attack,’ the IDF said.

‘After the terrorists fired RPGs, they returned to hide in the hospital.’

Meanwhile, Israeli forces today reached the gates of Gaza City’s main hospital under which the IDF has insisted Hamas terrorists have their headquarters in makeshift tunnels.

Scores of Israeli soldiers and tanks have now surrounded the sprawling Al Shifa hospital where thousands of patients and civilians remain trapped in what could be a pivotal moment in the bloody war.

Gaza health ministry spokesperson Qidra said an Israel tank was now stationed at the hospital gate. Israeli snipers and drones were firing into the hospital, making it impossible for medics and patients to move around.

‘We are besieged and are inside a circle of death,’ he said.

Israeli forces appear ready to enter the hospital where they have consistently insisted that Hamas terrorists are hiding in underground tunnels beneath the building and using the patients as shields.

This would prove a key moment in the war and show once and for all whether Hamas terrorists have indeed based their secret headquarters underneath the hospital. But any such move by the Israeli forces to enter the hospital would see civilians, patients and doctors in the middle of fierce battles.

The Al Shifa hospital, which the World Health Organisation has said is ‘no longer functioning’, has been a primary target for Israeli troops in their battle to seize control of the northern half of the Gaza Strip. Medics and the thousands of civilians trapped inside have told how newborn babies and patients are dying for lack of fuel.

Israel has been unrelenting in its military campaign to annihilate Hamas since the terrorists rampaged through southern Israel and slaughtered 1,400 Israelis as they fled their homes or a music festival on October 7.

Israel’s withering airstrikes, which have killed more than 11,000 people according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, were quickly followed by a ground invasion that has seen soldiers quickly encircle Gaza City.

Fighting has since been concentrated in a tightening circle around the Al Shifa hospital, the enclave’s biggest, where thousands of civilians sought shelter.

About 650 patients, 500 healthcare workers and an estimated 2,500 displaced people remain in the sprawling Shifa hospital compound, said Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza.

Israel says the hospital is the prime example of Hamas’s alleged use of human shields, claiming that the militants have a command centre and other military infrastructure in and beneath the medical compound. Hamas and hospital staff deny those allegations.

Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra, who was inside the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city, said an Israel tank was today stationed at the hospital gate.

‘The tank is outside the gate of the outpatient clinic department, this is how the situation looks this morning,’ Qidra said.

As witnesses reported more ‘violent fighting’, overnight aerial bombardments and the clatter of gunfire echoed across the sprawling Al Shifa hospital at the heart of the Gaza City, now an urban war zone.

Israel has told civilians to leave and medics to send patients elsewhere. It says it has attempted to evacuate babies from the neo-natal ward and left 300 litres of fuel to power emergency generators at the hospital entrance, but the offers were blocked by Hamas.

Qidra, the Gaza health ministry spokesperson, denied rejecting the offers of fuel but said the 300 litres would power the hospital for just half an hour.

Read More