A doctor inside Gaza's largest hospital says hundreds of patients are stranded, most operations suspended
Bombs and gunfire erupting around Al-Shifa Hospital, doctor tells CBC News
Automaticgunfire and explosions have beenringing out around the sprawling Al-ShifaHospital complex, the largest in the Gaza Strip,where the Hamas-run Health Ministrysaidone baby in an incubator died when the hospital lost power on Saturday and another woman was killed by a shell.
Dr. AhmedMokhallalati, the head of the hospital'splasticsurgery department, told CBCNews that most operations havebeen suspended after fuel ran out. The hospital has no electricity or internet connection, he added.
"Moving within the hospital is unsafe, moving around the hospital isunsafe," Mokhallalatisaidon Saturday morning through several phonecalls that were frequently dropped because of poor communication lines.
"I think [the Israeli forces]are getting closer and closer to the hospital," he said, amid the sounds of loud blasts and gunshots. Attempts to reachMokhallalation Saturday afternoon were unsuccessful.
Israeli officials deny targeting the hospital."The news reported by some media about a siege or targeting of Al-ShifaHospital is false,"Col.Moshe Tetro, commander of Israel's liaison directorate with Gaza, said in a statement on Saturday.
"The clashes with Hamas terrorists take place in the vicinity of the hospital area, and there is no siege or targeting of the hospital.... We are in constant contact with the hospital director and are ready to co-ordinate the exit of everyone who wants to leave the hospitaltowards Salah al-Din Street."
In a televised address on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back againstgrowing international calls for a ceasefire. He said Israel's battle to crush Gaza's ruling Hamas militants would continue with "full force" unless they release all of the estimated240 hostages taken in the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel says Hamasbases in hospital
The Israeli military has saidthat Hamas militants who rampaged through southern Israel last month have placed command centres under Al-ShifaHospital and others in Gaza, making them vulnerable to being considered military targets.
In a briefing on Saturday,a spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF)told journalists that Hamas fighters were seen in the windows of theAl-Rantisichildren's hospital earlier this week. The IDF said it did not attack the militants and left the hospitalbecause there were too many civiliansaround.
Hamas has denied using civilians as human shields.Mokhallalatisaidthere was no one inside Al-Shifa with weapons.
When asked by CBCNews ifHamas is operating underneath the hospital, he saidthere are tunnels that run underneaththe whole territory.
The doctor saidfierce fighting between members of the"resistance" andIsraeli forces istaking place around the vicinity, making it impossiblefor anyone to leave the hospital.
Mokhallalatisaid about500 patients remain at the facility, including dozens on ventilators.
"The Israeli side talked to the director of the hospital yesterday and they asked him to evacuate," he said.
"Hetold them clearly, 'You have attacked all the hospitals around us, where am I going to evacuate the patients?'"
The Israeli military later said it will help evacuate babies trapped in the hospitalon Sunday.
"The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed,"Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagaritold reporters on Saturday.
A perilous journey south
Mokhallalatiestimates that 80 per cent of the Gazans who had been sheltering at the hospital left over the past few days, movingalong humanitarian corridors that Israel has opened up.
Thousands more people in northern Gaza are scrambling to get to a place of greater safety as intense fighting rages between Israel and Hamas. Civilians are streaming out of the northern part of the territory, making the journey south howeverthey can including many on foot, travelling with family in tow.
There are clear dangers for peoplestaying put in northern Gaza, but they also face risks in travelling south not only during the journey itself, but also in finding shelter and staying out of harm's wayonce they get to their destination.
Gaza's border authority announced on Saturday that the Rafah land crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders.
Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign citizens and Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment were suspended on Friday, three Egyptian security sources and a Palestinian official said.
Conflict erupted in Gaza inthe wake ofa surprise attack Hamas launchedacross parts of southern Israel on Oct. 7, five weeks ago. In response, Israel declared war andunleashed a campaign involving airstrikes and aground offensive, with thegoal ofdismantling the Islamist militant groupand its infrastructure.
The resulting death toll hasbeen immense, with thousands of civilians killed and at least two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million people internally displaced within the besieged enclave.
As of Friday, officials from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza saidmore than 11,000 people have died in the territory since Oct. 7.
In Israel, the Foreign Affairs Ministry revised the Israeli government'sfigure that some 1,400 people had been killedCanadians among them and now says the number stands at about 1,200.
With files from Reuters, The Associated Press
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