Israeli Occupation Army Detonates Building in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex

The Israeli army on Thursday morning bombed a building in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the western part of Gaza City, Palestinian media reported.

“The occupation army (Israel) bombed the specialized surgeries building in Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City,” in the northern Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa channel said in a brief statement on Telegram.

Earlier, Palestine TV reported that “the occupation forces threatened the displaced people inside Al-Shifa Complex through loudspeakers and demanded their immediate evacuation from the complex.”

Last week, scores of Palestinians were killed and injured in intense Israeli army shelling near Al-Shifa as they were breaking their fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The artillery bombardment resulted in widespread fires, killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians, including women and children, and forcing hundreds to flee to eastern Gaza City.

Since early Monday morning, Israeli forces continued to raid the Shifa complex, despite the presence of thousands of patients, wounded, and displaced Palestinians inside, alongside killings, shootings, and wide-scale arrests carried out among the displaced inside the hospital, and the shelling of nearby houses.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army announced the killing of 90 Palestinians and the interrogation of 300 at Shifa, while arresting another 160 and taking them to Israel for interrogation.

This is the second time that Israeli forces have raided the complex since the start of the war on Gaza last Oct. 7, as they previously raided it last Nov. 16 after a week-long siege, then withdrew after 8 days, during which its yards, parts of its buildings, medical equipment, and even the power generator were destroyed.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and more than 74,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide, and guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.