According to the White House, the US has information that the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip is using hospitals for military purposes. “Hamas and members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) are using some hospitals in the Gaza Strip – including the Shifa Clinic – and tunnels beneath them to conceal and advance their military operations and to hold hostages,” the National Security Council’s communications director said in the USA, John Kirby.
The Shifa clinic in the city of Gaza is a “command and control hub” for these groups. Equipment and weapons would probably also be stored there, it was said. According to Kirby, this information comes “from a variety of proprietary intelligence methods.”
Kirby said the US did not support airstrikes on hospitals or firefights near them. “Innocent people, helpless people, sick people” who were “just trying to get the medical care they deserve” should not be caught in the crossfire. Hamas mixed with the civilian population. Using the Shifa clinic for military purposes is a war crime and makes the Israeli military’s deployment “significantly more difficult,” Kirby said.
Hamas calls for UN committee to inspect hospitals
Hamas rejected the White House’s accusations on Tuesday evening and accused the US of spreading Israel’s “lies”. The facilities would not be used “as hiding places for captured Israeli soldiers or as command centers.” “We reiterate our call for the United Nations to establish an international committee to inspect all hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.
While the Israeli army continues its attacks in the fight against Hamas, the situation in the hospitals in the coastal area has recently become increasingly dramatic. There is a lack of medicine, water, food and fuel for the generators. According to Hamas, dozens of bodies were buried in a mass grave in an inner courtyard on the grounds of the Shifa Clinic – the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip – on Tuesday, including around 180 bodies that had already decomposed. The statements could not initially be independently verified.
