Palestinian Movement Condemns Global Silence Over Israeli Assault on Gaza Hospital

In a statement on Sunday, Hamas described the ongoing Israeli aggression against the hospital as a "moral failure" on the part of the international community and the United Nations. The movement accused them of failing to pressure Israel's ally, the US, to stop supplying arms to the occupying regime.

"The shameful silence on the situation of the al-Shifa Hospital Complex [in Gaza City] and those trapped inside represents a disgrace and a moral failure on the part of the international community and the United Nations," the statement said.

"They are unable to stop Zionists' killing machine, and pressure Washington to stop its partnership and support with arms exports to the Nazi-Zionist occupying regime," it added.

Israeli forces have been carrying out airstrikes and artillery shelling in and around the al-Shifa Hospital for the seventh consecutive day. Reports indicate that Palestinians sheltering near the hospital are facing severe shortages of food and water due to the ongoing bombardment and air raids.

Hamas has accused Israel of targeting the hospital "without regard" for the patients or medical staff inside, a claim echoed by those trapped in the complex.

According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces are currently holding about 240 patients and their caregivers, as well as 10 healthcare workers, inside the hospital under harsh conditions without access to water, food, or health services.

Many of the wounded are reportedly in critical condition, with worms emerging from their wounds. Five Palestinian patients at al-Shifa were pronounced dead on Saturday.

Jamila al-Hissi, a Palestinian woman who was trapped in a building near al-Shifa Hospital, told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces had raped, kidnapped, and killed women during their raid on the hospital.

"They raped women, kidnapped women, executed women, and pulled dead bodies from under the rubble to unleash their dogs on them," she said.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that the Israeli army is burning homes near al-Shifa Hospital, sometimes with occupants still inside.

Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, is now one of the few partially operational healthcare facilities in the north.

Israel first raided al-Shifa last November, claiming that Hamas was using it as a command center, which was later denied by Hamas. On Monday, the Israeli military alleged that "senior Hamas terrorists" were using the facility to "conduct and promote terrorist activity," and later claimed that "terrorist forces" were firing at Israeli troops.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that about 3,000 people were inside al-Shifa seeking refuge, and that those attempting to leave were being targeted by snipers and fire from helicopters.

According to the UN, 155 health facilities in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war began. Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 32,142 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured another 74,412 individuals.