Unrelenting Air and Ground Bombardment

The siege of Al-Shifa Medical Complex threatens the lives of newborns

The death toll from the genocide war in Gaza has risen to 66,055 martyrs and 168,346 injuries since October 7, 2023, after 50 people were killed and 184 injured within 24 hours, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip on Monday.

Ismail Thawabteh, Director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, confirmed that the Israeli occupation continues to commit systematic crimes against the health sector in Gaza, noting that the number of direct attacks on medical facilities and staff has reached 788 since the start of the aggression on October 7, 2023.

Thawabteh explained that Al-Helou Hospital west of Gaza City was hit by two shells, cutting off its internet completely and preventing access to or exit from the hospital, describing this step as “aimed at isolating the hospital from the outside world and depriving civilians of medical services.”

He added that “the occupation deliberately destroys the remaining health infrastructure in the city, targeting hospitals and medical centers directly, which constitutes a war crime under international law.”

He pointed out that the toll of medical staff targeted since the beginning of the aggression reached 1,670 martyrs among health workers, in addition to the destruction of 197 ambulances, undermining the ability of teams to respond to emergencies and save the injured.

Thawabteh stressed that “what the health sector is exposed to cannot be separated from the occupation’s ongoing policy of targeting civilians and vital infrastructure,” affirming that “the international community must urgently act to protect hospitals and medical staff and provide safe corridors for the entry of medical equipment and urgent needs.”

The health sector in Gaza is suffering from near-total collapse, with the ongoing siege preventing medical supplies from entering, rising numbers of wounded and sick, and difficulty performing surgeries or providing treatment amid widespread destruction of most hospitals.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that 361 medical staff in Gaza are forcibly disappeared in Israeli detention centers, while the occupation prevents human rights organizations from monitoring their conditions or accessing information about their detention.

The ministry confirmed that “this measure reflects the continued targeting of Palestinian health cadres within the occupation’s systematic policies and increases the difficulty of providing basic medical services to civilians amid escalating attacks on the sector.”

On Monday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced loss of contact with medical staff inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, noting that the hospital is under a suffocating siege due to ongoing Israeli bombardment, making it nearly impossible for any patient or injured person to reach it.

The ministry confirmed that “12 newborn babies remain trapped inside the complex amid deadly risks threatening their lives,” while Israeli drones targeted the hospital surroundings, doubling the scale of the humanitarian disaster.

Israeli warplanes launched intensive bombing on Al-Shifa complex and its surroundings, known as the “fire belt,” targeting a residential tower and several homes as part of the comprehensive destruction policy carried out by Israeli forces in Gaza City.

This coincided with the incursion of Israeli vehicles and tanks into several neighborhoods, escalating the ground attack, with ongoing operations in central and southern Gaza following a bloody day that resulted in over 90 deaths. The Israeli army continues ground operations and destructive plans, targeting the city in the northern besieged Gaza Strip. Israeli operations systematically target homes and civilian facilities, using explosive robots to demolish houses and fire hoses to burn others, alongside intensified air raids on various areas.

In Gaza City, drones fired on the Saraya area and Martyrs Street, as well as around Al-Shifa Hospital, also targeting ambulances and civil defense teams while working.

The Israeli army carried out demolitions of residential houses on Al-Nasr Street northwest of the city and in Al-Nasr neighborhood, along with similar operations in the Katiba area in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, coinciding with air strikes and illumination bombs.

Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement on Monday that their fighters clashed with an Israeli special force carried in “Humvee” vehicles in Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza City, inflicting direct injuries on members of the Israeli force.

The Al-Qassam Brigades briefly stated that “an enemy command and control site east of Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City was targeted with several mortar shells.”

An Israeli soldier who climbed onto a house near Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City was shot and directly injured.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza warned on Monday of an imminent complete halt of blood banks in the few operating hospitals in the sector due to a severe shortage of laboratory supplies necessary for the transfer and testing of blood units and components.

The ministry said in a statement: “Blood banks in hospitals are threatened with complete stoppage due to severe depletion of laboratory supplies necessary for the transfer and testing of blood units and components.”

It explained that these developments coincide with “a severe shortage in blood units and components stocks, hindering emergency interventions for the wounded and life-saving procedures.”

The ministry issued warnings about the critical shortage of blood units threatening the lives of Palestinian patients and wounded amid escalating Israeli attacks resulting in hundreds of injured needing blood units.

With famine spreading, community campaigns to collect blood units have declined, as Palestinians are unable to donate due to malnutrition, who were the last source for obtaining these units amid the intensifying Israeli siege.