Shocking testimonies from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza: Rape, murder, and entire families burned alive
Gaza (Quds News Network) –Jamila Al-Hissi, a Palestinian woman trapped in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, has revealed harrowing accounts of Israeli forces raping women and killing them within the medical complex and in its surroundings. She also disclosed that 65 families were forced to evacuate the hospital’s surroundings.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic, Al-Hissi stated that Israeli forces raped women, burned and killed entire families, as well as burned a building where they sought refuge.
Jamila al-Hissi, a Palestinian woman who survived the Israeli pogrom at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, told Al Jazeera Arabic that Palestinian women have been subjected to rape, torture, and execution by Israeli forces. pic.twitter.com/G2MJ2HZzC4
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 24, 2024
She pleaded with the Red Cross to provide water for children and patients, stating, “We are stranded amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes.”
The trapped woman emphasized that the International Committee of the Red Cross was absent and unable to provide water for them.
Furthermore, she lamented that children have not had access to even salty water or food for six days.
A viral video circulated on social media platforms, depicting a group of Palestinians, stripped naked, after being released by the Israeli army from Al-Shifa Hospital and its vicinity, forcing them to relocate to southern Gaza.
بعد أن قتل الاحتلال عائلات بأكملها داخل مستشفى الشفاء , قام بإخلاء عدد من المُحاصرين قبل قليل وهم شبه "عراة" غرب مدينة غزة مُتجهين نحو وسط قطاع غزة 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/2gMikEXvhq
— غزة الآن – Gaza Now (@nowgnna) March 23, 2024
The footage, captured by a Palestinian from his home window, showed Palestinians walking with difficulty on a sandy street, heading towards southern Gaza.
The video also displayed naked Palestinians pushing a man in a wheelchair with difficulty.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has stated that it had documented several consistent testimonies regarding the deliberate use of Palestinians as human shields by the Israeli army, placing them in conditions endangering their lives to secure and protect its forces and military operations inside and around Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza. These operations have been ongoing since the early hours of last Monday.
The group affirmed in a statement that the testimonies it had collected showed that the Israeli occupation forces used civilians, including patients and displaced persons inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex, as human shields. They were employed to fortify its military operations inside the hospital and to form a shield behind its forces and military vehicles.
Additionally, the patients and civilians were sent under threat to evacuate homes and residential buildings in the vicinity of the medical complex, asking their inhabitants to leave before they were stormed, resulting in arrests and the subsequent destruction of many homes.
Ramy Abdo, a Palestinian academic and human rights activist, told Anadolu Agency: “The Israeli occupation committed horrific massacres and atrocities in Al-Shifa Hospital and its surroundings.”
He added, “The Israeli army unlawfully used Palestinians as human shields, forced them to undress, and forced them to evacuate.”
He continued, “The army killed women, men, and children, constituting a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms.”
This marks the second time Israeli forces have invaded the hospital since the beginning of the war on Gaza on October 7th, after previously storming it on November 16th, following a week-long siege, during which its yards, parts of its buildings, medical equipment, and power generators were destroyed.
In a preliminary toll, the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7th of last year has resulted in 32,142 documented fatalities, mostly children and women, with injuries reaching 74,412.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that the Israeli army had committed nine massacres against families during the previous 24 hours, resulting in the deaths of over 82 civilians, in addition to 110 injuries.