Israeli Military Delivers Supplies to Gaza Hospital During Ground Operation

The compound at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Nov. 7, 2023. Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) said on Nov. 15 that it has delivered crucial supplies to Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital during its ongoing “targeted” ground operation there.

The IDF stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it also sent medical teams and Arabic speakers to al-Shifa—the largest hospital in Gaza—to ensure that the supplies reached the civilians.

“We can now confirm that incubators, baby food, and medical supplies, provided by the IDF, have successfully reached the hospital,” the Israeli military stated.

Israeli forces were conducting “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in a “specified area” of the hospital, the IDF stated, emphasizing that the operation wasn’t intended to harm “civilians being used by Hamas as human shields.”

“The IDF is conducting a ground operation in Gaza to defeat Hamas and rescue our hostages,” the IDF said in a statement on Nov. 15. “Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the civilians in Gaza.

“Yesterday, the IDF conveyed to the relevant authorities in Gaza once again that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours. Unfortunately, it did not.

“The IDF has also facilitated wide-scale evacuations of the hospital and maintained regular dialogue with hospital authorities. We call upon all Hamas terrorists present in the hospital to surrender.”

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals to conceal command operations and using hospital patients as human shields.

Hamas and the hospitals in Gaza have denied these allegations.

WHO: Incursion ‘Deeply Concerning’

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, stated on X that reports of military incursion into al-Shifa Hospital are “deeply concerning.”

“We’ve lost touch again with health personnel at the hospital. We’re extremely worried for their and their patients’ safety,” Mr. Ghebreyesus said on Nov. 15.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Nov. 14 that Hamas has a command node beneath al-Shifa where weapons are stored, calling the terrorist group’s action “a war crime.”

“We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them to conceal and support their military operations,” he said.

This information comes from a variety of intelligence sources, according to Mr. Kirby.

“I think you can understand that we’re not going to be able to provide a whole lot of granular detail on that. We have to protect sources and methods,” he said.

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of Israeli strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Oct. 31, 2023. Fadi Whadi/Reuters

“To be clear, we do not support striking a hospital from the air. We do not want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care they deserve, not to be caught in the crossfire.”

Mr. Kirby said Hamas’s actions don’t lessen Israel’s responsibility to protect people in Gaza and that the Biden administration will maintain an active dialogue with its Israeli counterparts regarding this matter.

Israel has aimed its airstrikes at Hamas targets in Gaza and imposed a siege. It cut off food, water, and fuel from Israel to Gaza after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Oct. 7.

Israel initially reported a death toll of 1,400 from Hamas’s attack but later revised the estimate to 1,200, saying some unidentified corpses included in the initial tally probably were Hamas terrorists killed in the attack.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 11,300 as of Nov. 14, a number that The Epoch Times is unable to verify.

Epoch Times Staff contributed to this report.