How hospitals are protected by the rules of war and why those in Gaza are under siege from Israel

Al Shifa Hospital, located in the north of the Gaza Strip, it no longer works. Over the weekend he lost power and the machines in his intensive care unit and incubators stopped working. As a result, 27 adults and seven babies had died as of Monday, the Islamist movement Hamas reported.

The largest hospital in Loop is surrounded by Israeli troops, who They fight a hand-to-hand urban battle with Hamas militants.

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Last week, the Israeli Army asked that the hospital be evacuated, but those who run the center consider that this is impossible. But a few days ago it ran out of fuel, which resulted in a power outage and life support machines being turned off.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Monday that there are 2,300 people inside the Al Shifa Hospital. There are hundreds of patients and the rest are civilians who sought refuge on the grounds of the building after the offensive that Israel launched on October 7, the day in which Hamas attacked by surprise in Israeli territory, leaving at least 1,200 dead, mostly civilians.

On the Palestinian side, Israel’s reprisals have left at least 11,180 dead in Gazaincluding 4,609 children.

Civilians who have taken refuge in Al Shifa Hospital did so under the belief that it will not be attacked, but the opposite is happening.

In addition to the lack of electricity, there is also no water in this place.

According to the UN, 1.5 million Palestinians, out of a total population of 2.4 million, have been forced to leave their homes since the start of the war. Many of them went south forced by Israelbut bombings are also being recorded in that area of ​​the Palestinian enclave.

Not only the Al Shifa Hospital is under siege by troops Israel.

Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza, said Monday that patients “are on the streets without care” following the “forced evacuations” of the Al Nasr and Al Rantissi pediatric hospitals.

Meanwhile he Al Qudsanother of the hospitals in the city of Loopstopped operating on Sunday due to lack of fuel and electricity, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The AFP agency reported on Sunday that witnesses told it that the Israeli army ordered the Palestinians to leave the hospital. Al Quds.

According to UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 20 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are “out of service” due to lack of supplies.

But why are hospitals in the crosshairs of Israel And what does international legislation say about these centers in times of war?

Used as Hamas headquarters, according to Israel

Israel Maintains that Hamas It has military barracks below hospitals like the Al Shifa.

Besides, Israel has said that the headquarters of Hamas operates in the underground Al Shifa Hospital.

As reported by the AP agency, the Israeli army published an illustrated map of Al Shifa where it marks the alleged locations of underground militant facilities, without offering further evidence.

Both Hamas and the director of the Al Shifa HospitalMohammed Abu Selmia, denied that what Israel said was true.

“If we see the terrorists of Hamas “shooting from hospitals, we will do whatever is necessary,” warned Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht.

Israel has already attacked the perimeter of the Al Shifa Hospital. Last week, he bombed a convoy of ambulances evacuating injured patients from that center. Israel He said the units were transporting fighters from Hamas. That attack killed at least 12 bystanders, Abu Selmia said.

AP indicated that when asked on Saturday about what is happening in Al Shifa to the main Israeli military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagarihe said that the soldiers were not besieging Al Shifabut rather sought to enable a safe exit point on the east side of the hospital. He added that the military was in contact with officials at the center and would help transfer babies treated there after the power cut.

Last week, fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas was also reported outside the Rantisi Children’s Hospital.

That hospital closed on Friday after running out of fuel, said the WHO.

For Palestinians who left their homes, many destroyed, and were unable to go south, the safest places were hospital compounds.

Kamal Najar, a 35-year-old man who took refuge in Al Shifa with her two young children, told the AP that she believed the hospital would be “off-limits, even for Israel”.

Najar ended up escaping on foot due to the attacks around the hospital. He is now in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

Palestinian health workers accuse Israel to mount an all-out attack on the hospital infrastructure of Loop to punish the population and force surrender. “That is, ‘We will not only kill you and wound you, but we will make sure that you have nowhere to go for treatment,’” said Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British Palestinian surgeon who works for Doctors Without Borders in the city of Gaza, AP indicated.

International law and hospitals

According to international humanitarian law (IHL), Health establishments and units, including hospitals, should not be attacked in the context of a war. This protection extends to the wounded and sick, as well as medical personnel and means of medical transport. But there are some exceptions.

If one of the parties to the conflict uses hospitals to commit “acts harmful to the enemy,” they may be attacked. They also lose their protection if they are used to hide combatants or store weapons, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A hospital loses its protection under IHL if it “is used as a base to launch an attack, as an observation post to transmit information of military value, as a weapons depot, as a liaison center for troops in combat or as a refuge for combatants in good state of health,” says the Red Cross.

The Red Cross maintains that before an attack is launched against a hospital that has lost its protective status, a summons must be issued. Said injunction must include a deadline, which must not have taken effect for the attack to be permitted. “The purpose of this warning is to give those who are committing an act harmful to the enemy the opportunity to cease or, if they persist, at least allow safe evacuation. of the wounded and sick, who are not responsible for that conduct nor should they be victims of it.”

That is to say, If Israel proves that Al Shifa is used as a Hamas base, the attack cannot be instantaneous. Furthermore, if there is ultimately an attack and the damage against civilians is disproportionate, it may be considered illegal under international law.

The AP agency cited an editorial published on Friday in the British newspaper The Guardian, where the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, warned the combatants that The burden of proof is on them if they claim that hospitals, schools or places of worship have lost their protected status. because they are being used for military purposes by one of the parties to the conflict.

“The burden of proving that this protective status has been lost falls on those who fire the weapon, missile or rocket in question,” he warned.