Israeli Army Shows Footage Allegedly of Foreign Hostages in Gaza Hospital

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Facts

  • Israel’s military released video footage on Sunday allegedly showing two foreign hostages being taken into Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, the strip's largest, during Hamas's Oct. 7 surprise attack. The army also said on Sunday that it had found a tunnel complex near the hospital, which could not be independently verified. [Israel has repeatedly claimed that al-Shifa was being used as a Hamas command center, something both the group and doctors at the hospital have denied; Hamas did not immediately comment on the claims although the group has admitted in the past that it took some hostages to hospitals for treatment.]1
  • A group of 28 premature babies, which were being held at al-Shifa, evacuated Gaza on Sunday, crossing into Egypt for medical care. On Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that al-Shifa was no longer able to provide care to patients, and many of the sick and injured were 'now being directed to the seriously overwhelmed and barely functioning Indonesian hospital.'2
  • Israeli forces are now operating around the Indonesian Hospital, with Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson saying that Israeli artillery strikes killed 12 Palestinians in the hospital's complex, adding that 'the situation is catastrophic,' as hundreds of people are still trapped.3
  • Meanwhile, a delegation of Arab and Muslim ministers traveled to Beijing to call on Monday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in the first leg of a tour to push for an end to hostilities and to allow humanitarian aid into the devastated Palestinian enclave. The officials holding meetings with China's top diplomat Wang Yi were from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Palestinian authorities, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, among others.4
  • On Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that over 13K people in the Gaza Strip have reportedly been killed, over half of which were women and children; the ministry also reported 30K wounded. The official Israeli death toll, meanwhile, stands at 1.2K people.5

Sources: 1The Guardian, 2BBC News, 3Al Jazeera, 4Reuters and 5The Times of Israel.

Narratives

  • Pro-Israel, as provided by The Jerusalem Post. Israel has presented evidence that terrorists from Hamas have placed their headquarters underneath hospitals in Gaza, specifically to use civilians at the facilities as human shields. Indeed, the US has also verified that Hamas is using al-Shifa as a command center. Despite this, Israel, which has the right to defend its borders, is doing everything it can to minimize harm to the civilian population and provide aid while conducting critical military operations.
  • Pro-Palestine, as provided by Middle East Eye. Even if Israel's claims that Hamas is using hospitals as bases of operations are valid, it has an obligation under international law to protect these facilities during armed conflict. As Israel is committing horrendous human rights violations in Gaza, the international community must step up efforts to end the assault on Palestinians and work to address a humanitarian cataclysm.

Predictions