Israeli forces today stormed a hospital in Khan Younis, a town in the southern part of the Gaza Strip they have been besieging for several weeks, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), which runs the hospital, announced.
“The (Israeli) occupation forces stormed Al-Amal hospital and began to search it.” “We are having difficulty communicating with our teams internally,” PRCS said in a statement.
The Israeli military confirmed to AFP that its troops launched a search operation at the hospital after gathering “information indicating that Hamas was conducting terrorist activities” at the compound.
According to the PRCS, Israeli occupation forces arrested eight members of the Palestinian Red Crescent at Al Amal Hospital, including four doctors, as well as four wounded and five accompanying patients.
Also, the Palestinian Red Crescent complains that the occupying forces, during their search which lasted about 10 hours, destroyed equipment, furniture and appliances, arrested, interrogated, beat and humiliated its members.
Al-Amal hospital has been caught in the middle of fighting between Israeli forces and fighters from Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007. On Thursday, the PRCS had reported “intense shelling” and “heavy artillery fire”. ” around the hospital.
The medical aid NGO has been calling for days to be protected and to be able to continue getting supplies, highlighting shortages of oxygen, medicine and fuel that power the hospital’s generators for electricity.
Earlier this week, the Red Crescent announced that 8,000 people who had taken refuge in Al-Amal and its neighboring local offices had been evacuated.
Source: protothema.gr
