A doctor inside Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital has spoken to CNN about conditions inside the facility, accusing Israeli forces of pushing around staff and questioning them about Hamas.
“The common question [staff keep being asked]: Do you know anything about the Hamas groups? Do you know anything about the tunnels within the hospital?” Dr. Ahmed El Mokhallalati, the head of the hospital’s burns unit told CNN, adding that staff movements around the complex were being restricted.
Israeli forces have been inside the hospital complex for days, looking to uncover what they say is a major Hamas underground base.
Many patients and staff members were evacuated over the weekend, including more than two dozen premature babies, who were transported to the Al-Helal Al-Emirati Maternity Hospital in southern Gaza Sunday.
El Mokhallalati said two adults and two babies died overnight Saturday, leaving the hospital with about 259 patients, seven doctors and five nurses.
He told CNN the hospital is running out of urgent requirements, including anesthetics, oxygen tanks, medicine and blood banks.
“We have 22 dialysis patients with no one able to provide dialysis for them,” he said. “We need medicine, water and electricity and we have run out of these medications, and we can’t do dialysis on these patients."
Israel’s Defense Ministry says it delivered over 6,000 liters of water and over 2,300 kg of food — including fish, canned food, bread, spreads and dates — over the weekend.
Appealing for more international support, El Mokhallalati said Israeli forces had only made a single delivery of water and food to the hospital.
“The whole world should stop this, and we need more and more involvement of the international community and organizations to help us,” he said.
El Mokhallalati also told CNN that Israeli forces had removed about 200 bodies from the hospital’s mortuary as well as from mass graves recently dug on the site.
“They brought two trucks and they have taken all the dead bodies out of the hospital,” he said.
Several days ago Israel’s army spokesman Daniel Hagari dodged a question about whether Israel had taken bodies out of the hospital complex as part of its efforts to determine the fate of hostages kidnapped from communities in southern Israel on October 7.
Some context: Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza, has become a flashpoint in Israel’s war in the besieged enclave. The Israeli military alleges the facility is being used by Hamas as a shield for its operations and raided the hospital last Wednesday. Hamas and hospital officials have denied Israel’s claims.