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WATCH: ‘Israel systematically attacking healthcare in Palestine,’ says Al Shifa doctor
Dr Mads Gilbert is currently visiting South Africa to share his experiences as Israel continues to pummel Gaza.
This picture taken on 3 November 2023 shows a view of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City surrounded by darkness as fuel for electricity generation has run out. Picture: AFP
A Norwegian doctor based at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza said Israeli forces are “systematically attacking healthcare in Palestine”.
Dr Mads Gilbert is currently visiting South Africa to share his experiences as Israel continues to pummel Gaza.
Over the past 40 days, Israeli forces have killed over 12 000 people in Gaza, including more than 5 000 children with an additional 1 800 children missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings, most of them presumed dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Watch Dr Mads Gilbert speak about the Al Shifa Hospial
Stop the lies, check the facts!
ISrael systematically attacks and destroys Palestinian Healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank!
Latest report from WHO commented in video below.
Dr. Mads pic.twitter.com/mpozi473PB— Dr. Mads Gilbert (@DrMadsGilbert) November 16, 2023
Unprecedented
Dr Gilbert said he has never seen anything like this before.
“The Israeli propaganda machinery and also mainstream media all over the world are completely obsessed with trying to prove that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is a Hamas military command centre.
“I have never seen it. My colleagues who have been working there from the international community have never seen it. We haven’t seen any high-ranking people from the resistance, nor have we seen soldiers in the hospital. What they are trying to do actually is to hide the fact that the Israeli occupation army is systematically attacking health care in Palestine,” said Gilbert.
Last week, Israeli forces raided the hospital saying they believed there was a Hamas operation centre beneath it.
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Babies moved
Meanwhile, a top health official in Gaza said all 31 premature babies at Al-Shifa Hospital were evacuated on Sunday from the facility, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described as a “death zone”.
Mohammed Zaqut, director-general of hospitals in Gaza, told AFP “all 31 premature babies in Al-Shifa hospital… have been evacuated” along with three doctors and two nurses.
“Preparations are underway” for them to enter Egypt, he added.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the babies were “very sick” and had been moved under “extremely intense and high-risk security conditions”. They are now “receiving urgent care in the neonatal intensive care unit” in Rafah.
International Criminal Court
As Israel continues its relentless bombing of Gaza in Palestine, South Africa has reiterated its stance on the ongoing conflict, submitting a joint referral to the International Crimes Court (ICC).
The South African government wants the ICC to investigate Israel for war crimes.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) announced on Friday that Vusi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador in the Hague, Netherlands, personally delivered the referral to the office of the prosecutor (OTP) at the ICC.
The document was submitted jointly with Bangladesh, Bolivia, Venezuela, Comoros and Djibouti.
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