Iran warned that the scale of civilian suffering caused by Israel’s war on Hamas would inevitably lead to an expansion of the conflict, as officials in Gaza reported Israeli airstrikes on or near several hospitals in the Palestinian territories.
Comments from Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian could raise concerns about whether Washington’s diplomatic efforts and US naval deployments to the eastern Mediterranean will be able to keep the conflict from further destabilizing the Middle East.
“Due to the increasing intensity of the war against the civilian population of Gaza, the expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Amir-Abdollahian told his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Thursday night.
Iran’s state-run Press TV reported the comments, made during a telephone conversation, on Friday.
Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza over the past month has created a humanitarian catastrophe with thousands seeking medical treatment and shelter in some hospitals still open, with those in the battle zone operating in grave danger.
Israeli troops drop a smoke bomb amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City, November 9, 2023. REUTERS
“The Israeli occupation launched a simultaneous attack on several hospitals in the past few hours,” Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Al Jazeera television.
Qidra said the Israeli attack on the courtyard at Al Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza City, caused deaths, but he did not provide details.
Israel says Hamas has a command center and hidden tunnels under Al Shifa, and other hospitals such as the Indonesian Hospital, a claim Hamas denies.
Palestinians stand in the street after an Israeli raid, in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 9, 2023. REUTERS
The Israeli military did not directly comment on Qidra’s statement, which Reuters could not independently verify, but it said it did not target civilians.
“While the world sees neighborhoods with schools, hospitals, scout groups, children’s playgrounds and mosques, Hamas sees opportunities to exploit,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
Iran supports Hamas but says it played no role in the militant’s bloody attack on Israel last month that sparked the crisis.
Soldiers chat at an Israeli artillery position near the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel November 9, 2023. REUTERS
Iran also supports Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group with deep ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian faction in Gaza that Iran also supports.
THE EXPLOSION DAMAGED THE HOSPITAL
The Israeli army’s month-long campaign to eliminate Hamas, following the militants’ October 7 raid in southern Israel, has left Gaza’s hospitals struggling to cope, as medical supplies, clean water and fuel for power generators have run out.
Gaza’s health ministry said 18 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals and 40 other health centers were not operating either due to shelling damage or lack of fuel.
Palestinian media released Al Shifa video footage on Friday, which Reuters could not immediately confirm, that it said showed the effects of an Israeli attack on a parking lot where displaced Palestinians were sheltering and journalists were watching.
A Palestinian woman reacts as she stands on the ground of the al-Nasser hospital morgue in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 9, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
A pool of blood was seen next to the body of a man placed on a stretcher.
“With the ongoing strikes and fighting in the nearby area (Al Shifa), we are deeply concerned about the well-being of the thousands of civilians there, many children among them, seeking medical treatment and protection,” Human Rights Watch said on its media site. social X.
Qidra said Al-Rantisi Pediatric Hospital and Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital “have witnessed a series of live attacks and bombings” on Friday.
He said the strike in the hospital area in Al-Rantisi caused vehicles to catch fire but some of them have been extinguished.
Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday there was an explosion near Hospital Indonesia overnight, which damaged part of the hospital, which is located at the northern end of the narrow coastal enclave.
It did not say who was responsible for the explosion and it did not report any deaths or injuries.
A photo taken from Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip on November 10, 2023, shows billowing smoke during Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. AFP via Getty Images
“Indonesia once again condemns the violent attacks against civilians and civilian objects, especially humanitarian facilities in Gaza,” the ministry said in a statement.
US SAYS ISRAEL AGREE TO Cease
Israel said 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 240 were taken hostage by Hamas in the October 7 raid that triggered the Israeli offensive. Israel says it has lost 35 soldiers in Gaza.
Palestinian officials said 10,812 Gazans had been killed as of Thursday, about 40% of them children, in airstrikes and artillery.
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The Israeli military advance in central Gaza City, which brought tanks within about 3/4 of a mile of Al Shifa, according to residents, has raised questions about how Israel will interpret international law on protecting medical centers and evacuees taking refuge over there.
Deadly airstrikes on refugee camps, medical convoys and near hospitals have sparked a bitter row among some of Israel’s Western allies over its military’s compliance with international law.
The Israeli army has allowed some wounded Palestinian civilians to cross into Egypt for treatment.
US President Joe Biden said in a post at X on Thursday that Israel has “an obligation to distinguish between terrorists and civilians and to fully comply with international law.”
The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to halt military operations in northern Gaza for four hours a day, but there were no signs of an end to the fighting.
The pause, which will allow people to escape along two humanitarian corridors and could be used to free hostages, is an important first step, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested any pause would be sprinkled in, and there was no official confirmation of plans for repeated breaks.
Asked if there would be a “cease” in the fighting, Netanyahu said on Fox News Channel: “No. The fighting continues against the enemies of Hamas, the terrorists of Hamas, but in certain locations for a certain period of time for a few hours here or a few hours there, we want facilitate the safe passage of civilians from combat zones and we are doing that.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
