Thank you for contacting me about hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza are facing immense suffering due to Hamas’ cynical use of hospitals for military purposes, transforming the civilian structures into offensive hubs. The UK has been right to say that Hamas must be removed from Gaza so Hamas can no longer use innocent Palestinians as human shields for their own terror activities and to create the conditions for a long-term peace.
Hospitals, medical staff and civilians all have “protected status under international law meaning that Hamas’ conversion of hospital facilities into legitimate military targets is a heinous war crime which must be called out in the strongest possible terms.
Amid the intense fighting, Israel has facilitated the establishment of temporary field hospitals and safe zones, including three field hospitals designed to treat Gazans in the south of the Strip, with special capacities for incubators, women’s health, orthopaedic surgery, paediatrics, psychological counselling, and other services.
Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has reported that Hamas operates from and around the Nasser Hospital, integrating terror infrastructure there as the terror group has done at the Shifa Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital and Rantisi Children’s Hospital, and others. The U.S. has confirmed that Hamas’s use of hospitals for terror activities is “a violation of the rules of war”, and has specified the terror group’s use of Shifa Hospital as a “command and control centre”.
As IDF interviews of detained terrorists have revealed, rockets have been concealed in the Palestine Red Crescent building and around 100 terrorists, organised in different cells, had based themselves there - often disguised in civilian clothing. According to the Kamal Adwan Hospital’s Director Ahmed Kahlot, Hamas has even stored weapons within incubators intended for premature babies.
Video evidence has also emerged of suicide vests, rocket propelled grenades, motorcycles used to kidnap Israelis to Gaza, nappies, chairs with rope to hold hostages – all found in the basement of the Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza.
CCTV footage of wounded hostages being hauled into Shifa hospital by terrorists, after the brutal 7th October attacks, shocked the world. In the hospital’s MRI Centre, the IDF documented Hamas weapons (including grenades and AK47’s), uniforms and other military equipment.
A tunnel shaft was found at the Indonesian Hospital, with a rocket launch pad in close proximity to the premises and an IDF interview of a detained terrorist revealed that terrorists were disguising themselves as staff at Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
These instances are grave violations of international law, and it is my sincere hope that the Palestinians will soon be freed of their oppressive Hamas regime so that all peoples in the region can live in dignity, peace and security.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Craig Whittaker MP
March 2024