“Genocidal War… Israel Operating Military Strategy To Destroy Gaza Hospitals”: Al Shifa Surgeon (Image: X/Ghassan Abu Sitta)
“It is obvious that this is genocidal war”, said Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, who worked at both Gaza”s Al-Shifa and Al-Alhi Baptist hospitals. On a recent interview published by the English-language news channel Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Mr Sittah asserted that the continuing bombardments in Gaza’s medical facilities including the Strip’s largest hospital Al Shifa are part of strategical Israeli military operation.
Mr Sittah witnessed few wars previously in Gaza and also in regions of Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. What makes those different from the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict “is the way that the destruction of the health system has been remain thrust of the military strategy”, he pointed out in the interview. In Israel, reportedly around 1,400 people were killed, majority in the October 7 attack led by Hamas. But in the counterattack led by Tel Aviv with the artillery aid of United States, over 11,400 Palestinians lost their lives – in which almost half of the victims were women and children.
From the site of Al Ahli- Baptist hospital massacre pic.twitter.com/O3eFZZVepP
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) November 4, 2023
Israel had already sketched the hospital’s as a crucial target, arguing medical facilities are the major hideout points of Hamas. The regime continues bombarding the surroundings of major hospitals and the facilities are experiencing a severe blockade from essential aids such as food, water, fuel, and communication. A strong spread of highly serious pandemic has also predicted by the WHO as sewage facilities and waste management are in a desperate state.
According to Mr Sittah, at least 800,000 people are currently suffering from deteriorated humanitarian conditions, which gripped the health care means of the region. These people were denied of medical care and the wounded in those areas were only bandaged up, the best they could be and their wounds were not treated. He said that there were 500 wounded people in the grounds of Al-Ahli hospital, when the facility ran out of medication and faced a blockade. “And those patients – and I believe and I honestly, truly believe that this is part of that military strategy – those patients are going to die”, Mr Sittah added.
The logic of ellimination pic.twitter.com/XE0y6f2O5m
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) October 24, 2023
The war is approaching its third month and Mr Sittah strongly propounded that what the Tel Aviv unleashing continuously on Gaza is a genocide. The object of Israel Defence Force is to kill people, who were wounded, by denying them treatment. And that’s why the regime strategically destroy the health functions in Gaza. “Anybody who was lucky enough to survive the initial assault and the Israeli strategy was to destroy the health system so that they would not survive the wounds that they had. It is obvious that this is genocidal war”, the surgeon said in conclusion.
