Monday, May 20

“No Justification For Acts Of War In Hospitals”: UN On Israel-Palestine Conflict

Edited by Meenu Mathew
"No Justification For Acts Of War In Hospitals": UN On Israel-Palestine Conflict"No Justification For Acts Of War In Hospitals": UN On Israel-Palestine Conflict (Image: Twitter/ Thomas White)

The pressure on Israel from world-wide is increasing as Gaza’s largest Al Shifa hospital said the last generator had run out of fuel, reported the Associated Press. It also caused the death of a premature baby, another child in an incubator, and four other patients. Israel continues dropping shells to the hospital courtyard and medical practitioners are trying their maximum to help the patients.

The army claimed that the Hamas’ military infrastructures were based in the Gaza city hospitals and its immediate surroundings. The army added that, Hamas set up its major command center in and under Al Shifa, but the claims were already denied by Hamas and the hospital staffs.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that it has lost all contacts inside the Al Shifa. The hospital is located in the northern Gaza and “horrifying reports” are emerging as it faces repeated attacks. “There can be no justification for acts of war in health care facilities, leaving them with no power, food or water, and shooting at patients and civilians trying to flee”, said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths on Saturday. According to him, what is prevailing in Gaza is “unconscionable, reprehensible and must stop”. He added that the hospitals are not places of war but of shelter, which provides “greater safety” for the needed ones.

The Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Affairs in Gaza, Thomas White took to his official X (formerly Twitter) handle and said that, “One cannot but think of the experience of 1948 and the collective trauma. Now the inter-generational trauma carried with these families is being re-lived here in 2023”.

As reported by Al Jazeera, an Arab-Islamic summit hosted by Saudi Arabia called for an end to the war and Israeli operations in Gaza. They rejected the Israel justifications of self-defence against the Palestinians. At the same time, thousands of people attended a rally in Tel Aviv demanding the release of Israeli and foreign captives held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The gathering also criticised the way the Israel government are dealing the crisis.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the international calls for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. As said by him on Saturday, Israel’s battle to squeeze the Hamas militants will continue with “full force”. In a televised address, Mr Netanyahu declared, that a cease-fire will be introduced only if the Israeli hostages held by Hamas are released. “The war against (Hamas) is advancing with full force, and it has one goal, to win. There is no alternative to victory”, said the PM.