Tag: Air Strike - Page 3 - International Solidarity Movement

Gaza Ministry of Health: ‘Muslim holy days marred by genocide in Gaza’

29th July 2014 | Gaza Ministry of Health | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

The Ministry of Health Gaza is pained to express its deep sadness and outrage at the Israeli attacks on Gaza on our holy days of Eid al-Fitr.

In the last 24 hours, 120 people have been killed, bringing the total to 1,156.

Particularly distressing was the death in Al Bureij refugee camp of Diana Abu Jaber and her unborn baby only a week before his estimated date of delivery.

Diana’s home was struck by an F-16 airstrike.

“As it collapsed a concrete pillar fell on her,” reported Dr Kamal Khatab, Medical Superintendent of Al Aqsa Hospital. “A shell ripped her abdomen open, the unborn baby fell out and was hit in the head with shrapnel, and his brain matter was extruded. Both mother and baby died immediately.”

Dr Khatab added that Diana, in her mid-twenties, was one of 19 members of the same family to die in that airstrike, and there are still other family members missing.

The entrance to the Outpatient Clinic of Shifa Hospital in Gaza city was shelled yesterday afternoon, bringing the number of attacks on medical facilities to 34. Windows in the Medical Library were shattered, an exterior wall was partially destroyed, and several trees were severely damaged. It is pure good fortune that none of the displaced people sheltering in the outpatients area, or staff working in the library, were killed or injured.

“There is a deliberate strategy of attacking to kill Palestinians in two ways – one in their homes with bombs and bullets, and the other by depriving them of essential medical services,” observed Deputy Minister of Health Dr Yousef Abu Al-Rish.

Israeli airstrikes before dawn on the sole Gaza power plant destroyed fuel tanks, and put the plant out of production. This will have an immense impact on the provision of services in Gaza’s hospitals, and significantly contribute to a looming humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

Despite numerous appeals by both Palestinian and international organisations to cease attacks on children and women, to cease attacks on medical facilities, and to cease attacks on civilian infrastructure

Israeli military strikes on civilian targets have not abated.

The Ministry of Health Gaza calls on the United Nations, the international community, human rights organisations, and all people of good conscience wherever they may be to act immediately to stop the genocide in Gaza.

In the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Gaza: Another home destroyed

25th July 2014 | Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

At 9 AM local time, a missile targeted a family home in central Gaza City. The house appeared to have been evacuated, but the shockwave and construction material that was thrown demolished a two-storey house across the street.

Although we were 100 meters away a thin, black dust was raining over us.

According to Ismael who lives in the house, it is home to six families from several generations. There were possibly as many as 60 people in the building at the moment of the strike. Many of them had recently escaped the indiscriminate bombing campaign in Shajiya.

I saw people running out from the house, some of them barefooted, running over shattered glass and stones. One woman was carrying two small children, with a third close to her. Another person was carrying a lifeless child, and then there were two men who were helping an older man escape; he was bleeding a little from his mouth and nose. According to Ismael the child had fainted, and the older man had fallen after parts of the ceiling collapsed on top of him.

I asked Ismael what he was going to do now. He shrugged his shoulders and said that it was going to be all right, but he turned his face away when he said it.

As Israel targets the wounded, international volunteers to stay at al-Shifa hospital

25th July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

International volunteers from countries including Spain, Sweden, the United states, the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia, and Venezuela have begun a constant protective presence in various locations at the al-Shifa Hospital.

At 2:30 PM this afternoon, a press conference will be held at al-Shifa regarding the Israeli attacks on the health and emergency sector in Gaza.

According to the Gazan Ministry of Health, six out of Gaza’s 13 hospitals have already been severely damaged. One, el-Wafa rehabilitation hospital, has been completely destroyed. Two medical clinic and 12 ambulances have been completely destroyed, seven other clinics have been damaged, 12 medical staff members have been injured, and four have been killed.

Dr. Medhat Abass, Director General of the Ministry of Health told the International Solidarity Movement that, “People are terrified. No where is safe. The hospitals are not safe. The streets are not safe. Homes are not safe. The children and the wounded are not safe. Wounded people leave the bombed areas in ambulances and the ambulances are targeted and hospitals are targeted. There are no red lines.”

“Israel’s ruthless onslaught against Gaza’s hospitals, clinics, and ambulances has pushed its health care sector, already struggling under siege, to the breaking point. With deaths and injuries, including those from Israeli attacks on medical facilities, rapidly mounting, al-Shifa is a red line the world cannot allow Israel to cross.” Stated Joe Catron, a U.S. ISM activist now in al-Shifa.

“They [the Israeli military] are targeting medical facilities, the wounded, the sick, and our children, all over the Gaza Strip. They want us to know that no where is safe.” Stated Dr. Basman Alashi, the executive director of el-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital. El-Wafa was repeatedly bombed and shelled by Israeli forces, forcing the evacuation of all patients and staff on the 17th then attacked by the military once again on the 23rd, completely destroying it.

“With so many hospitals already dysfunctional due to attacks by the Israeli Occupational Forces, we are deeply concerned with how to safeguard al-Shifa Hospital. It is already overwhelmed with wounded and dying people. If Israel continues bombing, patients are going to end up on the street, as there will be nowhere else for them to go. If anything happens, let it be known that the world was forewarned and did nothing to stop this.” Stated Rina Andolini, a UK volunteer now in al-Shifa.

Where will they go?

22nd July 2014 | Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

The attack has been going on for over two weeks. I was awakened early this morning by explosions that were so close that they shook the house. Then came a phone call, telling me that there was an apartment building nearby, where a woman from New Zealand had been targeted.

I got hold of her, she wasn’t injured, but a little stressed. She was contemplating whether she should try to find other accommodation, or stay. I understood her hesitation. To find other accommodation, now that 150,000 people have been forced to leave their homes, a figure that is constantly rising, is not the easiest. Nor is it much safer elsewhere. When hospital after hospital is bombed, you realize that there are no safe places here.

As I arrived, a group of journalists in helmets and bulletproof vests had gathered, waiting for the next attack on the same house. It was burning on the top floor, but it had not been completely destroyed. It wasn’t hit by the more powerful missiles from F-16, more likely from drones. The fire brigade was there, but in fear of more attacks they didn’t go inside the building.

Then they came.

Two missiles through the air, explosions, and a cloud of smoke rising. Journalists rushed forward to get better pictures. People who were evacuated from nearby buildings, very few with belongings, most of them without anything but small children in their arms. Many of them did not even have shoes on their feet. And there was the same contemplation as my friend from New Zealand: Where will they go?

I had a meeting and went to Awda hospital in northern Jabalya, a refugee camp north of Gaza City. On the way I passed several blown up houses with glass and building materials scattered in the streets, and in front of us was a thick black pillar of smoke from what I found out was a factory that produces plastic shoes. Around me explosions were constantly heard from artillery. And the buzzing of the drones, of course.

Dr. Yousef Sweeti, the hospital director, received me. Since the hospital in Beit Hanoun had been attacked, Awda is the northern most civilian hospital. They specialise in maternity care, and ear nose and throat treatment for children and the elderly. They are not primarily a hospital for emergency cases, however presently this is the majority of their patients.

Dr. Yousef Sweeti (photo by Charlie Andreasson).

Unlike several other hospitals that have been subjected to the Israeli military bombardments and threats, Awda hospital has been left alone. A discussion has been held with the largest hospital in Gaza, Shifa, on the possibility of transferring patients to Awda, something that can become urgent after the threats made on Shifa by the Israeli army. But Dr. Sweeti has had to say ‘no’. Not only for the large amounts of patients they have, which they share with all hospitals, but perhaps primarily for its geographical location; when the Israeli ground troops last entered, they were less than a kilometer away. This hospital is not a safe place.

Awda hospital is also in shortage of drugs and medical equipment, even if they are better equipped than elsewhere. For most items, they have storage for at least a month; enough if the bombardments continue for a short period of time. However oxygen supply is running critically low, and the hospital only has enough left for one day and a half. When I was shown into the office, Dr. Sweeti’s colleague was on the phone with the Red Cross trying to get them to bring in more.

Compared to the onslaught in 2012 that lasted for eight days, the situation is worse now, mainly as a result of the blockade. The supply of medicine and equipment was small to begin with, and diesel for the generators is much more expensive due to the collapsed tunnels to Egypt. A very large portion of the hospital budget goes to cover that cost.

The number of patients is far greater, this time, but most disturbingly, the injuries are different. When I had told Dr. Sweeti about the charred bodies I’ve seen after a drone attack on a taxi, he nodded in agreement

“The Israeli missiles develop a great heat, burning the bodies to ashes. I believe that Israel are testing new weapons on the Palestinian population.” He also noticed that far more bodies have been fragmented in these attacks.

We went down to one of the hospital wards and visited patients. 15-year-old Noor Al Mabhooh was admitted last night with shrapnel wounds to the feet and in one shoulder, after the Al Mabhooh family home was hit with an airstrike. Four other family members were also injured in the attack and were taken to other hospitals, an attack which was not preceded by any warning.

I thanked Dr. Sweeti for his time, and took a taxi back to my apartment. I used the opportunity to look at the destroyed houses we passed on one side of the road. Those on the other side, I had already seen.

Israeli military shells Gazan el-Wafa hopsital

18th July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday at 20:40 the Israeli military contacted el-Wafa hospital in Gaza and stated, “Why don’t you care about your family? Why don’t you care about your patients?”

Some of the staff at el-Wafa hospital (Photo by Charlie Andreasson).

The receptionist replied, “Sir, you can’t bomb the hospital. We cannot move the patients.”

Several minutes later, two rockets were fired at the hospital, and two more shortly after. The fourth rocket penetrated through the concrete walls.

The shelling then began heavily, hitting the hospital from all sides. Nurses ran through the halls screaming.

Dr. Basman Alashi, executive director of el-Wafa hospital, stated, “They are going to destroy the hospital.” Soon after the hospital lost electricity.

Alashi stated, “If these patients die, I hold Netanyahu personally responsible for their souls.”

All but four of the 17 patients were evacuated. Two of the four remaining patients were dependent on oxygen and were unable to be immediately moved. There were also four staff members and two Spanish international activists inside el-Wafa.

Patients at el-Wafa, forced to be evacuated (Photo by Charlie Andreasson). — Patients at el-Wafa, forced to be evacuated (photo by Charlie Andreasson).

At 21:45, the Israeli military called the Red Cross and asked them to contact el-Wafa to ask how much time was needed to evacuate the rest of the hospital. Alashi told them that he needed two hours to fully evacuate the hospital.

The last shelling occurred at 22:00 and the last patient was evacuated at 22:45 to Al sahaba medical complex.

According to Dr. Basman Alashi, “There were no physical injuries but emotionally, it is indescribable for the staff.”