After sustaining five missiles last Saturday, Al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza City received disturbing phone calls last night warning of a new round of bombings. The rehabilitation center, which currently serves 39 patients including 14 requiring urgent care, first received a phone call after the bombings on Saturday from someone with a “thick Israeli accent,” asking if anyone had been hurt. In preparation for an attack of this nature, hospital administrators had already moved all patients from the top floor at the beginning of the Israeli assault, and fortunately did not experience any injuries or deaths.
Last night, however, Al-Wafa received another set of concerning phone calls. International volunteers at the hospital report that someone claiming to be from the “Defense department of the Israeli forces” called at 23:05, telling everyone to evacuate by morning.
Just a few minutes later, at 23:10, the hospital received a recorded message stating that the downtown neighborhood of Shajaia, with a population of approximately 100,000 people, should also evacuate by the following morning.
Then again, at 23:55, another call reiterated the request to leave, saying the hospital would be bombed by 08:00. “Because we don’t want innocent people to get hurt, we care about innocent people, [we] ask you to leave because we are doing a mass operation in your area,” the caller stated.
Hospital administrators sought the intervention of the World Health Organization, which contacted the Israel Defense Forces. The IDF reportedly contradicted their prior message to the hospital when speaking with the WHO. “It is a hospital, so we won’t bomb it,” the IDF reportedly told the WHO.
The IDF’s retraction of the warning, however, comes four days after another rehabilitation center, Al-Shifa in Jabaliya, was bombed, killing four; Al-Wafa was hit with five missiles that same day.
For now, however, hospital personnel and the international volunteers are staying put. “We are not going to evacuate,” stated Basman Alashi, Al-Wafa’s executive director. “We are staying. I believe it is part of their [the Israeli military] propaganda, part of the scare tactics they use.”
Despite numerous phone calls, IDF spokespeople continue to ignore requests for justification for Saturday’s attack, and cannot offer any information about a potential attack in a few hours. “If they received a message to leave, they should leave,” said one spokesperson.
because israel only targets locations hamas uses human as shields, like on the beach where the remains of mutilated charred childrens bodies lay. blame hamas no doubt.
““If they received a message to leave, they should leave,” said one spokesperson.” Gee, thanks, bub. Where is a hospital filled with injured people suppose to set up? There is no place to go!
One of the regular racist at 972 said that if no one was firing from the hospital then they had nothing to worry about. And that is how the average Israeli Jews will console themselves when or if the hospital is destroyed.
“The hospital Al-Wafa, located in Eastern Gaza, is widely reported to have received warnings from the Israeli military late Tuesday night including an order to evacuate the buildings by 8am local time, leaving the occupants nine hours to clear the area.
“Just now they called back and told us to leave the building immediately,” Swedish activist Fred Ekblad told the Dagens Nyheter daily (DN) in an interview that took place mere minutes after the time limit had run out.
“It’s possible, likely even, that the Israelis don’t want to attack the building. But it could be that they want to use it in a potential ground operation.”
…
When asked if he was worried about an Israeli air strike, Swedish activist Fred Ekblad explained that normally his international status would protect him.
“But this isn’t a normal situation,” he told DN. “Of course we’re worried”
http://www.thelocal.se/20140716/swedish-activist-occupying-threatened-gaza-hospital
I saw a broadcast the other day about 2 Swedish activists @- the hospital…bless them.
Heinous and innumerable war crimes are committed by Israel every day, and the US remains mum and complicit.
WHO and any institution in Gaza that has the protection of UN regulations banning any damage or bombing of such property, would be foolish to take the word of any Israeli official. Nothing has been spare – they have bombed hospitals, Mosques, homes, and everything that stands, in their effort to “bomb Gaza to the stone age”.
These snakes cannot be trusted.
While most of you agree that Israel commits war crimes and most of you blame only Israel in the situation, most of you also ignore the other side and don’t deal with its activities honestly. Until today, after one week of the operation I didn’t hear your opinions in the following subjects:
1) Do you think that missile attacks on Israeli cities and towns are war crimes?
2) Do you think that firing missiles from populated regions in Gaza strip is moral?
3) If Israel kills civilians deliberately, why Hamas asks Gaza citizens to stay at homes in order to protect them? Maybe Hamas thinks Israel doesn’t bomb populated regions?
4) While most of you agree that the photo from Sderot shows Israelis watching the bombing of Gaza is not moral, do you think that Palestinians celebrating the missile attacks is moral?
5) Do you think Hamas allows freedom of speech in Gaza?
6) With so many evidences and so many videos and testimonies, why Palestine doesn’t appeal to the ICC?
I have many more questions, but I think the above are enough. I appreciate honest answers, not “but you are doing the same…” (which most of you agree).