The hospital in Gaza City, surrounded by Israeli soldiers, "must be protected," according to Joe Biden

 The hospital in Gaza City, surrounded by Israeli soldiers, "must be protected," according to Joe Biden

The large medical institution Shifa Hospital has been surrounded by fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists, forcing thousands of people to escape.

The main hospital in Gaza "must be protected," according to President Joe Biden, who also demanded "less intrusive action" from Israeli troops on Monday.

The large medical institution Shifa Hospital has been surrounded by fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists, forcing thousands of people to escape.

For the last three days, Shifa has been without water and power. The situation has become worse due to explosions and gunshots outside the compound.

In the Oval Office, Biden said, "I hope and expect that there will be less intrusive action."

Health officials reported on Monday that fighting between Israel and Hamas near hospitals had driven thousands of Palestinians from some of the last areas in northern Gaza that were thought to be safe, leaving critically injured patients—including newborns—and their caregivers without power or supplies.

Palestinians have been advised by the Israeli military to evacuate southward on foot via what it refers to as "safe corridors." However, the purported objective of keeping civilians and Hamas militants apart has come at a high cost: almost two thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have left their homes.

As Israeli army surrounded Gaza's Shifa Hospital over the weekend, thousands of people left, but hundreds of patients and displaced people are still inside, according to authorities. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization said that Shifa "is not functioning as a hospital anymore."

The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza published a picture on Monday that it claims shows about twelve preterm newborns bunched together under blankets on a bed to maintain their normal temperature after power went out for Shifa's incubators.

If not, "they immediately die," said Medhat Abbas, director general of the health ministry, who also mentioned that four of the kids were born by cesarean section after the deaths of their mothers.

The Red Cross reported that their convoy was forced to retreat due to fighting and shelling when it was trying to evacuate some 6,000 patients, staff members, and displaced residents from Al-Quds, a second hospital that had closed due to a fuel shortage.

The situation of hospitals, especially in Shifa, has been used by both sides as a metaphor for the wider conflict, which is now in its sixth week. Hamas launched a surprise assault on Israel on October 7, which set off the conflict and resulted in hundreds of dead and extensive devastation across Gaza.

Shifa conjures up images of human misery for Palestinians. Due to a shortage of supplies, the staff has been doing surgery on war-wounded patients, including children, without anesthetic for weeks. Tens of thousands of people who had been forced from their homes by airstrikes were living in and around the complex until a few days ago in the hopes that it would be safe.

Israel claims that Hamas hides among civilians and cites the biggest hospital in Gaza as evidence. The medical campus is said to house the militants' command center, and maps indicating their alleged locations inside the complex have been made public. However, it hasn't offered any proof.

The Shifa hospital personnel and Hamas both refute the Israeli accusations.

While Israel claims Hamas is using the hospitals as cover, the Palestinians accuse Israel of shooting randomly against hospitals. Israel published a video on Monday purporting to show a jihadist entering the Al-Quds hospital with an RPG launcher. There was an Israeli tank positioned close by.

Recently, Israeli authorities made public images and video that they said showed gunmen shooting from inside another hospital and the opening of a tunnel adjacent to it; however, hospital workers claimed that the aperture was the facility's subterranean fuel tank entrance. They have also released videos showing terrorists firing firearms and launching rockets close to mosques, schools, and hospitals while operating in civilian areas.

Hospitals are given specific safeguards during wartime under international law. However, if militants utilize hospitals to store weapons or conceal fighters, such safeguards may be lost, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

However, sufficient notice is required to enable personnel and patients to evacuate, and an assault is prohibited by international law if it causes damage to civilians that is greater than the military goal. International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said in an editorial that was printed in the UK's The Guardian newspaper on Friday that the onus of evidence is heavy on the attacker to demonstrate that a hospital is no longer protected.

According to Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, after the weekend-long departure of residents from Shifa, the hospital still houses around 650 patients, 500 staff members, and over 2,500 displaced Palestinians who are taking refuge within the facility.

Shifa's emergency generator ran out of fuel on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of 32 patients, including three newborns, according to the Health Ministry. It said that since life-saving technology is malfunctioning, 36 newborns and other patients might perish.

Healthcare worker Goudat Samy al-Madhoun said that he was one of around fifty patients, employees, and displaced persons who managed to leave Shifa and go south on Monday. Among them was a lady who was undergoing renal dialysis. He said that the patients that were still there were mostly consuming dates.

According to Al-Madhoun, the Israeli soldiers opened fire on the group many times, injuring a guy who had to be abandoned. According to the dialysis patient, his son was arrested at an Israeli roadblock on the way south.

According to the IDF, 300 liters of gasoline were stashed a few blocks away from Shifa, but personnel couldn't get to it because of Hamas terrorists. The Health Ministry refuted it, claiming that rather of sending employees out to get the gasoline, Israel rejected its request that the Red Crescent deliver it to them. It said that the fuel would have produced less than an hour's worth of power.

The United States has advocated for brief stops to enable more widespread delivery of desperately needed relief. Only daily openings, along two key highways, for people to escape northern Gaza, have been agreed upon by Israel. It keeps hitting what it claims are militant targets all around the region, often resulting in the deaths of women and children.