Doctor Says IDF ‘Executed’ Medical Staff ‘Point Blank’ In Al-Shifa Hospital Operation

Doctors Without Borders intensive care Paediatrician Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan told Sky News that Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are “systematically” targeting healthcare workers and that soldiers “executed” doctors “point blank” during the operation at al-Shifa hospital over the weekend.

The Gaza health ministry said the assault on the medical complex in Gaza City, which lasted two weeks and concluded over the weekend, left the facilities “completely out of service.” As Israeli troops withdrew from the area, graphic images emerged of the devastated buildings as Palestinians retrieved bodies of those killed, including bodies half-buried in churned up mud where armoured vehicles reportedly drove.

The IDF said that it killed 200 “terrorists” and detained hundreds more during the operation, claiming that Hamas had used the hospital as a base to regroup. The Hamas-run Gaza media office denied the presence of their fighters in the complex and said that Israeli troops killed around 400 Palestinians around the hospital , including a female doctor and her son, also a doctor.

Dr. Haj-Hassan, who spent two weeks volunteering and living on-the-ground at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in March, told Sky News host Kamali Melbourne Monday that her medical colleagues in Gaza were seen as targets by Israeli military. She contested the IDF’s claim to have protected civilians during its raid.

Melbourne: “Doctor, look, the picture you paint is one of devastation. You’ll know that the Israeli military say that they have killed and detained hundreds of Hamas militants within the al-Shifa complex. Do you know if Hamas were there and were fighting with the Israelis?”

Haj-Hassan: “I am just shocked that we’re still having this conversation. They executed tens of people, point blank, including one of our colleagues, Dr. Ahmad Maqadmeh , who’s a very experienced plastic surgeon. Him and his mother, who’s also a physician. They executed people point blank. And including many of our who’ve been detained now, we haven’t heard back from them. Previous students of mine, detained, young doctors detained. We don’t know if they’re dead or alive. They have been gone for over 100 days. So, to say that this is a strategic targeting of Hamas is an insult to our intellect and our humanity. This is a destruction of people who heal. This is a direct targeting of healthcare workers. I just want to paint a very brief picture of what healthcare workers are telling me there: They’re saying that when they leave the hospital, civilians give them civilian clothing because wearing scrubs is sticking a target sticker on their back. That is how systematically healthcare has been targeted. And frankly, in the last 24 hours, what we’ve seen from Al-Shifa Hospital, what we’ve seen from Al-Aqsa Hospital, and what I worry is coming to the remaining hospitals of the Gaza Strip, because it has been the pattern and we will not ignore it, is a direct and systematic targeting of health care that is unjustifiable.”

Watch above on Sky News.