Tel Aviv: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Saturday said that a failed missile launched by terrorists in the Gaza Strip hit the Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in the enclave and one of the oldest Palestinian health institutions.
In a post on X, the IDF’s spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee said that an analysis of the military’s “operational systems indicates that sabotage elements fired rockets this morning targeting IDF forces operating near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City”.
“According to IDF systems, rocket-propelled grenades hit the hospital. Therefore, according to the information available to the IDF, terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are responsible for the failed missile launch that hit the hospital,” he added.
The IDF has maintained that the Hamas operates from tunnels underneath Al-Shifa.
The allegation, however, has been denied by the militant group.
The development comes just days after the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) had said that conditions at the Al-Shifa Hospital were “disastrous” amid the raging Israel-Hamas war.
In a joint statement issued Wednesday, the two UN agencies said there were currently almost two patients for every bed available and emergency department and wards were overflowing requiring doctors and medical workers to treat wounded and sick patients in the corridors, floor and outdoors.
For over a month, no fuel has been allowed into the Gaza Strip, including to the Al-Shifa Hospital.
According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the hospital has been attacked at least five times since Thursday.
IANS