By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-11-17

Hospitals in Gaza have become a focal point in Israel's ongoing war with Hamas, which has been accused of obstructing fuel aid to critically ill patients and using civilians at a key medical facility as human shields.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on November 15 stormed Al-Shifa, which is Gaza's largest hospital, saying there is a Hamas headquarters in tunnels below the hospital.

Since the operation began, the Israeli military says it found rifles, ammunition, explosives and the entrance to a tunnel shaft at the hospital complex.

In response to the increasingly dire situation at Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza, Israel has agreed to allow two fuel trucks a day into the enclave, Israeli officials said November 17.

The IDF was on November 17 still searching the sprawling Gaza City hospital complex for suspected hideouts of Hamas terrorists.

Israeli forces on November 12 delivered 300 liters of diesel fuel to Al-Shifa Hospital, but later received intelligence indicating Hamas had intercepted the delivery, an IDF statement said.

After Hamas denied the charge, the IDF released evidence of Hamas's interference with the delivery of fuel.

In an initial audio recording, an official from the hospital and a representative from an Israeli government body discuss delivery logistics for the fuel, the Jerusalem Post reported.

In a later call between an IDF officer and a senior health official in Gaza, the health official says the Hamas deputy health minister, Yousef Abu al-Rish, has prohibited the hospital from receiving the fuel.

A video shows IDF soldiers delivering the jerrycans of fuel on Sunday morning, near the hospital.

Then in another call between an IDF officer and a health official in Gaza, the official says al-Rish has prevented the hospital from receiving the fuel.

Hamas stockpiles fuel

As hospitals in Gaza are running dangerously low on fuel, US and Israeli officials and academics claim Hamas is maintaining a stockpile of more than 200,000 gallons (more than 750,000 liters) of fuel, NBC reported November 1.

Hamas uses this fuel for the rockets it fires into Israel and the generators that provide clean air and electricity to its network of underground tunnels, they said.

On October 31, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before Congress that Hamas is refusing to share its fuel with hospitals in Gaza.

"Hamas has its own supply stockpile of fuel," Blinken said. "If it cared a whit about the people of Gaza, it would make sure itself that it used that fuel to have the hospitals be able to operate the incubators, stay turned on, etc."

"But, of course, it doesn't."

Israel had until November 15 blocked fuel shipments into the Gaza strip, fearing they would aid Hamas's military efforts.

The first aid truck carrying fuel since October 7 was allowed into Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on November 15. An Egyptian source said the fuel would be used for aid trucks that had ground to a halt for lack of gas.

"While fuel is critical to easing the humanitarian crisis, Hamas has already demonstrated its willingness to steal fuel and humanitarian supplies from civilians," Center for a New American Security Middle East security program director Jonathan Lord told NBC.

"It's yet another dilemma facing Israel and the international community, stemming from Hamas' willingness to put Gaza's civilians in harm's way to enable itself," he said.

Hostage remains recovered

Earlier this week, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operate a "command and control node from Al-Shifa".

"We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad used some hospitals in the Gaza strip, including Al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them, to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages," he said.

"We have information that confirms that Hamas is using that particular hospital for a command and control node and probably storage of equipment, weapons ... That is a war crime."

Israel's army said Friday it had recovered the remains of a woman soldier held hostage by Hamas "from a structure adjacent to Al-Shifa hospital."

Earlier in the week the army had conformed the death of Noa Marciano, 19.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Hamas had been "burying their command centers under hospitals for years," and called for the terrorist group to allow civilians to be evacuated.

The European Union (EU) on November 12 condemned Hamas for using "hospitals and civilians as human shields" in Gaza, while also urging Israel to show "maximum restraint" to protect civilians from the war.