Israeli snipers surrounded the Oda hospital in Gaza and directed at civilians** trapped inside. There are very few members of the public who can be targeted for this crime. This suggests that some are beginning to accept Israel's horrific war crimes as a fact of life.
An injured Palestinian was taken from Ahli Baptist Hospital after being hit in Gaza on October 18, 2023. (Lijadara Anadolu via Getty).
Article source: JacobinThe attack on a hospital was a scandal that seemed like a lifetime ago. On October 17, a mysterious attack on the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza left a large number of civilians dead. Since then, Israel** has strenuously denied responsibility for the attack and has instead blamed Hamas. The deliberate military attack on the hospital is an obvious war crime, and Israel** seems to understand that if the blame is placed on them, it will deal a devastating blow to Israel's international standing and further reverse global sentiment towards its military operation. (Several independent reports since then have confirmed Israel's claim that the culprit may have been a failed Hamas rocket.)Introduction: Jacobin Magazine, founded in 2010, is a socialist publication based in New York, USA, focusing on in-depth analysis and discussion in the political, economic and cultural fields. With its independent, nonpartisan character, the magazine appealed to a wide audience, including liberals and social democrats. With Bernie Sanders' campaign and the rise of leftist ideas, Jacobin's influence grew significantly. It is widely regarded as the authoritative voice of democratic socialism and Marxism in the United States, and provides an important perspective for understanding contemporary socialist movements and democratic socialist currents of thought.
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Fast forward a month and a half, and the Israeli army has attacked and shut down Gaza's largest hospital, bombed a convoy of ambulances, surrounded and bombed Indonesian hospitals, and these are just a few examples of Israeli attacks that have rendered more than two dozen hospitals in Gaza inoperable. All this was done in the open, and often accompanied by an open justification of the attack. These attacks have had devastating consequences for those trapped in hospitals, yet they have faced only a small number of **, in contrast to the strong ** of the events at the Arab Hospital in Ahli. As one UN** put it, this "relentless war" against Gaza's health sector continues as you read this, with Israeli forces aiming their guns at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza with little public attention.
At the time of writing, more than 240 people are trapped at Al Oda Hospital, the last hospital in northern Gaza to provide obstetric services, and are now entering their ninth day of siege, killing several people and struggling to survive. The hospital's regulatory manager, Mohammed Salha, provides a daily feed on the increasingly dire situation to Jacobin magazine about the desperate conditions faced by patients, medical staff and family members who are unable to leave the hospital.
Odda Hospital was surrounded by snipers, which made it impossible to move between different hospital buildings, leaving survivors locked up in separate buildings, sleeping away from windows and crawling on the floor to avoid being hit, Saha said. Snipers have killed two of Saha's colleagues and a janitor who was too close to the window. They also shot dead a pregnant woman's loved one in the street outside the hospital, and her body was dumped in the street to be retrieved, and people inside the hospital were unable to go out to retrieve it. Another 16-year-old was also shot outside the hospital, but medical staff saved his life.
As a result, hospital staff have been rationing rapidly dwindling food, water and medicines**, and the more than 200 people trapped in the hospital are only able to eat one loaf of bread or rice a day, Saha said. Neither food, water nor fuel was brought in, while Israeli forces bombed the facility's water tanks on the fifth day of the siege. The presence of snipers meant that no one could leave to recharge the facility's generators, and no one could shuttle between buildings to get more medication, putting patients at greater risk. "We are living in a catastrophe. Saha told Jacobin.
These patients include children and infants. On the eighth day of the siege, medical staff had to risk infection by amputating the leg of a four-year-old girl, Saha said. Jacobin received a passage showing several sickly, pale toddlers sleeping in a hospital hallway.
According to Saha, the Israeli army did not issue any warning prior to the siege and did not make any contact while the siege was in progress. No one could leave the area for fear of being killed by snipers, so it was not possible to know what the military objectives of the attack were or how the people trapped inside were going to evacuate. (The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.) Saha called for food, water, fuel and medicine to be allowed into the hospital, and for the public to put pressure on Israel** to end the siege. If not, the scenario described shows that patients and staff are facing imminent starvation and dehydration, as well as medical complications from lack of medication and unhygienic conditions.
This is not the first time that Israeli forces have attacked Oda Hospital. In late November, when Israeli forces attacked the third and fourth floors of the hospital, two doctors from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) were killed. According to Médecins Sans Frontières, before the airstrikes, the organization regularly shared information with the Israeli military about the presence of Oda Hospital and its staff. Earlier this month, the group accused Israel of "deliberately attacking a vehicle clearly identified as Médecins Sans Frontières", resulting in the death of the family members of two of the organization's staff. The vehicles were part of the evacuation convoy.
A spokesman for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) described the situation at Odar Hospital, as reported by colleagues at the hospital, which was consistent with Saha's account, including a "total siege" imposed by the Israeli army since 5 December and snipers targeting people in the hospital around the hospital. According to the organization, five hospital staff members have been killed in various attacks since 7 October, while a surgeon affiliated with MSF was injured by snipers on 11 December.
The report from Oda Hospital is distressing and we are very concerned about the safety of the patients and staff inside. "Let's be clear: Oda Hospital is a functioning hospital with medical staff and many vulnerable patients. Attacks on medical personnel caring for patients are totally reprehensible and extremely inhumane. ”
Meanwhile, Israeli forces yesterday attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital, also in northern Gaza, after days of Israeli siege and bombardment of the hospital, similar to Israel's previous attacks on medical facilities in Gaza, and may also foreshadow the fate of those trapped in Adwan Hospital. Previous Israeli attacks on hospitals have resulted in horrific scenes of civilian deaths and evacuation of sick people, including children and premature babies, leaving behind dead and decomposing.
In accusing Hamas of building the Al Ahli hospital**, Israel's top leadership has strongly condemned the attack on the hospital. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the perpetrators "barbaric*** while Isaac Herzog** said that Al Ahli was "a place where lives should be saved" and was "a disgrace to the *** of Gaza, who deliberately let innocent **blood".
The ongoing siege of Oda Hospital is a reminder of the brutality of Israel's extraordinarily brutal military operations and the seeming growing public tolerance for Israeli war crimes. Less than two months ago, the bombing of hospitals was an outrageous event;At a time when public outcry is desperately needed to stop this from happening, the siege of another hospital is just another thread in the tapestry of violence. In another month or two, what other crimes will become normal?
Branko Marcetic is a contributing writer for Jacobin magazine and the author of "Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden."He lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Translator: yaqi, **人, queer. Focus on international politics, gender issues and their intersectionality, as well as the ways in which they are addressed.