14 October 2024 Al-Aqsa Hospital attack

Last updated

14 October 2024 Al-Aqsa Hospital attack
Part of the Israel–Hamas war
Israel outline northwest negev.png
Red pog.svg
Deir el-Balah
Location Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip
Coordinates 31°25′11.89″N34°21′36″E / 31.4199694°N 34.36000°E / 31.4199694; 34.36000
Date14 October 2024
~1:00 (UTC+02:00)
Target Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital
Attack type
Airstrike, massacre, death by burning
Deaths6+ Palestinians [1] [2] [3]
Injured70+ Palestinians [4] [1]
PerpetratorFlag of the Israel Defense Forces.svg  Israel Defense Forces

On 14 October 2024, the Israeli Air Force struck tents within the grounds of the Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip. As of 14 October 2024, at least 5 people were confirmed killed in the attack and at least 70 were injured after a major fire broke out. [2] [5] [1] The death toll is expected to increase due to the large number of victims with severe burns. [6] 25 people were transferred to Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. [7] It was the seventh attack on the hospital since March 2024. [2] Following the spread of videos showing people burning alive, the White House expressed its concerns to Israel. [8] [9]

Contents

Around one million displaced people are estimated to be sheltering in Deir el-Balah, which is supposedly considered to be part of Israel's "humanitarian zone" in the Gaza Strip. [10] [11]

Airstrike

At approximately 1 AM on 14 October 2024, the Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike on a tent camp housing displaced people on the grounds of the Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip. [12] [13] The strike hit while emergency services were receiving injured people from the Israeli bombardment of the al-Mufti school in Nuseirat hours before, which killed 22 and injured 80 people. [2] [14] [15] [16] According to a Doctors Without Borders coordinator on site, the fire destroyed structures sheltering 37 families. [17] The strike caused families' cooking gas cylinders to explode, further fueling the fire. [17] [12] Four munitions experts reviewing videos of the blaze added that some of the secondary explosions were probably caused by small-arms ammunition but cautioned it was difficult to determine the exact balance without access to the site. [17] Footage showed tents on fire while people tried to extinguish the flames. [15] [18] [19]

Israel claimed to have targeted a Hamas command center embedded in the car park, without providing evidence. Doctors without Borders (MSF), which has staff working in Al-Aqsa Hospital, reported that "it had no knowledge" of a Hamas command center and that "the hospital functions as a hospital". [20]

Victims

Al-Aqsa Hospital fire
External video
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg (GRAPHIC) Video of fire after Israeli attack, Sha'ban al-Dalou visible. [21] [22]

The head of the hospital's emergency department said many of the injured were women and children. [17] Hospital staff said while the hospital itself was not damaged in the strike, they had to treat patients on the floor for lack of beds. [17] Most of the injured had second and third degree burns; some also had shrapnel wounds requiring critical care. [17] Most of the survivors would eventually die from their "massive and deep" burns, a medical worker said. [17]

Widely shared videos of the blaze, verified by NBC, [23] showed at least one person lying on a bed connected to an IV drip, [24] [25] burning alive, with onlookers unable to reach and save him. [17] [26] [27] [28] [29] The victim, identified as Sha'ban al-Dalou, was a 19-year-old software engineering student at Al-Azhar University who was injured at the IDF's bombing of the Shuhada al-Aqsa mosque a week prior. [22] [30] [31] [32] Al-Dalou's mother was also killed in the fire. [33] [34] [35] His father suffered severe burns while pulling two of the family's children out of the flames. [32] [36] Sha'ban's 11-year-old brother, Abdul Rahman al-Dalou, also died from his burns on 17 October. [3] Ahmed Al-Dalou, Sha'ban's and Abdul's father stated, "I cannot forget the smell of their burning bodies. It is stuck in my nose and mind. Every time I close my eyes, I see my wife and son burning." [11]

Responses

Domestic

International

Other

Following the spread on social media of a video of Sha'ban al-Dalou burning to death during the attack, several pro-Israel accounts spread the false Pallywood conspiracy theory that the video had been staged. [47] [48] More broadly, however, images of al-Dalou's death sparked outrage and added to growing concerns about Israel's conduct in Gaza. [49] An independent journalist who filmed the bombing stated, "I saw people burning in front of me. By god, no one could do anything. The man, the woman and the little girl burning in front of me". [50]

See also

Related Research Articles

This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2003.

This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2004.

In 2004, the Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation "Days of Penitence", otherwise known as Operation "Days of Repentance" in the northern Gaza Strip. The operation lasted between 29 September and 16 October 2004. About 130 Palestinians, and 1 Israeli were killed.

This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuseirat refugee camp</span> Refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, State of Palestine

Nuseirat is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, five kilometers north-east of Deir al-Balah. The refugee camp is in the Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the refugee camp had a population of 31,747 and the surrounding Nuseirat municipality had a population of 54,851 in 2017. The camp was established after the 1948 Palestinian expulsion during the 1948 Palestine war.

Events in the year 2004 in the Palestinian territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Hamas war</span> Ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East

An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. It is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Al-Maghazi refugee camp was struck several times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attacks on health facilities during the Israel–Hamas war</span>

A significant number of attacks on healthcare facilities occurred during the Israel–Hamas war. During the first week of the war, there were 94 attacks on health care facilities in Israel and Gaza, killing 29 healthcare workers and injuring 24. The attacks on healthcare facilities contributed to a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. By 30 November, the World Health Organization documented 427 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, resulting in 566 fatalities and 758 injuries. By February 2024, it was reported that "every hospital in Gaza is either damaged, destroyed, or out of service due to lack of fuel." By April, WHO had verified 906 attacks on healthcare in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon.As of June 2024, according to WHO, Israel has attacked 464 health care facilities, killed 727 health care workers, injured 933 health care workers, and damaged or destroyed 113 ambulances

Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital is a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Events in 2024 in the Palestinian territories.

The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024, including the events of the Israel–Hamas war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tel al-Sultan attack</span> 2024 Israeli airstrike on refugee camp in Gaza

On 26 May 2024, the Israeli Air Force bombed a displacement camp in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah. The attack, which set the camp on fire, killed between 45 and 50 Palestinians and injured more than 200. It was the deadliest incident of the Rafah offensive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Shaban al-Dalou</span>

Shaban al-Dalou was a 19-year-old Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip who was burned alive during the bombing of Al-Aqsa hospital by the Israel Defense Forces on October 13, 2024. The area had been designated as a safe zone and as a result was densely populated with patients as well as refugees who had set up camps around the hospital. Shaban's story gained widespread attention when a video began to circulate online of Shaban trapped in the hospital bed by the IV drip to which he was connected while trying to get out and burning alive. Shaban's mother was also burned alive in the fire. Shaban's younger siblings and father were also severely burned in the attack. A few days after the attack, on October 17, 2024, Shaban's younger brother, 11-year old Abdul Rahman al-Dalou, died after succumbing to the severe burns. Shaban's younger sister, Farah al-Dalou, also died a few days later, on October 22, as a result of the severe burns she had suffered from the attack.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Adler, Nils (14 October 2024). "At least 4 confirmed killed, 70 injured, in Israeli hospital attack". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "MSF updates from Al Aqsa hospital and northern Gaza - occupied Palestinian territory". ReliefWeb . Médecins Sans Frontières. 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Gaza father mourns death of second child in a week following Israeli airstrike in hospital complex".
  4. Da Silva, Chantal; Tarrant, Tavleen; Scott, Marin (14 October 2024). "Israeli strike on Gaza hospital ignites devastating fire". NBC News . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  5. Adler, Nils (14 October 2024). "Footage shows explosion, blazing fire at scene of Israeli hospital attack". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Israeli attack on Gaza hospital tent camp kills four, ignites fire". Al Jazeera. 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  7. Shurafa, Wafaa; Magdy, Samy (14 October 2024). "Israeli strike on Gaza hospital tent camp kills four". The Independent . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  8. 1 2 Magid, Jacob (14 October 2024). "US protests to Israel over strike on hospital that sparked 'horrifying' fire in Gaza tent camp". The Times of Israel . Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Deadly Israeli Strike Hits Central Gaza Hospital Complex". The New York Times . 14 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  10. "3 killed as Israeli air strikes hit tents of displaced people in Gaza". India Today. Reuters. Reuters . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  11. 1 2 Mahdi, Ibtisam. "'I see my wife and son burning every time I close my eyes'". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  12. 1 2 Shbair, Bilal; Solomon, Erika (14 October 2024). "Survivors of Gaza Hospital Blaze Say They Are Living a 'Recurring Nightmare'". New York Times . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  13. al-Hajjar, Mohammed; Uddin, Rayhan (14 October 2024). "Israeli attack on Gaza's Al-Aqsa Hospital burns Palestinians alive". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  14. Durbin, Adam; Davies, Wyre (14 October 2024). "Israeli shelling of Gaza school kills at least 22". BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  15. 1 2 "Gaza: tents engulfed by flames next to al-Aqsa hospital after Israeli airstrike –video". The Guardian. 14 October 2024. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  16. "Israel Bombs Tent Encampment at Gaza Hospital & School Shelter in Latest Massacres". Democracy Now! . 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Masih, Niha; Harb, Hajar; Parker, Claire; Mahfouz, Heba Farouk (14 October 2024). "Israeli strike at Gaza's al-Aqsa Hospital burns tents, killing at least 4". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  18. "Palestinians report several dead in strike on hospital compound in Deir Al-Balah". The Times of Israel. 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  19. "Deadly Israeli strike hits hospital tent camp in Gaza". The Washington Post. Reuters. 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  20. Moench, Mallory (15 October 2024). "Gaza war: Witnesses recount deadly fire at Al-Aqsa hospital after Israel strike". BBC News. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  21. 1 2 Times of Gaza [@Timesofgaza] (13 October 2024). "To the world who turned a cold shoulder, Gazan people burned alive in their tents tonight" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 October 2024 via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. 1 2 Maktoob staff (15 October 2024). "Tributes pore in for Palestinian teenager burnt alive in Gaza tent fire during Israel attack". Maktoob Media. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  23. Da Silva, Chantal; Tarrant, Tavleen; Scott, Marin (14 October 2024). "Israeli strike on Gaza hospital ignites devastating fire". NBC News. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  24. "Palestinians seen burning alive in horrifying videos following Israeli bombing of Gaza hospital". The New Arab . 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  25. Mhawish, Mohammed R. (16 October 2024). ""It Was Like Hell on Earth": Scenes From a Night of Horror in Gaza". The Nation . ISSN   0027-8378 . Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  26. Masih, Niha; Harb, Hajar; Parker, Claire (14 October 2024). "Israeli strike at Gaza's al-Aqsa Hospital burns tents, killing at least 4". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  27. al-Hajjar, Mohammed (14 October 2024). "Israeli attack on Gaza's Al-Aqsa Hospital burns Palestinians alive". Middle East Eye . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  28. Masih, Niha; Harb, Hajar; Parker, Claire (14 October 2024). "Israeli strike at Gaza's al-Aqsa Hospital burns tents, killing at least 4". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  29. al-Hajjar, Mohammed (14 October 2024). "Israeli attack on Gaza's Al-Aqsa Hospital burns Palestinians alive". Middle East Eye . Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  30. "Gaza Teen Burned to Death in Israeli Strike on Hospital Identified as Sha'ban al-Dalou". Democracy Now! . 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  31. Jabakhanji, Sara (15 October 2024). "An online video showed him burning alive after Israeli airstrike. His brother recounts his final moments". CBC News .
  32. 1 2 3 Burke, Jason (16 October 2024). "Family tell of seeing mother and son burned to death in Gaza hospital blaze". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  33. "Sha'ban al-Dalou, 19-year-old student, killed by Israel in Gaza tent fire". Middle East Eye . 14 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  34. Shurafa, Wafaa; Magdy, Samy (16 October 2024). "A Palestinian student was asleep in his tent at a hospital when an Israeli strike brought an inferno". Associated Press. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  35. Humaid, Maram. "'Our neighbours burned alive': The bombing of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  36. "Teen recounts horror after his mom and brother were burned alive by Israeli strike on Gaza hospital". NBC News. 17 October 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  37. Adler, Nils (14 October 2024). "Israeli military claims it struck Hamas command centre in Gaza hospital". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  38. 1 2 3 Inocencio, Ramy; Reals, Tucker (15 October 2024). "World U.S. raises concern with Israel as Gaza hospital strike appears to leave "displaced civilians burning alive"". CBS News . Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  39. United States Mission to the United Nations (16 October 2024). "Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at a UN Security Council Briefing on the Situation in the Middle East". United States Mission to the United Nations. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  40. Bush, Cori [@RepCori] (14 October 2024). "There are no words powerful enough to capture the agony of human beings being massacred & burned alive. The U.S. is funding & arming the Israeli military's extermination of the Palestinian people. It's unconscionable. End this genocide. There must be an #ArmsEmbargoNow" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 October 2024 via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  41. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria [@AOC] (14 October 2024). "The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals. This is a genocide of Palestinians. The US must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 October 2024 via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  42. Suter, Tara (14 October 2024). "Ocasio-Cortez criticizes Biden administration over 'unrestrained' Israel government". The Hill . Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  43. "Northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south: UK statement at the UN Security Council". GOV.UK. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  44. "Several UN Security Council members denounce Israel's starvation of people in Gaza, demand action". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  45. Guldogan, Diyar (15 October 2024). "Israeli attack on Gaza hospital tent camp 'should shock world to its core': UNICEF". Anadolu Agency . Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  46. "Teen recounts horror after his mom and brother were burned alive by Israeli strike on Gaza hospital". NBC News. 17 October 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  47. Abo Marq, Wesam (16 October 2024). "Propagandist Claims of Gazans Staging the Aftermath of Israeli Attack on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital". Misbar. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  48. "Truth or Fake - No, the videos of Palestinians burning to death at al-Aqsa hospital have not been staged". France 24 . 15 October 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  49. Burke, Jason. "Family tell of seeing mother and son burned to death in Gaza hospital blaze". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  50. Scahill, Jeremy; Kouddous, Abdel. "Israel is turning northern Gaza into a killing cage". Dropsite News. Retrieved 20 October 2024.