WHO visits Al-Shifa hospital, calls it 'death zone'

Tel Aviv, Nov 19: The World Health Organization (WHO) officials who have visited Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital said that the hospital has become a "death zone". WHO and other UN agencies that visited the hospital said that they are in the process of evacuating the patients there.

The Israeli army has said that Hamas operatives have to be evacuated from Al-Shifa hospital premises. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been maintaining that Al-Shifa hospital premises has been working as a command centre for Hamas and that an underground tunnel network is operated from this hospital premises even though the hospital authorities and Gaza's Ministry of Health vehemently denied it.

The Israeli army has also recovered the dead bodies of two women hostages near Al-Shifa hospital, indicating that the hospital premises was used as a place to keep the hostages kidnapped from Israel on October 7.

It may be noted that the IDF has said that it has recovered several arms and ammunition and military equipment from within the hospital as well as from nearby buildings.

The ground invasion that commenced on October 27 in retaliation to the massacre and mayhem of October 7 has led to more than 12,000 Palestinians losing their life. Several soldiers including senior officers were also killed on both sides.