Israel Shells Gaza Hospital, Adding to Humanitarian Crisis

Over 100,000 Civilians Displaced by War

Beyond the soaring civilian death toll in Israel’s ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip, a humanitarian crisis is becoming ever more visible, added to today by the Israeli military shelling the already overwhelmed al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Every Gaza hospital is facing shortages of medicine and a huge influx of civilians wounded by Israeli strikes, now al-Aqsa hospital also has to handle damage to their building and 20 wounded members of their staff.

The UN has also warned the refugee crisis within Gaza is already double what it was during the 2008-09 invasion, with over 100,000 Gazans seeking refuge at UN sites.

Israel has been ordering Gaza civilians out of their homes as they escalate the offensive, but there isn’t really anyplace for them to go, as they are not allowed to exit to Israel or Egypt, and all Gaza cities are basically under attack now. The UN sites, nominally safer, also have a long history of being targeted in Israeli attacks.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.