War in the Middle East: WHO complains about “appalling conditions” in Shifa clinic

The World Health Organization has once again complained about “appalling conditions” in the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. There are more than 2,000 people in the Shifa clinic, including probably more than 600 patients and around 1,500 displaced people, the WHO wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter), citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Accordingly, patients could no longer receive dialysis, among other things. Premature babies were also transferred to operating rooms without incubators.

The WHO had previously denounced the situation in the clinic complex with around 700 beds. Because of the fighting in the immediate vicinity and a lack of fuel, medical care is hardly possible anymore. Dozens of children are in critical condition and could die at any moment, the WHO warned. The head of Shifa Hospital denied Israel’s claims that his clinic had rejected fuel supplies under pressure from Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. The Islamist organization also controls the Ministry of Health.

Speaking to the British broadcaster BBC, a senior doctor at the clinic also denied the Israeli side’s claim that Hamas fighters were in the hospital. That was “a big lie,” said chief surgeon Marwan Abu Saada. “We have medical staff, we have patients and displaced people. Nothing else.” The Israeli military had previously said that Hamas – which uses an extensive tunnel under the coastal area for its own purposes – had a command center under the clinic and was also misusing other medical facilities in the Gaza Strip for military purposes.

The White House national security adviser said the US had urged Israel to avoid fighting near hospitals in the Gaza Strip. “The United States does not want hospital battles where innocent people and patients receiving medical care are caught in the crossfire,” Jake Sullivan told CBS.

US attacks two targets in Syria

Meanwhile, the US military again attacked targets in eastern Syria that were said to have been used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and other Tehran-backed groups. The attacks on a training center and a safe house came in response to “ongoing attacks” on US personnel in Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon said on Sunday. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the US strikes destroyed weapons depots and missile launch pads.

The USA had already attacked similar targets in eastern Syria twice since the end of October. According to the Pentagon on Thursday, pro-Iranian militias have carried out around 50 attacks on military bases housing US soldiers in Iraq and Syria since the middle of last month.

The Revolutionary Guards are the elite unit of the Iranian armed forces and are far more important than the country’s traditional army. In addition to the USA, Israel also wants to prevent Iran from expanding its military influence in neighboring civil war-torn Syria with the help of militias. Iran and Russia are considered the Syrian government’s most important allies.

Israel shells Hezbollah targets after attacks from Lebanon

According to its own statements, the Israeli Air Force shelled military facilities of the Shiite militia Hezbollah and a weapons depot in the northern neighboring country after attacks from Lebanon on Sunday. 15 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. Four of them were intercepted by the missile defense, the rest fell in uninhabited areas. Hamas’ military wing claimed responsibility for the attack.

What will be important on Monday

The foreign ministers of the 27 EU states will discuss the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine in Brussels on Monday. With regard to the Gaza war, one of the questions is how the EU can help improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.