Israel Matzav

Breaking: Shifa Hospital bombed? UPDATED X6

Reports by journos and human rights groups that Al Shifa hospital in #Gaza has been shelled.
— Dalia Hatuqa (@DaliaHatuqa) July 28, 2014

For those who have forgotten, Shifa Hospital is the main hospital in Gaza City. Hamas' leadership is hiding in its basement.

Hmmm.

Israel Radio reports that the building supposedly under attack is the outpatient clinic.

Clear that IDF is reacting to Hamas' shooting all day long.

More to follow.

UPDATE 5:30 PM

Israel Radio reports that the IDF has also attacked the Shati 'refugee camp' in Gaza City and that ten people are dead.

There is a story going around that a senior commander of the Izz a-Din al-Qassam brigades - Hamas' 'military wing' - has been killed. I cannot confirm that.

UPDATE 5:44 PM

Palestinians report 3 killed in drone strike on Gaza clinic http://t.co/IguAgcC867
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) July 28, 2014

And from the link:

5:24 P.M. Palestinians report four were killed in an IDF attack on a civilian vehicle near the Shati Camp, west of Gaza City. In addition, three were reported killed and several wounded by a drone strike in the Shifa Hospital's external clinics in Gaza. According to eyewitnesses, an unmanned aircraft fired a rocket at the clinic. The Palestinians noted that the hospital compound is used as a shelter by thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes due to the fighting. (Jack Khoury)

That 'civilian vehicle' may have been carrying the Hamas commander. Waiting for a car swarm....

UPDATE 5:51 PM

Israel Radio reporting IDF did attack Shati neighborhood in Gaza City. Hamas says ten killed and many wounded. Hamas claims most of dead are children.

There was a report of a building in Shifa Hospital being hit. The IDF denies that it attacked that building.

The significant attack was in Shati - 10 dead and 40 wounded. IDF also shooting east of Gaza City and east of Khan Yunis.

For Israel, the 'cease fire' today was premature. Hamas never accepted the cease fire and continued to shoot all day long. It was clear that this would not work.

UPDATE 6:48 PM

The IDF says there was no drone attack on Shifa - it was a Hamas rocket gone astray.

Palestinian media reported that 10 people were killed and several injured, including children, in an explosion near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday afternoon.

The IDF confirmed that the hospital had been struck by a failed Gazan rocket, not by an IAF drone strike, as Hamas had claimed.

Thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge at Shifa Hospital, according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an.

The IDF did not comment on reports of an Israeli air strike that hit a public garden in the Beach refugee camp that, according to Palestinian medics, killed five of the 10 people.

Hmmm....

UPDATE 7:03 PM

The IDF says that the Shati 'attack' was also a Hamas rocket misfiring. 

The Hamas rocket that exploded outside Shifa Hospital was a Fajr-5 aimed at central Israel and had a 100 kilogram (220-pound) warhead.

UPDATE 7:11 PM

IDF says Islamic Jihad responsible for Shifa rocket. 

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Shifa Hospital

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:23 PM