Palestinian media reported that fierce fighting erupted between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli occupation forces near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. The hospital, which is the largest health center in the area, has been surrounded by dead bodies for days, as the occupation prevents people from burying their loved ones. The hospital is under siege by Israeli tanks, trapping the displaced, wounded, patients, and medical staff inside. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, the director of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, said in media statements that the number of casualties inside the complex had risen and that eight people had died since Monday morning. He said that the hospital had no water, fuel, or health services and that the wounded would die from their injuries. The coordinator of Doctors Without Borders at Al-Shifa Complex in the Gaza Strip said that the hospital had become a war zone with constant shooting and targeting. He said that patients lacked water and medicine and that the roads around the hospital were filled with corpses. The Israeli occupation claims that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) uses Al-Shifa Hospital as the headquarters of its leaders, but the movement denies these allegations. Hamas stated on Monday saying that it "has no role in the management of Al-Shifa Hospital, and has no presence in its decision-making structure." It said that the complex is "under the authority of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which oversees its administrative and technical affairs." The statement came in response to the lies spread by the occupation media, which said that the occupation had offered to supply the hospital with some fuel, but Hamas had refused. Hamas said that "the occupation's offer to provide the hospital with only 300 litres of fuel is an insult to the pain and suffering of the patients, newborns, and medical staff, who are trapped inside, without water, food, or electricity." "This amount is not enough to run the generators for more than half an hour. The occupation is trying to launch a cheap propaganda campaign to cover up its ugly face and hide its crimes against humanity, such as bombing hospitals, killing medical staff, and endangering patients' lives by cutting off fuel, water, and medicine," the statement read. Hamas repeated its calls to the United Nations and the international community to intervene immediately to bring fuel into the Gaza Strip, to operate hospitals, save the sick, children, and wounded inside, and stop the blatant violations of international laws committed by the Israeli occupation.
