The Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza said that Israel arrested the director of Al-Shifa Hospital
A general view of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on November 2. (Dawoud Nehme/AFP/Getty Images/Archive)
Israeli forces arrested the director of the largest hospital in Gaza, according to a spokesman for the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Al-Shifa Hospital spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said on Thursday that other doctors were arrested along with the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya.
Abu Salamiya was reportedly arrested while being evacuated with a WHO convoy, an emergency doctor inside Shifa told Al Jazeera News, citing doctors accompanying the director.
In response to a request for comment from CNN, the Israeli military did not confirm Abu Salamiya’s arrest, but said he “needs to be interrogated.”
“I was always in denial saying it wouldn’t happen. How could a hospital CEO not know the size of the tunnel system?” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN’s Max Foster.
The IDF spokesman went on to say: “We need to see exactly what he can share with us about his knowledge.”
Last week, the Israeli army launched what it described as a “precise and targeted” operation against Hamas inside Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using the hospital for military purposes, which Hamas and hospital officials deny.
During the Israeli army operation, Abu Salamiya warned of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis inside the hospital, where hundreds of wounded, dozens of premature babies, and thousands of displaced people were trapped in the fighting.
Abu Salmiya said last week: “Children are starving, and I mean displaced children because they need milk and there is no water to produce it.”
He accused the “Israeli occupation” of besieging the hospital, vandalizing its departments, and wandering inside its facilities.
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