Gaza City [Gaza], September 30: Israel has been pounding Gaza's largest medical complex, levelling whole blocks and sending terrified patients scrambling for safety as its army continued a ground operation to seize Gaza City.
Doctors inside al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday described "horrific scenes" as many were forced to flee despite needing urgent care. Hasan al-Sha'ir, the hospital's medical director, said that staff have continued to work "despite the harsh conditions and overwhelming fear".
According to al-Sha'ir, at least 100 patients are receiving treatment in "extremely difficult circumstances", with shortages of life-saving drugs and medical equipment.
Researchers at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights confirmed Israel's use of fire belts, which are incendiary weapons that cause flames to rise across a strip of land.
The military also deployed explosive-laden vehicles around the hospital as military units advanced from the northern and eastern sides of the facility.
According to medical sources cited by the Palestinian Wafa news agency, the Israeli army shelled another medical facility, the Al Helou Hospital in Gaza City, which hosts a cancer ward and a neonatal unit where 12 premature babies are being cared for.
Medical staff told Wafa that more than 90 people, including doctors, nurses and patients, remained trapped inside the hospital as Israeli tanks surrounded the facility, blocking both entry and exit.
The Israeli army on Sunday also bombed a multistorey building, the Mecca Tower, after issuing an evacuation threat for the Remal and Sabra neighbourhoods of Gaza City, as well as the port area and parts of Beirut Street.
At least 50 multistorey buildings have been destroyed in recent weeks as Israeli forces press their assault on the city, flattening entire blocks that once housed thousands of people.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud described the attacks in Gaza City as "massive" and "relentless".
"They're a mix of heavy artillery, drone strikes [and] quake bombs that are dropped on areas and destroy the very foundations of buildings," he said.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement on Sunday that it had lost contact with two of the captives taken from Israel during the Palestinian armed group's attacks on October 7, 2023.
Source: Qatar Tribune
