Israel reiterates that it has not attacked Al Shifa hospital and accuses Hamas of using it for military purposes

MADRID, 12 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

One of the spokespersons for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Jonathan Conricus, has reiterated that Israeli troops have not attacked the Al Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip "or any of its parts" and has accused Hamas of using it for "military needs."

"We are in contact with the local authorities in Gaza, with the (hospital) director and others, and we are helping them and informing them where they can go to evacuate the area. We are also trying to coordinate the safe evacuation and transport of the patients who They still remain in the hospital," Conricus said in an interview with CNN.

The IDF spokesman has insisted that, although they have troops in the area, they are not surrounding it or putting pressure on it and have stopped the fire so that "all the people who are there, both the displaced people who have been seeking refuge like others who are in the compound, can move safely.

On the other hand, the representative of the Israeli Army has accused Hamas of using the hospital "for military needs, which is a war crime" which, he stressed, "goes against the Geneva Convention and is endangering the protected status of the hospital".

In this sense, Conricus has once again asked the Gazan population to evacuate the place and head towards "a relatively safe area in the south, under the commitment of not attacking civilians and out of respect for Human Rights."

"We know that Hamas is using the hospital for military purposes. We know that it is full of Hamas fighters who are seeking refuge and trying to hide from our forces under the hospital. That is also one of the reasons why we are trying to evacuate it, because we do not want Hamas continues to use these people as human shields in the future," said the military officer.

In this regard, Conricus has indicated that the objective of the Israeli Army is to "dismantle the entire military infrastructure of Hamas" and that, to this end, they seek to "temporarily empty northern Gaza of civilians to minimize and reduce the number of civilian victims." . "That is our objective, we seek that operational freedom to be able to go after Hamas," said the IDF spokesman.