Sparking Controversy, Israeli Military Operation in Gaza Hospital Comes at High Risk
The Shifa Hospital raid: A critical moment in the Israel-Hamas war
Israeli forces raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip after days of building up tensions and warnings.
Claiming “operational necessity,” Israeli soldiers were seen entering Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Footage on news outlets showed patients, some of them babies, being transported around the hospital. Gunfire could be heard in the background. The operation comes three weeks after the Israeli military began its ground operation in the Gaza Strip and five weeks after the beginning of its war against Hamas. According to a statement released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the operation was a “precise and targeted” one, with the goal of finding “Hamas terror infrastructure and weapons.”
The war broke out after a Hamas surprise offensive killed around 1,200 Israelis and wounded thousands of others. Approximately 240 Israelis were taken into captivity during the “Black Sabbath” massacre. There has been speculation that some of those hostages have been held underground beneath some of Gaza’s hospitals.
Israel has been under increased pressure to tone down its operations in the Gaza Strip and minimize the cost to civilian life. In the past days, there has been increasing concern that hospitals will become military targets.
Since the beginning of the war, the Hamas-run Health Ministry has reported the death of over 11,000 Palestinians and almost 30,000 injuries. Hospitals are crowded and also used as shelter for the displaced as Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip.
There is increased criticism of Israel for allegedly operating against international law.
Generally, hospitals are not lawful targets, because their nature is civilian. But if the hospital has become a place where ammunitions and militants are hiding, this means the hospital has been re-purposed.
“Generally, hospitals are not lawful targets, because their nature is civilian,” said Dr. Hilly Moodrick-Even Khen, an expert in international law and chair of Ariel University Center for the Research and Study of Genocide, who explained hospitals have special protection under the Geneva Conventions, the core of international humanitarian law. “But if the hospital has become a place where ammunitions and militants are hiding, this means the hospital has been repurposed.”
Israel has long claimed that Hamas concentrates much of its operational activities in tunnels under hospitals, among other institutions, in order to gain immunity from attacks.
“Hospitals, schools, and UN institutions that have immunity under international law have preoccupied Israel for many years,” said Brig. Gen. (ret.) Dr. Ephraim Lapid, a lecturer in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University, a former IDF senior intelligence officer and IDF spokesperson, and a senior research fellow at Europa Institute. “The military was very careful and waited until it had proof that allowed for this operation. That is likely the main reason the military waited for three weeks into the ground operation in order to conduct this raid.”
“Every operation, especially this one, which is very complex both strategically and legally, was surely closely [mirroring] specific legal advice,” Moodrick-Even Khen added.
Israeli military operations are always accompanied by in-house military legal counsel.
In footage released by Israeli authorities of interrogations of Hamas terrorists that were apprehended after the October 7 surprise attack, the terrorists confirmed that Shifa Hospital was used as a hideout for the organization. They added they knew Israel would not target such a site.
On Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US had intelligence supporting Israeli claims about Hamas using hospitals for its operations.
“[We now] have information that confirms … Hamas is using that particular hospital for a command-and-control node and probably storage of equipment, weapons up underneath that. This is … a war crime,” Kirby told reporters. Yet, the US has warned Israel of conducting “firefights in hospitals.”
In this war, Shifa Hospital has become a focal point. According to reports from the Gaza Strip, many civilians sought refuge in the hospital, as Israel encouraged Palestinians to evacuate the northern area of the territory as it prepared for its ground incursion.
Shifa has become a symbol of the conflicting narratives between Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides are busy passing the blame between each other on the sources of the bloody conflict, eager to convince the world of their justice.
In the lead-up to the raid on Shifa, the IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari joined combat forces and entered another hospital in the Gaza Strip earlier this week. In video released from that raid, Hagari showed a basement of the hospital proving it was a Hamas command and control center. He also said there was evidence hostages were held there.
The high risk of the operation could come at a heavy cost to Israel, not only to its forces on the ground.
According to Lapid, there are three main reasons the decision to raid the hospital was made.
“Firstly, Israel wants to guarantee and show it is doing everything in its power to release the hostages,” Lapid told The Media Line. “In addition, Hamas needs to know it is not immune. Lastly, the world needs to understand that Israel is operating against a terrorist organization with no limits. While Israel operates within the limits of international law, there is a limit to what it is willing to tolerate.”
The Israeli military continuously warned of its impending raid, perhaps giving Hamas terrorists the option to take their operations elsewhere. Knowing this, Israel has still chosen to undertake the tricky maneuver, giving more importance to the optics of the war against Hamas in this case than the operational value.
The images of soldiers among ailing patients will not help Israel, as it is already under pressure in the international arena to reach a ceasefire with Hamas. Decision-makers in the country concluded raiding the hospital is apparently worth the trade-off.
“Israel attaches a lot of weight to perception, or what was previously referred to as psychological warfare, in its operations,” said Lapid. “It is a central operational calculation, and this is unparalleled to any other military. This changes the whole way a war is conducted, especially in comparison to previous wars.”
In an attempt to mitigate the negative imagery streaming out of the hospital, the IDF released footage of humanitarian aid it was sending to the hospital while engaging in fighting at the same time.
We can confirm that incubators, baby food, and medical supplies brought by IDF tanks from Israel have successfully reached Shifa Hospital.
“We can confirm that incubators, baby food, and medical supplies brought by IDF tanks from Israel have successfully reached Shifa Hospital,” read a statement from the military.
As the operation progressed, footage on social media showed a hospital in disarray, with dust-filled corridors and people walking around in hospital scrubs.
Due to the sensitivity of the situation, it is likely the pinpoint operation will not last long.
Hospitals are a tricky target as civilians remain present, apparently alongside Hamas terrorists.
“The patients, doctors, and medical equipment are not a lawful target, and the military must find a way to attack without harming them; these people [must] be protected,” Moodrick-Even Khen told The Media Line. “This is done by the principle of proportionality.”
According to that principle, the legality of an action is determined depending on the balance between the objective of the action and the means used to achieve it—and the consequences of it.
“Whenever international courts discussed the principle of proportionality, mainly when civilians were collateral damage and not the intention of the target, it was never tried on its own but [as] part of a larger case,” said Moodrick-Even Khen. “I don’t think any reasonable prosecutor would ever think about prosecuting Israelis for the intentional killing of civilians in this case.”
In recent years, there has been concern about the exposure by Israeli senior military officers to persecution in international courts. Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute which led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, it is subject to investigations by the court because Palestine is accepted by the ICC as one of its member states.
“If the ICC opens an investigation in this case, it must investigate Hamas militants’ crimes on October 7 and throughout the war, such as the use of human shields and the use of hospitals for military purposes,” said Moodrick-Even Khen.
Days after the Hamas offensive, the ICC’s chief prosecutor said the court has jurisdiction over potential war crimes carried out by Hamas in Israel and Israelis in the Gaza Strip.
The results of the Israeli operation, and the huge risk it took, will become evident in the hours and days to come.
