Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
25 March 2024 | 15:04 p.m.  SAST
2 minute read

One week after Israeli forces raided al-Shifa hospital in Gaza last week, the situation has reached breaking point. Eyewitness accounts from the medical complex, in which approximately 7 000 ill and displaced Gazans were staying, revealed extremely dire circumstances.

Moulana Ebrahim Moosa paints a grim image of the situation on Radio Islam International.

“Hunger, thirst, displacement, destruction, and as you mentioned now, the element of sexual violence as well, no matter how much I try to explain it to you, no words can describe it,” Moulana Moosa reports.

Israeli soldiers have left people to bleed to death and set hospital buildings on fire in the al-Shifa compound, reports indicate.

The atrocities being reported are beyond comprehension and are a grave violation of human rights. Cutting off electricity and oxygen supply to patients on ventilators, arresting medical personnel, forcing them to strip, and preventing their free movement are heinous acts that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza.

Eyewitness testimonies, like that of Jamila al Hassi, a Gazan woman who left al-Shifa compound, brings to attention the mass sexual assault on Palestinians in and around the hospital.

The targeting of civilians, including women and children, and the deliberate destruction of homes near al-Shifa hospital resemble a systematic campaign to terrorise and displace the Palestinian population, Moulana Moosa says.

Meanwhile, in Khan Younis, Israel has renewed attacks on the Al-Amal and al- Nassar hospitals.

“There’s also then resistance, spirited resistance in the area, and we’ve seen an uptick, going back to the earliest days of the war, an uptick in attacks on Israeli tanks, because there’s much more, this is a much more concentrated space, and Israeli tanks have now become conspicuous targets,” Moulana Moosa says.

Despite Israel’s best efforts, the increase in attacks on Israeli tanks reflects the determination of Palestinian resistance fighters to defend their land and people.

There is growing pressure both internally and externally for the Israeli government to seek a resolution.

While there may be reluctance within the government to cease hostilities, there’s increasing recognition among the Israeli public and even within military circles that a lull in fighting is necessary.

A recent poll indicates that over 50% of Palestinians believe that Hamas should govern the Gaza Strip when the current war ends. Additionally, of the respondents, 70% indicated satisfaction with the role of Hamas during the past five months.

“Sixty one percent, so huge percentages, approving the role played by Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. And 71% of Palestinians, both in the Gaza and the West Bank, believed that the resistance operation of October the 7th was correct. So that’s the approval rating for Hamas on the one side.”

The ongoing support for Hamas and its resistance operation stems in part from the assessment amongst Palestinians that the war has revived international interest in the Palestinian cause, Moulana Moosa indicates.

Listen to the Palestine Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Junaid Kharsany here.