Hamas accuses IDF of arresting Al-Shifa Hospital director, staff in Gaza
Hamas has accused the Israeli military of arresting the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, along with several other staff members "who remained at the facility to help patients and wounded evacuate."
"We see this move by Israel as nothing less than despicable, lacking any sense of humanity and morals," Hamas said in a statement on Thursday morning. "It is also a flagrant violation of international norms and charters, given obligations to ensure that medical personnel are never harmed, including in times of war."
Hamas noted that Al-Shifa Hospital's director, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, was in contact with International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization "to evacuate the remaining patients and wounded." The militant group, which rules Gaza, called on the ICRC, the WHO and other international bodies "to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation army to secure his release, along with the medical personnel who were arrested simply for continuing to fulfil their humanitarian duty."
In a separate statement on Thursday, Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health said the arrests occurred Wednesday as the United Nations and its health arm, the WHO, led a convoy of evacuated patients and medical staff from Al-Shifa Hospital. Israeli soldiers "stopped the convoy at a checkpoint separating the northern and southern Gaza Strip for seven hours" before arresting the hospital director and other staff members, according to the health ministry.
"The [Israeli] occupation bears full responsibility for the lives and safety of detained colleagues," the ministry added. "The United Nations bears full responsibility for what happened, and we await measures on their part to address this. We decided to stop coordination with the World Health Organization until a report on what happened was submitted and all detainees were released."
There was no immediate confirmation of the event or comment from the U.N. or the WHO.
There was also no immediate confirmation of the arrests or comment from the Israel Defense Forces, which has been conducting a ground raid of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for days.
The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians -- claims that the militant group denies.
-ABC News' Nasser Atta and Morgan Winsor