MEZIESBLOG

A bit more on our 4.30am post to bring you now. 

A team of UN and WHO experts conducted a “high-risk operation” yesterday to get inside al Shifa hospital, despite heavy fighting reported to be ongoing nearby and a mass exodus of patients, doctors and other displaced people sheltering there.

One evacuee described a panicked and chaotic scene as Israeli forces searched and face-scanned some men as they left, taking individuals away.

In a statement issued on late last night, the WHO said its team arrived after the Israel Defence Forces had issued evacuation orders to the remaining 2,500 internally displaced people who had been seeking refuge on the hospital grounds.

The IDF vehemently denies issuing any such order. 

What they found

The WHO spokesperson said: “Due to time limits associated with the security situation, the team was able to spend only one hour inside the hospital, which they described as a ‘death zone,’ and the situation as ‘desperate’.

“Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and were told more than 80 people were buried there.”

They said the facility had effectively stopped functioning as a hospital. 

“Corridors and the hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, increasing the risk of infection. Patients and health staff with whom they spoke were terrified for their safety and health, and pleaded for evacuation.”

Remaining patients included 32 babies which the WHO said were in “extremely critical condition” and two people in intensive care without ventilation

More fire exchanged on Israel-Lebanese border with Hezbollah, IDF says

More rockets have been exchanged across Israel’s border with Lebanon as Israel Defence Forces tackle the Hezbollah militant group, the IDF has said. 

“IDF warplanes destroyed a short time ago the infrastructure of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah in Lebanese territory,” spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

He said the IDF were responding after 10 mortar rounds were fired by the group “on a peaceful area” in northern Israel. 

The IDF is still attacking the source of the shooting in Lebanese territory, he added. 

It is not clear if there were any casualties, and the report is unverified.