MEZIESBLOG

We’re now hearing from senior adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Mark Regev, who is talking with Kay Burley about the fuel situation at al Shifa hospital. 

“We delivered fuel two days ago,” he says.

“The Israeli army approached the hospital and [left], I think it was 300 metres from the hospital, a supply of fuel for the generators,” he adds. 

“It’s my understanding that that fuel is still there because Hamas is preventing the hospital staff from from picking up the fuel.”

“If they use it, they’ll get more,” he says. 

We will bring you screengrab images from a video purporting to show the delivery of some of this fuel to the hospital in our last post. 

He is questioned on whether he feels the reported 300 liters of fuel, reportedly enough for less than an hour of power, is sufficient for the hospital.

“The fuel is there for them to take, they have refused to take it and then they say they want more,” he says. 

He adds people have been able to leave and that Israel is happy to arrange ambulances if required.

“They have been getting out – the hospital is not completely surrounded, on the eastern exit of the hospital is the street and we’ve been encouraging people to leave,” he says. 

“”We understand that not everyone can leave, so we’ve said we’re ready to supply ambulances to help people leave if they need to leave in an ambulance.”

On reports that babies are out of incubators due to the power crisis, he says the IDF is willing to evacuate them.

Premature babies at all Shifa are being wrapped in foil and placed next to hot water in a desperate bid to keep them alive, the hospital director said. 

“We have no interest whatsoever in any harm coming to those babies,” he says. 

“We’re willing to relocate them as well, we said we will provide [and] will facilitate ambulances to relocate them to a safer location.” 

He then repeats long-standing Israeli claims that Hamas is hiding underneath the hospital.

“We’re firing at Hamas, not at the hospital,” he says. 

“We’re trying to be as surgical as we can be in dealing with the threat – we’re not targeting civilians, we’re not targeting hospitals, we’re targeting a brutal enemy – Hamas.”