Ahead of the IDF raid against Hamas terrorists at Shifa Medical Center on Monday, the Gaza Ministry of Health called on international NGOs to act as human shields to protect them.
In a statement that also accused Israel of deliberately destroying Gazas' health system and violating the Geneva Conventions, the ministry said, "We call on international institutions to immediately go to Al-Shifa Medical Complex to protect it and everyone inside it and prevent the specific Israeli targeting of it."
There is no way that the administrators at Shifa didn't know Hamas was hiding inside. A top leader of Hamas' Interior Ministry had an office there. There were weapons caches and safes filled with terrorist money there.
That means they are asking NGOs to be human shields for Hamas.
In the name of international law, the ministry called for a violation of international law.
Moreover, the hospital and Health Ministry knowingly turned their patients themselves into human shields to protect Hamas. And not for the first time, either.
Speaking of international law, Israel scrupulously followed it to the letter in the Shifa complex raid.
Specific protection to which hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used by a party to the conflict to commit, outside their humanitarian functions, an "act harmful to the enemy".... Medical establishments and units enjoy protection because of their function of providing care for the wounded and sick. When they are used to interfere directly or indirectly in military operations, and thereby cause harm to the enemy, the rationale for their specific protection is removed. This would be the case for example if a hospital is used as a base from which to launch an attack; as an observation post to transmit information of military value; as a weapons depot; as a center for liaison with fighting troops; or as a shelter for able-bodied combatants.
Shifa was all of these.
But the attackers still have responsibilities even when the hospital loses its protected status, and the IDF adhered to all those requirements as well:
Before carrying out an attack on a medical establishment or unit that has lost its protected status, a warning must be given. Where appropriate, this should include a time limit, which must go unheeded before an attack is permitted. The purpose of issuing a warning is to allow those committing an "act harmful to the enemy" to terminate such act, or – if they persist – to ultimately allow for safe evacuation of the wounded and sick who are not responsible for such conduct and who should not become the victims of it.Where such a warning has remained unheeded, the enemy is no longer obliged to refrain from interfering with the work of a medical establishment or unit, or to take positive measures to assist it in its work. Even then, humanitarian considerations relating to the welfare of the wounded and sick being cared for in the facility may not be disregarded. They must be spared and, as far as possible, active measures for their safety taken.
The IDF did all of this. It brought in doctors and Arabic speakers to keep hospital operations going, it offered additional medical supplies.
It has killed 50 terrorists in and around Shifa - and no civilians or patients. That is remarkable. It shows meticulous planning and it proves that Hamas was using the hospital as cover.
Too bad the media doesn't point any of this out.
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