Dramatic moment Israeli airstrike pounds Hamas terror HQ in ‘pressure cooker bombing’ to clear civilians from hospital
THIS was the dramatic moment an Israeli airstrike pounded Hamas' terror headquarters to clear civilians from a Gaza hospital.
Footage appears to show the scenes of despair near the Indonesian Hospital as Israel carries out "pressure cooker" bombings.
Such bombardment operations include steadily increasing fire on a building in which armed targets are holed up.
Using increasingly heavy weaponry, from more and more angles, the bombing keeps going until they either surrender or the building caves in on them.
The IDF has said it did not target the Indonesian Hospital, where there were reports of explosions yesterday.
"The IDF did not target the hospital," it said.
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"The IDF does not target civilians and operates in accordance with international law."
It comes as Hamas-run health ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qidra claimed the bombardments came from the Israeli army, reports.
"The Israeli occupation launched simultaneous strikes on a number of hospitals during the past hours", he told Al Jazeera television.
Qidra said an Israeli strike hit a courtyard in the Al Shifa hospital, the biggest in Gaza City, causing casualties, but he did not provide details.
Israel said Hamas has hidden command centres and tunnels beneath the Indonesian Hospital, reports.
“Hamas systematically built the Indonesian Hospital to disguise its underground terror infrastructure,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.
The hospital, situated in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, was built using Indonesian charity funds and opened its doors in 2015.
The Indonesian charity that operates the hospital, MER-C, denied the facility was used by Hamas.
“What Israel accused us of can be a precondition for them to launch an attack at the Indonesian hospital in Gaza,” MER-C chief Sarbini Abdul Murad said in Jakarta on Monday.
The “IDF’s accusation is a precondition to justify attacks against us, therefore we need to debunk it,” Murad added.
In a statement on Tuesday, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said: “The Indonesian Hospital in Gaza is a facility built by the Indonesian people entirely for humanitarian purposes and to serve the medical needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza."
It comes after the IDF claimed Hamas terrorists hid rocket launchers within a playground and amusement park compound in northern Gaza.
Troops claimed to have found four underground launchers some 16ft from a children’s swimming pool.
Yesterday, Israeli troops blew up a missile dump hidden in plain sight by Hamas terror chiefs on the golden sands of a Gaza beach.
Twenty rockets with a 125-mile range were stored - one on top of the other - inside a locked shipping container.
It was moved here by Hamas to be among innocent civilians enjoying the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean.
Families from the local neighbourhoods of Jabalia, Rimal and Atatra had flocked here before the war.
But for the bloodthirsty hierarchy of Hamas their ordinary lives simply provided the perfect cover.
The evil terror group hid their deadly arsenal here and in the densely populated streets nearby: next to hotels, cafes and even kindergartens.
They didn't know it or chose to ignore it, but the Palestinians living in this district were used as human shields.
We were led onto the beach by a crack unit of bomb disposal experts from the Israeli Defence Force and taken to the container.
It's not immediately obvious but upon closer inspection the prominent cones of 20 warheads are ever so slightly poking out.
Israel also started four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in northern Gaza, the US claimed.
Washington said it has secured a second pathway for trapped civilians to flee the carnage but announced there was "no possibility" of a ceasefire.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the first humanitarian pause would take place today and that it was a move in the right direction.
However, President Joe Biden reaffirmed that there was currently "no possibility" of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"None. No possibility," Biden told reporters today, while adding he wanted to push for more humanitarian pauses.
The development came after serious talks in recent days between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"She listened attentively to the families' stories about the heavy suffering they have been going through in the last month."
Sara told the families: "I know you have no day and no night. Every day that passes without your loved ones is a never-ending pain.
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"My heart is with you, the heart of all of us is with you.
"I assure you that I will convey your feelings and requests to the Prime Minister and I assure you that he is doing everything to bring our abductees, your loved ones, home safely."