Claims of Hamas fighters in Gaza hospitals may have been exaggerated, says senior ICC prosecutor

(Guardian 12/11/24)

“Claims about the presence of Hamas fighters in hospitals in Gaza under siege by Israel’s military have been “grossly exaggerated”, a top prosecutor at the international criminal court (ICC) has said. Andrew Cayley, who is leading the ICC’s Palestine investigation, questioned the reliability of claims about military activity in Gaza’s hospitals which have been made to justify Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities in the territory…According to the latest figures published by the World Health Organization (WHO), of the 35 hospitals in Gaza it has evaluated only 17 are described as “partially functioning”. Five are “fully damaged” and 13 are categorised as “non-functional”…He said Gaza’s health system is now barely functioning. “Airstrikes, sieges, raids on hospitals. Add to that lack of fuel, electricity, food, medicine. That’s why the system has collapsed.”’ See also Palestinian rivals Hamas, Fatah agree on committee to run post-war Gaza (Al Monitor 12/3/24);