PM Netanyahu Says Israel's Fuel Offer for Al-Shifa Hospital Rejected and Blames Hamas

The ambulance at the gate of Al-Shifa Hospital was hit by an Israeli attack on Gaza. (Twitter/@MSF_USA)

JAKARTA - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had offered fuel to Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, but the militants refused to accept it, so the hospital stopped operations, as the number of dead and injured in the enclave it continues to increase.

"We offered, last night, to give them enough fuel to operate hospitals, operate incubators, and so on, because we are (not) at war with patients or civilians at all," explained PM Netanyahu, reported by Reuters, November 13.

Furthermore, PM Netanyahu was asked by NBC News whether Israel's accusation that Hamas has a command post under Gaza's main hospital is justified, as it endangers the lives of sick people and babies. He also accused Hamas of rejecting the offer.

"We offered fuel to Shifa Hospital, they refused," he said.

“Hamas, (which) hid in the hospital and established itself there, does not want fuel for the hospital. They want to get fuel that they will carry from hospitals to their tunnels, to their war machines," explained PM Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, Hamas denies Israel's accusations that it has a command post under Al-Shifa Hospital and other Gaza hospitals.

As previously reported, the largest and second hospitals in Gaza, Al Shifa, and Al-Quds, said they had stopped operations due to a lack of supplies of fuel and medicine.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the situation tragic, meaning that patients did not receive proper treatment, while new patients could not be accepted due to limited space, fuel, and medical supplies.

Separately, Gaza authorities said on Sunday that the death toll from Israel's war in the besieged Palestinian enclave had reached 11,180, citing The New Arab.

Meanwhile, the state media office said the dead included 4,609 children and 3,100 women, while 28,200 people were injured.

On the other hand, Israeli authorities said around 1,400 people were killed and 240 others were taken hostage by Hamas in an attack on the country's southern region on October 7.