Civilians trapped near al-Shifa hospital describe Israeli siege

Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City - the enclave's largest medical complex - has been under sustained Israeli attack and siege for the past two days. 

Israeli forces killed 50 Palestinians and arrested 180 during a raid on the facility on Monday.

Middle East Eye has spoken to Palestinian civilians trapped in the vicinity of the beseiged hospital. 

Rawia al-Batrikhi, 29, said: "We are besieged from every angle, not knowing whether to go out or stay in. We cannot leave or move. Tanks are here, just outside the room, and there has been constant gunfire and shelling for the past two days. We are lying on the ground, using whatever we can as cover from the bullets.

We cannot lift our heads, we cannot speak loudly, we can hardly breathe. I'm whispering as I speak to you so the [Israeli soldiers] do not notice that we are here. There are about 30 of us in a room in a nursery next to al-Shifa hospital. The gunfire never stops, we need someone to get us out of here as soon as possible."

Muhammed Tareq al-Batrikhi, 34, who is Rawia's husband, also spoke to MEE. 

He said: "We have no water or anything. It has been two days without water, and we cannot get any while we are fasting and desperately needing it. We are trying to manage. I used to sell coke cans, and now we are drinking coke instead of water just to stay alive and keep fasting and breaking our fasts. We have no food at all except zaatar.

Yesterday, we broke our fast with bread and thyme, and we had sahour [pre-dawn Ramadan meal] with bread and zaatar. Today, we will also break our fast with bread and zaatar again. But today is the last day we will have bread. When it runs out, we will not be able to make more because there is no water. We do not know how long this situation will continue, we do not know what is coming for us."