…no.
You don’t get to make the case that a hospital is a legitimate target after you’ve laid siege, bombed it, killed and wounded people. They’ve had weeks to make the case. The UN ambassador spoke to the assembly just a few days ago and spent most of his time lambasting UN and humanitarian agencies. The very least he could have done was pulled a Colin Powell. Because the thing is: Israel’s case here is even flimsier than this.
And we aren’t just talking about Al-Shifa. 21 hospitals in Gaza are out of service. No fuel. No food. No water. No medicine. Do they all have military installations under them? Because even if they did, that still isn’t enough to make them a legitimate target. Not according to the conventions. The standard is higher than that.
I don’t say any of this lightly. Because I don’t think we should be taking any of this lightly. If you are going to lay siege to a hospital, the standard needs to be higher than “it’s been common knowledge for the past 15 years.”