The operating theatres at Al-Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals in Gaza have fallen silent. Not because the fighting is over, but because the stretchers have stopped coming. Sources inside both facilities confirm that at least 18 bodies have been counted so far, with dozens more wounded, following an Israeli airstrike that hit a residential block in Gaza City overnight. The target, according to Israeli intelligence briefings leaked to this desk, was a secret meeting of senior Hamas military commanders. But as ever in this grinding conflict, the precision of the munition has not matched the precision of the intelligence.
Medical staff at Al-Shifa described scenes of chaos: children pulled from rubble, a woman who had just given birth dragged from the wreckage. One doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, told me: "We are used to this. But every time, it is worse. The bombs do not distinguish." The Israeli Defence Forces issued a statement confirming the strike, claiming it killed "key architects of recent terrorist attacks". No names were given. No independent verification is possible. The ruins are still smouldering.
This is not a new story. But it is a story that refuses to end. The same hospitals, the same corridors, the same blood on the same tiles. The international community will issue statements. The UN will call for restraint. And the next round of bombs will fall. Because in this war, the only currency is bodies. And both sides are still paying.
Documents obtained by this reporter from a former Israeli military intelligence analyst suggest that strikes on civilian infrastructure are often approved with incomplete target assessments. The analyst, who spoke on the record, said: "We know the hospitals will fill up. It is a cost we have calculated. We call it 'collateral damage' but the mothers in Gaza have another word for it." That word is murder.
Hamas, for its part, continues to operate from within civilian neighbourhoods. It is a tactic as old as guerrilla warfare. But it does not absolve a state of its obligations under international law. The Geneva Conventions are clear. Proportionality is not a suggestion. It is a rule.
Tonight, the morgues in Gaza are full. The families are queuing outside the gates. They are not waiting for justice. They are waiting for a body to bury. And the world is watching, again, on its phones, between adverts. This is the reality of the new normal. And it is abhorrent.
