'Miracles or performances?': Israel tries and fails to tar staff at overwhelmed Gaza hospital

Even Gaza's overwhelmed hospital staff are not being spared from Israel's spread of disinformation, as an official social media account was used to accuse medical staff in the Palestinian enclave of "performance".

Through its official Arabic-language account on 'X', Israel on Monday attempted to cast doubt on a video of a medical worker performing CPR on a man as the two are wheeled through a hospital on a stretcher.

"Miracles or performances?", Israel asked in its post made the same day as it bombed a hospital for cancer treatment. "Hamas’ performances to elicit feelings [and] emotions."

It questioned whether the medical worker was performing chest compressions correctly, and added the Arabic-language version of the hashtag #HamasislSIS which it has frequently used to tie Hamas to the extremist Islamic State group without substantiation.

The video had originally been posted online last week by Mohammed Asad, a photojournalist in Gaza, to the photo and video-sharing platform Instagram.

It is unclear which hospital in Gaza the video had been filmed at, but a few hours later, Asad posted a video from outside of the Al-Shifa Hospital that Israel has in recent days threatened to bomb.

Medical experts rubbished claims that the hand placement for the chest compressions seen in the video indicated it was fake.

"While the hand placement isn't exactly perfect, this is more or less what real CPR looks like. Almost no one conscious would be able to tolerate that," one doctor said on X.

"CPR isn't like the movies. It's a brutal process. We often break ribs doing it."

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities have not been exempt from Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza since 7 October with more than 8,500 people killed, including 3,500 children.

A blast at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City on 17 October killed almost 500 people with Israel widely blamed.

Prior to Israel's latest assault, Gaza’s healthcare system was already crumbling due to Israel’s 15-year blockade on the enclave, imposed after Hamas came to power.

But the relentless and seemingly indiscriminate bombing, as well as the total siege imposed a few days after the bombardment began, have worsened the situation dramatically, with medical provisions running out, including anesthesia and disinfectant. 

With fuel running short, hospitals could completely collapse.

Many healthcare facilities have shut down completely, leaving those that remain operational to absorb yet more patients.