The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it was carrying out a "targeted operation" against Hamas as it raided Gaza City's main Al-Shifa hospital. At around 1 am local time, Gaza health ministry spokesman said that Israel had told the officials that it would raid the hospital complex "in the coming minutes", reported Reuters.
"Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa hospital," said the Israeli Defence Forces in a statement, as per the Reuters report.
"The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians," it added.
A doctor at al-Shifa, Mokhallalati told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces are inside the hospital complex adding that he inspected the main building above the emergency room "and Israeli forces do not appear to have entered it".
He also said that he does not know the state of other buildings that are housing patients and displaced people.
“We saw the tanks and the bulldozers on the centre’s campus,” Mokhallalati told Al Jazeera, adding: "The firing is still heavy, and we are hearing explosions everywhere."
Israel has been asserting that Hamas fighters are stationed near and under the Al-Shifa hospital while the Palestinian militant group has denied such claims.
The development comes a day after the Israeli forces had issued an evacuation notice to the hospital which was denied by the staff.
"We cannot just evacuate the hospital to the street. We would be issuing a death sentence [to the patients,” Gaza's health ministry spokesman Al-Qudra old Al Jazeera.
The Wednesday raids by Israel have only added to the woes of crippling health infrastructure in the besieged enclave as UN in its latest situation report has said that severe lack of fuel in the Palestinian enclave, has halted the work of ambulances and rescue teams in the city.
US Backs Israel's Claim
The United States has backed Israel's claim that Hamas has a command centre under the Al-Shifa hospital. Washington said it had intelligence to back the Israeli claim as National Security spokesman John Kirby said the group stored arms there and were prepared for an Israeli attack, reported BBC.
Meanwhile Hamas said that it held Israel and US President Joe Biden fully responsible for the implications of raiding the hospital. It called the attacks a “barbaric crime against a medical facility protected by the Fourth Geneva Convention”, reported Al Jazeera.
“The Israeli occupation and everyone who colluded with it to kill children, patients and innocent civilians will be held accountable,” the group said in a statement.
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About Al-Shifa Hospital
The hospital is one of the main medical facility in the coastal strip which is catering not just to patients but also displaced Palestinians
and has become a focus of international alarm because of worsening conditions in the facility in recent days with global calls for a humanitarian ceasefire.
There are around 650 patients in the hospital at the time while also shelterig 5,000 to 7,000 displaced civilians. Over 1,000 medical staff are also trapped in the hospital but are uable to treat the patients due to shortage of medicine and fuel.
At least seven babies and 29 patients in the itensive care have died in the hospital as fuel ran out over the weekend to run the hospital generators.