Israeli forces raid Gaza’s largest hospital to search for Hamas militants

GAZA — Dozens of the Israeli army forces on Wednesday carried out a raid at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city amid heavy gunfire, according to a senior medical official.

In a press statement sent to Xinhua news agency, Monir al-Bursh, director-general of the pharmaceutical department at the Gaza Health Ministry, said that “the Israeli army officially informed the hospital in a phone call that the raid was being carried out, demanding that people not approach windows, balconies or doors”.

For its part, the Israeli army said that it was carrying out a precise operation against Hamas in a specific area inside Al-Shifa hospital based on intelligence information and an operational need, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesman of the Health Ministry, said, “There is nothing that would require shooting inside the hospital because there is no form of resistance there, and what the occupation is doing constitutes terrorism for those in the complex.”

About 1,500 staff members and 7,000 displaced people are currently stuck in the hospital, depending on capacity, according to al-Qedra.

Israeli tanks surrounded several hospitals in Gaza city over the past few days, claiming that they contain tunnels that constitute a base used by Hamas to shelter its leadership in addition to leading military operations against the Israeli army.

Both Hamas and the Health Ministry in Gaza denied Israel’s accusations, considering them “an attempt to mislead and incite in preparation for the destruction of hospitals and the killing of patients”.

Hamas uses Al-Shifa Hospital as military facility: IDF

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday said that they have “concrete evidence” that Hamas uses Al-Shifa Hospital as a military facility, media reports said.

“In the last hour, we saw concrete evidence that Hamas uses Al-Shifa Hospital as a military headquarters,” the IDF official said.

However, the IDF have not elaborated on the nature of the evidence, but said the IDF will soon share the details.

The IDF said that the weapons and other “terror infrastructure” have been located within the hospital complex, Times of Israel reported.

On Tuesday, the IDF began operating in what the officials said is “a specific area of the complex,” which is sprawled out over several buildings and underground facilities.

The IDF official said that the current military activity involves “no friction with patients, medical staff and injured civilians,” saying that “they are in a different section of the hospital.”

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that 37 infant patients have been endangered due to power shortage at Al-Shifa Hospital, Times of Israel reported.

The senior IDF official said that “the offer is still on the table” to transfer those infant patients to an alternative facilities, which can be chosen by the Gaza Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Israel has provided incubators capable of being transported by ambulance, to enable the infants’ transfer to an alternative facility outside of north Gaza, where the fighting is focused.

Also read: IDF captures key Hamas stronghold in Gaza after 10 hour-long battle