The Israeli army launched on Monday an operation around Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, with witnesses reporting airstrikes on the devastated neighborhood where it is located.
Israeli soldiers “are currently conducting a precise operation in the area of the Shifa hospital,” a statement from the military said.
“The operation is based on intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists.”
Witnesses in Gaza City told AFP that they saw tanks surround the hospital site.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter in the complex, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The Israeli army had also carried out a November operation in Al-Shifa, sparking an international outcry.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of running military operations from hospitals and other medical centers, claims that the militant group denies.
The Hamas government media office in Gaza condemned the operation, saying that “the storming of the Al-Shifa medical complex with tanks, drones, and weapons, and shooting inside it, is a war crime.”
The Health Ministry said that it had received calls from people near the hospital site who claimed there were dozens of casualties.
“No one could transport them to the hospital due to the intensity of gunfire and artillery shelling,” the ministry said.
The Israeli army has carried out multiple operations in and around medical facilities across the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.
According to the Israeli military, troops “were instructed on the importance of operating cautiously, as well as on the measures to be taken to avoid harm to the patients, civilians, medical staff, and medical equipment” at Al-Shifa.
The statement also said that Arabic speakers had been deployed in order to “facilitate dialogue with the patients remaining in the hospital.”
It added, “There is no obligation for the patients and medical staff to evacuate.”
Following its November 15 operation on Al-Shifa, the Israeli military said that it had found weapons and other military equipment hidden in the site – claims that Hamas denied.
It also claimed that it had found a 55-meter tunnel in the basement and shared footage that it said proved hostages had been held there, which Hamas also denied.
According to the UN, 155 health facilities in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war began.
With AFP
