Israel says its military has launched a "targeted" operation against Hamas inside Gaza's largest hospital as Palestinian health officials said forces "stormed" the besieged complex in the early hours.
According to the United Nations, more than 2,500 patients, medics and internally displaced people – including dozens of vulnerable newborn babies that need incubators – are still inside al-Shifa hospital. The UN said in recent days the medical complex had run out of generator fuel and was low on vital medical supplies including anaesthesia.
The hospital administration reported that after days of intense fighting around the hospital they were informed early on Wednesday that Israeli troops would raid the complex “within minutes”, shortly before reporting intense gunfire inside the walls of the hospital.
Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a surgeon at Shifa had said in an earlier telephone message that only patients, doctors and civilians were staying at the hospital which was surrounded by tanks and "under blockade".
A doctor in al-Shifa, Ahmed El Mokhallalati, said that gunfire forced staff to stay away from windows for their safety. He spoke of tanks being parked in front of the emergency department of the hospital.
“Shooting around the hospital and within the hospital. It's really horrible you can feel that it's very near to the hospital. And then we realised that the tanks are moving around the hospital," he told Reuters.
"They just parked in front of the hospital emergency department. All kinds of weapons were used around the hospital.... We try to avoid being near the windows," he added.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas after an attack on Israel which killed some 1,200 people and saw roughly 240 taken hostage. It responded with a near-continuous aerial bombardment of Gaza, which continues, and a blockade which has seen crucial supplies of fuel, water, food and medical supplies running short – or out.
Ground operations have focused on northern Gaza, and particularly Gaza City, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee southwards, even though airstrikes have also been used on areas of southern Gaza. Officials from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza have said more than 11,000 people have been killed since Israel’s operations began, around 40 per cent of them children.
Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas militant group that runs Gaza of building a network of attack tunnels underneath Shifa and using civilians as human shields, an accusation that hospital officals and Hamas denies.
The Israeli military (IDF) said "based on intelligence information and an operational necessity" it launched a "precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area" in the complex.
"[On Tuesday], the IDF conveyed to the relevant authorities in Gaza once again that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours. Unfortunately, it did not,' the statement read.
"The IDF has also facilitated wide-scale evacuations of the hospital and maintained regular dialogue with hospital authorities."
"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 being used by Hamas as human shields," it added.
The Israeli army concluded the statement by calling on Hamas militants present in the hospitals to surrender.
Martin Griffiths, the head of UN humanitarian operations, has criticised Israel’s actions within the al-Shifa compound. “I’m appalled by reports of military raids in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. The protection of newborns, patients, medical staff and all civilians must override all other concerns. Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” he wrote in a post on social media.
Just hours before the operation started the White House said it had its own intelligence that Hamas was using the hospitals to run its military operations and store weapons. However, National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said the US does "not support striking a hospital from the air."
"We do not want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care they deserve," he added.
In a press statement on Tuesday night, Hamas rejected US administration claims about al-Shifa. "We reiterate our call for the United Nations to establish an international committee to inspect all hospitals in Gaza and expose the falsehoods in the occupation's narrative, a narrative endorsed by its ally, Washington," Hamas said.
Medics in Shifa and northern Gaza told The Independent that three newborn babies at al-Shifa had died in the last few days because their incubators had to be switched off due to electricity shortages.
At least 36 more were at risk of death as they were kept warm with tin foil on ordinary hospital beds. Doctors working with international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, as well as other medics, reported that people had been shot trying to leave Shifa. Gaza health ministry officials said people were at risk of being shot by snipers if they tried to move between the different buildings within the hospital, and that food and water were running out.
Health ministry officials said Palestinians still within al-Shifa had to dig a mass grave on Tuesday and bury over 100 of the dead in the hospital courtyard as it was too dangerous to go outside.
Ashraf Al-Qidra, Gaza's health ministry spokesman, said there was no plan in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the "dramatic loss of life" in the hospitals, his spokesman said. "In the name of humanity, the secretary-general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," the spokesman told reporters.
