Explosions and gunfire rocked Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, and surrounding neighborhoods on Tuesday as Israeli forces stormed the facility on Monday.
After launching a raid led by ground soldiers and armored vehicles on Al-Shifa hospital on Monday, the Israeli army claimed on Tuesday to have eliminated 50 Hamas militants there. Thousands of Palestinian patients, medical staff and displaced people were trapped inside the compound on Tuesday, as heavy fighting between troops and Hamas fighters raged in neighboring districts.
“It’s very difficult at the moment. There is intensive shelling in the Al-Shifa area, and buildings are being hit. The sound of tanks and artillery fire is continuous“, said Emy Shaheen, who lives near the hospital, adding that a large fire had been raging for hours near the hospital.
The Israeli military said it carried out a raid on Al-Shifa early Monday because Hamas fighters had gathered in the hospital and were directing attacks from inside.
The army carried out its last raid on Al-Shifa Hospital in November, after claiming that Hamas had an elaborate command center inside and below the facility. The military revealed the existence of a tunnel leading to some underground rooms, as well as weapons allegedly found inside the hospital. Many critics have accused the military of recklessly endangering civilian lives.
The military identified one person killed in the raid: Faiq Mabhouh, a senior officer in the Gaza police force, which falls under the Hamas-led government but is separate from the militant group’s armed wing. The army said he was hiding in Al-Shifa with weapons, but the Gaza government claimed he was responsible for protecting aid distribution in the north.
The hospital, the largest in the Palestinian enclave, was severely damaged during the assault and has only been able to resume limited activities since. Gaza authorities say some 30,000 displaced people were sheltering in the hospital compound when the new Israeli assault began.
Violent fighting
The raid sparked heavy fighting for blocks around Al-Shifa. Hamas’ military wing said it fired rockets at two Israeli armored vehicles and a group of soldiers near the hospital.
The army said Tuesday that two of its soldiers were killed during the operation. She said Tuesday that 300 suspects had been arrested, including dozens accused of being fighters for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group.
Emergency services received numerous calls for help from people whose buildings had been bombed in the streets around Shifa, but rescue teams were unable to reach the scene due to the fighting, a indicated Mr. Bassal.
Kareem al-Shawwa, a Palestinian living about a kilometer from the hospital, said the final hours had been “terrifying“, with explosions and heavy exchanges of fire. He said Israeli troops had asked residents to evacuate the area, but he and his family were too afraid of being arrested or caught in the fighting to leave their home. House.
Hamas accuses Israel of “sabotage” the negotiations
Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh accused Israel on Tuesday evening of “sabotage“the ongoing negotiations aimed at establishing a truce in the Gaza Strip with its operation against the Al-Shifa hospital. The action of Israeli forces”illustrates their efforts to sow chaos and perpetuate violence” he said in a statement.
Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to protect its fighters, and the Israeli army has carried out raids on several hospitals since the start of the war.
Gaza’s health ministry said Monday that at least 31,726 Palestinians had been killed during the Israeli offensive. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it specifies that women and children represent two-thirds of the dead.
Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people in the Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7 that sparked the war, and took another 250 people hostage. Hamas is believed to still hold around 100 captives, as well as the remains of 30 others, after most of the others were freed in a ceasefire last year.