image source, Getty Images
Humanitarian groups say Al Shifa Hospital (pictured December 2023) has struggled to stay open in recent months.
Israeli forces launched a nighttime raid on Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, with reports of tanks and heavy gunfire inside the facility.
An IDF spokesperson said the force was carrying out “high-precision operations in a limited area” of the hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces said “senior Hamas terrorists have regrouped” inside the hospital and are using it for attacks.
Witnesses described a state of panic inside the Gaza City complex.
“Tanks are surrounding us. We are hiding in tents. We can hear tank fire near the compound,” one man said in a post on a WhatsApp group and heard by the BBC. He spoke on a recorded call.
Unverified footage posted on social media showed heavy gunfire heard around the hospital.
In another audio message sent to journalists from inside the hospital, Mohammed al-Sayed said: “Soldiers inside the complex here have been killed and injured, and the soldiers have arrested some young people. “The situation here is catastrophic.”
The Israel Defense Forces had not publicly indicated in advance that it planned to launch a new operation in al-Shifa.
In a video message posted early in the morning, Israeli Defense Forces chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said the Israeli military was responding to “specific information that calls for immediate action.”
He said hospitals could continue to function during the attack and that patients and staff did not need to be evacuated.
He said evacuees sheltering at the complex could leave the hospital through evacuation routes, before calling on Hamas to “surrender immediately.”
In a statement, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry called the operation “a clear violation of international humanitarian law.”
Hundreds of displaced Palestinians have taken refuge in the hospital, which was attacked by Israeli forces early in the conflict.
Al Shifa Hospital was Gaza's main medical facility before the conflict, but months of fighting have severely disrupted its operations.
image source, Getty Images
Hospitals have had a protected status under international humanitarian law during wartime, but could lose that protection in limited circumstances if they were used to carry out “acts harmful to the enemy.” .
Israel has long accused Hamas of using medical facilities as cover for operations, a charge the Iranian-backed militant group denies.
The IDF announced that it had discovered a network of tunnels and weapons beneath the hospital that Hamas used in its November 2023 attack on al-Shifa.
In February, Israeli forces also carried out a major military operation on the grounds of Nasser Hospital, Gaza's second largest medical facility.
The IDF announced that during the raid on Nasser Hospital, it had discovered weapons and evidence that hostages were being held at the facility.
The Israeli military launched an operation in Gaza after Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and took 253 others hostage in southern Israel on October 7. The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 31,300 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since then.
Additional reporting by Rushdi Abualouf
