Israeli forces utilizing tanks and bulldozers raided Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza on Monday in an operation they stated was geared toward senior Hamas officers who had regrouped on the medical facility, setting off an hourslong battle that either side stated had resulted in casualties.
The raid started earlier than daybreak, with the Israeli army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, saying in a video statement that troops had been working in “limited areas” of the hospital advanced. More than 12 hours later, Hamas’s army wing, the Qassam brigades, stated that its forces had been “engaged in fierce clashes with enemy forces” close to the hospital.
The Israeli army stated that Hamas fighters had shot at its troopers from throughout the advanced and troopers had returned fireplace. The Gazan Health Ministry stated Israeli forces had launched missiles on the advanced and fired into surgical procedure rooms. Details of the preventing couldn’t be independently verified.
The Israeli army stated that it had launched the raid based mostly on new intelligence that Hamas officers had been working from the hospital, 4 months after Israeli forces stormed the advanced and located a tunnel shaft they stated supported their rivalry that the armed group had used it to hide army operations. Since then, Israel has withdrawn many troops from northern Gaza and shifted the main target of its invasion to the south.
During the operation on Monday, Israel stated its forces had killed 20 militants. Among these killed, it stated, was a senior Hamas official it recognized as Faiq Mabhouh, the pinnacle of operations for the interior safety forces of the Hamas authorities in Gaza, who was “armed and hiding in a compound” on the hospital. Hamas didn’t verify his dying or function within the group and didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The Israeli army additionally stated one in all its troopers had been killed within the preventing at Al-Shifa.
Hamas, within the assertion from its armed wing, claimed that it had brought about “deaths and injuries” to Israeli forces, however didn’t present proof.
The hospital and the encompassing space home about 30,000 sufferers, medical employees and displaced civilians, and numerous individuals had been killed and wounded within the raid, the Gazan Health Ministry stated. It added {that a} fireplace had damaged out on the gate of the advanced, which brought about some individuals to suffocate and made it troublesome to achieve those that had been injured.
By noon, about 15 Israeli tanks and several other bulldozers had been contained in the hospital grounds, stated Alaa Abu al-Kaas, who was staying on the hospital to accompany her father who was being handled there.
“The fear and terror are really eating us alive,” she stated in a telephone name from a hall of one of many hospital’s buildings the place she was hiding. Her voice was barely audible amid loud booms and explosions.
Hedaya Al Tatar, who lives a few quarter-mile from the hospital, described listening to “intensive shooting and heavy shelling” beginning at round 2 a.m., together with drone strikes.
Ms. al-Kaas, 19, stated that across the similar time, she heard pictures and the sound of tanks earlier than Israeli troopers, utilizing loudspeakers, ordered individuals within the advanced to remain inside and shut the home windows. She stated Israeli forces advised folks that they might be moved to the Al-Mawasi space in southern Gaza, though it was not instantly clear when or how they might be moved. Israel has sought to create a humanitarian “safe zone” in Al-Mawasi, though civilians have discovered little shelter there.
“We are just sitting here anxiously waiting for them to evacuate us out of here,” she stated.
Ms. al-Kaas stated that she had seen Israeli troopers holding a number of individuals, their arms sure and garments partially stripped off, within the courtyard of the hospital advanced. She added that our bodies of people that had apparently been shot had been mendacity within the courtyard.
Israel has stated that the hospital advanced doubled as a secret Hamas army command middle, calling it one in all many examples of civilian services that Hamas makes use of to protect its actions. U.S. spy companies have stated that their very own intelligence signifies that Hamas and one other Palestinian group used Al-Shifa to command forces and maintain some hostages.
Hamas has denied the accusations, and Israel got here underneath criticism from well being and humanitarian organizations after storming the hospital in November. Evidence examined by The New York Times suggests Hamas did use the hospital for canopy and maintained a hardened tunnel beneath it that was provided with water, energy and air-conditioning. But the Israeli army has struggled to show that Hamas maintained a command-and-control middle underneath the ability.
“We know that senior Hamas terrorists have regrouped inside Al-Shifa Hospital and are using it to command attacks against Israel,” Mr. Hagari stated on Monday. He added that there could be “no obligation” for workers and sufferers to evacuate, however stated a passage could be offered for civilians to go away the hospital.
Myra Noveck and Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting.