The Israeli military raided Gaza's largest hospital in the early hours of the morning as Israel and Hamas appeared to be nearing a deal to secure the release of the hostages in exchange for a lasting, multi-day ceasefire.
Israeli tanks stormed Al Shifa at dawn, according to a journalist inside the hospital complex.
“We can see them pointing the tanks' guns at the hospital. We are not sure if soldiers are inside the hospital, but they are inside the compound with the tanks," according to a reporter for the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
There were exchanges of gunfire in the courtyard, Al Za'anoun added, as hundreds of staff and patients are still inside the hospital, along with several thousand people who have sought refuge from Israel's air and ground attack.
The director of health services in the Gaza Strip, Munir Abu Al Ris, told Al Jazeera television that Israeli army forces are operating inside Shifa Hospital, the enclave's largest, searching its basement, adding that patients have been seized by panic due to loud explosions.
In a statement early Wednesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said it was conducting a "precise and targeted operation" at the hospital. "Based on information gathered and due to operational necessity," the Chahal forces, the Israeli army, "are conducting a targeted precision operation against Hamas in a specific area of Shifa Hospital," it said in a statement.
According to the same source, the military elements participating in the operation include members of the "medical corps" and "Arabic-speaking" soldiers, while "special training" was carried out in order to "prepare for this complex and sensitive environment" with "the intention to do not harm civilians". The Israeli army also demanded that "all" the fighters of the Palestinian Islamist movement who, according to it, are "inside" the hospital "surrender".
An IDF spokesman also told CNN today that the "targeted and precise operation" in Al Shifa is aimed at locating Hamas fighters and possibly rescuing hostages. "Our goal is to bring back the hostages and root out Hamas wherever it is," he said characteristically, while adding that the hospital is "probably the heart" of the terrorist group's operations.
Earlier Ashraf al-Kudra, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, said the Israelis contacted a Palestinian health official and told him they "will raid Al Shifa hospital in the next few minutes." "And they told us to inform people not to stand near the windows," al-Khudra told Al Jazeera.
He said he informed the International Committee of the Red Cross about the Israeli warning.
On Tuesday, the White House and Pentagon said Hamas was stockpiling weapons and operating a command center from the enclave's largest hospital.
The statements echoed Israeli claims, which Palestinian hospital and Hamas officials have denied. Yesterday the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas rejected the US government's accusation that it is using hospitals in the Gaza Strip for military operations, seeing in them a US "green light" for Israel "to commit new massacres".
Hamas also said today that Israel and Biden bear "full responsibility" for the Israeli army's operation at Shifa hospital. "The occupation (as Hamas refers to Israel) and President (US Joe) Biden bear full responsibility for the attack on the Shifa medical complex," Hamas said in a statement in Arabic.
Israel says it controls northern Gaza
Israel's defense minister yesterday claimed that Hamas had lost control of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, noting that this was evidenced by a photo taken by Israeli soldiers from inside the Legislative Council building in the heart of the city on Monday.
Meanwhile the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing as the fuel blockade continues and hospitals, water systems, bakeries and other services dependent on electricity have been shut down.
The situation in Gaza hospitals
The United Nations says only one hospital out of about 30 – Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City – is operating in the northern part of the enclave. Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah said the facility has two operating theaters and three surgeons for more than 500 patients. The International Committee of the Red Cross has highlighted the hospitals' protection status under international humanitarian law as concerns grow that medical centers in Gaza are being targeted for military action.
An estimated 200.000 people have fled northern Gaza since November 5, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Another UN human rights agency warns that "hundreds of thousands of civilians" remain trapped in Gaza City.
Where are the hostage negotiations?
The United States, Israel and Hamas - with Qatar playing an important mediating role - have been engaged in talks for weeks to free the hostages. The general parameters currently being discussed involve Hamas releasing a large group of people at the same time that Israel releases Palestinian prisoners. The exchange would take place during a sustained, multi-day ceasefire. Israel recently demanded the release of 100 hostages, according to a Hamas spokesman and a source familiar with the negotiations.
US President Joe Biden has said he believes a deal can be reached to free the hostages taken in the October 7 attacks. "I think it will happen. But I don't want to go into details," Biden told reporters at the White House. The State Department did not say whether any deal to free the Hamas hostages would include the release of all 10 American citizens being held. The youngest American hostage and the only known U.S. minor currently being held has been identified as 3-year-old Abigail Edan, according to a family member.
Latest death toll
At least 11.255 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, some 4.630 of whom were children, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. The ministry said in a statement that it faced significant difficulties in obtaining updated information due to the poor state of communications in Gaza.
Source: Protothema.gr