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 each side stated had resulted in casualties.
The raid started earlier than daybreak, with the Israeli navy’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, saying in a video statement that troops had been working in “restricted areas” of the hospital advanced. Greater than 12 hours later, Hamas’s navy wing, the Qassam brigades, stated that its forces had been “engaged in fierce clashes with enemy forces” close to the hospital.
The Israeli navy stated that Hamas fighters had shot at its troopers from throughout the advanced and troopers had returned fireplace. The Gazan Well being Ministry stated Israeli forces had launched missiles on the advanced and fired into surgical procedure rooms. Particulars of the preventing couldn’t be independently verified.
The Israeli navy 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 navy operations. Since then, Israel has withdrawn many troops from northern Gaza and shifted the main focus of its invasion to the south.
Through the operation on Monday, Israel stated its forces had killed 20 militants. Amongst these killed, it stated, was a senior Hamas official it recognized as Faiq Mabhouh, the pinnacle of operations for the inner safety forces of the Hamas authorities in Gaza, who was “armed and hiding in a compound” on the hospital. Hamas didn’t verify his loss of life or function within the group and didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The Israeli navy additionally stated considered one of its troopers had been killed within the preventing at Al-Shifa.
Hamas, within the assertion from its armed wing, claimed that it had brought on “deaths and accidents” 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 quite a lot of folks had been killed and wounded within the raid, the Gazan Well being Ministry stated. It added {that a} fireplace had damaged out on the gate of the advanced, which brought on some folks to suffocate and made it troublesome to achieve those that had been injured.
By noon, about 15 Israeli tanks and a number of 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 worry and terror are actually consuming 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 couple of quarter-mile from the hospital, described listening to “intensive capturing and heavy shelling” beginning at round 2 a.m., together with drone strikes.
Ms. al-Kaas, 19, stated that across the identical time, she heard photographs and the sound of tanks earlier than Israeli troopers, utilizing loudspeakers, ordered folks 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 “secure zone” in Al-Mawasi, though civilians have discovered little shelter there.
“We’re simply sitting right here anxiously ready for them to evacuate us out of right here,” she stated.
Ms. al-Kaas stated that she had seen Israeli troopers holding a number of folks, their palms 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 navy command middle, calling it considered one of 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 beneath criticism from well being and humanitarian organizations after storming the hospital in November. Proof examined by The New York Instances suggests Hamas did use the hospital for canopy and maintained a hardened tunnel beneath it that was equipped with water, energy and air-conditioning. However the Israeli navy has struggled to show that Hamas maintained a command-and-control middle beneath the power.
“We all know that senior Hamas terrorists have regrouped inside Al-Shifa Hospital and are utilizing it to command assaults towards Israel,” Mr. Hagari stated on Monday. He added that there can be “no obligation” for employees and sufferers to evacuate, however stated a passage can be offered for civilians to go away the hospital.
Myra Noveck and Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting.