Israeli bombardment and land invasion in besieged Gaza — now in its 40th day — has killed about 11,320 Palestinians, including 4,650 children and 3,145 women, according to Palestinian authorities.
The Israeli military has stormed Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa at about 0014 GMT.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qidra said that Israel warned “earlier that it will raid Al Shifa Hospital complex in the coming minutes”.
“The IDF subsequently surrounded the complex from all sides, and the violent shelling and intense gunfire continued for two hours,” the spokesman said.
“We hold Israel’s raiding forces fully responsible for the lives of medical staff, patients and displaced people in Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital,” Palestinian Health Ministry said
*US remarks on Al-Shifa Hospital meant to fuel Israeli ‘massacres’ at Gaza hospitals: Hamas*
Hamas has said that the White House’s remarks that it had a command centre at Al Shifa Hospital in besieged Gaza was a “green light” to Israel to commit “brutal massacres” targeting medical facilities in the Palestinian territory.
“These statements give a green light to the Israeli occupation to commit further brutal massacres targeting hospitals, with the goal of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system and displacing Palestinians,” the Palestinian resistance group said.
Hamas says 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from snipers and drones. It says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies whose incubators were knocked out.
Israel repeatedly claims that Hamas uses the hospitals as military bases, a claim the Palestinian group and international medics who have worked in the hospitals deny. The Israelis have presented no hard evidence to support their claim.