The Monday raid at Al-Shifa hospital,which has been largely dysfunctional since November,came after Israel claimed intelligence emerged “indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists to conduct and promote terrorist activity,” the military said in a statement.
Smoke and explosions rise inside the Gaza Strip,as seen from southern Israel on Sunday.AP
The military said soldiers were conducting a “precise operation” and were fired upon when they entered the compound. “The troops responded with live fire and hits were identified. Our troops are continuing to operate in the area of the hospital,” it added. It said the operation was based on intelligence information which indicated the hospital was being used by senior Hamas leaders.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said a fire broke out at the entrance of the complex,causing cases of suffocation among displaced women and children in the hospital.
It said communication had been cut off,with people trapped inside the surgery and emergency units of one of the buildings.
“There are casualties,including deaths and injuries,and it’s impossible to rescue anyone due to the intensity of the fire and targeting of anyone approaching the windows,” the ministry said,accusing Israeli forces of “another crime against health institutions”.
It comes four months after Israeli troops completed a multi-day operation at the hospital,where the military said it uncovered underground tunnels and military infrastructure for Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Hamas released a statement saying the attack by heavily armed Israeli troops,drones and tanks at dawn amounted to a “war crime”.
Al Jazeera reported the Gaza Health Ministry as saying the ongoing raids have “resulted in a number of martyrs and wounded”.
A Palestinian journalist posted a video to Instagram from inside the hospital,saying there were intense clashes in the vicinity,and the situation was “catastrophic”.
“This might be my last video… We’re been shot at,” Wadea Abu Alsoud said.
Earlier Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a cabinet meeting to press on with the campaign against Hamas by sending troops into Rafah,despite mounting global pressure – including from the US – for a ceasefire.
And he has railed against growing criticism from the US against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas,describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate”.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,the country’s highest-ranking Jewish official and a strong Israel supporter,last week called on Israel to hold a new election,saying Netanyahu had “lost his way”.
Protesters start a fire at a Tel Aviv protest calling for the release of all hostages,and against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.Getty
and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.
Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new US election after the September 11 attacks in 2001,and denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.
“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections,and who they’ll elect,and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”
When asked by CNN whether he would commit to a new election after the war ends,Netanyahu said that “I think that’s something for the Israeli public to decide”.
The US,which has provided key military and diplomatic support to Israel,also has expressed concerns about a,where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The spokesman for the National Security Council,John Kirby,told Fox the US still hasn’t seen an Israeli plan for Rafah.
The US supports a new round of talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages taken in Hamas’ October 7 attack.
The Israeli delegation to those talks was expected to leave for Qatar after Monday morning (AEDT) meetings of the Security Cabinet and War Cabinet,which will give directions for negotiations.
Despite the talks,Netanyahu made it clear he would not back down from the fighting that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians,according to local health officials. More than five months have passed since Hamas’ attack on southern Israel killed 1200 people and another 250 were taken hostage.
On Sunday,Netanyahu said that calls for an election now – which polls show he would lose badly – would force Israel to stop fighting and paralyse the country for six months.
Netanyahu also reiterated his determination to attack Hamas in Rafah and said that his government approved military plans for such an operation.
“We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks,and it will happen,” he said. The operation is supposed to include the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians,but it is not clear how Israel will do that.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi reiterated his warning that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would have “grave repercussions on the whole region”. Egypt says pushing Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula would jeopardise its peace treaty with Israel,a cornerstone of regional stability.
“We are also very concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after meeting with Sissi.
People inspect the damage and extract items from their homes in Khan Younis,in the south of the Gaza Strip.Getty
And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz,after meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday,warned that “the more desperate the situation of people in Gaza becomes,the more this begs the question:no matter how important the goal,can it justify such terribly high costs,or are there other ways to achieve your goal?”
Germany is one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe and,given memories of the Holocaust,often treads carefully when criticising Israel.
Alon Pinkas,a former Israeli consul-general in New York and an outspoken critic of Netanyahu,said that the prime minister’s comments fit with his efforts to find someone else to blame if Israel doesn’t achieve its goal of destroying Hamas.
“He’s looking on purpose for a conflict with the US so that he can blame Biden,” Pinkas said.
Both sides have something to gain politically from the dispute. The Biden administration is under increasing pressure from progressive Democrats and some Arab-American supporters to restrain Israel’s war against Hamas. Netanyahu,meanwhile,wants to show his nationalist base that he can withstand global pressure,even from Israel’s closest ally.
But pressure also comes from home,with thousands protesting again in Tel Aviv this weekend against Netanyahu’s government and calling for a new election and a deal for the release of hostages. Large parts of the Israeli public want a deal,fearing that hostages are held in poor conditions and time is running out to bring them home alive.
Israel’s offensive has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving,according to the UN.
Airdrops by the US and other nations continue,while deliveries on a new sea route have begun,but aid groups say more ground routes and fewer Israeli restrictions on them are needed to meet humanitarian needs in any significant way.
“Of course we should be bringing humanitarian aid by road. Of course by now we should be having at least two,three other entry points into Gaza,” chef José Andrés with World Central Kitchen,which organised the tons of food delivered by sea,told NBC.
Bloomberg,AP
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