RAFAH: Israeli forces said Thursday they had raided the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza as footage showed chaos, shouting and gunfire in dark corridors filled with smoke. Israel‘s military called the raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis city “precise and limited” and said it was based on information that Hamas militants were hiding and had kept hostages in the facility, with some bodies of captives possibly there.Hamas called that lies.
Authorities in the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave said Israel had forced out dozens of staff, patients, displaced people and families of medical staff sheltering in the hospital. Some 2,000 Palestinians arrived in the southern border city of Rafah overnight while others pushed north to Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, they said.
In a new operation, the Israeli military said it carried out an air strike that killed a Hamas commander who had participated in the Oct 7 attack. He had also held captive a female Israeli soldier who was executed by Hamas, the military said. Separately, medical officials said an Israeli strike killed three Palestinians in a car in Gaza City. Their identities were not immediately clear.
Medical charity Medicins San Frontieres said Israel shelled Nasser Hospital in the early hours, despite having told medical staff and patients they could remain. “Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind,” it said, adding a member of its staff was detained at an Israeli checkpoint set up to screen those leaving the compound. Fighting at the hospital comes as Israel faces growing global pressure to show restraint, after vowing to press its offensive into Rafah, the last relatively safe place in Gaza. Attacks that have destroyed the majority of Gaza’s medical facilities have caused particular concern
Israel accuses Hamas of regularly using hospitals, ambulances and other medical facilities for military purposes, and has aired footage that shows tunnels containing weapons below some hospitals.
The Israeli military said it apprehended various suspects at Nasser Hospital.
Authorities in the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave said Israel had forced out dozens of staff, patients, displaced people and families of medical staff sheltering in the hospital. Some 2,000 Palestinians arrived in the southern border city of Rafah overnight while others pushed north to Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, they said.
In a new operation, the Israeli military said it carried out an air strike that killed a Hamas commander who had participated in the Oct 7 attack. He had also held captive a female Israeli soldier who was executed by Hamas, the military said. Separately, medical officials said an Israeli strike killed three Palestinians in a car in Gaza City. Their identities were not immediately clear.
Medical charity Medicins San Frontieres said Israel shelled Nasser Hospital in the early hours, despite having told medical staff and patients they could remain. “Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind,” it said, adding a member of its staff was detained at an Israeli checkpoint set up to screen those leaving the compound. Fighting at the hospital comes as Israel faces growing global pressure to show restraint, after vowing to press its offensive into Rafah, the last relatively safe place in Gaza. Attacks that have destroyed the majority of Gaza’s medical facilities have caused particular concern
Israel accuses Hamas of regularly using hospitals, ambulances and other medical facilities for military purposes, and has aired footage that shows tunnels containing weapons below some hospitals.
The Israeli military said it apprehended various suspects at Nasser Hospital.