One of Israel’s biggest hospital raids in the Gaza war extended into a fourth day on Thursday, as the army said it killed dozens of people it described as terrorists in the previous 24 hours in its operation at Al-Shifa hospital.
Israel has carried out a series of raids on Al-Shifa in northern Gaza, the largest medical facility in the territory, claiming that Hamas used it as a command center and hid weapons and fighters in underground tunnels there. Since the latest attack began on Monday, the Israeli military said it had killed more than 140 people it said were terrorists in and around the hospital, far more than in previous raids.
On Thursday, the military said it had also kept 600 people in hospital. The Israeli accounts could not be independently verified.
Al Jazeera news network and Wafa, the Palestinian Authority news agency, reported Thursday that Israeli forces blew up a building used for surgery, which is one of the largest in the compound. The Israeli military said it had no comment on the reports.
Iyad Elejel, who lives about 500 meters from Al-Shifa, said the situation was “very scary,” adding by phone Thursday: “We hear the constant sounds of clashes, shooting, shelling, shelling, quadcopters and planes. day and all night.” Smoke had infiltrated the apartment where he lives with 30 of his relatives, making breathing difficult, he said.
Mr Elejel said the children in the apartment were getting used to the cacophony. “We try to convince them that the sounds they hear are fireworks, but they don’t believe it,” he said.
No one had been able to leave the apartment since the raid began, Mr. Elejel said, and the family feared they could run out of food soon. He said when he looked out his window Thursday morning, he saw “a lot of bodies lying on the main road” ahead. Israeli soldiers were forcing people in the area to leave their apartments and head south, so the neighborhood was emptying, Mr. Elejel said.
The military said in an earlier statement that it continues to “carry out precise operational activity in Shifa Hospital, killing dozens of terrorists in the last day during the exchange of fire.” It also said it prevented harm to civilians and identified weapons caches.
Mohammed Abu Kmail, a 35-year-old marketing consultant, said in an interview that he was with his wife and two daughters in their apartment near the hospital when they were awakened before dawn Tuesday by the sound of gunfire near their building. .
He said that around 8 a.m., Israeli soldiers entered nearby buildings and stripped and handcuffed about 25 men, including himself. He said that, after a camera scan, he and some of the others were released. The toll was similar to those of other men held in Gaza since the war began.
The Israeli military said in a statement that detainees “are treated in accordance with international law” and that it is “often necessary” for detainees to remove their clothing so that they “can be searched and ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weapons.” “
Israeli forces have carried out a series of raids on medical facilities in Gaza, arguing that Hamas has used them for military purposes. The armed group denied doing so.
Israel made northern Gaza the initial target of its ground invasion of the enclave, which began on October 27, and first stormed the hospital in November. He later provided evidence that Hamas had built a large tunnel under the hospital. A later analysis by the New York Times found that Hamas had used the compound for military purposes. The Israeli military, however, struggled to prove that Hamas maintained a command and control center under it.
Even before the start of the current raid, international humanitarians said the hospital was barely functioning and unable to serve the acute health care needs of northern Gaza as it had been before the conflict.
The World Health Organization had hoped to conduct a mission to the hospital on Thursday to provide fuel and food for staff and patients, as well as assess the situation there, but permission had been denied due to security concerns, according to Dr. Rik Peeperkorn , who represents the organization in Gaza and the West Bank.
The WHO is “terribly concerned” about the situation, he said, adding that staff there could not be reached.
Israeli officials said earlier this week that Hamas personnel had returned to the hospital, prompting its operation. Military analysts said Israel’s decision to withdraw most of its forces from the north, in part to focus on defeating Hamas elsewhere in Gaza, actually left a security vacuum.
The initial raid on Al-Shifa became a lightning rod for criticism in Israel of military action around hospitals and the risk it poses to patients and medical staff. The raid also became symbolic of a wider debate about the human cost of Israel’s military campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, in which tens of thousands of civilians have been killed or injured.
Lauren Leatherby contributed to the report.
