After days of being "very, very" near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the Israeli army entered the largest hospital in the Palestinian enclave, where several thousand patients and refugees are staying, at dawn on Wednesday morning.
What happened?
On Tuesday evening, the Gaza Strip's health ministry said it had been notified by the Israeli military of its intention to carry out an operation in the heart of al-Shifa hospital, which the IDF said housed a Hamas nerve center, in the hospital buildings and in the underground tunnels built underneath.
"Right now, IDF forces are operating against the Hamas terrorist organization, in a specific part of Shifa Hospital. The operation is based on intelligence information and operational needs," the army said in its messages overnight. By mid-morning, the IDF said it was continuing its operations.
"Before entering the hospital, our forces encountered explosives and terror squads and a fight ensued in which the terrorists were eliminated," the IDF said in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter) mid-morning. Israel's Army Radio said five "terrorists" were killed and weapons were found inside the hospital compound.
"Raise your hands in the air"
Earlier, Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza's Ministry of Health, told Qatar's Al Jazeera that Israeli forces first attacked the western side of the medical complex. "There have been big explosions and dust has entered the areas where we are. We believe there was an explosion inside the hospital," he said. "I am in the hospital and I see dozens of soldiers and commandos in the emergency room and at the reception and there are tanks that have entered the hospital complex," Youssef Abul Reesh, a senior official in the Hamas government's health ministry, told AFP.
Once inside the compound, the Israeli soldiers reportedly headed for the surgical and emergency departments, the main buildings. After the basements were searched and then the floors room by room, corridor by corridor, the shots fired into the air causing panic among the hospitalized patients, according to people inside, electronic checkpoints were set up at several doors of the hospital's main buildings. Medical staff, patients, were called in to be questioned individually, after passing through these gates.
VIDEO. Israel-Hamas war: in the overwhelmed corridors of Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital
In Arabic, with a loud accent, Israeli soldiers shout over loudspeakers: "All men 16 and over, raise your hands in the air and go out of the buildings to the inner courtyard to surrender." About <>,<> men were gathered on the large esplanade of the hospital complex, hands in the air, some stripped naked by Israeli soldiers, according to an AFP correspondent on the scene. He claims that a reconnaissance camera system has been installed, presumably to identify known Hamas members who are believed to be hiding among the civilians in the hospital.
Hamas' 'command and control center'
According to Israel, Hamas, which was responsible for the October 7 terror attacks among Israel's civilian population, has a major command center under Al Shifa, using interconnected tunnels to conceal its military operations and hold hostages. Doctors and patients are said to be "human shields" allowing them to operate with impunity. An IDF spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, told CNN that the hospital and the compound, along with its tunnels, were for Hamas "a central center of its operations, perhaps even the beating heart and perhaps even a center of gravity."
On Tuesday night, the White House National Security Council spokesman also claimed that Hamas and Islamic Jihad were using "a command and control center" at the hospital.
More than 2000 civilians inside
Yesterday, a census reported 3,000 civilians, health workers, patients and displaced people inside the large Al Shifa compound. The UN says there are 2,300 people. According to the latest information from Gaza's Ministry of Health, nearly 2,500 people are inside. Among them, 600 were reportedly injured and 36 infants.
Aware of the many reproaches that have been and will be levelled at it for attacking a hospital full of people wounded by its strikes, the Israeli army announced, at the same time as its targeted operation in the hospital, that it would be accompanied by doctors and Arabic-speaking people to treat civilians. By mid-morning, as the operation continued, she said, with photos, that she had brought baby food, incubators and medical supplies.
The IDF's precise and targeted operation against Hamas at Shifa Hospital is still ongoing.
We can now confirm that incubators, baby food and medical supplies, provided by the IDF, have arrived safely at the hospital. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/iEEPoWl1jW
— IDF (@Tsahal_IDF) November 15, 2023
In a recording provided to Al Jazeera by Dr. al-Bursh, he told Israeli troops that the operation would create "fear and hysteria among patients," while the corridors were "full of people." "If you want to go in and see for yourself, the hospital is full of people, from the first floor to the sixth floor," he told them. "The reception and surgery unit is full of displaced people. The dialysis unit is full of people. The delivery, radiology and administration departments are empty. The burn unit on the right side of the hospital is full of patients and displaced people."