New “targeted” operation by the Israeli army on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
According to an IDF statement this Monday morning, “the operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by high-ranking Hamas terrorists.”
🔴IDF troops are currently conducting a precise operation in the area of Shifa hospital—based on intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists to conduct and promote terrorist activity.
Watch IDF Spokeperson RAdm.
Daniel Hagari describe… pic.twitter.com/jKdUdNpY91
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 18, 2024
On the spot, witnesses confirmed to AFP “air operations” in the al-Rimal neighborhood where the hospital is located, the largest in the Gaza Strip, in which “shrapnel” reportedly fell. ".
Also readIsrael-Hamas War: Al-Shifa, the hospital at the heart of all battles
Residents of this central neighborhood of Gaza City claimed that “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” had entered al-Rimal.
Some also report “fights” around the hospital.
The Israeli army speaks through loudspeakers to residents, asking them to stay at home while "drones shoot at people in the streets near the hospital", according to witnesses on site interviewed by AFP.
“Patients and medical staff are not required to evacuate”
The Hamas government press service claimed that al-Shifa hospital was "bombed", specifying that "tens of thousands of displaced people" were in the building.
Israeli troops received “instructions on the importance of operating with caution, as well as measures to take to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical personnel,” the army press release further specifies.
“Arabic-speaking people were brought on site to facilitate exchanges with patients,” he adds, “patients and medical staff are not obliged to evacuate.”
The Israeli army entered this hospital on November 15, and the establishment is no longer operating at a minimum and with a reduced team.
Operations in several hospitals since the start of the war
After this large-scale operation, the Israeli army said it had found “munitions, weapons and military equipment” from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the al-Shifa hospital, which Hamas denied.
Also read: Truce in Gaza: why Netanyahu and Hamas are under pressure
The IDF also said it had discovered a 55-meter-long tunnel it said was used “for terrorism” under the hospital, and it invited journalists to visit it.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army has carried out operations in several hospitals in the Palestinian territory.
She accuses Hamas of using health facilities as command centers.
Less than a third of hospitals in the Gaza Strip are operational, and only partially, according to the UN.