Israeli military raids Gaza’s largest hospital in operation against Hamas

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military raided Gaza’s largest hospital Wednesday, conducting what it called a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area” of the facility, which has been the site of a standoff with the ruling terrorist group.

Israeli authorities claim the terrorists conceal military operations in the Shifa Hospital. But with hundreds of patients and medical personnel inside, the military has refrained from entering.

In recent weeks, Israeli defense forces have publicly warned that such use of the hospital “jeopardizes its protected status under international law,” the military said. On Tuesday, military officials conveyed again to Gaza authorities that all military activity in the hospital must cease within 12 hours.

“Unfortunately, it did not,” the military said.

Hamas has denied the Israeli accusations that it uses the hospital for cover.

Israeli military officials gave no further details but said they were taking steps to avoid harm to civilians.

Munir al-Boursh, a senior official with Gaza’s Health Ministry, said Israeli forces had ransacked the basement and other buildings at Shifa, including those housing the emergency and surgery departments.

“They are still here,” he said by phone from inside the hospital, hours after the raid began. “Patients, women and children are terrified.”

The Israeli military said it was carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the hospital,” adding that it was separate from where patients and medical staff are located.

It was not possible to independently assess the situation inside.

The military said the soldiers were accompanied by medical teams and bringing in incubators. It shared footage of them unloading equipment — as well as a couple dozen boxes labeled “medical supplies” and “baby food” in English — inside the hospital compound.

It added that forces are searching for hostages. The plight of the captives, who include men, women and children, has galvanized Israeli support for the war, and families and supporters of the hostages are holding a protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Hours before Israel’s raid, the United States said its own intelligence indicated terrorists have used Shifa and other hospitals — and tunnels beneath them — to support military operations and hold hostages.

With its troops inside Shifa, the burden will shift to Israel to prove its claim that the facility was being used by terrorists and that it was a big enough military target to justify the battle that isolated its patients for days and a fuel embargo that eventually shut down incubators and other life-saving equipment.

Gains throughout Gaza

The operation unfolded after the military seized broader control of northern Gaza on Tuesday in gains that carried high symbolic value in the country’s quest to crush Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israeli defense officials said they have agreed to allow some fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip for humanitarian operations. It was the first time that Israel has allowed fuel into the besieged territory since Hamas’ bloody cross-border invasion on Oct. 7, which killed more than 1,200 people.

Inside some of the captured buildings, soldiers held up the Israeli flag and military flags in celebration. In a nationally televised news conference, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas had “lost control” of northern Gaza and that Israel made significant gains in Gaza City.

But asked about the time frame for the war, Gallant said: “We’re talking about long months, not a day or two.”

One Israeli commander in Gaza, identified only as Lt. Col. Gilad, said in a video that his forces near Shifa Hospital had seized government buildings, schools and residential buildings where they found weapons and eliminated fighters.

The army said it had captured the legislature, the Hamas police headquarters and a compound housing Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters. The buildings are powerful symbols, but their strategic value was unclear. Hamas fighters are believed to be positioned in underground bunkers.

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Jeffery and Keath reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Amy Teibel in Jerusalem, Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip; and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.