NEWSLINE PAPER,- Apparently using tanks and a lot of gunfire, Israeli forces raided the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza Sunday night.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said that the operation was focused on specific and focused areas inside the hospital complex.
Senior Hamas operatives were utilizing the hospital as a base of operations after taking sanctuary there, according to the IDF.
Witnesses related scenes of fear within the hospital. One person said in a recorded call posted on a WhatsApp group that there were tanks all around the location and that there was shooting.
Social media circulating unverified video showed heavy shooting close to the hospital.
Controlled by Hamas, the Gaza health ministry denounced the operation as a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.
In earlier hostilities, the al-Shifa hospital has been a major site; Israeli soldiers have previously conducted raids there. Beneath the hospital, in a prior IDF operation in November 2023, a Hamas tunnel network was found.
But Hamas disputes using hospitals for military operations.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said in a video message made public early on Monday that the raid was sparked by useful intelligence that needed to be acted upon right now. He reassured that the hospital will stay open during the procedure and asked staff and patients not to leave.
As Hagari urged Hamas to submit amicably, evacuation routes were set up for those who were uprooted and sought sanctuary at the hospital.
Al-Shifa hospital was Gaza's biggest medical institution prior to the ongoing fighting.