The Israeli army launched Monday an operation around Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, with witnesses reporting air strikes on the devastated neighbourhood where it is located.Israeli soldiers “are currently conducting a precise operation in the area of the Shifa hospital”, a statement from the military said.”The operation is based on intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists”.Witnesses in Gaza City told AFP they saw tanks surround the hospital site.Tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter in the complex, according to the health ministry in Gaza.The Israeli army had also carried out a November operation in Al-Shifa, sparking an international outcry.Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of running military operations from hospitals and other medical centres, though they have failed to provide evidence to this claim. Hamas has repeatedly denied the accusation. The government media office in Gaza condemned the operation, saying that “the storming of the Al-Shifa medical complex with tanks, drones, and weapons, and shooting inside it, is a war crime”.The health ministry in the besieged territory said it had received calls from people near the hospital site informing there were dozens of casualties.”No one could transport them to the hospital due to the intensity of gunfire and artillery shelling,” the ministry said.The Israeli army has carried out multiple operations in and around medical facilities across the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.According to the UN, 155 health facilities in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since Israel began its war against Gaza.According to the health ministry in the Palestinian territory, Israel’s military offensive in Gaza have killed at least 31,645 people, most of them women and children.The recent war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack from Gaza on October 7 that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.Hamas also seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the attack, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.According to the Israeli military, troops “were instructed on the importance of operating cautiously, as well as on the measures to be taken to avoid harm to the patients, civilians, medical staff, and medical equipment” at Al-Shifa.The statement also said Arabic speakers had been deployed in order to “facilitate dialogue with the patients remaining in the hospital”.It added: “There is no obligation for the patients and medical staff to evacuate.”Following its November 15 operation on Al-Shifa, the Israeli military claimed it had found weapons and other military equipment hidden in the site, but provided no evidence. Hamas has denied these claims. It also claimed it had found a 55-metre tunnel in the basement and shared footage that it said proved hostages had been held there. Hamas denied these claims and pointed out that the tunnel was part of the hospital building and was seen in all the blueprints of the hospital structure.
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