Israeli forces besiege two more Gaza hospitals

Military says 480 militants captured in Al Shifa operation

Israeli forces besieged two more Gaza hospitals on Sunday, pinning down medical teams under heavy gunfire, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, and Israel said it had captured 480 militants in clashes at Gaza’s main Al Shifa hospital.

Israel says hospitals in the Palestinian enclave, where war has been raging for over five months, are used by Hamas militants as bases. It has released videos and pictures supporting the claim.

Hamas and medical staff deny the accusations.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said one of its staff was killed when Israeli tanks suddenly pushed back into areas around Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis, amid heavy bombardment and gunfire.

Israeli forces began operating around Al-Amal, the military said, following “precise intelligence ... which indicated that terrorists are using civilian infrastructure for terror activities in the area of Al-Amal”.

Israeli armoured forces sealed off Al-Amal Hospital and carried out extensive bulldozing operations in its vicinity, the Red Crescent said in a statement.

The Red Crescent said Israeli forces were now demanding the complete evacuation of staff, patients and displaced people from Al Amal’s premises and were firing smoke bombs into the area.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said dozens of patients and medical staffers had been detained by Israeli forces at Al Shifa in Gaza City in the north that has been under Israeli control for a week.

The Hamas-run government media office said Israeli forces had killed five Palestinian doctors during their sevenday-old swoop on Al Shifa.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It said earlier it had killed more than 170 gunmen in the raid.

Al Shifa is one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in north Gaza, and — like others — had also been housing some of the nearly two-million civilians — over 80% of Gaza’s population — displaced by the war. “Right now, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists are barricading themselves inside Shifa hospital wards,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Hagari said Hamas gunmen were firing at soldiers from inside the emergency and maternity wards of the hospital, and also firing mortars at troops in the hospital, causing damage.

The Hamas-run government media office said they “categorically refute this”.

Reuters has been unable to access Gaza’s contested hospital areas and verify accounts.

Khan Younis residents said Israeli forces had also advanced and formed a cordon around Nasser Hospital in the city’s west under cover of heavy air and ground fire.

In Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town on the Egyptian border that has become the last refuge for half of Gaza’s uprooted population, an Israeli air strike on a house killed seven people, health officials said.

At least 32,226 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground offensive since October 7, its health ministry said in a Sunday update.

Israel launched the offensive after Hamas-led militants attacked its south on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

US-backed mediation by Qatar and Egypt has so far failed to secure a Hamas-Israel ceasefire, prisoner releases and unfettered aid to Gaza civilians facing famine, with each side sticking to core demands.

Hamas wants any truce deal to include an Israeli commitment to end the war and withdraw forces from Gaza. Israel has ruled this out, saying it will keep fighting until Hamas is eradicated as a political and military force.

The US and other countries have tried using air drops and ships to deliver aid, but UN aid officials say deliveries can only be scaled up by land.