Israelis raid hospital in Gaza, say Hamas regrouped at site
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing from the vicinity of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, ride on a cart as they arrive Monday at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces using tanks and bulldozers raided Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday in an operation they said was aimed at senior Hamas officials who had regrouped at the medical facility, setting off an hourslong battle that both sides said had resulted in casualties.
The raid began before dawn, with the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, saying in a video statement that troops were operating in “limited areas” of the hospital complex.
More than 12 hours later, Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said its forces were “engaged in fierce clashes with enemy forces” near the hospital.
The Israeli military said Hamas fighters had shot at its soldiers from within the complex, and soldiers had returned fire.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli forces launched missiles at the complex and fired into surgery rooms. Details of the fighting could not be independently verified.
The Israeli military said it launched the raid based on new intelligence that Hamas officials were operating from the hospital, four months after Israeli forces stormed the complex and found a tunnel shaft they said supported their contention that the armed group had used it to conceal military operations.
Since then, Israel has withdrawn many troops from northern Gaza and shifted the focus of its invasion to the south.
During the operation Monday, Israel said its forces had killed 20 militants. Among those killed, it said, was a senior Hamas official it identified as Faiq Mabhouh, the head of operations for the internal security forces of the Hamas government in Gaza, who was “armed and hiding in a compound” at the hospital.
Hamas did not confirm his death or role in the organization.
The Israeli military also said one of its soldiers had been killed in the fighting at Shifa.
Hamas, in the statement from its armed wing, claimed it had caused “deaths and injuries” to Israeli forces, but did not provide evidence.
The hospital and the surrounding area house about 30,000 patients, medical workers and displaced civilians, and a number of people were killed and wounded in the raid, the Gaza Health Ministry said. It added that a fire had broken out at the gate of the complex, which caused some people to suffocate and made it difficult to reach those who were injured.
By midday, about 15 Israeli tanks and several bulldozers were inside the hospital grounds, said Alaa Abu al-Kaas, who was staying at the hospital to accompany her father who was being treated there.
Al-Kaas, 19, said that around the same time she heard shots and the sound of tanks before Israeli soldiers, using loudspeakers, ordered people in the complex to stay inside and close the windows. She said Israeli forces told people they would be moved to the Muwasi area in southern Gaza, although it was not clear when or how.
WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Monday to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss a prospective Rafah operation with Biden administration officials, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
The agreement to hold talks about Rafah came as President Joe Biden and Netanyahu spoke Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct during the war, according to the White House.
Sullivan said the talks will happen in the coming days and are expected to involve military, intelligence and humanitarian experts.
The White House has been skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Around 250 people were taken hostage.
Israel responded with one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. The war has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, and a quarter of the population faces starvation.
Sullivan said Biden questioned the Israeli leader over a lack of a “coherent and sustainable strategy’ to defeat Hamas.
The Biden-Netanyahu call comes after Republicans
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen Sunday, spoke to President Joe Biden on Monday and said he would share plans for Israel’s Rafah offensive. in Washington and Israeli officials were quick to express outrage after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections. They accused the Democratic leader of breaking the unwritten rule against interfering in a close ally’s electoral politics.
Biden hasn’t endorsed Schumer’s call for election but said he thought he gave a “good speech” that reflected the concerns of many Americans. Netanyahu raised concerns about the calls by Schumer for new elections, Sullivan said.
Biden administration officials have warned that they would not support an operation in Rafah without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians.
Israel has yet to present such a plan, according to White House officials.
In a statement after the call, Netanyahu made no direct mention of the tension.
“We discussed the latest developments in the war, including Israel’s commitment to achieving all of the war’s goals: eliminating Hamas, freeing all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never (again) constitutes a threat to Israel — while providing the necessary humanitarian aid that will assist in achieving these goals,” he said.
The Biden-Netanyahu call also comes as the United Nations food agency issued more dire warnings Monday about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
The World Food Program warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation.
Sullivan called the report “alarming.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu lashed out against the American criticism, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”
“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect.”
The president announced during his State of the Union address this month that the U.S. military would help establish a temporary pier aimed at boosting the amount of aid getting into Gaza. The U.S. military has also been air-dropping aid into the territory.