JERUSALEM: Israeli troops raided the compound of Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital early on Monday, killing 20 people in an operation Palestinian health authorities said caused multiple casualties and set off a fierce fire in one of the buildings.

The Israeli military said soldiers and special forces had conducted a “precise operation” based on intelligence that the hospital was being used by senior Hamas leaders, and were fired upon when they entered the compound.Al Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, is now one of the only healthcare facilities that is even partially operational in the north of the territory, and is also housing hundreds of displaced civilians.

Hamas said in a statement the Israeli military had committed a new crime by directly targeting the hospital buildings without caring about patients, medical staff or displaced people in it.

“Suddenly, we started to hear sounds of explosions, several bombings, and soon tanks started to roll, they came from the western road and headed toward Al Shifa, then sounds of gunfire and explosions increased,” Mohammad Ali, 32, a father of two, who lives around one kilometre from the hospital, said via a chat app.

Hamas says the military targeted the building without caring about patients, medical staff or displaced people

“We don’t know what is happening, but it looked as if it was a re-invasion of the Gaza City,” he added, saying that the military activities began at around 1am. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said a fire broke out at the entrance of the hospital complex, causing cases of suffocation among displaced women and children sheltering in the hospital. It said communication had been cut off, with people trapped inside the surgery and emergency units of one of the buildings.

“There are casualties, including deaths and injuries, and it’s impossible to rescue anyone due to the intensity of the fire and targeting of anyone approaching the windows,” the ministry said.

The Israeli army dropped new leaflets around the hospital in Gaza City.

“To all those who exist or are displaced in Rimal and the displaced in Al Shifa and its vicinity: you are in a dangerous combat zone. The IDF is operating hard in its residential areas to destroy terror infrastructure,” said the statement, which ordered the people to take the coastal road towards Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.

The military issued footage of the overnight operation showing soldiers in the hospital compound engaged in gunfights.

Footage circulated on social media appeared to show an Israeli tank blocking the main gate of Al Shifa.Not far from Al Shifa, Israeli army forces raided a school where displaced families were sheltering, and detained several men there, residents and Hamas media said. Residents reported tanks were also operating on the edge of the Beach refugee camp and said tanks fired shells at some buildings nearby.

Israel came under fierce criticism last year when troops first raided the hospital, where they uncovered tunnels they said were used as command and control centres by Hamas. Hamas and medical staff deny the hospital has been used for military purposes or to shelter fighters.

WHO reaction

The latest military operation around the hospital triggered alarm from the World Health Organisation.

“We are terribly worried about the situation at Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Hospitals should never be battlegrounds.” Tedros said that Al Shifa had “only recently restored minimal health services”. Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning, according to the United Nations.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024