The military stated that they have "reliable information" that Hamas is holding hostages in the hospital and that they may still be inside.
Israeli troops stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, February 15, hours after Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others at the complex. The Israeli army said it was a limited operation to search for hostages taken by Hamas.
Associated Press writes about this.
The raid came a day after the army tried to evacuate thousands of displaced people who had taken refuge at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The southern city has been a key target of Israel's offensive against Hamas in recent weeks.
What is known about the raid
The military said it had “credible information” that Hamas was holding hostages at the hospital and that they may still be inside. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagary, the top military spokesman, said forces were conducting a “precise and limited” operation there and would not force the evacuation of medics or patients. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian sites to provide cover for militants.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said Israel launched a “massive invasion” with heavy shooting that wounded many displaced people who had taken refuge there. According to him, the military ordered doctors to transfer all patients to an old building that was not properly equipped to treat them.
“Many cannot evacuate, such as people with lower limb amputations, severe burns or the elderly,” he said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
In addition, on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people, 10 civilians – mostly women and children – and three militants from the Lebanese Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas militants in Gaza. The strikes came hours after rocket fire from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier, the deadliest of daily gun battles along the border since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7. It also highlighted the risks of wider conflict.
Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza appear to have stalled, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to continue the offensive until Hamas is destroyed and dozens of hostages are returned captured during the attack on October 7. .
Panic in the hospital room
Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis became the latest center of operations that have overwhelmed Gaza's health sector as it tries to treat dozens of patients wounded in daily bombings.
Video taken after the impact shows medics trying to carry patients on stretchers through a corridor filled with smoke and dust. The medic used a cellphone flashlight to illuminate the dark room, where a wounded man screamed in pain as gunfire echoed from outside. The Associated Press could not confirm the authenticity of the video, but it matches his reports.
Dr. Khaled Alserr, one of the surgeons remaining at Nasser Hospital, told the AP that seven of the patients injured Thursday were already being treated for preliminary injuries. One doctor was slightly wounded Wednesday when a drone opened fire on the upper floors of the hospital, he said.
“The situation is escalating hourly and minute by minute,” he said.
The Israeli military said Wednesday it had opened a safe corridor for displaced people to leave the hospital but would allow doctors and patients to remain there. Videos circulating online show dozens of people leaving the hospital on foot, carrying their belongings on their shoulders.
The military ordered the evacuation of Nasser Hospital and surrounding areas last month. But as with other medical facilities, doctors said patients could not safely leave or be displaced, and thousands of people displaced by fighting elsewhere remained there. Palestinians say nowhere is safe in the besieged territory as Israel continues to strike all parts of it.
“People are in an impossible situation,” said Lisa Mahainer of the aid group Doctors Without Borders, whose staff works at the hospital. “Stay in Nasser Hospital against the orders of the Israeli military and become a potential target, or leave the compound into an apocalyptic landscape where bombings and evacuation orders are part of everyday life.”
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The end of the war is not in sight
The war began when Hamas militants broke through Israel's strong defenses on October 7 and rampaged through several communities, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. More than 100 hostages were released during the truce last year in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
About 130 hostages remain in Gaza, a fourth of them are considered dead. The families of the hostages and the general public are demanding that Netanyahu reach an agreement to release the hostages, but his far-right coalition partners could topple his government if it is too soft on Hamas.
In response to the October 7 attack, Israel launched one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80% of the population has fled their homes and a quarter are starving as the humanitarian catastrophe deepens. Large areas of northern Gaza, which were the first target of the offensive, were completely destroyed
Hamas continues to attack Israeli forces in all parts of Gaza and says it will not release all remaining prisoners until Israel stops its offensive and withdraws its troops. Hamas is also demanding the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including leading militants.
Netanyahu rejected the demands as “nonsense” and said Israel would soon expand its offensive into Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have taken refuge in Rafah, fleeing fighting elsewhere in the coastal enclave.
At least 28,576 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since the start of the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. More than 68,000 people were wounded in the war.
Meanwhile in northern Israel, rocket attacks killed a female soldier and wounded eight others when one hit a military base in the city of Safed on Wednesday. In response, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, which killed three Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians, including six women and three children.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire along the border almost every day since the start of the Gaza war. Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for Wednesday's rocket attack.
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