Extract from ABC News
Israeli forces raided the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza on Thursday, as footage posted online showed chaos, shouting and the sound of shooting in darkened corridors that were filled with dust and smoke.
WARNING: This article contains footage that may distress some readers.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as "precise and limited", and said it was based on credible information that Hamas was hiding in the facility, had kept hostages there and that bodies of hostages may still be there.
A spokesperson for Hamas denied Israel's allegations, calling them "lies".
Health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave said Israel had forced out displaced people and families of medical staff sheltering in Nasser Hospital.
This latest conflict began on October 7 last year, when Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The air and ground offensive launched by Israel in response has devastated the small, crowded Gaza Strip, killing more than 28,600 people — also mostly civilians, according to health authorities — and forcing nearly all its inhabitants from their homes.
The United Nations' humanitarian office had said on Wednesday that Nasser Hospital was besieged by Israeli forces, and alleged that sniper fire at the facility was endangering the lives of medics, patients and thousands of displaced people.
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said people ordered by Israel to evacuate the hospital faced an impossible choice to stay "and become a potential target" or leave "into an apocalyptic landscape" of bombings.
Israel facing international pressure
The fighting at Nasser Hospital comes as Israel faces growing international pressure to show restraint in its Gaza war, after vowing to press its offensive into Rafah, the last relatively safe place for civilians in the enclave.
Attacks that have destroyed the majority of Gaza's medical facilities have caused particular concern throughout the conflict, including Israeli raids on hospitals in other cities, shelling in the vicinity of hospitals and the targeting of ambulances.
As massive bombardment destroyed large parts of residential districts and forced most people from their homes, hospitals quickly became the focus of displaced camps as people sought shelter around buildings they thought more likely to be safe.
Israel accuses Hamas of regularly using hospitals, ambulances and other medical facilities for military purposes, and has aired footage taken by its troops that it says show tunnels containing weapons below some hospitals.
The Israeli military later said it had apprehended a number of suspects at the hospital and that its operations there were continuing.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel's statement accusing the group of hiding fighters or keeping hostages at the hospital was "lies".
He added that "all previous Israeli allegations against hospitals had proven to be false".
Video shows chaos in hospital
Speaking about the hospital raid, Rear Admiral Hagari said the "sensitive operation" was "prepared with precision" and was conducted by IDF special forces who underwent specified training.
He said one objective of the operation was to ensure the hospital could continue treating Gazan patients, and the IDF had "communicated this in a number of conversations we had with the hospital staff", adding there was no obligation to evacuate.
Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said Israel had forced doctors at the hospital to abandon patients in intensive care, putting their lives in danger.
Videos that the Reuters news agency verified on Thursday as having been filmed inside Nasser Hospital, though it could not verify when, showed scenes of chaos and terror.
Men walked through dark corridors using the lights from their phones, with plaster dust swirling around and debris lying in the corridors.
At one point in a video gunshots ring out and a doctor shouts: "Is there anyone still inside? There is gunfire, there is gunfire — heads down".
Another man in a video said the Israeli army had surrounded the hospital and nobody could get out.
The World Health Organization has previously said half the medical staff of Nasser Hospital have already fled.
Reuters
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