Extract from ABC News
Israeli troops have raided the compound of Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital and claimed to have killed a senior Hamas operative in an operation that Palestinian health authorities said caused multiple casualties and set off a fire in one of the buildings.
The Israeli military said soldiers conducted a "precise operation" and were fired upon when they entered the compound on Monday (local time).
It said it killed a Hamas commander who was armed and hiding inside the medical centre, and that one of its own soldiers was killed in the operation.
It said 20 Palestinian gunmen were killed in the fighting and "dozens of apprehended suspects" were undergoing questioning.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said a fire broke out at the entrance of the complex, causing cases of suffocation among displaced women and children 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 military issued grainy drone footage of the operation which it said showed troops coming under fire from a number of buildings in the hospital complex.
Israel said the operation was based on intelligence information which indicated the hospital was being used by senior Hamas leaders.
It said troops had been instructed on the importance of operating cautiously as well as on measures to be taken to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical staff and medical equipment and said patients were not required to evacuate.
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.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took to social media to condemn the raid.
Mohammad Ali, a father of two, who lives about one kilometre from the hospital, told Reuters news agency via a chat app that he heard "explosions" about 1am local time.
"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," he said.
Israel came under fierce criticism last year when troops first raided the hospital, where they uncovered underground tunnels they said were used as command and control centres by Hamas.
The hospital in Gaza City is one of the few remaining health facilities left in the besieged enclave and the Israeli military has long accused the Islamist movement Hamas of using it as a base for its fighters.
Hamas and hospital officials have denied the accusation and the hospital has been at the centre of accusations of war crimes on both sides, with Palestinians accusing Israel of targeting hospitals and Israel saying the sites were being used to shelter armed fighters.
Meanwhile the Al-Jazeera television network says Israeli troops arrested one of its correspondents during their raid on Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital.
In a statement, it said the troops severely beat correspondent Ismail Alghoul while he was covering the raid on the hospital and destroyed the network’s broadcast vehicle as well as cameras and equipment. It said he was detained along with other journalists and that his whereabouts are unknown.
The Qatari-owned network demanded his release and called the arrest "an intimidation tactic against journalists" to prevent them from reporting on the military's "crimes against innocent civilians".
The Israeli military said it had no comment.
Famine 'imminent' in northern Gaza
The United Nations's food agency says "famine is imminent" in northern Gaza, where an estimated 70 per cent of the population faces catastrophic hunger.
The World Food Program on Monday released the latest findings of its Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC — an international process for estimating the scale of hunger crises.
It has reported that virtually everyone in Gaza is struggling to get enough food.
Around 210,000 people in northern Gaza are in Phase 5, the highest, which refers to catastrophic hunger.
It warned that if Israel broadens its offensive to the packed southern city of Rafah, the fighting could drive around half of Gaza’s total population of 2.3 million into catastrophic hunger.
In December, the IPC estimated that a quarter of Gaza’s overall population was starving.
Aid groups say they face a burdensome Israeli process to import humanitarian aid.
The group say that distribution in much of Gaza — especially the north — is virtually impossible because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of law and order.
Israel says it places no limits on the import of humanitarian aid and blames bottlenecks on the UN agencies distributing it.
The US and other countries have carried out airdrops in recent days and a sea corridor has just opened up. But aid groups say those efforts are costly and inefficient, and are no substitute for Israel opening up more land routes.
Biden calls Netanyahu
US President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and discussed the situation in Rafah and efforts increase aid to Gaza, the White House said.
The call was the first between the two leaders since February 15 and comes amid sharp tensions between Israel and its most steadfast ally over Mr Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza.
"President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah and efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza," the White House said.
Separately, Mr Netanyahu said the two men had discussed Israel's commitment to achieve all the targets it had set out for the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all the hostages and ensuring Gaza would no longer pose a threat to Israel.
This would be done "while providing the necessary humanitarian aid that helps achieve those goals," he said in a statement.
Reuters/AP
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