Israel raids Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, urges Hamas to surrender

The Israeli military reported conducting an operation against Palestinian Hamas militants at Gaza Strip's Al Shifa Hospital on Wednesday, urging all members of the group in the hospital to surrender.

Less than an hour earlier, around 1 a.m. local time, Ashraf Al-Qidra, Gaza's health ministry spokesman, said Israel had told officials in the enclave that it would raid the Shifa hospital complex "in the coming minutes."

Five weeks into Israel's assault on Gaza, the fate of Al Shifa has garnered international concern due to deteriorating conditions in the facility. The plight of Gazan civilians has sparked calls for a humanitarian ceasefire.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: "Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa hospital."

The military added: "The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians."

Israel has said that Hamas has a command center underneath Al Shifa hospital, the biggest in Gaza, and uses the hospital and tunnels underneath to conceal military operations and to hold hostages. Hamas denies it.

The U.S. said on Tuesday that its own intelligence supported those conclusions.

Israeli forces have waged fierce street battles against Hamas fighters over the past 10 days before advancing into the center of Gaza City and surrounding Al Shifa.

Dire conditions

Hamas says 650 patients and 5,000 to 7,000 other civilians are trapped inside Al Shifa hospital grounds, under constant fire from Israeli snipers and drones. Amid shortages of fuel, water and supplies, it says 40 patients have died in recent days.

Thirty-six babies are left from the neo-natal ward after three died. Without fuel for generators to power incubators, the babies were being kept as warm as possible, lined up eight to a bed.

Palestinians trapped in the hospital dug a mass grave on Tuesday to bury patients who died, and no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators, Qidra said.

Qidra reported approximately 100 bodies decomposing inside and no way to get them out.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the "dramatic loss of life" in the hospitals, his spokesman said. "In the name of humanity, the secretary-general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," the spokesman told reporters.

Medical officials in Hamas-run Gaza say 11,320 people are confirmed dead amid Israeli strikes, around 40 percent of them children, and countless others trapped under rubble.

Around two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been made homeless, unable to escape the territory where food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies are running out.