Israeli Army Launches Operation Around Gaza Hospital

The Israeli army launched an ­operation around Gaza’s largest hospital on Monday in search of Hamas terrorists, as witnesses ­reported air strikes on the devastated neighbourhood where it is located.

Israeli soldiers “are currently conducting a precise operation in the area of the Shifa hospital”, a statement from the military said.

“The operation is based on ­intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by ­senior Hamas terrorists.”

Witnesses in Gaza City said they saw tanks surround the hospital site where the Israeli army also carried out a November operation that sparked an international outcry.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter in the complex, ­according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of running military operations from hospitals and other medical centres, claims the militant group denies.

The Hamas government media office in Gaza condemned the operation, saying that “the storming of the Al-Shifa medical complex with tanks, drones, and weapons, and shooting inside it, is a war crime”.

The Israeli army has carried out several operations on medical facilities around the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.

It said troops “were instructed on the importance of operating cautiously, as well as on the measures to be taken to avoid harm to the ­patients, civilians, medical staff, and medical equipment”.

“There is no obligation for the patients and medical staff to evacuate,” the military statement said.

After its November 15 operation on the Shifa hospital, the military said it had found weapons and other military equipment hidden in the site, claims Hamas denies.

It also claimed it had found a 55m tunnel in the basement and shared footage that it said proved hostages had been held there, which Hamas also denied.

According to the UN, 155 medical centres in the Gaza Strip have been damaged in the war, which began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack from Gaza on October 7 that killed some 1200 people in Israel, mostly civilians.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, ­Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment and ground offensive that the health ministry in the Palestinian territory says has killed at least 31,645 people, most of them women and children.

The terrorists seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the October attack, but dozens were ­released during a week-long truce in November.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that a soldier believed to have been held hostage had died during the massacre.

Captain Daniel Perez, 22, is the 33rd hostage confirmed dead – ­including eight soldiers – out of about 130 captives still held in the Gaza Strip.

Perez’s family has been notified and he has been posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Confirmation of his death comes five days after the military announced that another soldier believed to be held in Gaza, 19-year-old Sergeant Itay Hen, also perished on October 7.

At a rally on Saturday night calling for the return of hostages ,, Perez’s father, Rabbi Daniel Perez, said: “All the hostages taken from their cradles, from their beds and those who defended their people must return unconditionally.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday that civilians crammed into the southern Gaza Strip would be able to leave before troops entered in pursuit of Hamas militants.

His comments, alongside visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, follow international fears over the fate of the roughly 1.5 million people sheltering in Rafah, most of them displaced by the war.

The office of Mr Netanyahu, whose security and war cabinets were to discuss the latest international efforts towards a truce deal, had on Friday said he approved the military’s plan for an operation in Rafah as well as “the evacuation of the population”.

“Our goal in eliminating the ­remaining terrorist battalions in Rafah goes hand-in-hand with enabling the civilian population to leave Rafah,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“It’s not something that we will do while keeping the population locked in place.”

The situation in Rafah has only grown worse, said medical staff at a clinic run by Palestinian volunteers.

Samar Gregea, a physician uprooted from Gaza City, said medicine was in short supply, and “all children” are suffering from malnutrition, with a spike in hepatitis A cases.