The Hamas militant group said its forces engaged in fighting with the Israeli army in the vicinity of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, while insisting that no forces were deployed inside the hospital.
Smoke rises during an Israeli raid on Al Shifa hospital and its surrounding area. Photo: Reuters
Since dawn on March 18, the Israeli army has carried out an attack on Al Shifa hospital and searched inside the area, where the army said there were tunnels used by Hamas as bases or shelters for militants.
The Israeli military claims to have minimized harm to civilians, patients and medical staff there, and provided them with adequate food, water and health care.
Meanwhile, health authorities in Gaza said the attack on Al Shifa hospital left five Palestinian patients dead after being left without care, food and water for six days. The condition of other patients is also deteriorating.
Al Shifa is currently one of the few partially functioning health care facilities in northern Gaza and is also home to displaced civilians.
Residents living nearby said Israeli forces blew up dozens of houses and apartments in the streets around the hospital and flattened the roads. They said the nearby private Al-Helo hospital was also attacked by the army.
The Hamas-run Gaza media office said Israeli tanks attacked several buildings at Al Shifa hospital and set fire to a surgical ward, and that some 240 patients, their relatives and dozens of medical staff were detained.
The Israeli military said more than 350 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have been detained in hospitals so far and a total of 800 have been questioned.
Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters)
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