GAZA STRIP, Palestine
Israeli forces besieged two more Gaza hospitals on Sunday, pinning down medical teams under heavy gunfire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, while Israel claimed capturing 480 militants in continued clashes at Gaza's main Al Shifa Hospital.
Israel says hospitals in the
Palestinian enclave, where war has been raging for over five months, are used
by Hamas militants as bases. It has released videos and pictures supporting the
claim, but Hamas and medical staff deny the accusations.
The Palestinian Red Crescent
said one of its staff was killed when Israeli tanks suddenly pushed back into
areas around Al Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis,
amid heavy bombardment and gunfire.
Israeli forces began operating
around Al Amal, the military said, following "precise intelligence ...
which indicated that terrorists are using civilian infrastructure for terror
activities in the area of Al Amal."
Israeli armored forces sealed
off Al Amal Hospital and carried out extensive bulldozing operations in its
vicinity, the Red Crescent said in a statement.
"All of our teams are in
extreme danger at the moment and are completely immobilized," it said.
The Red Crescent said Israeli
forces were now demanding the complete evacuation of staff, patients and
displaced people from Al Amal's premises and were firing smoke bombs into the
area to force out its occupants.
A displaced Palestinian was
killed inside the hospital compound after being hit in the head by Israeli
fire, the Red Crescent said in a later update.
The health ministry in
Hamas-run Gaza said dozens of patients and medical staffers had been detained
by Israeli forces at Al Shifa in Gaza City in the enclave's north that has been
under Israeli control for a week.
The Hamas-run government media
office said Israeli forces had killed five Palestinian doctors during their
seven-day-old swoop on Al Shifa.
The Israeli military did not
immediately respond to a request for comment on that report. It said earlier
that it had killed over 170 gunmen in the raid, which the Palestinian Health
Ministry said had also caused the deaths of five patients.
Al Shifa is one of the few
healthcare facilities even partially operational in north Gaza, and had also
been housing some of the nearly 2 million civilians – over 80 percent of Gaza's
population – displaced by the war.
"Right now, Hamas and
Islamic Jihad terrorists are barricading themselves inside Shifa hospital
wards," said Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Hagari said Hamas gunmen were
firing at soldiers from inside the emergency and maternity wards of the
hospital, and also firing mortars at troops in the hospital, causing damage.
The Hamas-run government media
office said they "categorically refute this."
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