Israel raids main Gaza hospital as Rafah concerns grow

JERUSALEM/DOHA: Israeli forces said on Thursday they had raided the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza as footage showed chaos, shouting and gunfire in dark corridors filled with dust and smoke.

Israel’s military called the raid on Nasser Hospital “precise and limited” and said it was based on information that Hamas men were hiding and had kept hostages in the facility, with some bodies of captives possibly there.

Health authorities in the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave said Israel had forced out dozens of staff, patients, displaced people and families of medical staff sheltering in the hospital.

Some 2,000 Palestinians arrived in the southern border city of Rafah overnight while others pushed north to Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, they said.

The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas sent fighters into Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has since devastated tiny, crowded Gaza, killing 28,663 people, also mostly civilian, according to health authorities, and forcing nearly all its more than 2 million inhabitants from their homes.

In a new operation, the Israeli military said it carried out an air strike that killed a Hamas commander who had participated in the Oct. 7 attack. He had also held captive a female Israeli soldier who was executed by Hamas, the military said.

Separately, medical officials said an Israeli strike killed three Palestinians in a car in Gaza City. Their identities were not immediately clear.

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed in fighting in southern Gaza, bring its total losses since ground incursions began on Oct. 20 to 235.

The medical charity Medicins San Frontieres said Israel shelled Nasser Hospital in the early hours, despite having told medical staff and patients they could remain.

“Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind,” it said on social media platform X, adding a member of its staff was detained at an Israeli checkpoint set up to screen those leaving the compound.

Read more: Israel says 2 hostages rescued in Rafah operation

Fighting at the hospital comes as Israel faces growing international pressure to show restraint, after vowing to press its offensive into Rafah, the last relatively safe place in Gaza.

Attacks that have destroyed the majority of Gaza’s medical facilities have caused particular concern, including Israeli raids on hospitals in other cities, shelling in the vicinity of hospitals and the targeting of ambulances.

As massive bombardment destroyed swathes of residential districts and forced most people from their homes, hospitals quickly became the focus for displaced people seeking shelter around buildings they thought more likely to be safe.