Tel Aviv [Israel], November 16: Israeli troops found an operational command centre and assets belonging to Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza's biggest hospital, Israel's military said, during a campaign that has stoked global alarm over the fate of civilians inside.
Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has become the main target of the incursion into the territory by Israeli forces, who say the "beating heart" of the Hamas fighters' operations is headquartered in tunnels beneath it, something Hamas denies.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the troops, who entered the hospital earlier on Wednesday after encircling it for days, had found weapons, combat gear and technological equipment there and were continuing their search.
The military also released a video they said showed some of the materials recovered from an undisclosed building in the hospital compound, including automatic weapons, grenades, ammunition and flak jackets.
Israel has consistently maintained that the hospital sits above a Hamas headquarters, an assertion the United States said on Tuesday was supported by its own intelligence.
Hailing the entry of his forces into the hospital, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: "There is no place in Gaza that we cannot reach. There are no hideouts. There is no shelter or refuge for the Hamas murderers.
Israel said its troops had entered the hospital compound on Wednesday after killing militants in a clash outside. Once inside, they said there had been no fighting and no friction with civilians, patients or staff.
Witnesses who spoke to Reuters from inside the compound described a seemingly calm but tense situation, as Israeli troops moved between buildings conducting searches. Sporadic shooting was heard but there were no reports of anyone hurt inside the grounds.
The Israeli military released photos of a soldier standing beside cardboard boxes marked "medical supplies" and "baby food", at a location Reuters verified was inside Al Shifa. Other photos showed Israeli troops in tactical formation walking past makeshift tents and mattresses.
International attention has focused on the fate of hundreds of patients trapped inside without electricity to operate basic medical equipment, and thousands of displaced civilians who had sought shelter there. Gaza officials say that many patients including three newborn babies died in recent days as a result of Israel's encirclement of the hospital.
Israel launched its campaign to wipe out Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, after militants rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and some 240 captives taken in the deadliest day of its 75-year history.
Since then, Israel has put Gaza's entire population of 2.3 million under siege, battering the crowded strip with air strikes. Gaza health officials, considered reliable by the United Nations, say about 11,500 Palestinians are now confirmed killed, around 40% of them children, and more are buried under the rubble. Israel has ordered the entire northern half of Gaza evacuated, and around two-thirds of residents are now homeless.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation