Israeli military troops drove out Palestinians as they conducted a raid on the largest functioning hospital in Gaza amid the conflict with the Hamas militant group.
Officials claimed that Hamas routinely operates within and beneath places like Nasser Hospital located in Khan Younis, using them as shields and taking hostages. However, the militant group has repeatedly denied the accusations.
On Thursday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip that is still operating. Authorities said that it was part of efforts to search for Hamas fighters and the bodies of hostages.
Many people who had sought shelter inside the hospital were forced to flee the area in fear of collateral damage of combat between the two warring sides. Before the pre-dawn raid, explosions and gunfire rocked the hospital, killing and wounding several people, including at least one doctor and a patient.
The victims also included the charity Doctors Without Borders, which had staff members working at the hospital. The specific casualty claims, like many that were made in the conflict, could not be immediately confirmed, as per the New York Times.
Video footage posted on social media on Thursday as well as voice messages sent by doctors during the night showed both before and after Israeli military troops smashed through the perimeter wall and entered the compound. They also depicted scenes of chaos and fear within the damaged, smoke-filled hospital as gunfire, explosions, and shouting could be heard in the background.
One video recording, which was verified by the New York Times, showed the damage to the hospital and injured people who were being rushed through a smoke-filled corridor among debris and sounds of gunfire. Witnesses said that hundreds of people, potentially even thousands, later stood in long lines as Israeli military troops screened them, a few at a time, for evacuation.
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Chaotic and Dangerous Situation
The IDF said that it was able to detain dozens of people but did not say who or for what reason they were taken in. The chief spokesman for the Israeli military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that they have credible intelligence from a number of sources that indicate the militant group held hostages at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
The situation in the region came after doctors and medical officials in southern Gaza claimed that Israeli snipers shot dead a number of people who were fleeing the Nasser hospital. A witness to the shootings said that at least two people were killed by the snipers on Tuesday, with several others being shot and injured, according to CNN.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Dr. Al-Qidra, said that Israeli military bulldozers dug up mass graves inside the complex walls. He added that on Thursday, the troops "stormed the maternity building and conducted a search operation inside.
Hagari added that among the people who were detained included an individual who participated in Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He said that the person was "an ambulance driver for Hamas" who had driven a hostage into Gaza, as well as a member of the armed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group, said BBC.
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