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Israel-Gaza war: Israeli military tells Gazans to evacuate al-Shifa hospital after raid - BBC News Israel-Gaza war: Israeli military tells Gazans to evacuate al-Shifa hospital after raid - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Lucy Williamson
Eyewitness have told of how panic gripped those inside al-Shifa hospital after Israeli forces launched a raid overnight. Reporting from Jerusalem
"Tanks are surrounding us. We are hiding inside the tent. We hear tank fire in the vicinity of the compound," a man says in a call with his brother, which was posted in a WhatsApp group and heard by the BBC. The assault on al-Shifa Hospital today underlines the challenges facing Israel’s prime minister in achieving his war goals.
In unverified footage posted on social media, heavy gunfire could be heard around the hospital. Israel’s army carried out an extensive operation at the same hospital in November, trawling the complex, room by room, for Hamas fighters and evidence of what it said was a key ‘command and control centre’ for the group.
"The soldiers here inside the complex," another man inside the hospital said in voice message sent to journalists. In January, the army said it had dismantled Hamas’s entire command structure in the northern Gaza Strip, reducing its fighters to sporadic attacks “without commanders”.
"There are dead and wounded, and the soldiers arrested some young men. The situation here is catastrophic," he says. Now Israeli forces are back inside al-Shifa hospital, to arrest Hamas operatives they say had returned there.
This military operation inside a protected medical facility adds pressure on negotiators in Qatar today, where both sides are due to resume talks on a ceasefire deal.
One of the key sticking points is thought to be the demand from Hamas that civilians displaced by the war can return to their homes in the north.
Israel is reportedly concerned that it could provide cover for Hamas to rebuild its capabilities there.
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