The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in the early morning hours of Wednesday it was conducting a “precise and targeted operation” inside of al-Shifa.
The operation came after days of fighting around al-Shifa, which Israel says is a major Hamas military command site.
Later on Wednesday, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus shared video evidence of what appears to be piles of Hamas weapons inside of al-Shifa.
“What we have found I think is only the tip of the iceberg,” Conricus said.
The IDF also shared footage of what it called a Hamas laptop in an MRI room with a photo of an Israeli hostage who was taken by Hamas but later rescued.
The evidence appears to bolster claims that Hamas has used al-Shifa as a military command site.
The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry denied that al-Shifa was a military base and accused Israeli soldiers of arresting hospital engineers and others who help keep the place running.
“The Israeli occupation puts all those present in the Shifa Medical Complex in the circle of death,” officials wrote on Facebook.
Hospitals have come under enormous strain in the Israel-Hamas war and many are running out of supplies, food, water and fuel to keep the lights on.
Human rights and humanitarian groups have called for an end to the fighting around hospitals regardless of whether they are used as military bases, describing chaotic scenes of civilians and patients caught in the crossfire.
“Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” said Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization.
Read the full coverage of the Israel-Hamas war at TheHill.com.
