Israeli forces are closing in on Gaza City’s main hospital, which they’ve said they want to take control of because there’s a Hamas command center located in tunnels underneath it.
Dozens of people were killed and wounded by an Israeli strike on outpatient clinics of the Al Shifa medical complex, Palestinian Authority radio reported on Friday. The casualties include children and women, it said.
Hamas said Israel’s troops and tanks were in the vicinity of Al Shifa and other hospitals. Palestinian television showed footage of dozens of people fleeing Al Shifa on foot. Thousands have taken shelter there since the conflict began.
None of the reports and claims could be immediately verified by Bloomberg News.
Israel has described Gaza City, located in the north of the strip, as Hamas’s “center of gravity” and focused its ground forces there as it looks to destroy the militant group.
On Wednesday, Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said operations around Al Shifa would take time and that there would be casualties.
Israel has said it is not going to destroy the hospital. Officials urged staff to evacuate patients and warned them of an impending battle. But the hospital’s said it’s impossible to move everyone.
The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, swarmed into southern Israeli communities from Gaza and killed around 1,400 people.
Dire Situation
Israel immediately began airstrikes on Gaza and started a ground offensive around two weeks ago. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the territory from the fighting and bombardments, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israeli government has urged Palestinian civilians to flee to the south of Gaza. It claims at least 700,000 people have done so, though many remain.
Read more: Israel Fears War on the Horizon Against Hezbollah in the North
The United Nations says the humanitarian situation in the densely packed Gaza Strip is dire and that its roughly two million inhabitants need much more food and medicine. Israel, which put the territory under an almost-total blockade once the war began, has said more aid has been going in from Egypt in the past week. The UN says the quantities are nowhere near enough.
--With assistance from Ethan Bronner.
