GAZA—Israeli air strikes hit Gaza’s biggest hospital, the Al Shifa, on Friday, one of several hospitals reported struck as Israeli troops battled Hamas in the heart of the enclave.
Officials said other strikes had damaged parts of the Indonesian Hospital and reportedly set fire to the Rantissi paediatric and cancer hospital in the northern part of Gaza, where Israel says Hamas gunmen who attacked it last month are concentrated.
Israeli tanks, which have been advancing through northern Gaza for almost two weeks, have taken up positions around the Rantissi, Al-Quds, and Nasser Children’s hospitals, raising concern for patients, doctors, and evacuees there, medical staff said.
Israel did not immediately comment but says it does not target civilians and goes to great lengths to avoid hitting them. It says Hamas terrorists have hidden command centers and tunnels beneath Shifa and other hospitals, allegations which Hamas denies.
“While the world sees neighborhoods with schools, hospitals, scout groups, children’s playgrounds, and mosques, Hamas sees an opportunity to exploit,” the Israeli military said.
With Hamas-controlled Gaza health officials reporting more than 10,000 dead, Israel has faced calls for restraint in its month-old war on Hamas but says the terrorists, who carried out the brutal Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, would just exploit any pause.
Hamas said on Friday it was still firing rockets and shells into Israel and fighting off troops in Gaza.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and surrounding areas to alert people to Hamas rocket fire. Medics reported two women in Tel Aviv suffered shrapnel wounds from a salvo.
Even before the conflict closed in on them, the enclave’s hospitals were struggling to cope, with medical supplies, clean water, and fuel to power generators running out.
Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said Israel had bombed Shifa hospital buildings five times since Thursday night.
“They shelled the maternity department and the outpatient clinics building. One Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in the early morning attack,” he said.
Israel has warned people to evacuate but Mr. Qidra said that was impossible.
“We are talking about 45 babies in incubators, 52 children in intensive care units, hundreds of wounded and patients, and tens of thousands of displaced people,” he said.
Palestinian officials said 10,812 Gaza residents had been killed as of Thursday, in air and artillery strikes with many others wounded.
Israel says 1,400 people were killed, mostly civilians, and about 240 were taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, while 39 soldiers have been killed in combat since.
Air Strikes at Dawn
Palestinian media showed video footage of the aftermath of the Shifa strike. Reuters confirmed the location as the covered, outdoor area near the outpatient department.
A World Heath Organization spokesperson said she did not have details of Friday’s incident but quoted colleagues from the hospital as saying it had been coming under bombardment and there was “intense violence” there.
“Israel … targeted at dawn a number of hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” her statement said.
WHO also said there was “significant bombardment” on Rantissi hospital, which it has said was only hospital providing paediatric services in north Gaza.
A person who said they were a member of staff of Nasser Children’s Hospital posted an appeal on social media saying they were surrounded.
“We are blockaded inside the hospital by tanks, and we are exposed to heavy fire against us. We don’t have electricity, no oxygen for patients, no fresh water,” it said. “The situation here is very difficult and dangerous.”
Indonesia said parts of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza had been damaged in overnight explosions nearby. It did not report any casualties but condemned the blasts without saying who was responsible.
Israel Says Shifa Hospital Is a Legitimate Target
The Israeli military has allowed some wounded Palestinian civilians to cross into Egypt for treatment and has announced daily windows for civilians to flee northern Gaza for the south.
U.N. agencies have issued regular calls for a ceasefire, which both sides have rejected.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said any use of civilians by Palestinian armed groups to shield themselves would contravene the laws of war but that such conduct did not absolve Israel of its obligation to spare civilians.
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said the Hamas headquarters was located in the Shifa’s basement, so the hospital would lose its protected status and become a legitimate target.
