Israel continues search for Hamas command centre under hospital

Palestinian Territories – AFP

Israel renewed its raids into Gaza’s largest hospital on Thursday, trying to find what it said was a Hamas command centre hidden beneath thousands of patients, medics and displaced people.

“Tonight we conducted a targeted operation into Shifa hospital,” said Major General Yaron Finkelman, the head of army operations in Gaza. “We continue to move forward.”

Both Israel and its top ally the United States say Hamas has built tunnels below the Al-Shifa complex.

The Palestinian group and directors at the hospital deny the charge.

Gaza’s health ministry said Thursday that Israeli armoured bulldozers had “destroyed parts of the southern entrance” of the hospital.

Before Israel first sent troops into the hospital complex on Wednesday, UN agencies estimated that 2,300 patients, staff and displaced civilians were sheltering at Al-Shifa.

Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas in retaliation for the attacks of October 7, which killed 1,200 people.

Hamas also took around 240 people captive.

Israel has so far killed at least 11,500 people, including thousands of children, in Gaza,

– ‘Urgent’ pauses –

The UN Security Council on Wednesday set aside deep divisions to agree a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in fighting.

The resolution — which passed thanks to abstentions from the United States, Britain and Russia — called on Hamas and Israel to protect civilians, “especially children”.

Israel has agreed to temporary localised pauses in fighting, but has rejected calls for a broader ceasefire.

“The @UN Security Council’s resolution is disconnected from reality and is meaningless,” Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, wrote on X.

He also reiterated the Israeli government’s war aims, saying: “Israel will continue to act until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned.”

The Israeli foreign ministry called Thursday on the Security Council and the international community to “stand firm on the prompt release” of all the kidnapped.

“Extended humanitarian pauses are untenable as long as 239 abductees remain in the hands of Hamas terrorists,” it said.

A journalist in contact with AFP, trapped inside Al-Shifa, said that Israeli soldiers, some wearing face masks, shot in the air and ordered young men to surrender when they first entered the facility.

About 1,000 male Palestinians, hands above their heads, were led into the courtyard and checked for weapons or explosives, the journalist said.

Qatar, which hosts a Hamas political office and also has behind-the-scenes diplomatic links with Israel, has meanwhile led negotiations for the release of the hostages.