Palestinians are proven fleeing the Israeli offensive on Khan Younis arrive at Rafah, Gaza Strip. Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024.

Hatem Ali/AP

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Hatem Ali/AP

Palestinians are proven fleeing the Israeli offensive on Khan Younis arrive at Rafah, Gaza Strip. Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024.

Hatem Ali/AP

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces stormed the primary hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli hearth killed a affected person and wounded six others contained in the complicated. The Israeli military stated it was a restricted operation looking for the stays of hostages taken by Hamas.

The raid got here a day after the military sought to evacuate 1000’s of displaced individuals who had taken shelter on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The southern metropolis has been the primary goal of Israel’s offensive towards Hamas in latest weeks.

The navy stated it had “credible intelligence” that Hamas had held hostages on the hospital and that the stays of hostages would possibly nonetheless be inside. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief navy spokesperson, stated forces had been conducting a “precise and limited” operation there and wouldn’t forcibly evacuate medics or sufferers. Israel accuses Hamas of utilizing hospitals and different civilian buildings to defend its fighters.

Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra stated Israel had launched a “massive incursion” with heavy capturing that wounded most of the displaced individuals who had sheltered there. He stated the navy had ordered medics to maneuver all sufferers into an older constructing that was not correctly geared up for his or her therapy.

“Many cannot evacuate, such as those with lower limb amputations, severe burns, or the elderly,” he stated in an interview with the Al Jazeera community.

Separately, Israeli airstrikes killed no less than 13 individuals in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, 10 civilians — principally ladies and kids — and three fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Gaza’s Hamas militants. The strikes got here simply hours after a rocket assault from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier in what was the deadliest of day by day exchanges of fireside alongside the border for the reason that Oct. 7 begin of the struggle in Gaza. It additionally underscored the dangers of a broader battle.

Negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza seem to have stalled, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to proceed the offensive till Hamas is destroyed and scores of hostages taken throughout the Oct. 7 assault that sparked the struggle are returned.

Scenes of panic in a hospital ward

Nasser Hospital, within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, has been the newest focus of operations which have gutted Gaza’s well being sector because it struggles to deal with scores of sufferers wounded in day by day bombardments.

Video of the aftermath of the strike confirmed medics scrambling to wheel sufferers on stretchers by means of a hall stuffed with smoke or mud. A medic used a cellphone flashlight to light up a darkened room the place a wounded man screamed out in ache as gunfire echoed outdoors. The Associated Press couldn’t authenticate the movies however they had been in keeping with its reporting.

Dr. Khaled Alserr, one of many remaining surgeons at Nasser Hospital, informed the AP that the seven sufferers hit early Thursday had been already being handled for previous wounds. On Wednesday, a physician was frivolously wounded when a drone opened hearth on the higher tales of the hospital, he stated.

“The situation is escalating every hour and every minute,” he stated.

The Israeli navy stated Wednesday that it had opened a safe hall for displaced individuals to depart the hospital however would enable medical doctors and sufferers to stay there. Videos circulating on-line confirmed scores of individuals strolling out of the ability on foot carrying their belongings on their shoulders.

The navy had ordered the evacuation of Nasser Hospital and surrounding areas final month. But as with different well being amenities, medics stated sufferers had been unable to soundly depart or be relocated, and 1000’s of individuals displaced by preventing elsewhere remained there. Palestinians say nowhere is protected within the besieged territory, as Israel continues to hold out strikes in all components of it.

“People have been forced into an impossible situation,” stated Lisa Macheiner of the help group Doctors Without Borders, which has employees within the hospital.

“Stay at Nasser Hospital against the Israeli military’s orders and become a potential target, or exit the compound into an apocalyptic landscape where bombings and evacuation orders are a part of daily life.”

No finish in sight to the monthslong struggle

The struggle started when Hamas militants burst by means of Israel’s formidable defenses on Oct. 7 and rampaged by means of a number of communities, killing some 1,200 individuals and taking one other 250 hostage. More than 100 of the captives had been freed throughout a cease-fire final 12 months in change for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Around 130 captives stay in Gaza, a fourth of whom are believed to be lifeless. Netanyahu has come beneath intense strain from households of the hostages and the broader public to make a deal to safe their freedom, however his far-right coalition companions may deliver down his authorities if he’s seen as being too delicate on Hamas.

Israel responded to the Oct. 7 assault by launching one of many deadliest and most harmful navy campaigns in latest historical past. Over 28,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80% of the inhabitants have fled their properties and 1 / 4 are ravenous amid a worsening humanitarian disaster. Large areas in northern Gaza, the primary goal of the offensive, have been utterly destroyed

Hamas has continued to assault Israeli forces in all components of Gaza, and says it won’t launch all of the remaining captives till Israel ends its offensive and withdraws. Hamas can also be demanding the discharge of numerous Palestinian prisoners, together with prime militants.

Netanyahu has rejected these calls for, calling them “delusional,” and says Israel will quickly broaden its offensive into Gaza’s southernmost metropolis of Rafah, on the Egyptian border. Over half of Gaza’s inhabitants of two.3 million has sought refuge in Rafah after fleeing preventing elsewhere within the coastal enclave.

At least 28,576 Palestinians have been killed for the reason that struggle started, principally ladies and kids, in line with Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Over 68,000 individuals have been wounded within the struggle.

In northern Israel, in the meantime, a rocket assault killed a feminine soldier and wounded eight individuals when one of many projectiles hit a navy base within the city of Safed on Wednesday. Israel carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon in response that killed three Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians, together with six ladies and three kids.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded hearth alongside the border almost daily for the reason that begin of the struggle in Gaza. Hezbollah has not claimed duty for Wednesday’s rocket assault.