Touch upon this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSaveJERUSALEM — Israeli tanks surrounded the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital Wednesday as troops launched their long-anticipated raid in pursuit of the Hamas militants they accuse of working a warren of tunnels beneath the power.The forces streamed into the power earlier than daybreak, all however severing outdoors communication with the sufferers, medical workers and displaced households trapped in al-Shifa Hospital by day of preventing outdoors. By the top of the day, the tanks had withdrawn however troops remained contained in the compound, Israel Protection Forces and hospital workers mentioned.Israeli officers, who for weeks have warned that Hamas makes use of medical amenities together with al-Shifa as bases for its operations, described a “exact and focused” mission.Palestinian officers known as it a “crime towards humanity” that left terrified civilians to unsure fates in a medical facility already struggling with out water or gasoline after days of intense bombardment by the encroaching forces. Hamas and hospital workers deny accusations that the militants function there.With the collapse of communications and no entry for journalists, The Washington Publish was unable to independently affirm circumstances on the bottom.The raid drew alarm from worldwide humanitarian teams. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the top of the World Well being Group, mentioned the company had “misplaced contact once more with well being personnel on the hospital” Wednesday morning and was “extraordinarily anxious” for the security of the power and its sufferers. U.N. help chief Martin Griffiths mentioned he was “appalled” by the studies: “Hospitals aren’t battlegrounds.”Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby mentioned Tuesday that Hamas and different militants “used some hospitals within the Gaza Strip, together with al-Shifa, and tunnels beneath them, to hide and assist their army operations and to carry hostages.”Hamas criticized the operation and accused the White Home of giving Israel a “inexperienced gentle” to enter the hospital and endanger civilians.Kirby informed reporters Wednesday that the USA “didn’t give an okay” to Israel’s raid of the hospital, because it doesn’t give prior approval to Israel’s tactical operations. “America just isn’t concerned in these procedures,” he mentioned.“We imagine hospitals must be protected,” he added, echoing earlier White Home statements.Israeli Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a army spokesman, informed reporters that the raid had uncovered weapons, a laptop computer laptop and different gadgets he mentioned signaled a Hamas presence on the hospital. A video launched by the army confirmed round a dozen weapons, some grenades and ammunition, and tactical gear reminiscent of physique armor and backpacks. The army didn’t current proof of tunnels or a command middle.The Publish couldn’t independently confirm the claims.The Gaza Well being Ministry mentioned it obtained a warning from the IDF shortly earlier than the operation, which many had predicted. Israel had mentioned Hamas exercise on the hospital was a high goal in its struggle towards the militants who carried out a lethal shock assault in southern Israel final month. Greater than 1,200 Israelis have been killed within the Oct. 7 assault, triggering Israel’s response. Greater than 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed within the ensuing air and floor struggle, in response to the Gaza Well being Ministry. The ministry mentioned final week it might now not feasibly rely the lifeless.A satellite tv for pc picture captured by Planet Labs on Tuesday at 1:45 p.m. native time confirmed Israeli troops gathered at a number of places close to al-Shifa Hospital not lengthy earlier than their raid on the hospital started. The Israeli army mentioned its “exact and focused operation towards Hamas” started round 2 a.m. native time Wednesday.By Wednesday night, Israeli tanks had pulled again from the hospital however troopers remained within the advanced, the IDF mentioned in a press release. Gaza hospitals chief Munir al-Bursh, reached by phone contained in the hospital, confirmed the continuing presence of Israeli troops. Israeli forces have been stationed in 4 buildings within the hospital advanced, he mentioned, whereas dozens of tanks remained by the doorway.“They known as me and requested me to come back down to satisfy the commander however I refused and informed them you may come to arrest me however I’m not coming,” Bursh mentioned. He mentioned medical amenities have been broken, two mechanical engineers have been arrested and a few medical workers have been subjected to strip searches.Omar Zaqout, head of al-Shifa’s emergency division, informed Al Jazeera that the hospital had endured an evening of nonstop gunfire and explosions earlier than Israeli forces “blasted” into the compound, sending shrapnel into buildings the place sufferers and displaced households have been sheltering.The near-blackout circumstances allowed solely a partial, murky have a look at what was occurring contained in the compound. Telephone numbers for a lot of medical workers have been disconnected or rang unanswered. Plastic surgeon Ahmed al-Mokhallalati informed The Publish he was hiding with 15 colleagues within the hospital’s foremost surgical constructing. His abstract: “We’re surviving.”The advanced contains separate buildings for various medical specializations. The scene was so harmful and communications so weak, Mokhallalati mentioned, that docs holed up in a single constructing had no concept what was occurring within the others. “We’re not transferring round within the constructing,” he mentioned. “It’s completely dangerous to maneuver between buildings or look by way of the window, as there are snipers and somebody might shoot you.”Mokhallalati mentioned troopers confronted “no resistance in any respect.” He mentioned he had by no means seen an armed fighter with Hamas or some other group within the hospital. “I and my colleagues wouldn’t put our lives in danger as a result of somebody with a gun is round,” he mentioned. “There are solely civilians right here.”The Israeli army mentioned troops “encountered explosives and terrorist squads” whereas battling their approach into al-Shifa and killed 5 militants. Bursh, the Gaza hospitals director, mentioned Israeli troopers had fanned out to go looking the compound.By noon, there was no signal that any of the greater than 240 Israeli hostages seized by Hamas and its allies on Oct. 7 had been discovered on the website, in response to Israeli Military Radio, a military-run outlet. “No friction has been recorded thus far between the troops and any of the sufferers or medical workers,” the report mentioned.Finding hostages wasn’t the principle goal of the hospital raid, an IDF worldwide spokesman informed CNN. Israeli Lt. Col. Richard Hecht informed the channel the main target was on “intelligence and dismantling sure capabilities that we had intelligence on.”Sara Netanyahu, the spouse of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote to first girl Jill Biden on Wednesday requesting assist liberating Israeli abductees in Gaza. Within the letter, she confirmed for the primary time that one of many hostages had given start in captivity.Sara Netanyahu sought to invoke a maternal bond, writing of 32 kids among the many hostages, and requested Biden to “communicate out” on their behalf. She referred to a pregnant captive who had given start and requested Biden to “think about, as I do, what have to be going by way of that younger mom’s thoughts as she is being held together with her new child by these murderers.”Later Wednesday, a video recording posted by Reuters confirmed thick smoke wafting by way of one part of the hospital as medical staff wheezed and coughed. Some pulled scrubs and masks over their mouths as they moved by way of broken hallways. The recording confirmed sufferers, together with one who gave the impression to be a toddler, being wheeled on stretchers by way of clouds of smoke.Gaza Well being Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra mentioned Tuesday that no ambulances had been allowed to achieve the hospital since Friday. Round 700 sufferers, greater than 400 well being staff and round 3,000 displaced individuals have been on the compound, the WHO mentioned Tuesday.Israeli and U.S. intelligence allege that Hamas operates a subterranean command middle on the advanced, utilizing the injured and displaced as human shields.Qudra, talking on a uneven line from the advanced early Wednesday, informed The Publish that solely civilians have been on the hospital. He rejected claims on the contrary.Alyona Synenko, a spokeswoman for the Worldwide Committee of the Crimson Cross, informed The Publish that the help group had obtained many calls from individuals contained in the hospital asking for assist to evacuate. She mentioned the ICRC couldn’t safely coordinate their motion. Individuals calling “say in the event that they open the door they danger being shot, because the preventing has been relentless,” she mentioned.Al-Shifa and different Palestinian medical amenities are struggling beneath more and more grave circumstances, overwhelmed by casualties and hampered by the dearth of fundamental providers. Greater than half of the hospitals in Gaza are now not purposeful, the WHO has mentioned.A gasoline tanker entered Gaza by way of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Wednesday for the primary time for the reason that struggle started. Thomas White, the Gaza director for UNRWA, the U.N. company…