(CNN) — The Israeli military is carrying out a “precise and targeted operation” in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, according to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces, and Israeli tanks have moved into the hospital complex, a journalist inside the hospital told CNN.
“We can see them pointing the guns of the tanks toward the hospital. We are not sure whether soldiers are inside the hospital [buildings], but they are inside the complex with the tanks,” Khader Al Za’anoun, a reporter for the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, told CNN.
He said there were gunfire exchanges across the yard, and some of the windows in one of the buildings were out.
Conditions inside Gaza’s largest hospital have deteriorated in recent days as Israeli firepower pounds surrounding streets and remaining fuel reserves dry up, leaving the facility barely functioning.
Thousands of displaced people are taking shelter in the complex and doctors and journalists inside the hospital have described to CNN desperate efforts to keep premature babies alive, and limited procedures taking place by candlelight.
The Israeli operation is taking place in a “specified area” of Al-Shifa Hospital, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which again accused Hamas of continuing to use the hospital for military purposes – claims Hamas and hospital officials have repeatedly denied.
A doctor inside Al-Shifa told CNN they were given 30 minutes’ warning before the Israeli operation began.
“We were asked to stay clear of the windows and the balconies. We can hear the armored vehicles, they are very close to the entrance of the complex,” Dr. Khaled Abu Samra said.
Hundreds of staff and patients are still inside Al Shifa, according to the most recent reports from the hospital, along with several thousand who have sought shelter from Israel’s air and ground offensive.
The Israeli statement said, “The IDF is conducting a ground operation in Gaza to defeat Hamas and rescue our hostages. Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the civilians in Gaza.”
Israel declared war on Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, and launched a “complete siege” of the enclave following Hamas’ terror attacks in Israel on October 7. An estimated 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ attacks, and about 240 taken hostage, most of whom remain captive in Gaza.
Since then, Israeli attacks have killed at least 11,180 Palestinians – including 4,609 children and 3,100 women – according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, which draws on medical sources in Gaza.
International pressure on the Israeli government has soared in recent days amid accounts of desperate circumstances at Gaza’s fuel-starved hospitals, and severe shortages of food and water. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday repeated his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza “in the name of humanity.”
