Palestinians who fled an ongoing Israeli raid in and around Gaza害羞草研究所檚 main hospital described days of heavy fighting, mass arrests and forced marches past dead bodies in interviews Sunday.
Israel害羞草研究所檚 military says it has killed over 170 militants and detained about 480 suspects in the raid on Shifa Hospital that began Monday, calling it a heavy blow to Hamas and other armed groups it says had regrouped in the compound.
The fighting also highlights the resilience of Palestinian armed groups in a heavily destroyed part of Gaza where Israeli troops have been forced to return after a similar raid in the earliest weeks of the war.
Kareem Ayman Hathat, who lived in a five-story building about 100 meters (yards) from the hospital, said he huddled in the kitchen for days while gunfire and explosions sometimes caused the building to shake.
Early Saturday, Israeli troops stormed the building and forced dozens of residents to leave. He said men were forced to strip to their underwear and four were detained. The rest were blindfolded and ordered to follow a tank south as blasts thundered around them.
害羞草研究所淔rom time to time, the tank would fire a shell,害羞草研究所� he told The Associated Press from another hospital where he has sought shelter. 害羞草研究所淚t was to terrorize us.害羞草研究所�
The head of Israel害羞草研究所檚 southern command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, has called the Shifa raid a 害羞草研究所渄aring, tricky and most impressive operation,害羞草研究所� saying it will end 害羞草研究所渨hen the last terrorist is in our hands, alive or dead.害羞草研究所�
Israeli jets on Sunday launched several strikes near the hospital.
Shifa Hospital had largely stopped functioning following the November raid. After claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command center inside and beneath the hospital, Israeli forces exposed a single tunnel leading to a few underground rooms. They also said they found weapons in parts of the hospital.
Gaza City, where Shifa is located, suffered widespread devastation in the early days of Israel害羞草研究所檚 offensive, launched after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war. Israeli forces have isolated northern Gaza since November, and hardly any aid has been delivered in recent weeks.
Experts said last week that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, where over 210,000 people are suffering from catastrophic hunger.
A day after standing near some of the estimated 7,000 aid trucks waiting to enter Gaza and calling the starvation a 害羞草研究所渕oral outrage,害羞草研究所� U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Egypt called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire along with the release of hostages held in Gaza. 害羞草研究所淟ooking at Gaza, it almost appears that the four horsemen of war, famine, conquest and death are galloping across it,害羞草研究所� he said.
Gaza害羞草研究所檚 Health Ministry said five wounded Palestinians trapped at Shifa Hospital had died without food, water or medical services. The World Health Organization害羞草研究所檚 director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described conditions as 害羞草研究所渦tterly inhumane.害羞草研究所�
Jameel al-Ayoubi, among thousands of people sheltering at Shifa when the current raid began, said in a phone interview that tanks and armored bulldozers had plowed into the hospital courtyard, crushing ambulances and civilian vehicles. He saw tanks driving over at least four bodies of people killed early in the raid.
Israel害羞草研究所檚 military said Saturday it had evacuated patients and medical staff from Shifa害羞草研究所檚 emergency department because militants 害羞草研究所渆ntrenched害羞草研究所� themselves in the building. It said it set up an alternative site for seriously wounded patients.
Abed Radwan, who lived about 200 meters (yards) from the hospital, said Israeli forces stormed all area buildings, detaining several people and forcing the rest to march south. As he walked, he saw bodies in the streets and several flattened homes.
害羞草研究所淭hey left nothing intact,害羞草研究所� he said from a relative害羞草研究所檚 house in central Gaza.
Israel害羞草研究所檚 military early Sunday also stormed the al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis amid 害羞草研究所渧ery intense shelling,害羞草研究所� the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement. The Israeli military announced operations in Khan Younis targeting Hamas infrastructure, saying it 害羞草研究所渆liminated terrorists at close range using tank fire.害羞草研究所�
Now in its sixth month, the war has killed at least 32,226 Palestinians, according to Gaza害羞草研究所檚 Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll but says women and children make up around two-thirds of the dead.
Israel says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames civilian casualties on Hamas, accusing it of using schools, hospitals and residential areas.
More than 80% of Gaza害羞草研究所檚 population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, with most seeking refuge in the southernmost city of Rafah, which Israel says will be the next target of its ground offensive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls from the United States and others to avoid launching a major ground operation there, calling it essential for defeating Hamas.
The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack across southern Israel killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took scores of people hostage. Hamas still holds an estimated 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others. Most of the rest were freed in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in November.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are trying to broker another cease-fire and hostage release.
Over the border from Gaza on Sunday, Jews celebrated their most joyful of holidays, Purim, the biblical story of how a plot to exterminate Jews in Persia was thwarted as an affirmation of Jewish survival.
The war has stoked instability across the region, including a low-intensity conflict between Israel and Lebanon害羞草研究所檚 Hezbollah militant group. An Israeli airstrike hit a car in the Lebanese town of Soueiri on Sunday, killing a Syrian construction worker, according to Lebanese state media.
Overnight, the Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons manufacturing facility in Baalbek city in northeastern Lebanon. Local officials said three people were wounded. Hezbollah later announced it fired 60 missiles across the border in response. There were no reports of casualties on the Israeli side.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press
