Palestinians flee as Israeli forces raid a major hospital in Gaza

Cairo: The Israeli military on Thursday raided the largest hospital still functioning in the Gaza Strip, in what it called a search for Hamas fighters and the bodies of hostages. Many people who had sought shelter there were forced to flee from combat once again.

Explosions and gunfire rocked the Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Younis before the predawn raid, killing and wounding several people including at least one doctor and a patient, according to a doctor there, as well as the charity Doctors Without Borders, which had staff members at the hospital, and Gaza health authorities. The specific casualty claims, like many assertions in the conflict, could not be immediately confirmed.

Videos posted on social media Thursday and voice messages sent by doctors during the night, both before and after Israeli forces smashed through the perimeter wall and entered the compound, depicted scenes of chaos and fear inside the damaged, smoke-filled hospital, punctuated by automatic gunfire, explosions and shouting.

One video, verified by The New York Times, showed damage to the hospital and injured people being rushed through a smoke-filled corridor among debris amid sounds of gunfire. Witnesses said people by the hundreds — possibly thousands — later stood in long lines as Israeli troops screened them, a few at a time, for evacuation.

The Israeli military said it had detained dozens of people, but did not say who or why.

“We have credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages, indicating that Hamas held hostages at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, and that there may be bodies of our hostages in the Nasser hospital facility,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, said in a video statement.

The military did not say whether hostages or Hamas fighters had been found. Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza, said that Israeli forces had used bulldosers to dig up graves on the hospital grounds.

For two days before the raid, Israeli forces surrounding the medical center had told displaced people over loudspeakers to evacuate, signaling that a raid was coming, though international rights and medical groups warned of dire consequences. Some of the Palestinians who took refuge there did leave, but others said it was too dangerous — some had tried and said that gunfire and airstrikes had forced them to turn back.