“We have lost contact with other buildings in the hospital complex,” an Al-Shifa hospital doctor said in reference to Israel’s raid on the facility.

“We have lost contact with other buildings in the hospital complex,” an Al-Shifa hospital doctor said in reference to Israel’s raid on the facility.Israel claimed that after accusing the terror group of using Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza, as a command center, its military began a “targeted” strike against Hamas early on Wednesday morning.

Intense fighting has caused conditions at the hospital to drastically worsen in recent days; doctors have warned of a “catastrophic” situation for patients, staff, and displaced individuals who are still inside.The attack: Fighting is still going on, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which stated it had started “a precise and targeted operation” against Hamas near Al-Shifa.

Israeli tanks and military vehicles were “inside the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital,” a Palestinian news agency Wafa reporter named Khader Al Za’anoun reported.According to a doctor working at Al-Shifa, they were given thirty minutes’ notice before the Israeli raid started.We were instructed to avoid the balconies and windows. Dr. Khaled Abu Samra stated, “We can hear the armored vehicles; they are very close to the complex entrance.”

The Israeli forces entered the ground floor and basement of the surgery building of the Al Shifa hospital complex, according to Mohammad Zaqout, the director general of Gaza Hospitals.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, Zaqout claimed that patients, medical teams, and their escorts were questioned by the IDF.

Zaqout, who is not at the hospital but spoke with the doctors at al-Shifa, claimed that “some of the escorts were forced to take their clothes off.”

Israeli tanks, according to Zaqout, have begun to leave the compound.

Speaking with reporters in the early afternoon on Wednesday, a senior Israeli defense official stated that, while the operation was still in progress at the time of the briefing, they had no knowledge of any interrogations taking place within the hospital.

Al-Shifa Hospital is allegedly being used by Hamas as a base of operations, according to Israel.

Under international humanitarian law, hospitals are safe during wartime; nonetheless, Israel stated in a statement that Hamas’s “continued military use of the Shifa hospital jeopardises its protected status.”

Seeming to support Israel’s claim, the United States on Tuesday claimed intelligence indicating that Hamas maintains a command center beneath the hospital.

According to the Pentagon, the US has recently released material that suggests Al-Shifa and other hospitals are being used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a “way to conceal and support their military operations and hold hostages.”

As per the IDF, no hostages have been discovered within Al-Shifa thus far. The liberation of the more than 200 hostages held by Hamas is one of Israel’s objectives in the battle.

What officials in Palestine say: According to Dr. Mai Al-Kaila, the Palestinian Minister of Health, the Israeli army raid is “a new crime against humanity, medical staff, and patients” and might have “catastrophic consequences” for both medical personnel and patients.

Her health ministry is independent of the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas and is headquartered in Ramallah under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

In a statement, Hamas accused the US and Israel of being involved in the Israeli army’s hospital raid. It claimed that by endorsing Israel’s “false narrative,” which holds that Hamas is utilizing Al-Shifa as a base of operations for command and control, the US has given Israel “the green light… to commit more massacres against civilians.”

Humanitarian circumstances: Journalists and medical professionals have detailed the appalling conditions inside Al-Shifa, including the last-ditch attempts to save the lives of premature infants and the restricted treatments that are performed by candlelight.

People in the hospital “are starving; there is no food or drinkable water; we barely get tap water for one hour a day,” according to journalist Al Za’anoun.According to him, relatives are unable to leave the hospital complex to bury their loved ones, so hundreds of corpses are scheduled to be buried in a mass grave in the yard.

“The majority of the bodies are those of women and children; the scene is horrifying, and the smell of the dead people is unbearable,” Al Za’anoun said.It’s estimated that thousands of Palestinians are taking refuge in and around Al-Shifa in an attempt to flee Israel’s aerial and ground assault.