©Reuters. Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in this photo published February 17, 2024. Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
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By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces made arrests at Gaza’s largest functioning hospital, health and military officials said on Saturday, as airstrikes hit the enclave and rain hit Palestinians sheltering in Rafah.
Israeli forces raided the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Thursday as they pressed their war against Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic group that rules the enclave.
“The occupation forces have detained a large number of medical personnel inside the Nasser Medical Complex, which they (Israel) have turned into a military base,” Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said .
The Israeli army said it was hunting Nasser’s militants and had so far arrested 100 suspects at the scene, killed gunmen near the hospital and found weapons inside.
Hamas has denied accusations that its fighters are using medical facilities as cover. At least two released Israeli hostages said they were held in Nasser.
The Israeli incursion into the hospital has raised alarm about patients, health workers and the displaced Palestinians taking refuge there.
About 10,000 people had sought refuge at the hospital earlier this week, but many left in anticipation of the Israeli raid or because of an Israeli order to evacuate, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
Further south, in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are taking refuge, the winter cold added to already terrible conditions when the wind blew away some displaced people’s tents and the rain flooded them other.
Israeli plans to storm Rafah have sparked international concern that such an action would dramatically worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for the lack of progress in reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the group said in a statement on Saturday.
Haniyeh added that Hamas would accept nothing less than a complete cessation of hostilities, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the “lifting of the unjust siege”, as well as the release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli prisons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “complete victory” over Hamas, but added Wednesday that flexibility in the group’s position could advance negotiations on a deal that would see the hostages released.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza and forced nearly all of its inhabitants to abandon their homes. Palestinian health authorities say 28,858 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.
The war began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
At least 83 people have been killed in airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Friday, health officials said, including one person on Saturday in Rafah, an area that borders Egypt and that Israel says is the last bastion of Hamas.
The Israeli military said its jets have killed numerous militants in fighting in Gaza since Friday.
Across the border, air raid sirens sounded warning of incoming rockets in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday.
(This story has been refiled to correct a typo in the headline)