Israel’s military said Monday it was conducting an operation at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, an area where it came under international criticism for a November raid.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement that Israeli forces were acting Monday because senior Hamas officials were using the hospital to command attacks against Israel.
“We will conduct this operation with caution and care while ensuring that the hospital continues its important function,” Hagari said.
Witnesses reported airstrikes in the area of the hospital, which is the largest in the Gaza Strip, as well as the presence of Israeli tanks.
European Union foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said Monday that Israel “is provoking famine” in Gaza and using starvation “as a weapon of war.”
"In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people," Borrell told a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Brussels.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said his government “allows extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air, and sea for anyone willing to help” and he accused Hamas militants of “violently disrupting aid convoys.”
Humanitarian groups have frequently cited challenges in getting aid into Gaza, including being blocked by Israel and being unable to access areas inside Gaza due to the ongoing conflict.
The war started with the Hamas October 7 terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies, and the Hamas capture of about 250 hostages. Health officials in Gaza say Israel’s ongoing counteroffensive has killed more than 31,700 people, the large majority women and children, while displacing more than half the Gaza population of 2.3 million and leveling much of the territory’s infrastructure and homes.
The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency was expected to join talks in Qatar with Egyptian, U.S. and Qatari mediators amid efforts to achieve a new halt in the war.
Hamas presented a new cease-fire proposal last week including an exchange of about 40 Israeli hostages for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already said the proposal was based on "unrealistic demands" by Hamas, but a Palestinian official familiar with mediation efforts said chances for a deal looked better with Hamas having given more details on the proposed prisoner swap.
Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed international pressure, vowing that Israel would push ahead with an attack on Hamas militants in the Rafah near the Gaza-Egyptian border.
"No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war,” to erase any Hamas control in Gaza, Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting in a video released by his office. “To do this, we will also operate in Rafah,” although he gave no indication of an imminent attack.
He later told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that Israel would “keep on trying” to agree on a six-week cease-fire in the war with Hamas. But to achieve that, Netanyahu said, “We’re going to maintain military pressure.”
Some material in this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
