Eyewitness says IDF orders men in Al-Shifa to assemble in courtyard
Rushdi Abualouf
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-middle-east-67423274Reporting from Gaza
I've spoken to Khader again, a journalist inside
Al-Shifa hospital.He told me that over loudspeakers, IDF soldiers have asked all men between the ages of 16 and 40 to leave the hospital buildings, except the surgical and emergency departments, and go to the hospital courtyard.
During the past hour, he said soldiers had fired into the air to force those remaining inside to come out.
He also said they have installed a scanning and sensing device and asked the men to pass through it.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify the claims.
Summary
Israeli forces have entered Gaza's largest hospital in what the military says is a "targeted" operation searching for Hamas infrastructure and weapons
A journalist inside the hospital tells the BBC that soldiers are going room to room and interrogating people but there is no shooting taking place
The same witness said commando soldiers had entered the main emergency department, with tanks also in the hospital area
Israel accuses Hamas of running a command centre in tunnels under the hospital and the US says it has intelligence that supports this
Hamas denies this and says the raid on the hospital is a war crime - hundreds of civilians have been sheltering there, alongside patients and staff
The White House says civilians must be protected, adding: "We don't want to see a firefight in a hospital"
Israel began striking Gaza after Hamas's 7 October attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since - of whom more than 4,500 were children