Israel-Hamas war: IDF enter Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital as thousands take shelter – live

Israeli soldiers killed several Hamas militants at the outset of a raid on the Al Shifa hospital on Wednesday, where thousands of Palestinian civilians – patients, displaced people and medical staff – have been trapped during weeks of fighting.

Israel said it launched the raid because Hamas has a command centre underneath Al Shifa and uses connected tunnels to conceal military operations and to hold hostages which Hamas denies.

“Before entering the hospital our forces were confronted by explosive devices and terrorist squads, fighting ensued in which terrorists were killed,” the Israeli military said, without specifying exactly where the firefight took place.

Israeli Army Radio said five militants had been killed and that weapons were found inside the Al Shifa compound.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces have provided incubators and baby food to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza even as it conducts a raid against Hamas there.

“Our precise and targeted operation against Hamas in the Shifa Hospital is still underway. We can confirm that incubators, baby food and medical supplies brought by IDF (Israel Defence Forces) tanks from Israel have successfully reached the Shifa hospital,” the military said.

Hamas has denied Israel’s allegations over Al-Shifa hospital.

Labour is to put forward an amendment to the King’s Speech to “reaffirm” its position on the conflict in the Middle East while the SNP has urged MPs to demand a ceasefire.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said parliament must “show moral leadership” and vote in favour of backing an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Labour said it is “not going to be engaging” with the amendment put forward by the SNP to the King’s Speech, but is to seek its own motion addressing concerns on both sides of the Middle East conflict.

Israel has become a country “blinded by rage waging a war on children”, an Irish government minister has said.

Minister for higher education Simon Harris slammed the attack by Hamas on Israel in October as despicable.

He said that while Israel had the right to defend itself, it was not waging a war on children.

Mr Harris was speaking in the Irish parliament yesterday, following a question from Labour leader Ivana Bacik.

Sir Keir Starmer will stage a showdown vote in parliament today calling for a humanitarian pause in Gaza in a bid to force Labour rebels who want a ceasefire to back his stance.

More than 65 Labour MPs – including 18 Labour frontbenchers – have defied Sir Keir’s position. Almost 50 councillors have quit the party and more than 330 local leaders have urged him to change position.

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has more:

Israel’s move toward Al Shifa hospital has raised questions about how it would interpret international laws on the protection of medical facilities and the thousands of displaced people sheltering there, UN human rights officials have said.

Hospitals are protected buildings under international humanitarian law. But allegations that Shifa is also being used for military purposes complicated the situation because that would also breach international law, UN officials have said.

Medical units used for acts harmful to the enemy, and which have ignored a warning to stop doing so, lose their special protection under international law.

Israel said in its statement yesterday that it had given Gaza authorities 12 hours to cease military activities within the hospital. “Unfortunately, it did not,” the military statement said.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the “dramatic loss of life” in Gaza hospitals, his spokesman said. “In the name of humanity, the secretary-general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the spokesperson told reporters.

Medical officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead from Israeli strikes, around 40 per cent of them children, and countless others were trapped under rubble.

Around two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been made homeless, unable to escape the territory where food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies are running out.

Al Shifa is a sprawling complex of buildings and courtyards a few hundred metres from Gaza City’s fishing port. Buildings on the western side of the complex, which the Gaza official said was the site of the raid, include the internal medicine and dialysis departments.

Hamas says 650 patients and 5,000 to 7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from Israeli snipers and drones. Amid shortages of fuel, water and supplies, it says 40 patients have died in recent days.

Thirty-six babies are left from the neo-natal ward after three died. Without fuel for generators to power incubators, the babies were being kept as warm as possible, lined up eight to a bed.

Palestinians trapped in the hospital dug a mass grave yesterday to bury patients who died and no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators, Qidra, Gaza’s health ministry spokesperson, said.

Qidra said there were about 100 bodies decomposing inside and no way to get them out.