A surgical building is on fire in northern Gaza's Al-Shifa Medical Complex, according to a doctor at the scene, after the Israel Defense Forces said early on Monday that it was carrying out a military operation in the area of the hospital.
The building is “crowded with wounded people," according to Dr. Abdullah Mohammed, who said in a series of social media posts that it was hit four times by Israeli missile strikes.
“This building contains all the operating rooms for all departments. Everyone inside this building has undergone major operations and cannot move from the place,” Mohammed wrote.
The IDF said that the operation was based on intelligence that the hospital was being used by “senior Hamas terrorists to conduct and promote terrorist activity.”
CNN cannot independently verify this claim.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said there were multiple casualties and people wounded, including cases of suffocation among displaced women and children sheltering inside the complex.
Rescuers had been unable to save many of the wounded or reach those trapped, due to the intensity of the fire and Israeli attacks, the ministry said.
An eyewitness who lives in the Al Rimal neighborhood near the medical complex told CNN he had seen “a big invasion of tanks,” particularly in that neighborhood and “around Al Shifa hospital.”
Hospitals targeted: The Israeli military also raided Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest medical complex, in November. The IDF has frequently targeted Gaza’s hospitals since October 7, accusing Hamas of using medical facilities as a front for its operations.
Israel's attacks on medical facilities have drawn global condemnation and calls to protect healthcare workers, infrastructure, and patients from fighting.
This post has been updated with the latest information.