Israeli forces have stormed Gaza’s main hospital as they intensify their offensive against Hamas.

The Hamas-run health ministry said Israeli troops and tanks had entered the Al Shifa compound, including the hospital’s emergency and surgery departments.

The Israeli military said it was carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital”.

It added that it had warned “relevant authorities in Gaza” that all military activities within the hospital must cease, but that this did not happen.

Israel has said that Hamas has a command centre underneath Al Shifa and uses the hospital and tunnels beneath it to conceal military operations and to hold hostages. Hamas denies those claims and called Israel’s raid of Al Shifa a ‘crime against humanity’.

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