Israel says 170 gunmen killed in Gaza hospital raid as UN chief urges ceasefire

The Israeli military says it has questioned over 800 suspects and found ‘numerous weapons and terror infrastructure’

UN chief Antonio Guterres has arrived in Egypt’s northern Sinai, where international relief for Gaza is delivered, to step up calls for a ceasefire

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Smoke rises during an Israeli raid at Al Shifa hospital and the area around it in Gaza City on March 21, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:59pm, 23 Mar 2024

Israeli forces fighting in Gaza have killed more than 170 gunmen during their days-long raid at the Palestinian enclave’s main hospital, the military said on Saturday.

Israeli troops entered Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the early hours of Monday morning and have been combing through the sprawling complex, which the military says is connected to a tunnel network used as a base for Hamas and other Palestinian fighters.

“Thus far, the forces eliminated more than 170 terrorists in the area of the hospital, questioned over 800 suspects, and located numerous weapons and terror infrastructure,” the military said.

Al Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, is now one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in the north of the territory and has also been housing displaced civilians.

More than 350 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far been detained at the hospital, the largest number captured at the same time since the war began in October, the military said on Thursday.

Hamas and medical staff deny that the hospital is used for military purposes or to shelter fighters.