Israel raids al-Shifa hospital again despite UNSC resolution calling for ‘humanitarian pauses’

Israel has raided the al-Shifa hospital once again despite a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for “humanitarian pauses” in the besieged enclave.

The Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the Israeli military had deployed bulldozers at the al-Shifa hospital, the largest medical complex in the blockaded territory, and destroyed parts of its southern entrance.

The Israeli military also said its forces are currently operating in and around al-Shifa hospital.

Major General Yaron Finkelman, the head of Israeli military operations in Gaza, said in a social media post, “Tonight we conducted a targeted operation into al-Shifa hospital. We continue to move forward.”

Israeli troops first stormed the hospital on Wednesday, where thousands of patients, staff, and displaced people were trapped, claiming that it had found military equipment and weapons inside the complex during the raid.

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas rejected the claim, calling it “nothing but a continuation of the lies and cheap propaganda.”

Israel has been targeting hospitals in the strip since the beginning of its war on Gaza on October 7, claiming Hamas uses them as command centers.

Hamas has dismissed Israel’s allegations, saying it runs a vast network of underground tunnels and doesn’t need to use hospitals in any manner.

The Palestinian resistance group has called on the UN to form an investigative team in order to debunk Tel Aviv’s allegations.

Thursday’s raid came hours after the UNSC adopted a resolution, calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days” to allow aid to reach civilians in the besieged territory.

The Israeli regime rejected the resolution, with its deputy envoy to the Security Council, Brett Jonathan Miller, saying “Israel will continue to do whatever it takes to accomplish this goal.”

Separately on Thursday, the Israeli regime carried out air strikes on two residential buildings in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, leaving several people dead or injured, according to Palestine’s official WAFA news agency.

The occupying regime also targeted the vicinity of Gaza’s Central Petrol Station, which houses dozens of displaced people, leading to the death and injury of several people, the agency added.

Israel also conducted intense raids in the northern city of Beit Lahia and the vicinity of the Indonesia Hospital, located in northern Gaza, but the number of casualties was not immediately clear.

The al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City was also reportedly hit. However, rescuers were unable to help due to the Israeli siege in the area.

Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.

According to the Gaza-based health ministry, at least 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, most of them women and children, and around 32,000 others have been wounded.

Tel Aviv has also imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.