By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose
GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Palestinian medics said on Thursday they are increasingly afraid for the lives of hundreds of patients and medical staff at Gaza’s biggest hospital, cut off from all links to the outside world for more than a day after Israeli forces entered.
Israel said its commandos were still searching through Al Shifa hospital on Thursday, more than a day after they entered its grounds as part of an offensive Israel says aims to wipe out Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave.
“The operation is shaped by our understanding that there is well-hidden terrorist infrastructure in the complex,” an Israeli official said, declining to be identified.
Israel has so far released pictures of what it says were rifles and flak jackets found on the premises, but no evidence of a vast underground Hamas command headquarters it said was operating in tunnels beneath it.
Human Rights Watch cautioned that hospitals have special protections under international humanitarian law.
