Two and a half weeks after sending tanks and ground troops into northern Gaza, Israeli forces entered early today a hospital out of which Israel and America assert Hamas has been operating. The director of hospitals in Gaza, Mohammed Zaqout, said Israeli tanks were inside the Shifa Hospital compound and that soldiers had entered buildings, including the emergency and surgery departments, which house intensive care units. The hospitals have been controlled by Hamas.Shifa Hospital has become a symbol of the widespread suffering forced on Palestinian civilians by Hamas. Israel and the American government assert that the militant group uses hospitals as cover for its fighters, and has set up its main command center in and beneath Shifa Hospital, the largest in the besieged territory. Both Hamas and Shifa Hospital staff deny the Israeli and American allegations.More than 11,200 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing.The American national security council spokesman, John Kirby, said Tuesday that America has intelligence that Hamas and other groups are using Shifa and other hospitals, as well as tunnels underneath the facilities, to hold hostages and support terrorist attacks.The American intelligence is reportedly based on multiple sources, and independently collected by the U.S., an American official told the AP.In other war news:— The United Nations Security Council is trying for a fifth time to adopt a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war.— ASEAN defense chiefs call for the fighting in Gaza to cease, but they struggle to address Myanmar.— Thousands flee Gaza’s main hospital but hundreds, including babies, are still trapped by fighting.— Israel supporters rally in Washington, crying ‘never again.’
