Israeli soldiers have stormed Gaza City's main hospital to root out the Hamas terrorists they say are hiding beneath the medical facility in an underground command centre.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers, some wearing face masks and firing guns in the air,
entered the sprawling Al-Shifa hospital early Wednesday morning in a 'precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area' of the facility, the IDF said, in what could be a pivotal moment in the bloody war.
All men 16 years and above, raise your hands,' a soldier shouted in accented Arabic through a loudspeaker to the thousands sheltering inside.
'Exit the building towards the courtyard and surrender,' the soldier ordered, according to a journalist trapped inside.
About 1,000 male Palestinians, their hands above their heads, were soon led into the vast hospital courtyard, some of them stripped naked by Israeli soldiers checking them for weapons or explosives, the journalist told AFP.
Israeli soldiers and tanks had surrounded the hospital in recent days, where the IDF and US have insisted Hamas are hiding in underground tunnels beneath the building and using the patients as human shields - claims the terrorists deny.
But the storming of the hospital is a key moment in the war and will show once and for all whether Hamas terrorists have indeed based their secret headquarters underneath the hospital while using the most vulnerable civilians as human shields.
The move to enter the sprawling hospital by Israeli forces could see civilians, patients and doctors in the middle of the fierce battles, prompting the UN to say it was 'appalled' by Israel's decision to raid the medical facility.
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