The Israel Defense Forces raided Gaza’s largest still-operating hospital on Thursday in Khan Younis, a southern city that once sheltered over 100,000 displaced Palestinians but that has been under siege for weeks.
The IDF told Vox that it has “credible intelligence that Hamas held hostages in Nasser Hospital. Terrorists appear to be operating from within the hospital too.” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement that IDF special forces are undertaking a “precise and limited mission” to find and recover bodies of Israeli hostages that it believes to be in the hospital, citing their own intelligence and testimony from released hostages. Hamas has refuted those claims, and Vox is unable to independently verify them.
This is only the latest of many hospital raids that Israel has conducted since the war began, both in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank. The raids have been a source of bitter controversy, with Israel claiming Hamas has left it with no choice but to resort to such measures while opponents of the country’s war strategy argue that nothing Hamas does can warrant the civilian suffering Israel exacts.
In this and other instances, even if the IDF’s claims are true, human rights advocates say that under international humanitarian law, Israel cannot justify the dire humanitarian consequences of the raid. The IDF’s operation has forced doctors, patients, and displaced Palestinians sheltering there to flee, though many remain trapped inside, unable to leave. That’s despite the IDF’s assurances that the hospital would continue to operate and that civilians would be granted safe passage.
The raid comes as Israel is reportedly considering a ground invasion of Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza whose border crossing with Egypt has remained largely closed. Israel claims Rafah is the last remaining Hamas stronghold, but any operation there would lead to “carnage,” according to the United Nations. That’s in large…
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