Israeli force storms Gaza hospital; Hamas holds Biden ‘wholly responsible’ for attack

Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, has been the focal point for the Israeli military after it was claimed that the complex has a Hamas command chamber located underneath thousands of ailing and sheltering civilians. Seasoned troops of Israel Defence Forces (IDF), in their over two weeks-long ground incursion into the beseiged enclave, have entered the Shifa hospital.

The Israeli military said its troops were carrying out ‘a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area’ of the facility.

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Meanwhile, Hamas accused US President Joe Biden on Wednesday of being ‘wholly responsible’ for the Israeli army operation at Shifa hospital.

1. Israeli troops stormed the Al-Shifa hospital after keeping it surrounded for almost a day. According to a Hamas official, as cited by AFP, "dozens of soldiers and commandos inside the emergency and reception buildings." The IDF however claimed that it is ‘not overrunning’ the hospital.
2. Thousands of displaced civilians, patients and medical staff are believed to be stranded inside the hospital complex. AFP reported that invasive medical procedures are being carried out without anaesthetic amid dearth of essentials including food, water and medicines.
3. IDF also claimed that ‘medical teams and Arabic speakers’ are among the troops that entered the hospital. They underwent specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, IDF said, adding they have the intent that ‘no harm is caused to the civilians being used by Hamas as human shields’.
4. Hamas denounced the White House's claim that the militant group is using Al-Shifa for military ends. "The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation's false claim that the resistance is using the Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians," it said in a statement.
5. Benjamin Netanyahu and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau are at loggerhead over Israel's offensive against Hamas. While Trudeau called for an end to the ‘killing of women, children and babies’ in Gaza, Israeli PM rebutted by saying it is not Israel but Hamas that should be held accountable.
6. “I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint. The world is watching, on TV, on social media - we're hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who have lost their parents,” the Canadian PM said earlier.
7. To which, Netanyahu said, "It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust."
8. Israeli PM and US President Joe Biden held lengthy talks over the phone call to discuss efforts to release of nearly 240 hostages in Gaza, the White House said.
9. In a sharp instruction, the US told Israel that patients inside the Shifa hospital 'must be protected'. "As we've said, we do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don't want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire. Hospitals and patients must be protected," a White House official said.

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