Turnaround? We didn't give OK to Israel for Gaza hospital raid, US says

The United States did not give Israel any kind of green light for its raid on Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, the White House said. The decision was taken by the Israeli military, White House asserted after Israeli forces pushed into Al-Shifa hospital raising fears for the safety of thousands of patients, staff and other civilians who were left stranded.

"We did not give an OK to their military operations around the hospital," National security council spokesman John Kirby said after Hamas lambasted US president Joe Biden and said that he was "wholly responsible" for the raid.

Joe Biden spoke to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu but White House declined to say whether the US president had been given forewarning.

"I won't go into detail about the conversation," he said, adding however that "there's no expectation by the United States to map it all out."

The United States had "certainly talked to them about concerns over civilians."

This comes after the White House backed Israeli claims that Hamas had a command center under the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza.

"We are comfortable with our own intelligence assessment," the White House said.

What Hamas said on Gaza hospital raid

“We hold the occupation [Israel] and President Biden wholly responsible for the assault on al-Shifa medical complex,” Hamas said as per news agency AFP.

“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation’s false claim that the resistance is using al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians,” the statement continued.

What Benjamin Netanyahu said on the hospital raid

Benjamin Netanyahu, during his visit to the Zikim IDF training base near Gaza, said that Israeli forces will continue making inroads into enemy territory, stressing that “there is no place in Gaza that we won't reach.”

"Do you remember when they said we wouldn't invade Gaza? We invaded. They said we wouldn't get to the outskirts of Gaza City; we did. They said we wouldn't go into Shifa (the hospital); we went in. There is no hideout, no shelter, no refuge for the Hamas murderers," the Israeli PM said.

"We will get there and we will take out Hamas and we will bring home our hostages--those are our two holy missions," he added.

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