Israel threatens to bomb Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, housing over 50,000 displaced Palestinians

Israel has threatened to target the main Al Shifa hospital in Gaza alleging that it was being used as a "shield" for "Hamas operations".

Israel's chief military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, alleged in a news conference on Friday that "Hamas has turned hospitals into command and control centres and hideouts for Hamas terrorists and commanders."

He showed some diagrams and audio recordings, alleging they were "proof" that Hamas was using hospitals to hide its command posts.

Hamas slammed Israel's  "lies" saying it "paved way for committing a new massacre against the Palestinians".

"There is no basis for the claims made by the [the Israeli military spokesperson] over the presence of Hamas commands under Al-Shifa Hospital," senior Hamas official Izzat Rashaq said in a statement on his Telegram account.

This was part of a "series of lies on which [Israel] builds its narrative", he added.

He warned that Israel was using the allegations as a "prelude" to "commit a new massacre bigger than the one on Al-Ahli Hospital".

"We call on world leaders to act to stop the crimes of genocide," he added.

Al-Shifa Hospital, which is barely functioning on solar-powered generators, is in a state of collapse like the rest of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip.

More than 50,000 displaced Palestinians have taken refuge at the hospital, squeezing in corridors, waiting rooms and outside in the courtyard, according to reports.

Israeli strikes on Monday hit areas surrounding the Al Shifa and Al Quds hospitals in Gaza, according to Wafa.

Nearly 500 people were killed in a strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital last week, making it by far the highest death toll of any single incident in Gaza during the current war between Israel and Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority’s health minister, Mai Alkaila, accused Israel of carrying out "a massacre".