A US presidential spokesman said the US does not support airstrikes against any hospital, nor does it want to see fighting inside any hospital, after Israel’s military said it was conducting a “targeted” “precision” operation in Shifa, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of people, patients, staff and displaced people are crammed due to the ongoing Israel/Hamas war.

“We don’t support airstriking a hospital and we don’t want to see a battle inside a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people, trying to get the medical care they need, will be in the middle of crossfire,” a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, who declined to be identified, told reporters.

Although he emphasized that “we will not comment in detail on an ongoing Israeli operation”, he added that “as we have already said, hospitals and patients must be protected”, repeating a phrase of President Joe Biden a few days ago.