Israeli forces stormed the largest operational hospital in Gazaas they announced today, as video posted online shows chaos, while shouts and gunshots can be heard in dark corridors filled with dust and smoke.

The Israeli military called its raid on Nasser Hospitalin the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the Gaza Stripas “precise and limited” and noted that relied on reliable information that Hamas fighters are hiding in his compound, that hostages were being held there, and that bodies of hostages may still be there.

A Hamas spokesman denied this informationcharacterizing them “lies”.

Health authorities in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave said that Israel forcibly removed displaced people and families of medical personnel who had taken refuge in Nasser Hospital.

War broke out on October 7when Hamas sent its fighters to invade Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 253 hostages in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has since wreaked havoc in the small, populous Palestinian enclave, killing more than 28,500 people, also mostly civilians, according to Hamas’ health ministry, and forcing the vast majority of its residents to flee their homes.

The UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs announced yesterday, Wednesday, that Nasser Hospital was besieged by Israeli forces and that there are allegations of sniper fire at the facility, endangering the lives of doctors, patients and thousands of displaced people.

The non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders announced that people ordered by Israel to leave hospital face impossible choice of staying ‘and becoming a potential target’ or flee “into an apocalyptic landscape” of bombings.

The battles in the hospital are marked as Israel faces increasing international pressure to show restraint in his war on Gaza after announcing that he would press ahead with his assault on Rafah, the last relatively safe place for civilians in the enclave.

Attacks on medical facilities in Gaza have caused particular concern throughout the conflict, including Israeli raids on hospitals in other cities, shelling near hospitals and targeting ambulances.

As massive bombings have destroyed large swathes of populated areas and forced most people from their homes, hospitals quickly became the center of displacement camps, as people sought shelter around buildings they thought were most likely to be safe.

Israel accuses Hamas of frequently using hospitals, ambulances and other medical facilities for military purposes and has shown videos taken by its soldiers from tunnels containing weapons under some hospitals.

The Israeli military announced shortly after that it had arrested a number of suspects at the hospital and that his business there continues.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zohri called Israel’s announcement a “lie” in which it accuses the Islamist Palestinian movement of hiding militants or holding hostages in the hospital. He added that “all previous Israeli allegations against hospitals have been proven false.”