Israeli forces are besieging two more Gaza hospitals today, where medical staff have been immobilized under heavy fire, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, as Israel announced it had arrested 480 militants during clashes in the largest hospital in Gaza Al Shifa.

Israeli forces claim hospitals in the Palestinian enclave, where war has raged for more than five months, are being used as strongholds by Hamas militants, where they hide bases and weapons. Hamas and the medical staff deny this.

The Palestinian Red Crescent announced that one of its members was killed when Israeli tanks were suddenly pushed into areas surrounding Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals, in the town of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, amid heavy shelling and fire.

Israeli armored forces cordoned off Al Amal hospital and conducted bulldozing operations around its perimeter, the Red Crescent said in a statement, adding: “All our teams are in very high danger at this time and have been completely immobilized.”

He also mentioned that Israeli forces request the full evacuation of personnel, of the sick and evacuees from the Al Amal premises and throw smoke bombs into the area to force those inside to leave.

The Israeli military says its forces are hitting “infrastructure” in Khan Younis that are used as staging points for many fighters. Hamas denies using the hospitals for military purposes and accuses Israel of war crimes against civilian infrastructure.

For its part, the Health Ministry of Hamas reports that dozens of patients and medical staff have been arrested by Israeli forces in Al Shifa in Gaza City, in the northern part of the enclave that has been under Israeli control for a week.

Al Shifa is one of the few health facilities even partially functioning in northern Gaza and, like others, houses some of the nearly 2 million civilians, more than 80% of Gaza’s population, who have been displaced by the war.

Reuters has not been able to gain access to the Gaza hospitals in question and verify either side’s reports.

At the same time, residents of Khan Yunis said Israeli tanks were also advancing on a neighborhood in the western part near Nasser Hospital amid heavy air and ground fire.

In Rafah, the Egyptian border town that is the last refuge of half of Gaza’s displaced population, an Israeli airstrike on a house killed seven people, health officials said.

At least 32,226 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, including 84 in the last 24 hours, and 74,518 have been injured in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, the enclave’s health ministry announced today.