At least 46 Palestinians were killed Thursday by Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave. Most of the victims were reported in the northern part of the enclave, where among others a hospital was hit.

The Israeli military accused Hamas of using the Kamal Antoine hospital in Beit Lahia for military purposes, claiming that “dozens of terrorists” were hiding there. Health officials and Hamas deny the charge.

On Thursday night, 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling on two houses in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the Gaza Strip, according to doctors at Al-Awda Hospital who spoke to the Reuters news agency. They clarified that among the dead are a rescuer and two journalists.

The northern part of the Gaza Strip, where Israel declared in January that it had dismantled the Hamas administration, is currently at the center of the Israeli military’s operations in the enclave. Earlier this month, tanks were deployed to Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia to eliminate militants who had reportedly regrouped in the area.

Eid Sabah, head of nursing at Kamal Antoine, told Reuters that staff members suffered minor burns from an Israeli strike on the hospital’s third floor.

There were no reports of casualties at the hospital, which Israeli forces raided and briefly occupied last week. Israel said it arrested about 100 suspected Hamas militants during the raid on the hospital. Israeli tanks remain nearby.

The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip appealed to international organizations “to protect hospitals and medical personnel from the brutality of the (Israeli) occupation.”

The Israeli military announced that its forces were operating in the area of ​​the hospital based on intelligence reports of the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure nearby. “During this operation, it was found that dozens of terrorists were hiding in the hospital, with some posing as hospital staff,” the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) said in a statement after Thursday’s strike.

Doctors Without Borders said one of its doctors at the hospital, Mohamed Obeid, was arrested last Saturday by Israeli forces. He called for the protection of the doctor, as well as all medical staff who “face terrifying violence as they try to provide their services.”