Israeli military raids Gaza hospital, international concerns grow over Rafah

Israeli forces raided Gaza's largest functioning hospital as airstrikes hit across the enclave and rain battered Palestinians taking shelter in Rafah.

Israeli forces entered theNasser Hospital in Khan Younis as they pressed their war on Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the enclave.

"Occupation forces detained a large number of medical staff members inside Nasser Medical Complex, which they [Israel]turned into a military base," said Gaza Health Ministry spokespersonAshraf al-Qidra.

The Israeli military said it was hunting for militants in Nasser. So far, 100 people were detained, gunmen near the hospital were killedand weapons were found inside it, the military said.

Hamas has denied allegations that its fighters use medical facilities for cover. At least two released Israeli hostages have said they were held in Nasser.

WATCH | Israeli forces raided hospital earlier this week:

Patients flee Israeli raid at largest still-functioning Gaza hospital

8 months ago

Duration 2:04

Israel conducts a raid on the largest hospital still functioning in Gaza, leading to a panicked evacuation. Meanwhile, the international community warns of potential mass casualties along the Egyptian border as Israel prepares to attack the city of Rafah.

The Israeli incursion into the hospital has raised concerns about patients, medical workers and displaced Palestinians who are sheltering there.

About 10,000 people were seeking shelter at the hospital earlier this week, but many left either in anticipation of the Israeli raid or because of Israeli orders to evacuate, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Nour Abou Jameh was among the thousands sheltering at Nasser who were forced to leave in the past week. "Shooting and shelling was coming from all directions and even around the hospital," Jameh said. "When we left at night, bodies were in the streets, and even tanks moved on them and crushed them."

G7 calls for 'urgent action' on Rafah

Further south in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million population are sheltering, the winter cold added to already dire conditions after wind blew away some tents of the displaced and rain flooded others.

Israeli plans to storm Rafah have prompted international concern,including fromG7 foreign ministers who met in Munich on Saturday,that such action would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

G7 ministers called for "urgent action to address the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly the plight of 1.5 million civilians sheltering in Rafah, and they expressed deep concern for the potentially devastating consequences on the civilian population of Israel's further full scale military operation in that area," according to a statement released by Italy.

Italy is currently chairing the Group of Seven nations, whichincludeCanada,Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

Meanwhile, leaders at an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza and called for its immediate end.

Moussa FakiMahamat, the chair of the African Union Commission, said Israel's offensive was the "most flagrant" violation of international humanitarian law, and he accused Israel of having "exterminated" Gaza's inhabitants. Hespoke alongside Mohammad Shtayyeh,prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, who also addressed the summit.

A Saturday statement from Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for a lack of progress in achieving a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Haniyeh added that Hamas would not accept anything less than a complete cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Gazaand "lifting of the unjust siege," as well as a release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli jails.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed "complete victory" over Hamas, and on Saturday he said Israel is pausing peace talks due to "delusional" demands from the militant group.

Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza and forced nearly all of its inhabitants from their homes. Palestinian health authorities say 28,858 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.

The war began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

At least 83 people were killed in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since Friday, health officials said, including one person on Saturday in Rafah, an area borderingEgypt thatIsrael says is Hamas's last bastion.

Residents and medics said more died as night fell on Saturday, when Israeli warplanes carried out several airstrikes on at least seven houses, killing and wounding dozens of people. Hamas media outlets put the number of those killed at 38. AnIsraeli army spokesperson said they were checking into the reported strikes.

The Israeli military said that its jets had killed numerous militants in fighting in Gaza since Friday.

Across the border, air raid sirens warning of incoming rockets sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday.