Israel Defense Forces confirmed Thursday that its military operations at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza are ongoing, after the Palestinian National Authority's official press agency said forces had raided the medical facility for the second time in 24 hours.
The IDF said it found Hamas grenades and assault rifles inside the hospital, although CNBC has not been able to verify the claims. The military also said on Thursday night that "IDF troops had found an operational tunnel shaft and a vehicle containing a large number of weapons" inside the Al-Shifa Hospital.
Hamas rejected accusations that it has been using the hospital for military purposes, describing the claims as nothing but "lies and cheap propaganda."
The director of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza said that the hospital had effectively shut down and about 45 patients who need surgery had been left in the reception area.
All telecom services in the Gaza Strip went down Thursday as the remaining energy sources sustaining the network ran out, Gaza's main telecommunications companies Paltel and Jawwal said
Meanwhile, Israel's President Isaac Herzog warned that a "very strong force" will be needed in Gaza in the near future, as the country seeks to avoid a return to power of the militant group Hamas.
Herzog, who has no executive powers, told the FT: "If we pull back, then who will take over? We can't leave a vacuum ... No one will want to turn this place, Gaza, into a terror base again."
