The Israeli military says it is carrying out a "precise and limited mission" in Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.The Israel Defense Forces says it has "credible intelligence", including from released hostages, that Hamas held hostages at the hospital in southern Gaza
- It adds that it has apprehended a number of suspects, after earlier claiming that "terrorists appear to have been operating from within the hospital too"
- The IDF adds that it contacted the director of the hospital on Tuesday calling for the immediate end of "all Hamas terrorist activity" within the facility.
- Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says Israel forced people to leave, as well as using a bulldozer to demolish a wall and turn the hospital into a barracks
- Footage shows medical staff working under gunfire, with Nasser hospital sources telling the BBC one patient has been killed
- Israel ordered civilians sheltering at the hospital to leave on Wednesday, while doctors say a number of people killed by Israeli sniper fire in recent days.
Heads of aid agencies are making impassioned appeals to UN member states in Geneva this morning to do their utmost to prevent a ground operation in Rafah.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, said she was "out of words to describe the human suffering" and warned that should Rafah be attacked the "carnage so far will reach unimaginable depths."
She told UN member states they should not "offload your responsibilities as parties to the Geneva conventions onto humanitarian actors", adding that it did not make sense to criticise aid agencies for not doing more - "you have us to enable us to do more, our staff are already risking their lives."
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, described conditions in Gaza for effective aid delivery as "almost non-existent", and repeated the UN’s position that it would not participate in any forcible evacuation, which would be a violation of international law.
And, in a warning to Israel, he added "if you launch a ground operation in Rafah, do not look to us as the rescue party".
The head of the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Kate Forbes, who has just returned from Gaza, appeared close to tears as she described the situation as the worst she had seen in 43 years.
She begged member states to "help us restore respect for our emblem", pointing out that since she took office just a few months ago she had had to write 17 condolence letters to families of Red Crescent staff in Gaza.
Speaking to a Red Crescent ambulance driver just before she left Gaza she said he told her "I feel like I am on a waiting list to die."
We've just received the latest casualty figures from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
It says 87 Palestinians were killed and 1,004 were injured by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours.
That brings the total number killed to at least 28,663, while 68,395 have been injured, according to ministry figures.
The situation in Nasser hospital is very complicated and it's no longer possible to accurately verify the information there.
A short while ago, three journalists who had in the hospital arrived in Rafah - two of them had sustained injuries.
They told fellow reporters an Israeli bulldozer demolished the southern wall of the medical complex and soldiers entered the emergency departments.
Israeli soldiers told doctors and nurses to transfer the sick and injured people in the old surgical department, and they asked the displaced to gather in the outer courtyard.
The journalists left the hospital before 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT), which is the time set by the Israeli army as the last chance for anyone who wants to leave.
Soldiers checked the identities of those leaving through a military checkpoint set up near the hospital, and more than 20 people were arrested.
In a new statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has apprehended a number of suspects in the Nasser hospital operation.
It repeats that the goal of the "precise and limited operation" if to find Hamas operatives, included those suspected of involvement in the 7 October attacks on Israel.
The IDF says it officially contacted the director of the hospital on Tuesday, calling for the immediate cessation of all Hamas "terrorist activity from within the hospital and the immediate evacuation of all Hamas terrorists from within".
It adds that the operational activity around the hospital complex is ongoing.
Today's operation at the Nasser hospital comes after days of warnings from the IDF that it is considering invading Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to defeat Hamas battalions he says are hiding in the city on the Egyptian border with the strip.
The city of Rafah is about 5 miles (9km) from the Nasser hospital and where many people displaced from the hospital after the evacuation have fled.
Over a million people are sheltering in the city, according to the United Nations, which warns an assault could lead to "slaughter".
A spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has told the BBC that the UN has not received any Rafah evacuation plans from Israel and will not participate in any forced evacuation.
Pressure has been ramping up on Israel in recent days, from both aid agencies and allied countries like the US and UK, to avoid a full-scale ground operation in Rafah.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Israel should "stop and think seriously" before taking further action in Rafah.
THIS AND MORE UPDATES AT: Israel-Gaza war: IDF special forces enter Nasser hospital - BBC News
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