JERUSALEM, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Israel's army said on Wednesday that it has killed about 90 Palestinians and arrested 600 others in a raid at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.
Israel has been conducting the attack on the hospital for three days. Once Gaza's largest medical center, al-Shifa Hospital is one of the few hospitals that are still functioning after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and now serves as a shelter for displaced Palestinians.
In a video from the al-Shifa compound, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said that "in these buildings, many Hamas operatives and seniors have been hiding."
He said the forces located weapons in the hospital and avoided harm to patients and medical staff.
According to Hagari, more than 250 people have been arrested and "identified" by the Israeli forces as Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives, and another 350 people were still in interrogations.
The Israeli army claimed that all the fatalities were militants, a statement refuted by Hamas. As reported by the Israeli Ynet news site, the Hamas-run media office said that the casualties were injured civilians and displaced individuals seeking shelter in the hospital. ■
