Israeli troops raid Gaza's largest working hospital

Israeli forces have raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip that is still functioning, amid warnings from the UN aid chief that a threatened ground offensive in Rafah, the area's last remaining place of relative safety, could trigger an exodus of refugees fleeing into Egypt.

- Bethan McKernan, Patrick Wintour

Nasser hospital, in the central town of Khan Younis, was hit directly by tank fire overnight, staff at the medical complex said yesterday, in an attack that killed one person and injured eight others.

Dr Khaled al-Serr, a surgeon at the hospital, said in an Instagram post that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground troops had stormed the premises about an hour later and begun forcing patients, personnel and civilians sheltering at the hospital to flee.

Videos posted by Serr and others who said they were at the medical complex showed dust and smoke filling the air as people searched for survivors in the rubble using lights in their phones.

Shooting could be heard in the background. The UN's humanitarian office had said on Wednesday that Nasser had been besieged by Israeli forces, with allegations that sniper fire had been aimed at the facility.

On Wednesday night, a doctor in the hospital's emergency department, Haitham Ahmad, told colleagues in the UK: "We're living through fear and anxiety amid attempts to evacuate the people sheltering in the hospital. Many civilians have been shot by snipers, most of them within the hospital perimeter.

We're panicking. We woke up today to loud airstrikes and explosions to the north. It's terrifying." The IDF confirmed it had entered the hospital, describing the raid as "precise and limited" and based on intelligence that Hamas militants were using the complex and may have kept hostages there. A spokesperson for the Islamist movement dismissed the allegations as "lies".