Israeli army arrests 300 Palestinians in ongoing operation at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army announced late Tuesday that it has arrested around 300 Palestinians during its ongoing raid of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

It said the army had "detained dozens of prominent Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists involved in directing terrorist activity in the West Bank, active in propaganda efforts and part of Islamic Jihad's rocket unit."

"The suspects are being interrogated on-site by field investigators from Unit 504 of the Intelligence Corps and are subsequently taken for further investigation by the unit and the (internal security agency) Shin Bet in Israel," the statement added.

''The army 'has arrested about 300 suspects and eliminated dozens of terrorists,'' it added.

The army raided the facility Monday, which houses thousands of ill and wounded patients as well as displaced residents.

The Gaza Media Office said Tuesday that more than 250 Palestinians had been killed and injured in an ongoing Israeli raid on Al-Shifa Hospital.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas last October, which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 31,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and almost 74,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide, and guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul