The Israeli military says, external it has provided incubators, baby food and medical supplies to the Al-Shifa hospital.

There are dozens of babies in the hospital, which over the weekend were taken out of incubators as the hospital ran out of electricity.

Yesterday, after the IDF announced it would provide the supplies, the CEO of the Medical Aid for Palestinians charity said it wasn't incubators that were needed, but fuel to run generators to get the incubators already in the hospital up and running.

Israel hasn't allowed fuel to enter Gaza since the fighting with Hamas erupted last month, saying that Hamas will use it militarily.

In an update to its Hebrew-language X account, the IDF said upon entering Al-Shifa, its military faced and fought off explosives and "terrorist squads".

The BBC cannot verify these reports from the IDF. We are getting some reports from eyewitnesses at the hospital, including a journalist, but it is difficult to get a clear picture of what exactly is going on at the scene.

Israel's military has said some UN trucks transporting aid into Gaza will be refuelled on Wednesday.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories - the unit of Israeli ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs - said trucks will be refuelled at the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, after a request from the US administration.

Cogat added that this was "being done in coordination with the relevant security authorities".

The UN said its aid trucks had not been able to bring in supplies due to a lack of fuel since Tuesday morning.

Juliette Touma, a spokesperson from the UN office for Palestinian refugees, told the BBC on Wednesday morning that it had yet to receive fuel and was on the verge of having a "significant reduction in our operations".

Fuel is also needed for hospitals, bakeries, electricity generators and water pumping stations in Gaza, but Israel has blocked deliveries for weeks, saying it could be stolen by Hamas.

Image source, Reuters

Rushdi Abu Alouf
Reporting from Gaza

I've just been back in touch with the eyewitness inside Al-Shifa hospital. Here's what he told me about the Israel Defense Forces' raid on the facility.

Khader, a journalist who is at the hospital, says Israeli forces are going room to room, floor by floor questioning everyone - both staff and patients - and are accompanied by medics and Arabic speakers.

Displaced people who’ve been sheltering in the compound have been made to gather in the courtyard and some are undergoing security checks.

He adds that the Israeli military is in "complete control" and there is no shooting taking place.

The BBC is unable to independently verify that Israeli forces are now in full control of Al-Shifa. Earlier, Israel's military said it was carrying out "precise and targeted operations" in a specified area of the hospital.

Yolande Knell
BBC Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Journalists working in Gaza will be very familiar with Al-Shifa hospital, the biggest and best-equipped hospital in the territory's biggest city.

In every past conflict with Israel, the hospital has found itself metaphorically on the front line - dealing with the rush of wounded, often while struggling to deal with disrupted power and diminishing medical supplies.

I have been to Al-Shifa many times to interview local doctors and visiting foreign medics, or to speak to the wounded and the thousands who have fled bombing elsewhere and taken refuge on its grounds. Hamas officials have also used the hospital as a relatively safe place to stage ad hoc wartime news conferences. We have always been free to roam the grounds - far more so than in any Western hospital.

But during this war, Al-Shifa has literally been on the front line.

For days, it has been encircled by Israeli forces, with deadly air strikes nearby. While Israel says it previously allowed hospital staff, patients and those taking shelter to evacuate, some claimed that Israeli forces opened fire at them. Medics said it was also too dangerous to move vulnerable patients, including more than 30 premature babies removed from their incubators due to the lack of electricity.

Now, the standoff has resulted in commandos entering the compound. Conditions inside are said to be dire.

The Hamas government media office has issued a statement calling Israel's raid on Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital a "war crime", a "moral crime" and a "crime against humanity".

It said 9,000 patients, medical staff and displaced civilians were at the hospital when the raid happened under the cover of night.

In a video on X, formerly Twitter, by the Palestinian Information Center, Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishq said Israel attacked a civilian facility, not a military installation.

In an earlier statement, Hamas said it was holding Washington and US President Joe Biden responsible for the raid.

Both Israel and the US claim that Hamas - a proscribed terror group in the US, UK and EU - has a command base under Al-Shifa, which Hamas denies.

Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Israel then launched a retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip. More than 11,000 people have been killed there since, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, including thousands of children.

Image source, Getty Images

It’s just coming up to 06:30 in London, and 08:30 in Israel and Gaza. If you’re just joining us, here are the key lines:

• The Israeli military says it's carrying out a “precise and targeted operations against Hamas in a specified area in Al-Shifa Hospital, based on intelligence information”
• One eyewitness told the BBC that Israeli soldiers and tanks had entered the emergency department and grounds of the hospital

• Doctors from the Hamas-run health ministry have said there are hundreds of civilians sheltering inside
• Aid workers have described "dire" conditions inside Al-Shifa. Officials say the facility is also running out of fuel, making it almost impossible to care for vulnerable patients - including 36 premature babies who have been taken off incubators due to power cuts
• Al-Shifa's head of surgery earlier said three premature newborns had died because of a lack of power

• Both Israel and the US say Hamas has a command base underneath Al-Shifa - which Hamas denies. Earlier, the Israeli military said the medical complex may be the “beating heart” of Hamas
• The White House has said it doesn't want to see "a firefight in a hospital where innocent people" are trying to get care

For a fourth consecutive day, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza did not provide an update on casualty figures following the "collapse of services and communications at hospitals in the north", the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest update on Tuesday, external.

As of last Friday, some 11,078 Palestinians were reported to have died. Of these, 4,506 were said to be children and 3,027 women.

The Al-Shifa hospital complex may be the “beating heart” of Hamas, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner has told CNN.

“Our goal is to seek out Hamas wherever they’re hiding and the hospital compound is a central hub of their operations, perhaps even the beating heart and maybe even a centre of gravity,” he told CNN in an interview shortly after the IDF began its military operation inside Al-Shifa.

“We’ve been trying to evacuate the hospital, we’ve bought fuel for the essential services, we’ve been trying and attempting to bring mobile incubators to try and get some of those babies out… because the people of Gaza are not our enemy, Hamas is,” he added.

Both Israel and the US claim that Hamas has a command base under Al-Shifa - which Hamas denies.

Aid workers say the situation inside Al-Shifa - which is the largest hospital in Gaza and one of the few facilities that remains operational - is “dire”. The Hamas-run health ministry has said there are thousands of people using the complex to shelter from Israeli bombing.

Image source, EPA

Only one of the hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza is reportedly still operational - and is only working "at a minimum level", the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest update on Tuesday. , external

"All others have ceased operations due to the lack of power, medical consumables, oxygen, food and water, compounded by bombardments and fighting in their vicinities," the agency said.

Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City currently houses over 500 patients, and is reportedly the sole medical facility able to admit patients in the north. However it is also facing increasing shortages and challenges.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than half of the hospitals in Gaza - 22 out of 36 - are unable to function due to a lack of fuel, damage, attacks and insecurity.

It has warned that the evacuation of hospitals in the north - as demanded by the Israeli military - would be a “death sentence” for some, as operational hospitals in the south cannot admit more patients.

The deputy consul general of Israel in New York has spoken to the BBC about the current military operation at Al-Shifa.

Tsach Saar was asked what exactly a "precise and targeted operation at Al-Shifa against Hamas" meant.

"It means that we are doing everything we can to dismantle the capabilities of Hamas," he said, adding that Hamas had "embedded its fighters and capabilities and weapons in and under the Shifa hospital. And by the way, it's not the only hospital where they did it.

"Everything we can means that we take the weapons, that we dismantle... their fighters, their terrorists, while making sure that we minimise the collateral damage, the loss of innocent civilian lives."

He was also questioned if Israel had properly made efforts to evacuate the hospital in advance. "We take every measure that is possible," he answered, going on to say: "But unfortunately, Hamas uses their own people as human shields, preventing them from leaving this hospital."

The US has also said it has its own intelligence that Hamas has a command and control centre underneath Al-Shifa - a claim Hamas has consistently denied.

The area around Al-Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, has become the focus of fighting in recent days. Thousands of people are believed to be sheltering there.

Officials say the hospital is running out of fuel - and there's concern over the emergency care needed, with doctors saying premature babies have been taken off incubators because of power cuts.

As we mentioned earlier, patients have been buried in a mass grave following a pile-up of decomposing corpses.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Health Minister Mai al-Kaila has accused Israel of committing a "new crime against humanity, medical staff and patients” by carrying out a military operation inside the hospital.

"We hold the occupation forces fully responsible for the lives of the medical staff, patients and displaced people in Al-Shifa," she said in a statement published by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Palestinian Authority governs the parts of the occupied West Bank which are not under full Israeli control and is dominated by the Fatah movement, a rival of Hamas. The PA-run health ministry is therefore separate from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Al-Shifa is the largest hospital in Gaza, and both Israel and the US claim that Hamas has a command base under it - which Hamas denies.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier confirmed it was carrying out “precise and targeted operations against Hamas in a specified area in the Al-Shifa Hospital, based on intelligence information”.

In a post on X, external, the IDF also added that it "has publicly warned time and again that Hamas' continued military use of the Al-Shifa hospital jeopardizes its protected status under international law, and enabled ample time to stop this unlawful abuse of the hospital,” it continued.

Al-Shifa is the largest hospital in Gaza, and both Israel and the US claim that Hamas has a command base under it - which Hamas denies.

The statement also called on “all Hamas terrorists present in the hospital to surrender” while reiterating that the IDF had “facilitated wide-scale evacuations” of the complex. The BBC could not immediately verify this.

Aid workers say the situation inside Al-Shifa is “dire” and the Hamas-run health ministry says there are thousands of people using the complex to shelter from Israeli bombing.

The facility is also running out of fuel, officials say, which has made it near impossible for staff to help patients in need of emergency care. That includes premature babies said by doctors to have been taken off incubators due to power cuts.

Earlier, one doctor told the BBC that about 200 people had been buried in a mass grave at Al-Shifa, after decomposing corpses piled up in the hospital complex.

Thousands of patients and civilians are believed to be sheltering at Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, which has come under siege from Israeli forces.

The estimates vary however. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday there were about 700 patients, 400 hospital staff and 3,000 civilians at Al-Shifa.

The Hamas-run health ministry has said there are at least 2,300 people still inside the facility - up to 650 patients, 200-500 staff and around 1,500 civilians.

Read more about Al-Shifa and other Gaza hospitals that are on the front line of the ongoing conflict here.

Image source, Reuters

About an hour ago, we saw the first comments from the White House on Israel's raid on Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

"We do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don't want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire," said a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.

They reiterated President Biden's comments earlier on Tuesday that hospitals and patients must be protected.

Separately, we learnt earlier that US President Biden and Israeli PM Netanhayu have talked by phone. The White House said both leaders "discussed at length ongoing efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, including many children and a number of Americans".

The raid comes just hours after the US for the first time said its own intelligence backed Israel's claims that Hamas has buried a command centre under Al-Shifa hospital - a claim consistently rejected by the Gaza-ruling group.

As we reported earlier, Hamas has blamed the White House, saying the US president is, along with Israel, "fully responsible" for the raid. It said the US intelligence comments had provided the "green light" for Israel to launch its assault.

Rushdi Abualouf
Reporting from Gaza

We reported earlier that we received an update from Khader Zaanoun, an eyewitness inside Al-Shifa hospital. This is what he said:

“I saw six tanks inside the hospital and more than 100 commando soldiers. They entered the main emergency department, some of the soldiers were masked and screamed in Arabic: 'Don’t move, don’t move'."

Earlier, Khader had said that soldiers had "fired a smoke bomb that caused people to suffocate".

He also said he saw soldiers entering the specialised surgical department.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the claims.

Yvette Tan
Live editor

We have just moved our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war - you can read our previous posts here.

It's just coming up to 06:00 in Israel and Gaza, where Israeli forces are carrying out an operation on Gaza's largest hospital.

• One eyewitness told the BBC's reporter in Gaza, Rushdi Abu Alouf, hundreds of soldiers had "stormed" the hospital and there were about six tanks inside the grounds
• The "precise and targeted operations against Hamas" was announced in the dead of night, just after 02:00 local time. Israeli troops had been stationed outside the hospital

• Israel has consistently argued that the hospital has been used by Hamas as a base, and that the group has an operation base buried under Al-Shifa
• On Tuesday, the US for the first time also said it had its own intelligence that confirmed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had a command and control centre underneath Al-Shifa
• Hamas has consistently denied those claims and said the White House's corroboration had given the "green light" to Israel to launch the raid on the hospital
• The US has also in the past hour given its first comments on the raid on Al-Shifa, saying it did not "want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people... are caught in the crossfire"
• Israel began striking Gaza after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, which saw 1,200 people killed and more than 200 taken hostage
• The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since - of whom more than 4,500 were children