Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

Dr Amjad Eliwah, deputy director of the emergency department at Al-Shifa, has told the BBC that his staff began hearing gunshots and what sounded like shell impacts at about 2.30am.

Eliwah, who was due to begin his shift shortly after the raid began, spoke to the BBC from just outside the hospital grounds, form where he was in contact with his staff inside. He said the medical teams were hiding away from the windows after Israeli drones had fired at anyone moving.

“Anyone in the grounds of the hospital were targeted,” he said. “There is a lot of injured, people are bleeding. My staff are hiding in the hallways – they were ordered by a loudspeaker not to move.”

He said there were approximately 20 doctors and 60 nurses inside the hospital, as well as hundreds of patients. “The situation inside is very critical,” he said.

The Israeli army also raided two schools next to the hospital that were being used as shelters by displaced people, Eliwah said, and arrested all the men inside and told the women to leave through a designated exit.

Image source, Getty Images

This is not the first time al-Shifa Hospital has been raided by the Israeli military. In fact, it was among the first the be raided back in November 2023, a month after the war broke out.

Hundreds of displaced Palestinians are thought to be sheltering at the hospital that was once Gaza's main medical facility prior to the conflict, though now its operations have been severely disrupted after months of fighting.

The IDF said it found a network of tunnels under the hospital used by Hamas when it raided al-Shifa in November 2023, as well as weapons.

A World Health Organization team was allowed into the hospital following the November raid and described it as a "death zone".

• Last year, the BBC went inside al-Shifa with the IDF - take a look at that story here

Image source, Getty Images

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a video message to social media early this morning to confirm it was responding to "concrete intelligence which demanded immediate action".

IDF chief spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said "senior Hamas terrorists” had “regrouped" inside the hospital.

He said the IDF would ensure the hospital continued its functions while the military conducted its operation.

While Hagari said patients and medical staff would not be forced to evacuate, the Israeli military has since changed their position, with army spokesman Avichay Adraee giving immediate evacuation orders earlier this morning.

Emily McGarvey
Live editor

Welcome to our live coverage. Overnight, Israeli forces launched a raid on the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

We’ve heard reports of tanks and heavy gunfire at the facility, and an eyewitness in the hospital told the BBC that some young men had been arrested.

Israel has since said it was carrying out a "high precision operation in limited areas" of the hospital.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.