JERUSALEM: Israeli troops found weapons and terror infrastructure during an on-going raid within Al Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, a senior military official said on Wednesday.
He did not spell out what had been found or provide any visual evidence, but said this would be presented later.
The official, who declined to be named, told reporters that there had been no fighting inside the hospital complex after the soldiers arrived during the night, and that there was no friction with medical staff or patients. Hamas rubbished the claim. “It is nothing but a continuation of the lies and cheap propaganda, through which (Israel) is trying to give justification for its crime aimed at destroying the health sector in Gaza,” it said.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Israel was a “terror state” committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza, sharpening his repeated criticism of Israeli leaders and their backers in the West. Speaking two days before a planned visit to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Erdogan said Israel’s military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas included “the most treacherous attacks in human history” with “unlimited” support from the West.